While there is no denying the effects of the national recession are affecting cities and businesses throughout the Puget Sound Area, Kent Valley\u2019s high number of manufacturing and warehouse properties is helping the city get through it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows us to weather the recession better than we might otherwise,\u201d said Economic Development Director Ben Wolters. \u201cIt\u2019s very strong and has been for quite some time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city of Kent contains more than 42 million square feet of warehouse space and its location halfway between the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, as well as easy access to highway corridors and proximity to the airport, make the Kent Valley very desirable to businesses, Wolters noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt creates a variety of spaces that can support a variety of business opportunities,\u201d Wolters said. \u201cCombined with Kent\u2019s strategic location … that really has driven a lot of businesses to want to be in Kent.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Kraig Heeter of GVA Kidder Mathews, a commercial real estate agency that handles many of the Valley\u2019s warehouse and industrial properties, the vacancy rate throughout the Kent Valley is a \u201cnear historic low\u201d of 4.3 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur market is still very healthy,\u201d Heeter said. \u201cWhen you look at the commercial market, the Kent Valley dominates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heeter said the city\u2019s retail component is minimal compared to the industrial sector, which he characterized as \u201chalf of (all available property) from Tukwila to Sumner.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even Kent\u2019s strong position won\u2019t be enough to insulate it totally from the recession, according to Heeter.<\/p>\n
In the past months \u201cnegative media attention on the economy\u201d has \u201ccreated a lot of fear\u201d throughout the business community that has led many businesses to put on hold plans to expand or move, Heeter said.<\/p>\n
That means it may get a little worse before it gets better, with vacancy rates potentially doubling before settling back down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not at the bottom, but we don\u2019t think the bottom is that bad,\u201d he said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s going to be disastrous.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for now, the low vacancy rates and a shaky market are creating opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s becoming more of what we call a tenant\u2019s market,\u201d Heeter said. \u201cThe demand is still strong and there\u2019s very little supply.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heeter said landlords are also more willing to drop rents or maintain them at current levels to ensure tenants stay in place, unlike in previous years when the market was booming.<\/p>\n
\u201cA year ago, they were getting asking rates,\u201d Heeter said.<\/p>\n
Wolters said there continues to interest in the city\u2019s industrial sector has remained strong and last month he spoke with a bio-diesel company looking to move to the area because of Kent\u2019s central location.<\/p>\n
Wolters added that over the past two years, the city has seen a \u201csteady stream\u201d of Seattle businesses relocate to or show interest in Kent because of increasing property values in Seattle or from being pushed out of their current location by redevelopment.<\/p>\n
Wolters said the city\u2019s industrial sector also allows it to maintain a high bond rating and was mentioned specifically in the report\u2019s narrative section as part of the \u201cdiversity and strength of the industrial base.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe warehouse, commercial and industrial job and business base we\u2019ve created here in the valley is vitally important for the rest of the region, but it\u2019s also key in terms of the future of the Kent community,\u201d Wolters said.<\/p>\n
Heeter agrees and sees much potential in the market for those looking to expand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be money to be made,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Kent commercial market has so many positive attributes that it\u2019s going to pull through this economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While there is no denying the effects of the national recession are affecting cities and businesses throughout the Puget Sound Area, Kent Valley\u2019s high number of manufacturing and warehouse properties is helping the city get through it. \u201cIt allows us to weather the recession better than we might otherwise,\u201d said Economic Development Director Ben Wolters. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-9466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9466"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=9466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}