By Kyle Backer | AZ Big Media
Industrial development in Greater Phoenix has seen an impressive growth streak in recent years, with an unprecedented amount of investment coming to the Valley. Other sectors, such as retail and office, have struggled in the post-pandemic landscape, with some product types outperforming others within both segments. As 2024 nears its halfway point, here’s what experts see as bright spots and the state of commercial real estate and the challenges that lie ahead.
“Our [members of Valley Partnership] remain cautiously optimistic,” says Clark Princell, president and CEO of Valley Partnership. “But this is the market I’d choose to be in over anywhere else. We have explosive in migration growth, combined with the thoughtful actions taken by folks post-recession to lay the groundwork for the benefits we’re seeing in our evolving economy that now involves semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries and logistics. Even if there is a national slowdown or downturn, we won’t be impacted the same way as other states.”
From his conversations, Princell says that the industrial growth has slowed, but people seem more optimistic recently than they were four or five months ago. Molly Carson, executive vice president and market leader of the Southwest region for Ryan Companies, agrees that activity has slowed, but was at a frenzied pace not long ago.