Hurt by Sears and Pick ‘n Save store closures, the southeastern Wisconsin retail real estate market had negative absorption of 171,351 square feet of space during the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the latest quarterly report from Xceligent and the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin.
A majority of the negative absorption can be attributed to Sears closing its store at Bayshore Town Center in Glendale and Pick ‘n Save closing its Greenfield Avenue location in West Allis.
The region’s retail market was boosted by Festival Foods opening a store in a 70,712-square-foot space at Racine Village Center.
The region’s retail space vacancy rate rose from about 8.5 percent in the third quarter to about 8.7 percent in the fourth quarter.
