The St. Louis industrial market saw record construction levels in 2019, with 6.29 million square feet completed, driven by build-to-suit projects. Notable projects included two buildings for World Wide Technology totaling 2 million square feet in the Metro East submarket. Overall vacancy rose slightly to 6.53% due to speculative construction deliveries, while rents decreased slightly and absorption remained strong at over 4.6 million square feet. The Metro East submarket accounted for over half of total vacant space but also the most construction, leasing, and positive absorption.

1. 1COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL St. Louis, MO Research & Forecast Report | Industrial 4Q 2019
Research & Forecast Report
ST. LOUIS, MO | INDUSTRIAL
Fourth Quarter 2019
New Construction Record
The St. Louis industrial market saw another record year for
construction bolstered by record new build to suit construction
and significant lease renewals that enabled continued high levels
of absorption. Construction completions hit a new record high of
6.29 million square feet (MSF) in 2019, slightly higher than the
previous record of 6.28 MSF in 2016. This new record was driven
by build-to-suit construction deliveries and absorption, also at a
record level of almost 4 MSF. Overall leasing and especially sales
activity remain high as well.
Although speculative construction deliveries in 2019 were the
lowest in five years, the projects that were delivered this year
combined with existing vacant spec space to push vacancy rates
up. The industrial market ended 2019 with an overall vacancy
rate of 6.53%. This is a slight increase from 6.25% in 2018
but very close to the five-year average of 6.49%. The direct
average asking rental rate at year-end was $4.35 per square foot
(PSF). This is higher than third quarter’s rate of $4.29 PSF but
lower than the $4.86 PSF rate from this time one year ago. The
Metro East, St. Charles County, and North County submarkets
had the highest concentrations of positive absorption in 2019.
These same submarkets also experienced the highest levels of
new construction. The Metro East submarket had one of the
highest vacancy rates in the St. Louis industrial market with
approximately 22% of the total vacant space in the market. This
submarket has attracted the highest level of new construction
over the last two years and currently offers almost 2.6 MSF of
vacant bulk industrial space with an average building size of
645,000 SF.
The 6.29 MSF of construction completions in the St. Louis
market in 2019 is an historic high, coming in just 3,000 SF ahead
of that in 2016. Construction deliveries were highest in the
Metro East and St. Charles County submarkets each garnering
YEAR-TO-DATE CONSTRUCTION & ABSORPTION
MARKET INDICATORS
ABSORPTION
RENTAL RATE
CONSTRUCTION
VACANCY
Q3 2019 Q1 2020
FORECAST
Q4 2019
UNDER CONSTRUCTION BY BUILDING TYPE
Build-to-Suit Speculative
28.5%
71.5%
UNDER CONSTRUCTION BY SUBMARKET
St. Charles
County
Airport
Earth City
Westport
St. Louis City Hanley
Metro East
North County
Fenton
5.4%
21.%
8.6%
6.4%
35.7%
7.3%
5.4%
1.1%

