(businessobserverfl.com) The swath is one of 10 “emerging markets” for distributors.

Commercial real estate brokerage firm Colliers International has ranked the Interstate 4 Corridor as one of the fastest-growing industrial markets in the nation.

In a report titled “The Top 10 Emerging Industrial Markets” the corridor from Tampa to Orlando came in second only to the combined Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson, South Carolina market, based on yield opportunities for investors; tenant expansion; industrial vacancy rates, population growth; absorption; development and recent rent growth and sales volume.

In addition to the I-4 Corridor and the swath of South Caronia, Colliers notes St. Louis, Mo.; Seattle; Savannah, Ga.; Sacramento, Calif.; Minneapolis/St. Paul; the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania; and Las Vegas also are among the Top 10 growth areas.

Distributors from Amazon to Best Buy and Publix Super Markets to Quaker Oats have been drawn to the I-4 Corridor in recent years because the area can serve a population of nearly 18 million consumers within a five-hour drive by tractor trailer.

Interestingly, of the Top 10 markets Colliers cited, only Savannah, Ga., tops the I-4 corridor for construction of new space, with 9.3 million square feet underway, vs. 8.43 million square feet in the I-4 Corridor.

Seattle is the only market with more net absorption, with an astounding 264.3 million square feet vs. the corridor’s 9.2 million square feet.

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