Xceligent: Cargill exit shakes up 3Q market report

Cargill’s exit from Springfield marked the largest occupancy shift in the local market during the third quarter, according to Xceligent’s most recent Market Trends report.

During the three-month period ended Sept. 30, the company finished uprooting its 125,000-square-foot meat slicing and packaging facility at Springfield Underground, located at Kearney Street and U.S. Highway 65.

In January, Cargill announced it would close the plant and lay off 188 employees.

Partially offsetting the vacancy loss was Southern Missouri Containers Inc., which occupied 57,400 square feet of light industrial space in northeast Springfield at 424 N. Cedarbrook Ave.

The industrial vacancy rate rose to 5.6 percent during the third quarter, up from 4.4 percent in the same quarter a year earlier, according to Xceligent’s report.

In the retail sector, Planet Fitness led movements with its 24,000-square-foot occupation of the former Price Cutter store at 1730 S. Campbell Ave. Party City also moved into its new 14,000-square-foot space, a $1.2 million facility at 2620 S. Campbell Ave.

Zenith Climbing Center LLC and Two Men and A Truck had the largest impact on the office category. The companies moved into 21,120 square feet of space at New Sunshine Technology Center, 3534 E. Sunshine St., according to the report.