A recent analysis conducted and published by the Associated Press suggests businesses in Houston – and elsewhere around the country – could continue to benefit from employment improvements. The AP surveyed 32 economists in early May, with most agreeing that the nation's unemployment rate will fall beyond 8 percent by the time this year's presidential elections occur in November.

The unemployment rate currently sits at 8.1 percent, according to the Department of Labor, and has followed a fairly steady trend of decline since August 2011. Economists surveyed by the AP forsee a continuation of this trend, even in the face of economic challenges related to the European economy and climbing gas prices.

"The job market is improving enough that consumer spending can grow at a moderate pace as opposed to an anemic pace," Phillip Swagel, a University of Maryland economist, told the AP. "Businesses are finally confident enough to hire and invest."

Businesses in Houston that envision continuing growth may need to consider an investment in new retail or office space as they hire more people and stretch the capacity of their existing space. Working with a seasoned real estate consultant may position these companies favorably as they search for affordable Rice office space or Timber Grove office space.

The Patriot Tower had previously provided the Dallas area with more than 600,000 square feet of commercial space.

The vacancy rate among Dallas office space locations has remained quite low, thus driving up rent prices throughout the city. Local businesses could benefit from the construction of new commercial locations, but they could be discouraged to find out that one of the city’s buildings will soon lose the majority of its office space.

The 30-story, 615,000 square-foot Patriot Tower, which was built in 1979, is now under contract for sale to Encore Enterprises of Dallas. The building, located in Dallas’s Historic District just south of the KPMG Center, had been in foreclosure since last August. It was sold during a foreclosure auction in September 2011 to Quality Properties Asset Management for $11.9 million.

Now, the development group has announced plans to convert much of the upper two-thirds of the building from commercial space to residential housing. The building would offer residents a parking garage just across the street, which is connected to the high-rise by a pedestrian walking bridge.

“That’s a tremendously exciting concept for downtown,” John Crawford, the director of local economic development group Downtown Dallas, Inc., told The Dallas Morning News. “The building is right on the DART rail line and is a great location.”

Despite Crawford’s optimism and the housing opportunities the tower could provide to Dallas residents who want to live downtown, businesses could become even more strapped to find commercial spaces in Dallas. The lower one-third of the building will still house office space, but it may not be adequate to fulfill the real estate needs of business owners.

These individuals should turn to a provider of commercial real estate listings in the Dallas area, so that they can find the ideal space for their needs.

The buildings represent the first significant office space development in downtown Austin in nine years.

Austin’s bustling downtown area sits in the cusp of another significant expansion following news that the area’s Market District – near Sixth Street and North Lamar Boulevard – would soon become home to attractive Austin commercial real estate.

Much of Texas’s sizable growth has been buoyed in Austin, where that development will provide local businesses with access to 70,000 square feet of retail space and almost 500,000 square feet of office space. The Austin Business Journal reported on April 13 that four buildings will house that space, pending approval from city officials.

These new spaces will be a welcomed sight for many business owners in search of office space in Austin, as new commercial buildings have not been built in nine years, which has pushed up the occupancy rate for these spaces significantly.

Austin is not the only Texas city boasting this type of growth, as a recent NAIOP Research Foundation report ranked Texas the nation’s leader in the development of new commercial space throughout 2011. Last year marked the first time since 2007 that commercial real estate development increased.

“2011 was a transition year for the U.S. economy and the construction sector,” George Mason University’s Stephen Fuller, who was the study’s lead author, told the news source on May 7. “The U.S. economy shifted from a federal-stimulus to private-sector driven growth pattern and construction spending grew accordingly.”

As these new retail, office and warehouse spaces continue to expand, business owners in Texas should turn to an experienced provider of commercial real estate listings, which can help them to find the right downtown location or Rosedale warehouse space directly to the north.

