If there’s anyone with the low down on the Commercial Real Estate scene across Virginia, it’s Nathan Hughes, the CEO and founder of Sperity Ventures, a Commerical Real Estate Broker and Business Broker.
Here’s some of the observations he has on Virginia’s retail space scene:
- Less empty space: There are fewer empty stores in Virginia compared to last year. This is good news for landlords but might make it harder to find a good deal on retail space.
- Rents are on the rise: Expect to pay more to rent retail space in Virginia, especially for bigger stores. Some areas like Winchester saw a big jump in rent prices.
- Leasing slowed down: While there’s less empty space, businesses aren’t leasing space as quickly as they were last year.
- New stores are coming: Construction of new stores is on the rise, particularly in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
Here’s a breakdown by category:
- Neighborhood stores: These smaller shops saw a slight increase in empty space, but not by much. Rents also went up a little.
- Big box stores: There are fewer empty big box stores and rents are climbing faster than smaller stores.
Where things differ:
- Richmond: The Richmond area is the only place in Virginia that saw more businesses move into stores than leave (positive absorption).
- Hampton Roads & Charlottesville: These areas saw the biggest jump in empty space.
- Blacksburg: Rents for stores in Blacksburg actually went down.
- Winchester: Rents for stores in Winchester shot way up.
