The start of the year is a busy time for just about everyone. Friends and neighbors are looking to make good on shiny new resolutions, companies are taking steps to start things off on solid footing and, of course, property tax season is just around the corner. For those who own commercial properties, it also means property tax protests aren’t far off.

Although the idea of going up against authorities — or even in front of an appraisal review board — to dispute your commercial property tax assessment can be daunting, these efforts play a crucial role in ensuring you’re paying your fair share. When using a targeted approach, the process is fairly straightforward. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you contemplate whether a protest is the right move for your business.

Protests Should Be an Annual Occurrence for Any Commercial Property Owner

In a world where most of us attempt to avoid conflict, annual commercial property tax protests might seem counterintuitive — and uncomfortable. In truth, however, there’s no reason not to go that route. Protests of assessed values are successful in reducing bills more than 50 percent of the time, and
can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars through the years. As an added bonus, these efforts don’t impact your commercial property’s resale
value.

Having Your Ducks in a Row Can Make All the Difference

A little organization makes just about any process easier. Before diving headfirst into a commercial property tax protest, it’s important to know what you’re up against, and to plan accordingly. Click to read more at www.rednews.com.

If you’ve taken a recent trip to your local Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, you might notice some empty store shelves and rising prices. And it’s not just big names that are experiencing rising prices and food shortages, nor is it a simple fix. Are we slowly returning to early pandemic days of grocery hoarding?

The good news? Probably not. A recent report by Avison Young finds promising signs of improvement in the grocery world.

We talked with Avison Young Capital Markets Leader Erik Foster about the complex issues impacting our food and grocery supply chains today, as well as the role industrial real estate plays in a grocery company’s ability to deliver goods.

Could you talk about the factors that are contributing to the shortages we’re seeing now?
Erik Foster: What we’re continuing to see in the supply chain, and especially in food, is congestion. The supply chains are in a state of flux. The producers of food are having trouble getting it to the manufacturers, and the manufacturers are having trouble getting it to the consumer. There are also employment issues, which are contributing to both the manufacturing and the distribution of that food.

It’s not just one thing. It’s a very wholistic problem around food and how it gets produced and then delivered to the consumer. The supply chain continues to be stretched.

So it’s still a tail-end pandemic issue?
Foster: It is. What’s also starting to impact the consumer is inflation. We’re seeing prices spike. I do believe that the suppliers of food and the end product are retooling how they work. Hopefully the issue will start to alleviate itself as the pandemic wanes, but it is still an issue.

Do you think things will get worse before they get better?
Foster: From an industrial distribution standpoint, I think that our point of view allows us to see signs of hope that people are solving for the larger issue. I believe the worst of it is behind us.

Are the factors contributing to these shortages in 2022 the same as those in 2020?
Foster: Yes. In 2020, food manufacturers and processors were still moving through existing inventory and making their way through. We then started to see these shortages creep up as these factors that we talked about earlier started to impact the supply chains down the line.

How difficult it is today for grocery stores to attract labor? Are they struggling to find enough workers?
Foster: They are. Those types of jobs are in high demand right now. We’re seeing what people are calling The Great Resignation, and many people are leaving the workforce. That is impacting both white- and blue-collar jobs. The grocery store retailer is having the same issue as the warehouse distribution facility and the pork or protein producer in Wisconsin. It’s the same issue up and down the continuum.

What do you think is the main reason for these workforce shortages?
Foster: It’s the demand that’s being put on those who are hiring, and it’s the lack of people, since they have left the workforce. When looking for an employer, people are looking for jobs that don’t require them to go into a facility. Many people are enjoying working from home. We are hearing about all of these things with clients and owners of real estate, and all of it is affecting the supply chain.

Do you foresee it evening out, and how soon?
Foster: We believe that industrial will still be a highly sought-after product by both tenants and investors in real estate. You have high demand by tenants, constraints on delivery of new product and historically good fundamentals that are in favor of landlords.

These three things are going to continue for the foreseeable future, and I would estimate it to be well over 12 months. Possibly 24. How that impacts employees within these facilities and the tenants, I think is yet to be determined.

ve taken a recent trip to your local Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, you might notice some empty store shelves and rising prices. And it’s not just big names that are experiencing rising prices and food shortages, nor is it a simple fix. Are we slowly returning to early pandemic days of grocery hoarding?

