Top Markets for Office Deliveries

These metros account for 30 percent of the square footage completed in the first half of 2021.

Office deliveries in the first half of 2021 totaled some 37.5 million square feet nationwide, surpassing deliveries during the same period last year (35.4 million square feet), according to CommercialEdge data. Office development gained steam this year, as demand for high-quality space continues to be high in most markets. More than 216 million square feet of office space was underway in the nation at the end of June, equal to 2.7 percent of inventory.

The five metros on this list account for 30 percent of the square footage that reached completion between January and June 2021, based on CommercialEdge data.

Rank Market Sq Ft Delivered
1 Atlanta 2,572,486
2 Charlotte 2,426,144
3 San Francisco 2,413,648
4 Austin 1,948,388
5 Philadelphia 1,763,391

5. Philadelphia

Office deliveries in Philadelphia in the first half of 2021 amounted to some 1.7 million square feet of space. Another 4.3 million square feet was under construction in the metro at the end of June, accounting for 2.0 percent of existing stock.

Completions were concentrated in Conshohocken, Pa., where two properties totaling 690,000 square feet came online in April and June. The largest delivery in the submarket—and in the metro—was Keystone Property Group’s Sora West, a 429,122-square-foot office building centered around a plaza at 1 W. 1st. Ave. The transit-oriented development will serve as the corporate headquarters of Fortune 500 company AmerisourceBergen.

4. Austin

Austin. Image by Kate Baucherel on Pixabay.com

More than 1.9 million square feet of office space came online in the metro this year through June. With an additional 9 million square feet under construction as of June—accounting for 9.0 percent of existing stock—Austin continues to have the largest office pipeline, relative to existing stock.

The bulk of deliveries—69 percent—was concentrated in downtown Austin. Four properties encompassing some 1.3 million square feet were completed, with the largest delivery consisting of Kilroy Realty’s 708,438-square-foot Indeed Tower. Rising 542 feet and originally developed by Trammel Crow Co., the building is now the city’s tallest office tower.  

3. San Francisco

San Francisco
San Francisco. Image by Free-Photos on Pixabay.com

San Francisco saw a little over 2.4 million square feet of office space delivered in the first half of 2021. More than 8.6 million square feet was underway as of June, representing 4.7 percent of total stock, with scheduled completions expected to bring the metro to pre-pandemic levels for office deliveries by year-end.

A Brookfield Properties joint venture is currently working on the billion-dollar 5M development in the city’s SOMA submarket, where Uber recently completed its new headquarters. Located within the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center, the four-building, 1 million-square-foot Mission Bay campus includes highly sustainable features, such as environment-friendly construction materials, a pedestrian-friendly location and construction-waste diversion.

2. Charlotte

Developers completed projects totaling more than 2.4 million square feet of office space during the first half of the year in Charlotte. Some 7.4 million square feet was under construction at the end of June, 8.9 percent of total stock.

Resembling Austin, deliveries were concentrated in Charlotte’s urban core, where two assets totaling 1.1 million square feet came. The Crescent Communities-owned Ally Charlotte Center, a 786,155-square-foot built-to-suit for Ally Financial, was the largest office completion in the metro.

1. Atlanta

Atlanta. Image by Eric Stokley on Pixabay.com

In Atlanta, developers stayed busy during the first half of 2021. In total, they completed six projects with a combined square footage of nearly 2.6 million. With another 6.6 million square feet in the pipeline—or 3.0 percent of total stock—Atlanta is poised for recovery.

The largest project to come online between January and June was located in Atlanta’s Central Perimeter submarket. State Farm Life Insurance completed Phase 2 of its State Farm at Park Center, encompassing nearly 1.8 million square feet across two buildings. Phase 1 was delivered in 2017 and consists of a 13-story, 590,926-square-foot building.

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