SURVEY of DOWNTOWN OFFICE SPACE May 2017
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SURVEY OF DOWNTOWN OFFICE SPACE May 2017 ROCHESTER DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 100 Chestnut Street, Suite 1910 ~ Rochester, New York 14604 (585) 546-6920 ~ (585) 546-4784 (fax) [email protected] ~ www.rochesterdowntown.com ~ The Rochester Downtown Development Corporation’s SURVEY OF DOWNTOWN OFFICE SPACE, May 2017 Executive Summary RDDC tracks nearly every building located in the downtown market, defined as everything within what was the Inner Loop plus High Falls, Upper East End, and Alex Park. Downtown’s commercial building inventory contains the region’s oldest office structures as well as its newest towers. This year, RDDC is tracking 10 million square feet in 115 office buildings. Of these, 86 are competitive buildings totaling 6.9 million square feet – 69% of all downtown space. RESULTS SNAPSHOT The May 2017 downtown office market story was mixed. Class “A” improved for the second year in a row, with Class “A/R” also showing signs of improvement. But overall vacancy was up this year, and absorption ran negative by 131,193 square feet since May 2016. Classes “B”, “Non-Traditional” and “Medical” all recorded increased vacancy, which was not anticipated. With changes in several buildings, the downtown office inventory grew by 63,266 square feet. Alexander Park and St. Joseph’s Park were the strongest neighborhoods for office space tenancy in 2017. Those recording the highest vacancy were the Midtown District and High Falls. Two of the remaining six downtown commercial neighborhoods notably saw significant improvement in occupancy – Washington Square and Manhattan Square. While the office market is undeniably weaker than in previous decades, there are a number of points worth making: CBRE Rochester reports significantly more tenant interest in downtown space than they’ve seen in the past 20 years. A total of 1.65 million square feet of office space has been removed from the downtown inventory since 2014 for conversion to residential use. The Midtown District continues to be more heavily impacted by this trend, which overall has been consistently “rightsizing” the downtown office market by re-purposing empty space. The vitality being created by the growth in the housing market as well as continuing development in the Downtown Innovation Zone (DIZ) represent important factors that will drive higher demand for downtown office space in the coming years. The growth of DIZ companies represents real net new occupancy, and one with a significant expectation of growth – some of it rapid. Two major tech incubators will have opened in Sibley Square by the first quarter of 2018. As these two efforts gain traction, the opportunity to create a cluster of new tech tenants in surrounding space will be very real. The Millennial tech workforce is demanding an urban presence, and downtown’s unique building stock and savvy developers offer highly desirable space for this growing population of knowledge industry workers and CEOs. A significant, wide-spread, and concerted effort to grow the regional economy will create greater opportunity to advance commercial market success in downtown office buildings. (Executive Summary, May 2017, page two) A small group of buildings with unique circumstances continues to more negatively impact the market, although more buildings saw an erosion of occupancy this year. We are also watching two key properties that will ultimately have a major impact on the downtown office market – Kodak Office and Xerox Tower. Both could be impacted by internal corporate decisions to downsize their Rochester presence and/or to consolidate real estate holdings and tenancy elsewhere. CLASS “A” IMPROVED FOR SECOND YEAR Class “A” space saw improvements in both occupancy and absorption between May of 2016 and May of 2017. Vacancy dropped to 22.6% (down 1.5%), and absorbed nearly 125,000 more square feet of space since last year. It also saw the reintroduction of over 106,000 square feet of space into the downtown market, 79,000 of which was in Tower280. Vacancy rates, however, still remain among the highest for Class “A” since RDDC began tracking the market in 1983. Buildings showing improved occupancy included Three City Center (up 76,249 s.f., M&T Bank); The Metropolitan (36,422, Datto); and Five Star Bank Plaza (23,682, Five Star Bank). Four properties saw occupancy drop, including Corporate Place (down 70,250 s.f., loss of M&T Bank); First Federal (33,550, Bergmann Associates); Riedman Tower (6,993); and, Legacy Tower (5,455). This category contains 12 buildings with a total of 3 million square feet of net leasable office space, and comprises 44% of the competitive office space market downtown. CLASS “A/R” VACANCY DROPS Vacancy in Class “A/R” dropped to 18.6%, down 1.3% over last year. Absorption increased slightly by 7,555 square feet. Four buildings recorded increases in occupancy since May 2016: 300 State