Where in the world did THAT come from?

Have you ever wondered where the shirt you’re wearing came from? Or the food you’re eating? Or maybe you’re curious to know the path that the new iPad mini will take before it arrives in your hands. It turns out that regardless of where you live in the USA there is a good chance your goods arrived first on the west coast and a very good chance those goods made a stop at a distribution warehouse in Utah. Take a look at the “Path of Goods Map” below that was published in a white paper by Dividend Capital Research and Dividend Capital Securities under the pen of Dr Glenn R. Mueller. The map will give you an idea why commercial real estate in Utah, and especially distribution warehousing in Utah, is a really good bet. If you need distribution space or would like to invest in a tenant occupied distribution center, give us a call, we’d love to show you around the market.

Salt Lake jumps to #21 in Markets to Watch

This week at the Urban Land Institute’s fall conference in Denver, the annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate report was released for 2013. Quoting the highlights from the report “Salt Lake City is tertiary by size, but the recovery is far along and impressive.’ A large gainer for investment prospects, Salt Lake moved from 30th to 19th. “Lots of high-tech companies are looking at SLC.”

With an unemployment rate of 5.1%, a population growth expected of 1.5%, and perhaps most telling the highest percentage of employment involved in construction at 6.1%, Salt Lake is doing very well in comparison to its peers. These drivers will continue to benefit owners and developers of Commercial Real Estate in Utah. With pricing rising at a fast pace in some of the top U.S. cities, secondary markets like Salt Lake may see more of a boost as investors seek better values.

Michael Jeppesen to Present at SIOR World Conference

This week Michael has been very busy preparing for the upcoming SIOR World Conference which will be held in Los Angeles next week. Michael will be a presentor for the Independant Brokerage Group Panel. In light of some of our recent successes in winning over listings from some of our national competitors, Michael's presentation will focus on strategies for Independant Brokerages to use to help win listings.

The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) is an organization of the world's leading industrial and office realtors. With over 3,000 members worldwide, SIOR represents today’s most knowledgeable, experienced, and successful commercial real estate brokerage specialists.  The conference will have agents coming in from all over the world.

Best of luck goes out to Michael, we know he will do a great job!

Them or Us?

TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT?

With the addition of more mass transit to Utah many developers and communities are engaged in Transit Oriented Development projects. These projects have had mixed success along the Wasatch front so far but appetite has remained steady and they will continue to be a large part of residential and commercial real estate in Utah going forward.

One of the TOD projects we are excited about is the Sugarhouse Streetcar which is expected to see $400 Million of private investment projects surrounding the Streetcar in the next five years.  Developers are also eying much of the surrounding properties near other proposed Streetcar stops between the heart of Sugarhouse and State Street for possible retail, housing and other commercial uses.

One of our current listings, a vacant Industrial building at 2255 South 300 East, is located directly on the Streetcar line next to one of the proposed stops. While its current use is an Industrial Warehouse with Office, we have had continued interest from multi-family developers, retail users and other community groups that would like to use the site for other uses.  While the current economics and desires of South Salt Lake may not justify some of the desired uses take a look at the site and see what you think would be the best use. An Industrial warehouse/office with great access to mass transit? Residential subdivisions? Apartments? A Church? Mixed use retail and housing? There are many possibilities.