Cleveland Office Market Revs Engine

The Cleveland office market is shaping up to be a destination where local owners, investors and developers can go to increase their revenue streams and asset values, according to Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services Inc. regional manager Michael Glass.”It is a great time to invest in the Cleveland market, as we are seeing…

The Cleveland office market is shaping up to be a destination where local owners, investors and developers can go to increase their revenue streams and asset values, according to Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services Inc. regional manager Michael Glass.”It is a great time to invest in the Cleveland market, as we are seeing some of the best numbers in more then a decade.” Class A space is seeing vacancies in the single digits for the first time since 2001, and absorption has gone positive for the first time in almost two decades. Additionally, asking rents grew 1.9 percent from 2006 to 2007, and concessions for tenants are declining.Investors and developers have sprung into action to take advantage of the momentum. In the largest portfolio of suburban office properties ever to trade in the metropolitan area, Duke Realty Corp. is selling its 1.3 million-square-foot, 14-building office portfolio. The buyer, Nightingale Properties L.L.C., is entering Cleveland for the first time. “Obviously, the buyer is feeling confident in Cleveland if they’re jumping in for the first time with a more than 1 million-square-foot purchase,” said Grubb & Ellis Co. executive vice president & managing director Bob Nosal. And the Wolstein Group plans to break ground on a $500 million redevelopment of the Flats mixed-use riverfront district, which, upon its expected 2010 completion, will include the first new office building to rise Downtown in more than a decade.”People are excited to see some cranes in the near future, and we certainly will as the demand for Class A space is growing,” Glass stated. “We are seeing companies with tremendous credibility talking new product.”—Reach Elena Gontar, staff writer, at [email protected].

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