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The chart illustrates the popularity of celebrity-owned restaurant openings in various U.S. cities from 2019 to 2024. Los Angeles is way ahead with 38 new celebrity eateries, showing its status as a top destination for star-powered dining. Atlanta follows with 24, highlighting its growing appeal in the food scene.
Other notable cities include Las Vegas with 19 openings and Phoenix with 18, both becoming major hubs for celebrity culinary ventures. This trend shows that celebrities are expanding their restaurant investments beyond traditional hotspots, tapping into new markets and bringing unique dining experiences to a wider audience.
Overall, the data reflects a shift towards celebrity-driven dining experiences across the country, with stars using their fame to create popular and exciting restaurant destinations in diverse urban areas.
In the first quarter of 2024, the U.S. industrial real estate market continued to face challenges with supply and demand.
For the eighth straight quarter, more new space was being built than was being occupied. Out of over 100 million square feet of new space completed, only about one-quarter was taken up.
On a positive note, leasing activity saw a modest increase of 2.2% compared to last year, totaling 178 million square feet, with lease renewals making up 35% of this.
Big leases, especially those over 500,000 square feet, went up by 8%, indicating strong demand for large industrial spaces.
Despite the boom in new buildings, net absorption, which measures how much space is actually being used, dropped to its lowest point since 2010 due to more businesses moving out. The amount of sublease space available also surged by nearly 10% over the last quarter, hitting 195.1 million square feet, the highest since tracking began.
This suggests that more companies are giving up their spaces, which might present opportunities for others looking for cheaper options through subleases.
Rents kept climbing, with the average asking rent increasing by 1% from the last quarter and 3.7% from last year, reaching a record high of $11.15 per square foot. The rent actually being paid also nudged up by 0.9% after a previous dip. These rising rents show that despite higher vacancy rates, demand for industrial space is strong enough to keep pushing prices up.
Construction activity was still high, with 125.1 million square feet completed in the first quarter. However, more than half of this new space—58.2%—remained vacant, driving the overall industrial vacancy rate up to 5.3%. This is an increase of 50 basis points from the previous quarter and 180 basis points from last year.
Meanwhile, new construction starts continued to fall, dropping to 32.8 million square feet, the lowest since the pandemic began and down by 52% from last year. This decline might signal a slowdown in future supply.
Regionally, the South led the way with 109.2 million square feet under construction, followed closely by the West with 106.6 million square feet. Phoenix stood out, with the highest net absorption at 4.5 million square feet and the most space under construction, mostly for speculative distribution facilities.
These regional differences show how various parts of the country are experiencing different levels of industrial growth and demand, shaped by local economic conditions and market needs.
