The retail sector in the Albuquerque metropolitan area has been a bright spot at a time when office and industrial have mostly suffered.
Whether it’s Uptown’s new 165,000-square-foot Target and 23,000-square-foot Total Wine & More or the under-construction 50,000-square-foot Gordmans at Cottonwood Corners on the Westside and one soon to come at Coronado Center, new retail has come to fruition.
Retail vacancies dipped in the first quarter, as about 300,000 square feet was removed from the vacancy ranks. The retail vacancy rate dropped to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent in the fourth quarter and 9.3 percent in first quarter 2012.
At an upcoming meeting of NAIOP — the commercial real estate development association’s New Mexico chapter — a group of retail experts will analyze those retail patterns and take a peek into the future.
“NM’s Post-Recession Retail Market: Trends & the Next New Deals” takes place June 24 and features speakers from the commercial real estate retail industry. The speakers are divided into two groups, those that will present local market statistics and a group that will take a look at redevelopment issues.