I was recently at an investors conference on the west coast. There was discussion of great increase in tenants in the market looking for substantial amounts of space. The focus so far is in Gateway cities such as New York, Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Rates have already started to rise in San Francisco and New York as precious spaces are taken off the market. Rents have already risen back to 2007 levels in some buildings.
Computer Software and creative companies are leading the charge for the best spaces and buildings. Rent spikes are also driving developers to purchase land and start design of potential additional buildings. These other markets , like ours, are up against the cost of new construction. Which is still much greater than existing buildings. Our economy does not seem to be creating many of the jobs as described above but we can always hope that jobs get created and our vacancy rates go down.