Street (up 7,000 s.f.); Harro East (2,400); Temple (2,220); and, Parry (1,600). The Knowlton building saw decreased occupancy (4,900). One of the two smallest categories in the competitive market downtown, “A/R” represents high- end renovated space in older and more historic buildings. It constitutes 8% of all competitive office space downtown in 12 buildings with a total of 571,502 square feet of space. CLASS “B” – A COMPLEX STORY After plummeting to a 22-year low in 2015, Class “B” vacancy rose again in 2017 to its highest rate, 32.3%. Not surprisingly, the Class “B” category saw a negative 233,743 square foot absorption over May of 2016. Notably, when Kodak’s Building 10 is artificially removed from the numbers, the vacancy for Class “B” space drops to 26.6%. It should also be noted that one property with an unresponsive out-of-town owner (Executive Building) would have further increased the vacancy rate in this space category had they responded to the survey. (Executive Summary, May 2017, page three) Class “B” lost 53,370 square feet of space since last year. Five buildings recorded gains in occupancy: Kodak’s Building 10 (6,747 s.f.); 12 Aqueduct Street (2,600); One East Avenue (2,403); 100 Liberty Pole Way (2,000); and, 37 N. Washington (1,600). Nine experienced lower occupancy: Sibley Square (200,000, loss of MCC Downtown Campus); Alex Park/200 Alexander (16,000); Crossroads (14,300); Wilder (7,400); Valley Building (5,660); 150 State Street (4,128); Reynolds Arcade (3,500); Radisson Hotel (3,015); and, Court- Exchange (400). The Class “B” category now comprises 37% of the competitive office space market downtown in 33 buildings with 2.58 million square feet of space. NON-TRADITIONAL SPACE VACANCY RISES Vacancy in the “Non-Traditional” category rose to 18.4% (up 6%) – still the second lowest vacancy rate recorded since the category was created in 2003. Although the category grew by a modest 2,500 square feet with the reintroduction of the Jonathan Child House, non-traditional space tenants occupied 32,307 less square footage than they did in May 2016. Buildings reporting increases in occupancy included: Water Street Commons (up 11,033 s.f.); Cascade Center (4,400); 234 Mill Street (1,000); and, Cascade Commons (523). Occupancy dropped since last year in eight buildings: Columbus Building (15,000 s.f.); 40 Franklin (6,990); Michaels Stern (5,301); Seventeen Main Street East (4,000); Rochester Club (3,950); 41 Chestnut (3,500); Fitch (2,638); and, Buckingham Commons (2,586). Created in 2003, the “Non-Traditional” Class category has been generally defined to include buildings with the following characteristics: ▪ Unconventional floor plates, layouts, spaces and features; ▪ Locations that are often off-center, out of the primary commercial neighborhoods. By definition, most of these buildings are difficult to market as conventional office space. However, many are considered trendy and tend to attract innovation companies and creative enterprises (e.g., tech companies, architecture and design firms, marketing and advertising companies, artists). The “Non-Traditional” class comprises 8% of downtown’s competitive office market, totaling 575,065 square feet in 25 buildings. MEDICAL SPACE DOING WELL This category includes doctors’ offices, one of Rochester General’s Imaging Department locations, a pharmacy, a University of Rochester medical clinic, and blood lab space. Vacancy is up slightly this year (fully occupied over the past four years), but still remains incredibly low at 3.7%. The two properties reporting lower occupancy were Alex Park/222 Alexander (4,500 s.f.) and, the Medical Offices at Alex Park (1,076). (Executive Summary, May 2017, page four) The smallest category, RDDC added “Medical” space in the 2010 Survey. It contains four buildings with 150,292 square feet of space, and comprises 2% of downtown’s competitive office market. Notably, 92% of downtown’s “Medical” space is located in the Alexander Park neighborhood, on or near the former Genesee Hospital campus. NON-COMPETITIVE SPACE GROWS SLIGHTLY Defined as buildings where the owner is the sole occupant, the 29 “Non-Competitive” buildings downtown (Class “N/C”) in 2017 totaled 3.1 million square feet, up 7,929 square feet since last year. Class “N/C” includes such properties as Kodak Office, City Hall, and ESL Federal Credit Union, and are all treated as 100% occupied in the Survey of Downtown Office Space reports. “Non- Competitive” space now constitutes 31% of the total downtown office market. Notably, the remaining Kodak Office space looms as a future issue, in spite of spinning off the Carestream and MCC components, and reclassifying its empty Building 10 to Class “B” status. Kodak’s world headquarters once housed 5,000 employees but now houses only 400. VACANCY VARIES BY DOWNTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD The downtown commercial market breaks out into nine distinct neighborhoods, each with its own character and typical tenant profile.