A recent study of available retail space located in the Branson city limits indicates that the market is nearly ninety-five percent occupied. The study was conducted by Bob Huels and Steve Critchfield of Commercial One Brokers and included over two million twenty-seven thousand square feet of available retail inventory presently located within the Branson city limits.

The criteria selected for analysis was broad in scope yet was categorized in segments so that sub-markets could easily be studied and defined as well. The properties included in the study had to be for retail use only, multi-tenant buildings of five thousand square feet minimum and within the city limits of Branson.

Commercial One Brokers gathered this information for each qualified property from sources that included appraisers, property managers, county records, and from in-house records maintained by the company. The data collected included total leasable space, occupancy rate, published or recent net rental rates, anchor tenants, common area maintenance charges as well as the age of buildings.

“Results for the overall market analysis demonstrated an extremely strong occupancy and absorption rate in the retail sector”, said Bob Huels of Commercial One Brokers. “The occupancy rate for the overall market is 94.6% as of September 30, 2006”, Huels said. The rental rates range widely and are more appropriately discussed within the sub-market analysis such as those buildings located on The Strip, the Gretna Road/Hwy 248/Hwy165 corridor, The Landing and the factory outlet stores.

“It’s clear that the momentum generated by the construction of Branson Landing has created the spark that has ignited the local retail market,” Steve Critchfield said. Recent reported sales tax receipts by the city of Branson and for Taney County as well, reflect the robust retail market conditions with high single and low double digit increases in tax collections.

The “Off Highway 76” sub-market is defined as any qualifying property not fronting on Highway 76. The majority of these properties are located on Gretna Road (expanded) which is defined as that corridor from Business 65 on the east thru Highway 248 and Gretna Road then south on Highway 165 to the city limits. This sub-market category introduced several newly constructed properties this year that are still in the initial “lease-up” marketing stage and thus reflect above average vacancy. The occupancy rate for this sub-market however was still a very strong 93.8%. In general, the rental rates were the highest for properties north of Highway 76. The range in net rental rates was $10.00 to $17.00 per square foot per annum, depending upon the age of the building.

The “Highway 76” sub-market was defined as any qualified retail property fronting on highway 76 except specialized properties such as outlet malls and the Branson Landing retail mall. The occupancy rate of this sub-market is approximately 95.9%. Actual occupancy was skewed slightly down due to the inclusion of one much older property that was included in the total. If that older property were removed from the data, an occupancy rate of approximately 98.2% would then be reached for this submarket. Net rental rates range from a low of $13.00 per sf/year to a reported high of $27.00 per sf/year. The properties that were generally built prior to 1997 received the lower range of rents. It is noted that properties of 20,000 square feet or larger in size and were less than eight years old typically demanded the higher rental rates.

The “Outlet Mall” properties were viewed as a sub-market due to the tenant type and marketing approaches they follow. Outlet Malls generally lease only to manufacturers and factory direct “off price” retailers. These properties are usually not available to general retail tenants. In reviewing this sub-market the current occupancy is 92.9%. Actual rental rates are not readily available or widely published. In discussion with local and national management firms, the rates are typically negotiated and are based on the total number of stores and the total amount of space a tenant leases throughout the country from a particular Outlet mall landlord. In addition, many of these tenants are leasing 10,000 sq ft plus stores in the market and may lease several hundred thousand feet through-out the country from one landlord.

Commercial One Brokers has categorized “The Branson Landing” as a sub-market due to the size and unique nature of the property. The Landing currently has a 96.5% occupancy rate. While this property certainly falls within the parameters of another sub-market, it also commanded rental rates much above any currently being paid in the area.

While the size, rental rates, quality and management are very dissimilar among the four sub-markets evaluated; there is only a slight variation in the occupancy rates. The major point of difference between the categories is the amount of total leasable space available.

Commercial One Brokers will formally update this report annually and will continually update the numbers internally. It is anticipated that in coming years, as more historical data is available, Commercial One Brokers will be better able to demonstrate and project annual absorption rates.

Commercial One Brokers is a full service commercial brokerage company that specializes in retail, office, site selection and investment properties in the Branson and Hollister markets. The company is located in the Branson Financial Center at 500 West Main, Suite 302-A, Branson, MO.

Commercial One Brokers LLC. make no assurances whatsoever regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or usefulness of any information contained or referenced in this report. Commercial One Brokers LLC. does not assume any risk whatsoever for your use of the information contained herein. Any questions regarding this information should be addressed to your own independent appraiser, attorney or other professional.

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