Century 21 Commercial Newsletter February 2023

by Bob Patel

What’s in this issue?

> 5 NEW TECH HUBS TO WATCH

> REAL TRENDS: DOLLAR STORE LEADS THE PACK

> MIAMI’S DOWNTOWN MEGADEVELOPMENT SEES RETAIL INFUSION

5 New Tech Hubs to Watch

More U.S. cities outside the Silicon Valley are becoming major tech hubs now that workers can work remotely and choose less expensive cities of residence. These five showed the greatest tech job growth in fiscal 2022.

Houston, Texas: 45.6%. Nicknamed “Silicon Bayou” due to major tech employers Google, Asurion, AWS, Fiserv, Dell, IBM, Siemens and multiple VC-backed startups. Other top employers: Deloitte, Accenture, KPMG, JPMorgan Chase, UnitedHealth Group.

Orlando, Florida: 42.7%. Public transportation is comprehensive, there’s no income tax, and top employers include Kennedy Space Center, Lockheed Martin, Oracle, Deloitte, Disney, KPMG and Universal Orlando.

Detroit, Michigan: 41.6%. Automakers like General Motors hire tech pros for EV vehicles and next-generation car software. Recruitment has brought in Amazon, Microsoft and Apple’s Developer Academy. Other top employers: Deloitte, Accenture and General Dynamics. More pluses: strong VC development and a relatively low cost of living.

Miami, Florida: 33.6%. Forbes names it a national leader in new entrepreneurial ventures and opportunity, thanks to pro-business taxes and regulations and venture-backed platform eMerge Americas that “connects the dots between entrepreneurs, capital and talent pipelines.”

Irvine, California: 33.2%. The city’s push to attract tech employers is working; its 900+ tech firms include Edwards Lifesciences Corp.; Rivian Automotive Inc.; Iceye U.S.; TAE Technologies; Blizzard Entertainment; Frost Giant Studios; CalAmp Corp.; and Marathon Digital Holdings.

Retail Trends: Dollar Stores Lead the Pack

While some recent business news has centered around retailers reverting to online commerce, several have rebounded from the pandemic to re-focus on in-person shopping. In fact, U.S. retail vacancy fell to 6.1% in second quarter 2022, and Coresight Research points to 1,846 planned store openings by U.S. retailers this year alone. Some with major new stores, or pending plans:

Combined, Dollar Tree Inc. and Dollar General Corp. opened more than 1,300 net new stores in fiscal 2022.
Five Below projects 1,000 more stores within four years.
Burlington Stores forecasts 500 to 600 net new stores in five years.
Academy Sports + Outdoors plans 80 to 100 new stores within five years.
Boot Barn preps for 40 new stores this year
Barnes & Noble will add 30 stores in 2023.
Kohl’s strategizes for 25 new smaller-format stores in 2023, 100 total over four years — all in untapped markets.
Nordstrom Rack projects six new stores this year.
Primark plans for 10 new U.S. stores in 2023.
Ralph Lauren will install 250 new stores around the globe in the next three years.
VF Corp. (parent of North Face) will open 300 store locations worldwide over five years.

Miami’s Downtown Megadevelopment Sees Retail Infusion

Developers of the 10-block Miami Worldcenter announced in December they’ve successfully leased 75% of its planned 300,000 square feet of retail space. Tenants include high-end fitness center Club Studio; at least five restaurants; luxury electric car brand Lucid Motors; and multiple stores.

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