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| COMMERCIAL AND
INDUSTRIAL BUILDING New non-residential building in Ventura County jumped 46 percent in 1998,
to the highest level of investment of the decade. New retail space in Simi Valley and
Ventura, new office space in Thousand Oaks, and new industrial space in Oxnard accounted
for the lion's share of the new non-residential building activity started last year. |
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Industrial building was especially robust in 1998 in Ventura County. At $81 million, the level of new construction value permitted last year was the most since 1984. A total of 1.95 million square feet was completed, half of which was located in Oxnard. Another 2.3 million square feet of industrial space was started in Ventura County during 1998. Projects on the Oxnard plain contributed 1.1 million of the total square feet of industrial space started. In Thousand Oaks, the largest industrial project was the completion of the 260,000 square foot Amgen Administration Building. In Simi Valley, Micom Communications completed their 135,000 square foot build-to-suit headquarters building. New office development jumped 84 percent in 1998, the highest level of construction activity in the office market since 1990. Lease rates are now on their way up but fewer new office projects are planned to start this year. |
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 Most of the activity in commercial and industrial building occurred in renovations and additions to existing buildings. Improvements to commercial and industrial buildings that required permits jumped 45 percent to $89 million, the highest level of investment since 1987. Regarding space utilization in Ventura County, significant absorption of office and industrial space drove vacancy rates lower in 1998. The industrial vacancy rate fell to 7.8 percent in the County, the lowest rate of the decade. With the purchase of the three-building Northrup facility by IDS in 1998, 500,000 square feet was effectively removed from the vacant available base. Consequently, the average vacancy rate fell sharply in the east county, from 12.2 percent in December of 1997 to 9.7 percent in December 1998. Click on the graph to see a larger image. Office vacancies fell sharply to 10.0 percent at the end of the year compared to 13.8 percent for the prior year. Leasing activity in Oxnard, Ventura, and Camarillo was active. The office vacancy rate in Camarillo fell to a decade low of 8.9 percent. Retail vacancies remained steady at 6.8 percent. Both retail and office projects were relatively scarce in the County during 1998. The principal retail projects were Simi at the Plaza (360,000 square feet), and the renovation of the former Buenaventura Mall (1.06 million square feet). The mall is now renamed Pacific View. |
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