By Russ Wiles | Arizona Republic
Valley hotels are feeling a sugar rush from Super Bowl visitors. Warehouses and other industrial properties around metro Phoenix are filling with tenants who found it too costly to locate in Southern California.
Office high-rises still struggle to cope with work-at-home policies, but apartment complexes are benefiting from tight housing. Brick and mortar stores are attracting consumers tired of shopping online.
In short, commercial properties around metro Phoenix are heading into the new year in generally good shape, propelled by the area’s industrial expansion, attraction of residents from other states and solid economic growth. Rising costs, labor shortages and other pressures are still present, though.
Those were among the highlights of a recent conference in Phoenix hosted by local chapters of the Institute of Real Estate Management and CCIM, which provides a professional designation for those in the commercial real estate industry.
Danny Court, a senior economist at Elliott D. Pollack & Co., tempered the mood with predictions for a mild recession this year, arguing that a slowdown is needed to get inflation under control. But a downturn, if one arrives, might not slow the Valley’s momentum all that much, Court added.
“Even with a recession, we’re predicting 2% job growth this year,” he said.
