Columbia Shopping Center Market Softens During First Half of 2009
July 16, 2009
COLUMBIA, SC – July 15, 2009 – The overall occupancy level in Columbia area shopping centers dropped below 90% in June, 2009 for the first time in seven years, according to a market analysis just released by NAI Avant. Following strong expansion from 2004 through 2008 when almost 3,000,000 square feet of space was absorbed, there was a 400,000 square foot net loss during the first half of 2009.
Occupancy levels have remained strongest in the Lexington market (96%) among major retail areas in the Midlands region. Trailing in overall performance were the Dentsville/Decker Boulevard area (79%), Lower Richland (85%), and St. Andrews submarkets (86%).
Occupancy declined in all property types. The economic downturn has impacted local, regional, and national retailers alike and, as a result, we have seen a drop in occupied space in small specialty centers, neighborhood and community centers and regional enclosed malls, according to Ron Anderson, NAI Avant’s Vice President of Research. A number of submarkets, however, have continued to expand their occupied retail square footage even in this downturn, including Cayce/West Columbia, the CBD, Lexington, Red Bank, and the Northeast areas.