A lack of hotel space near Houston's convention center negatively impacts local businesses, experts say

City officials insist that a lack of hotel space near Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center has contributed to a loss of revenue for local retailers, businesses and even the convention center itself. Reports say a number of Houston commercial real estate developers have risen to the challenge to propose as many 1,000 new hotel rooms for the immediate local area.

Dawn Ullrich of hotel operator Houston First told KUHF radio that the city has added around 2,500 new hotel rooms in the area since the year 2000, but added that many more are needed if the city wishes to remain competitive.

Reports say at least 11 developers have petitioned to construct new hotel space in Houston to serve the convention center. That would mitigate challenges with the current convention arrangement, in which guests are housed in hotels on the city’s outskirts and bussed downtown to the convention center.

“The bigger the convention, the more likely they are to bus and so when you add busing to convention costs, it adds expense and complexity and makes it more challenging,” Ullrich told the station.

More hotel spaces in downtown Houston may also indirectly benefit local businesses. With a larger number of convention guests residing in the immediate downtown area, local retailers and restaurants may be able to attract a higher number of patrons.

Downtown Houston continues to develop into one of the city’s thriving neighborhoods, with the demand for Downtown Houston office space for local businesses climbing steadily. Improving jobs figures have contributed positively to these trends – a recent Department of Labor report showed Houston added the second-highest number of jobs nationwide in March.

The Austin American-Statesman could soon be moving away from its location south of the downtown area.

The lakefront property in downtown Austin near the Congress Avenue Bridge, which has housed a major local newspaper, is on the market, but although many publications have been closing their doors recently, a sale of this property would not spell the end of the newspaper.

The location currently houses the area’s major newspaper – The Austin American-Statesman. Should Cox Media Group sell the property, the newspaper would presumably relocate to a location somewhere else in the city. The current property sits on 18.9 acres adjacent to Lady Bird Lake, just south of downtown. The 330,000 square-foot property is valued $39.8 million and would offer its new owners quite a bit of flexibility.

“There’s a lot of redevelopment going on in this town and around town,” Austin Business Journal editor Colin Pope told local news source YNN Austin. “The current zoning does not allow residential which might be a big draw back because a lot of these companies, when they redevelop downtown property, they want to build big high-rise condos or apartments.”

Although this would limit development somewhat, zoning laws allow properties on that parcel of land to climb as high as they want, which could draw in even more interested buyers. Austin, along with several other Texas municipalities, remain some of the most ideal locations for business owners to begin their operations.

Whether business owners take advantage of the newspaper’s location or prefer Brentwood office space in the more northern sections of downtown, they should be aware that considerable redevelopment is occurring in the area, which could be of benefit to them. To identify these properties, a business owner may seek assistance of a commercial office listings provider during their Austin commercial building search.

NASA had never had a launch site in Texas – space shuttles headed into orbit from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The same is true for private space exploration companies, including Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), which will make the world’s first privately funded launch this month from Florida.

However, a report in the Houston Chronicle says officials involved in Texas’ space programs have discussed the possibility of a SpaceX-funded launch site in Brownsville. A local spaceport would allow Texas to remain relevant in the space exploration sphere, said the report, since recent developments have brought the need for NASA office space in Houston into question.

NASA retired its space shuttle last year and would likely not have another rocket ready for space exploration for another 10 years, said the report. Since Houston has traditionally been the location where astronauts are trained and educated to later be launched into space from Florida, a local privately-owned spaceport might offer the state a stronger connection to the space program in light of NASA’s changes.

“We are pretty interested in the possibility of Texas and building a spaceport there,” Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, told the Chronicle. “There’s been a lot of good action by the authorities in the Brownsville area. There’s not been that much at the state level, and we’d certainly appreciate more from the state level.”

Many businesses have benefited from relocating to Houston.

Economic revival is on the horizon for business owners in the Houston area, according to a leading economist in the area.

Ted Jones recently addressed a crowd at the University of Houston Hobby Center For Public Policy, during which time he predicted that the local economy would add more than 70,000 jobs in each of the next three years. He also spoke favorably about retail sales, which he expects to increase, and about the growth of new commercial spaces.

