Utah's strong economy and the state's ability to attract new businesses could backfire somewhat because of a lack of large buildings, according to Mike Falk, an industrial specialist with Consolidated Realty Group, who brokered the sale of the last large building in Salt Lake County.
The sale of the former 174,624-square-foot R.R. Donnelly Building on 37 acres at 4646 S. 5400 West, to Dana Corp., an Ohio-based vehicular products distributor, removed the last large free-standing building in the county from the market."The lack of large buildings for sale makes it especially difficult for companies outside the state that have an immediate need for facilities here. In the past, buildings larger than 100,000 square feet in size have been on the market an average of 36 months, but the Donnelly facility sold in just three months," Falk said.
Several developers have responded to low vacancy and a high demand for industrial space with new speculative buildings currently under construction. Although these projects will add more than 600,000 square feet of new space to the market, none are available for sale, Falk said.