Industrial space bucks real estate trend

By James Thorner, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Apr 25, 2008 06:54 PM

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As residential and office property keeps licking its wounds, industrial property keeps ticking off profits. Industrial space, including warehouses, has largely dodged the real estate turmoil. Vacancy among the region's 194-million square feet of industrial space amounted to 6.2 percent in the first three months of 2008, according to the Colliers Arnold real estate firm. Large leases, including the absorption by Corvest Promotional Products of 150,000 square feet of the former Eckerd headquarters in Largo, have helped keep the industrial segment afloat. Bulk goods such as cement coming into the Port of Tampa also stimulated demand. The Tampa Bay area ranks as 12th lowest for vacancies in the United States. The national vacancy rate is 8.1 percent.