Columbia area 2020 industrial real estate demand outpaces available space

January 24, 2021

source: The Post and Courier Columbia

COLUMBIA — This past year was one of unparalleled growth in Columbia’s industrial real estate market, firms say, driving new construction and raising rents. And there are no signs of that slowing in 2021.

While the economic recession, caused by the coronavirus pandemic, has decimated offices, hotels and retail properties nationwide, the industrial sector so far appears intact.

New and expanding companies gobbled up 989,322 square feet worth of industrial space across the Midlands in 2020, and 447,720 square feet worth of new buildings was constructed, according to commercial real estate giant Colliers International.

There is also another 1.82 million square feet worth of space currently under construction — Lexington County’s 104,000-square-foot speculative building in Saxe Gotha industrial park, a 200,343-square-foot expansion at Nephron Pharmaceuticals, and the 1.26 million-square-foot White Claw brewery at Pine View Industrial Park. Another 931,000 square feet expected to break ground in the next 12 to 18 months.

Industrial rental rates rose 8.6 percent.

The scramble for available property is a far cry from predictions being made a year ago, when Cushman & Wakefield reported that new industrial construction across North America in 2019 outstripped demand for the first time after its yearslong e-commerce driven boom.

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