And there is even more land to be obtained. While Pierce County is receiving considerable attention as an industrial base with more development and tenants entering the market, this is a market that has grown partially by the decreasing options in King County. If the market further softens, more options will be created and more tenants will focus north, putting an upward pressure on vacancies in Pierce County. Look at development trends. While these buildings could be broken into smaller spaces, the typical configuration would limit it.
Larger tenants are in a more advantageous position.
In the early part of last year, there were perhaps two existing spaces over 100,000 square feet available. Today, there are more than a dozen available. In the face of this, it is likely that smaller spaces will continue to be leased up, with larger spaces duking it out for larger tenants. Having walked the pavement of this industrial market for over 14 years, it is my impression that the adjustments we are seeing in the industrial market are simply a reaction to an overly hyped economy, not an indication of bad times. It appears to be simply an adjustment back to the norms more reflective of the years between 1995 and 1998, which as I recall, were pretty darn good.