2. 2COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL St. Louis, MO Research & Forecast Report | Industrial 4Q 2019
HISTORIC SALES & LEASING ACTIVITY
55.8% and 30.2% of total new construction respectively. The
three largest deliveries of 2019 were all build-to-suits projects
including the two-building, 2-MSF World Wide Technology
campus in Gateway Commerce Center (in the Metro East),
followed by the new 855,080-SF Amazon Fulfillment Center
delivered in Premier 370 Industrial Park in St. Charles County.
Build-to-suit construction contributed 63.2% of all construction
deliveries in 2019 compared to 42.2% in 2018 and only 8.7% in
2017. Speculative development totaled 2.3 MSF in 2019. As of
year-end 2019, these newly delivered spec buildings were 86.7%
vacant, adding over 2 MSF of vacant space to the market (with
more than half of that in the Metro East submarket). In addition,
at the end of 2019, 66.4% of the speculative space delivered in
2018 was still vacant.
World Wide Technology’s transactions had the greatest impact
on the market in 2019. In addition to its new 2-MSF campus
in Gateway Commerce Center, Worldwide Technology renewed
leases in both of its existing buildings in Lakeview Commerce
Center, bringing their total footprint in the Metro East to
approximately 3.65 MSF. GEODIS renewed its lease of 763,471
SF at 27 Gateway Commerce Drive and Medline Industries, Inc.
renewed its 375,200 SF at 1659 Sauget Business Boulevard,
both in the Metro East. Pepsico leased 269,000 SF at 5400 North
Hanley Road in NorthPark Business Park, the largest transaction
in the North County submarket.
Industrial building sales have been incredible over the last
three years with 11.6 MSF in 2017, 10.6 MSF in 2018 and
a new record of a whopping 12.3 million square feet in 2019.
The largest individual building sale of the year was the sale of
21-27 Gateway Commerce Center Drive to Exeter Property Group.
This 1.06-MSF building sold for $48,500,000 and was 100%
occupied. Colony Capital, Inc. sold its 60-MSF light industrial
portfolio of 465 assets to Blackstone Real Estate Partners IX for
an estimated $5.7 billion. The portfolio included nearly 1.4 MSF
of industrial space in the St. Louis market.
The U.S. economy added 145,000 jobs in December and ended
the year with an average of 175,000 jobs added each month,
per the Labor Department. This rate of job growth is strong but
lower than the average of 223,000 jobs added each month in
2018. The Federal Reserve reported that the unemployment rate
for the St. Louis region was 3% in November 2019. This is a
slight rise from 2.7% in October of 2019 and 2.9% for November
of 2018. The unemployment rate in the St. Louis Metro Area
CONSTRUCTION COMPLETIONS BY BUILDING TYPE
is still lower than the national rate of 3.5%. The U.S. Bureau
of Labor reported manufacturing in the St. Louis Metro Area
grew by 1.8% year-over-year (per November numbers) and the
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities sector grew by 2.1% year-
over-year. Both of these sectors are very sensitive to outside
influences. Although uncertainty remains, the current trade war
truce indicates a positive change for the future.
Build-to-Suit Speculative
63%
37%
CONSTRUCTION COMPLETIONS BY SUBMARKET
55.8%
0.3%
RECORD LEVELS
CONSTRUCTION COMPLETIONS
6.29 MSF
OF CONSTRUCTION IS EQUAL TO
4.2 Busch Stadiums
30.2%
7.8%2.7%
0.3% 1.6%
1.3%
Chesterfield
Earth City St. Louis City
Metro East
North County
Fenton St. Charles County
West County

3. 3COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL St. Louis, MO Research & Forecast Report | Industrial 4Q 2019
INDUSTRIAL MARKET BY SUBMARKET
SUBMARKET
NUMBER OF
BUILDINGS
EXISTING
INVENTORY (SF)
OVERALL
VACANT SPACE
(SF)
OVERALL
VACANCY RATE
YTD NET
ABSORPTION
(SF)
UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
(SF)
YTD
DELIVERIES
QUOTED
RATES
Airport 211 18,981,001 1,060,511 5.59% (98,870) 1,014,019 0 $4.11
Earth City 289 24,576,622 2,468,081 10.04% (426,247) 0 100,000 $3.85
Westport 419 16,859,614 1,019,280 6.05% 234,789 0 0 $4.55
St. Louis City 860 62,362,733 3,194,028 5.12% 96,523 154,337 80,000 $6.34
Metro East 252 36,259,703 3,615,026 9.97% 2,560,492 153,500 3,510,902 $3.88
Mid-County 464 19,836,017 813,698 4.10% (39,300) 0 0 $5.16
Chesterfield 129 4,572,323 296,288 6.48% (65,804) 0 20,000 $6.58
Hanley/Brentwood 188 5,458,269 59,151 1.08% 112,539 206,308 0 $7.44
Fenton 314 14,449,710 1,111,071 7.69% 225,309 182,400 169,000 $6.91
South County 195 8,180,583 130,370 1.59% 197,683 0 0 $8.74
North County 67 6,280,968 609,093 9.70% 794,145 472,552 493,000 $4.15
West County 37 2,101,957 41,023 1.95% 22,050 30,000 20,000 $4.44
Jefferson County 69 2,516,667 29,186 1.16% 0 0 0 $3.17
St. Charles County 439 23,876,516 1,632,763 6.84% 1,002,045 626,200 1,897,851 $5.11
MARKET TOTALS 3,933 246,312,683 16,079,569 6.53% 4,615,354 2,839,316 6,290,753 $4.35
Q4 2019 Submarket Snapshot
SUBMARKET COMPARISONOVERALL VACANCY RATE & DIRECT AVG. RENTS
INDUSTRIAL MARKET BY PROPERTY TYPE
PROPERTY TYPE
NUMBER OF
BUILDINGS
EXISTING
INVENTORY (SF)
OVERALL
VACANT SPACE
(SF)
OVERALL
VACANCY RATE
YTD NET
ABSORPTION
(SF)
UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
(SF)
YTD
DELIVERIES
QUOTED
RATES
Warehouse/Distribution (WD) 1,908 146,015,801 11,927,912 8.17% 4,513,783 2,758,358 6,133,142 $4.18
Office Service (OS) 1,139 34,392,187 1,660,568 4.83% (7,414) 80,958 39,251 $5.67
Manufacturing (MF) 886 65,904,695 2,491,089 3.78% 108,985 0 118,360 $4.83

