Industrial and retail vacancies fall in area

There were fewer empty industrial and retail establishments in Salt Lake County as vacancies dropped in the first half of 2004, according to a new report.

Industrial vacancies dropped to 9.6 percent in the six months ended June 30 compared to 10.45 percent for the first half of 2003, according to Commerce CRG.

Industrial space includes warehousing, manufacturing and distribution businesses — areas that have recently experienced weakness in Utah and throughout the country.

Salt Lake County's industrial space amounts to 97.7 million square feet, nearly twice the combined square footage of retail and office space.

"We've seen much more activity," said Gloria Gustin, principal broker for Ninigret Park Realty. "At one time people weren't even looking. Then they were looking, but not signing. Then another phase was to sign and get an early out. And the market now is just beginning to get stronger."

Ninigret Park, which encompasses roughly 2.5 million square feet of industrial and office space, in May signed a lease for 88,000 square feet with Smurfit-Stone Container, which distributes corrugated paper. The park has about 143,000 square feet of available industrial space.

On the retail side, vacancies dropped to 6.73 percent in the first half of 2004 compared to 7.32 percent during the same period a year ago.

The retail vacancy rate includes shopping malls, which overall are reporting a 12.5 percent vacancy rate. If malls are subtracted out of the equation, the report said, the retail vacancy rate falls to 5.21 percent.

Mike Lawson, president of Commerce CRG, said the falling vacancies represent a healthy economy.

"Everybody was hoping nine months ago it wasn't just a fluke," Lawson said. "It appears to be a real resurgence, growth in every sector of the market."

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com