Akron Office Figures H1 2022

Summary

‒ Akron office saw a rise in absorption for the suburban market following the past two years of low activity.  The suburban market saw 5,576 sq. ft. of positive absorption; however, the overall Akron market saw (2,991) sq. ft. of negative absorption.

‒ Average direct asking lease rates rose from $17.40 in H1 2021 to $17.65 in H1 2022.

‒ Akron experienced a large decrease in the vacancy rate, from 18.5% in H2 2021 to 16.8% in H1 2022. This was due to a few office building conversions such as the Goodrich Apartments at 530 S Main St., which previously accounted for around 250,000 sq. ft. of vacant office space.

‒ The Richfield submarket saw the most Class A activity with 2,809 sq. ft. of positive absorption. Class A availability has decreased while overall availability has remained consistent.

‒ The market saw 545,722 sq. ft. of sublease space available with over 70% being Class A space. Fairlawn hosts most of the available sublease space at 207,786 sq. ft.

‒ A notable office property sale was the $16.6M purchase of 50 Executive Pkwy by the Benedict Realty Group in March 2022. The building is roughly 69,000 sq. ft. and is the headquarters of Diebold Nixdorf, Inc.