Office, Industrial Vacancy Rate High in Ventura Area

The retail vacancy rate in Ventura County is only 2%, but the office vacancy factor is 18% and the industrial space vacancy rate was 20% and climbing at the beginning of the year, according to a forecast by Grubb & Ellis Commercial Brokerage Services.

According to the firm’s study, 739,000 square feet of new office space will come on the market this year, up from just 135,000 square feet completed in 1986. Oxnard will lead all the other cities in the county, with 311,000 square feet coming on stream this year, most of which is in the 22-story Union Bank Tower being developed by Martin V. Smith & Associates.

There was a surge of industrial construction last year, with 3.3 million square feet of space coming on line. Another 2.3 million square feet is scheduled to be completed in 1987, according to Timothy P. Foutz of Grubb & Ellis.

In another study by the Siracusa Co., Westlake Village, for Continental Land Title Co., Camarillo, the city of Camarillo had nearly 1.1 million square feet of vacant industrial space, followed closely by Simi Valley with 1.075 million square feet and Thousand Oaks-Westlake Village-Newbury Park with 425,503. Oxnard, Ventura and Moorpark each had just under 300,000 square feet of vacant industrial space.

According to Grubb & Ellis, only 2%, or 215,000 square feet of the existing base of 9 million square feet of retail space in neighborhood and community centers was vacant. Of the 400,000 square feet of new retail space that came on the market last year, 300,000 square feet was absorbed, according to James A. Perell of the Ventura office of Grubb & Ellis.

“Major retailers who moved here (Ventura County) in the past 18 months include Price Club, Builder’s Square, Federated, Ross and Toys R Us,” he said.