In light of this assumed growth, Houston is already regarded by many as being one of the top cities in the country for small businesses, according to a recent survey by Thumbtack – a B2B communications service provider – and the Kauffman Foundation. The organizations conducted a study of 6,000 small businesses across the country and assessed all states and many cities along a variety of different criteria.

Houston received favorable ratings in a variety of metrics, including an A+ for zoning regulations, an A for hiring regulations and employment, and an A- for health and safety regulations. Its scores in the hiring costs, startup growth and licensing regulations trailed somewhat, but they were still high enough to help make Texas the state with the 14th highest rating for its current economic health.

“I look across the landscape of this fine state of Texas and see how rich the advantage is to conduct business here,” said one respondent who works as a marketing professional. “Someone who has a shoestring budget of $5,000 can begin building their brand across the wonderful state of Texas.”

Houston has a lot to offer business owners, but these individuals should plan ahead before they make a move to the city or move across town. By working with a local real estate expert who has access to commercial real estate listings, a business owner can focus on the operations of their enterprise and leave the Kingwood office space search to a professional.

Large individual offices with a ton of natural light, a few show rooms where their clients can sample flooring and other home finishes, and several vintage knickknacks that have been in the Frankel family for 3 generations.

A construction company in Houston will move its offices to Katy Freeway office space

While the economy continues to recover from its recent struggles, key pockets of the country have seen more dramatic turnarounds than others. For example, the market for Houston office space remains strong as a handful of thriving industries – including technology and energy – drive the supply of workers and the demand for new office space locally.

One local construction firm has announced its pending expansion to a piece of Katy Freeway office space, according to a report. The Houston Business Journal noted in a May 4 article that Construction Supervisors, Inc. – which is currently based out of a Bellaire office space – has signed a lease for 5,287 square feet of office space in a property on Katy Freeway.

That property – 11111 Katy Freeway, also known as One Katy Plaza – lists a number of available spaces on its website. Tenants can lease units in a variety of sizes between 551 and 3,833 square feet. Of its more than 166,000 square feet, more than 127,000 square feet of office space at One Katy Plaza is currently leased, with an additional 33,000 square feet available to rent.

The property includes a number of amenities, such as an on-site fitness facility, a range of security features and easy access to nearby restaurants and retail spaces.

Construction Supervisors, Inc. offers a number of services to commercial real estate clients, including pre-build scheduling and estimating, project management and cost control and sustainability consultation.

Other businesses considering an office lease in key areas of Houston such as Katy Freeway or the Rice Military area should contact an experienced real estate consultation. This professional can offer guidance and advice on how to secure the most suitable Rice Military office space.

Houston added the second-highest volume of new jobs nationwide in March

The economy as a whole saw significant improvement in the job market in April, but a handful of key metropolitan areas experienced greater gains than others this spring. Houston was near the top of the list for improving markets in March, following a trend of rising employment that was encouraged many local businesses to seek new office space for lease in key neighborhoods like Rice and Greenspoint.

According to the Department of Labor’s most recent national employment report, the United States economy added 115,000 new jobs in April, leading to a slight dip in the country’s unemployment rate – to 8.1 percent.

However, on May 2, the agency also released its metropolitan area employment summary, which provided data from March. According to that report, 267 metro areas around the country enjoyed employment gains, while only 96 saw figures decrease.

The New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island market saw the most significant monthly growth, adding 112,500 new positions. The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area was not far behind, as its employment market increased by 82,300 in March. That contributed to a 3.2-percent increase in Houston’s employment rate, said the report.

Increasing jobs figures have brought more residents and workers to the Houston area, which has benefited local businesses in more ways than one. Residential property owners have encountered a higher number of tenants leasing their properties, while businesses have a larger job pool from which to draw.

As those businesses look to conduct an office space search to support their relocation to larger pieces of Rice office space and Greenspoint office space, the expert consultation of a real estate advisor could prove valuable to locating an ideal property.