"We've come through a couple of tough years where growth was a little sluggish and fairly picky, you might say," explained Eggerer, who is now watching the industrial/service commercial vacancy rate decline in the Calgary metropolitan-area city.
"A lot of our buildings that were built new and that were sitting there empty for a year or two are almost full," said the veteran realtor, who estimates the industrial/service commercial vacancy rate at between 5 and 8 per cent - a number that used to sit at 25 per cent in parts of the city.
"Now if you came to me looking for a specific size, I'm going to have trouble filling that," he added.
The market is responding to the absorption of the last couple of years, with new buildings springing up most notably in the Gateway subdivision in the northwest according to Eggerer and fellow commercial realtor Andre Aubut of Re/Max Rocky View Real Estate.
"There's a ton of activity in the Gateway Development," explained Aubut, who says the spec inventory that was around is starting to deplete.
Still, there are good opportunities to rent or buy commercial and industrial condo space, with building shells starting at $250,000 and up, says Aubut. That's for something in the 1,500-to-2,400-square-foot range.
Both realtors say you can find industrial space at an annual rental rate of around $10 per square foot but, with the market tightening, that figure isn't likely to go down.
It just isn't to the point where rates have been pushed up noticeably, says Eggerer.
Airdrie's continuous growth (its growth rate the previous year was 8.37 per cent) seems assured based on several factors: its proximity to Calgary, strategic location on Highway 2, ease of servicing and proximity to Calgary International Airport.
Then there's its proximity to Alberta's biggest new mall, Cross Iron Mills, and all the new development in Rocky View County at Balzac.
While the mega mall was looked at as a big competitor for Airdrie several years back, Eggerer has come to believe it now fits well with the urban centre five minutes away.
"In a funny kind of way even though Cross Iron competes with us here, we're kind of complementary to each other," declared Eggerer, who has seen vacancies in south-end Airdrie commercial space fill in the last couple of years despite more development at Balzac in Rocky View. The Sierra Spring development on the west side of Highway 2 on the south end of the city is a good example.
Annexation
Airdrie took a big step in cementing its ongoing growth potential by reaching an annexation deal with its surrounding Rocky View neighbour. The result: Airdrie's physical size more than doubled in the past year with the approval by the province of an annexation of 12,640 acres of land. The uncontested annexation, approved in late March, was an accomplishment both sides could take pride in, noted Mayor Peter Brown.
The annexation of lands to the north, east and west of the city guarantees a 50-year supply of land for new residential and industrial development on either side of the province's busiest highway.
Of course, annexed land will need to go through planning hurdles such as area structure plans before new lots in what was Rocky View will be ready for Airdrie's physical expansion.
In the meantime, says Aubut, holders of light-industrial land are sitting in a nice spot, in part because vacant zoned industrial land simply isn't that available at the right price in Airdrie.
"I think with the absorption rate we're seeing in Airdrie, there's huge potential for anybody holding industrial property. We just don't have the zoning for light industrial in the city of Airdrie - anybody holding that type of inventory now is going to see some huge upswing in property values," predicted Aubut.
Certainly Airdrie's planners and politicians have had a busy few years, with 2012 surpassing estimated building activity for the year back in October.
Building permits
The first 10 months of 2012 saw building permits issued for $316.1 million in new construction activity, leaving Airdrie well ahead of its $277.5 million total for all of 2011.
Activity was up in most sectors, particularly residential and institutional - the latter thanks to school and city projects.
Most notably in 2012, Airdrie opened a new $10.4 million fire hall in the southwest sector.
Major upgrading of 24th Street on the city's western edge will facilitate further growth, as will another major waterline from Calgary and the city's start on Phase 3 of Genesis Place, a mammoth recreation facility just east of Highway 2.
Housing-wise, Airdrie's real estate values remained below the peak of five years ago but were on their way back up by fall. All in all there's optimism, thanks to growth and the key annexation approval. Said Eggerer: "It just means we're open for business."
from Western Investor January 2013
