The recent changes in Fayetteville involve much more than the annexation of 1,200 acres on the city’s west side and the upcoming opening of Pinewood Atlanta Studios. The city appears to have come out of the Great Recession, evidenced by significant decreases in business vacancies, large jumps in the single-family residential permits and falling numbers of foreclosures.
A check of current commercial and industrial vacancies in Fayetteville showed continued improvement through the year and a dramatic difference in those rates in 2009.
Retail vacancies in the third quarter of this year totaled 9.86 percent compared to 12 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. Banking vacancies were reported at 9.16 percent during the third quarter compared to 14.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 and industrial vacancies were 10 percent compared to 16 percent during the same reporting period. Improvement was also seen in office vacancies around the city. The vacancy rate in the fourth quarter of 2012 was 19.55 percent compared to 16.71 percent in the third quarter of 2013.
As good as those figures are, they represent a dramatic departure from 2009 when the vacancy rate for commercial properties stood up 25 percent and the vacancy rate for office space was 30 percent.
Some of the recent commercial activity in the city is about to translate into open businesses. Panera Bread on Ga. Highway 85 North near the Fayette Pavilion and Twisted Taco in the downtown area will open in the next week and Truett’s Luau at the Waterfall commercial development on Ga. Highway 54 and Grady Avenue will open in December.
In another sign of the upswing in the local economy, the increase in the number of building permits during the past three years has been nothing short of dramatic. The city issued a total of four single-family building permits in all of 2011. That number increased to 39 during 2012. But things changed quickly in 2013. Through September, the most recent figures available, the number of single-family permits had risen to 137. Of that number, 98 had been completed and were issued a certificate of occupancy.
Another sign of Fayetteville’s improving local economy can be seen in the number of foreclosures. Comparing the numbers over the past four years, 2010 brought a total of 96 actual foreclosures compared to 109 in 2011 and 74 in 2012. Through September 2013 that number continued to fall to 36.