4. 4COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL St. Louis, MO Research & Forecast Report | Industrial 4Q 2019
NOTABLE SALES TRANSACTIONS
PROPERTY SUBMARKET PRICE SF PRICE SF TYPE
21-27 Gateway Commerce Center Dr W Metro East $48,500,000 1,056,948 $45.89 WD
333 Rock Industrial Dr Earth City $17,445,000 839,345 $20.78 WD
Diamond Properties Portfolio
(4327-433, 4341-4349, 4355-4367 Green Ash Dr,
13884 Park Steed Dr, 4142 Rider Tr)
Earth City $23,150,000 649,689 $35.63 WD
65 Corporate Woods
(Part of 106-Property National Portfolio)
Earth City $31,005,321 556,287 $55.74 WD
13330 Lakefront Dr Earth City $21,155,000 542,600 $38.99 WD
NOTABLE LEASE TRANSACTIONS
TENANT SUBMARKET PROPERTY RSF TYPE TRANSACTION
World Wide Technology Metro East Worldwide Technology - Bldg 1 1,000,000 WD New Lease
World Wide Technology Metro East Worldwide Technology - Bldg 2 1,000,000 WD New Lease
Amazon St. Charles County 4000 Premier Pkwy 855,000 WD New Lease
Save-a-Lot Metro East 29 W Gateway Commerce Dr 420,000 WD
Renewal/
Expansion
Pepsico North County 5400 N Hanley Rd 270,000 WD New Lease
*Renewals not included in leasing activity
TOP UNDER CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
BUILDING NAME ADDRESS SUBMARKET TYPE CONSTRUCTION SF DELIVERY
Aviator 9
Aviator Business Park
6201-6243 Aviator Dr Airport WD Spec 415,439 Q1 2020
Hazelwood TradePort IV
(HTP 4)
1500 TradePort Dr North County WD Spec 407,552 Q2 2020
Cosmos Corporation 521 Pearl Dr St. Charles County WD BTS 240,000 2020
Aviator 8
Aviator Business Park
6200-6228 Pershall Rd Blvd Airport WD Spec 222,715 Q1 2020
NorthPoint Development 133 James S McDonnell Blvd Airport WD Spec 204,365 Q1 2020
TOP CONSTRUCTION COMPLETIONS
BUILDING NAME ADDRESS SUBMARKET TYPE CONSTRUCTION SF SF AVAILABLE
Worldwide Technology - Bldg 1 Gateway Commerce Center Metro East WD BTS 1,000,000 0
Worldwide Technology - Bldg 2 Gateway Commerce Center Metro East WD BTS 1,000,000 0
Premier 4000
Amazon Fulfillment
4000 Premier Pkwy St. Charles County WD BTS 855,080 0
Exeter - Building A
Gateway Commerce Center 1
5715 Inner Park Dr Metro East WD Spec 674,752 674,752
Gateway Tradeport 1 5106 State Route 111 Metro East WD Spec 543,740 543,740

5. 5COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL St. Louis, MO Research & Forecast Report | Industrial 4Q 2019
270
170
70
64
44
55
55
255
270
AIRPORT
NORTH COUNTY
EARTH CITY
MID COUNTY
HANLEY
FENTON
SOUTH COUNTY
Greater St. Louis Region
SUBMARKET MAP
N
JEFFERSON COUNTY
ST. CHARLES COUNTY
ST. LOUIS CITY
CHESTERFIELD
WEST COUNTY
WESTPORT METRO EAST

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