The good news? Probably not. A recent report by Avison Young finds promising signs of improvement in the grocery world.

We talked with Avison Young Capital Markets Leader Erik Foster about the complex issues impacting our food and grocery supply chains today, as well as the role industrial real estate plays in a grocery company’s ability to deliver goods.

Could you talk about the factors that are contributing to the shortages we’re seeing now?
Erik Foster: What we’re continuing to see in the supply chain, and especially in food, is congestion. The supply chains are in a state of flux. The producers of food are having trouble getting it to the manufacturers, and the manufacturers are having trouble getting it to the consumer. There are also employment issues, which are contributing to both the manufacturing and the distribution of that food.

It’s not just one thing. It’s a very wholistic problem around food and how it gets produced and then delivered to the consumer. The supply chain continues to be stretched.

Supply chain stories continue to make headlines as manufacturers and retailers struggle to keep shelves filled, and consumers feel the pain of product shipping delays and price surges. This global traffic jam began when the logistics pipeline that delivers $1 trillion worth of electronics, games, toys and furniture each year was abruptly disrupted, leading to downstream effects for industries that provide critical components and raw materials. Not only are freight costs up, but the entire supply chain is backed-up, and it’s taking twice as long to receive goods as it did prior to the pandemic.

The bottom line is that the COVID-19 pandemic was the catalyst of supply chain problems and transitions that were already underway and were only exasperated. It’s impossible to point to just one reason for this back-up. It’s the confluence of multiple issues that has led us to rethink the true impact of supply chain and the domino effect that will have lasting effects across industries for years to come. Now, experts estimate things won’t be back to status quo until 2023.

This has particular implications for commercial real estate, from building material shortages in the development and tenant improvement phases of projects, to operators rethinking their strategies around offshoring production and leaning into just-in-time inventory strategies. Click to read more at www.dmagazine.com.

An exceptionally high note. That’s how 2021 ended for the U.S. industrial market, according to the latest research from JLL.

According to JLL’s most recent U.S. Industrial Outlook report, this sector saw record-setting rent growth in 2021 and soaring net absorption. And vacancy rates? They fell to minuscule levels.

The numbers tell the story. According to JLL, industrial tenants signed leases for 122 million square feet in the fourth quarter of last year. Industrial rents rose to $7.11 a square foot during the same quarter. That continues a long trend: JLL reported that industrial rents have grown by 11.3 percent since the fourth quarter of 2020.

Absorption stats were impressive, too. More than 141.8 million square feet of industrial space was absorbed in the U.S.market in the fourth quarter, according to JLL. This was just the continuation of a boom year for the industrial sector. JLL said that year-end net absorption totals exceeded 496.3 million square feet.

Overall, net absorption in the industrial space increased by more than 81 percent on a year-over-year basis.

And for the first time in history, the vacancy rate for industrial real estate dropped below the 4 percent threshold, with this rate falling to 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Who leased the most industrial space in 2021? JLL said that logistics and distribution companies leased 46 percent more industrial space last year than they did in 2019, while 3PL companies leased 41 percent more space during the same time period.

Overall tenants leased more than 500 million square feet of industrial space in 2021. This is the first time tenants have also cracked the 500-million-square-feet mark.

Not surprisingly, developers have been busy, too. JLL reported that developers completed nearly 89 million square feet of new industrial product in the fourth quarter of last year and 304 million square feet throughout the entire year.

Nearly two-thirds of the industrial buildings that these developers delivered last year were preleased, up from 45 percent in 2020 and 50 percent in 2019.

Investors haven’t been shy, either, about taking advantage of the U.S. industrial boom. According to JLL, investors sunk $143 billion in industrial facilities in 2021. That shatters the previous annual total from 2019 by 32 percent.

In the fourth quarter of last year alone, U.S. industrial investment activity hit $59 billion, good enough for an all-time quarterly record.

And for the rest of this year? JLL says that the demand for industrial space that the country saw in 2021 is expected to continue this year. JLL predicts that industrial rents will rise as demand outpaces supply. JLL also said that industrial vacancy rates might fall again this year if the availability of industrial space continues to shrink and net absorption keeps rising.