Maine was certainly not immune from the well documented market collapse. All major sectors of the commercial real estate industry were affected. The retail vacancy rate in Greater Portland rose from a modest 6.05 to 10.8%*. The office market, especially in suburban areas, saw significant increases in vacancy as companies began to layoff employees and downsize.

The industrial sector experienced a slashing of lease rates as Landlords fought to retain tenants and attract the few prospective tenants that were available. Overall, the downturn certainly represented the worst collapse for the Maine commercial real estate market since September 11, 2001. (Continued on PDF)

This property comprises three buildings that offer the least expensive office options in Portland. Building C is a 6,400-square-foot, free-standing building available in its entirety for $2.50 per square foot Modified Gross. Unit A-2 in Building A consists of 4,950 square feet of high-quality office space, available for $5.50 per square foot Modified Gross. Both deals are available for tenants who sign five-year deals with annual increases. The property includes on-site free parking and is convenient to I-95 and all locations in Greater Portland. Additionally, smaller office units between 1,500 and 2,200 square feet are available at very competitive rates.

The Maine Mall bustles with shoppers on a late-winter weekend, but on a midweek morning, the scene is quiet.

Done with their daily walk, the silver-haired set fills some of the tables at the food court. Mall workers unobtrusively water plants and sweep debris from the corners, but shoppers are largely absent. This is the time of day, when many people are at their workplaces, that the economic recession’s toll on the retail sector becomes apparent.

It’s going to get worse before it gets better. That phrase wasn’t what attendees wanted to hear, but that was the take-away message at the Maine Real Estate and Development Association’s 2009 Annual Real Estate Forecast Conference, held Jan. 29 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. Presenters from all of Maine’s real estate sectors — office, industrial, residential and hospitality — provided, with varying degrees of grimness, a 2008 year-in-review and predicted an even tougher year in 2009. Maine’s retail market was no exception. The state, like the nation, is suffering from what industry experts are calling the market ’s worst contraction in 35 years, as national retailers like Circuit City and Linens ‘n Things go out of business. The sour market has also put the brakes on retail development in the state, including the planned $8 million expansion of the Maine Mall, which owners General Growth Properties recently decided to postpone indefinitely becaus e of the weak economy — the second planned expansion the Chicago firm has scrapped in Maine since 2008. (Continued on PDF)

Some of the storefronts that line the heart of one of Maine's iconic shopping districts are emptying.

In the past few months, a number of shops have moved out of Portland's Old Port to less expensive locations, or have shut down completely.

The recession, coupled with comparatively high rents, has led to the flight of many stores, say retail market watchers. The Old Port's market, once red-hot, has cooled considerably in the past two years, since the days when merchants vied for space along the district's most popular tourist routes.

The trend mirrors what is happening in many other such locations nationally, such as Boston's Newbury Street.

"We are seeing this migration of tenants," said Matthew Cardente of Cardente Real Estate, a Portland commercial real estate company.

Store closings along the busiest street in the Old Port – Exchange – highlight what has happened in recent months.

Edith & Edna's, a craft gallery at 51 Exchange St., and Simply Chic women's clothing shop at 28 Exchange St. announced late last fall that they would be closing for good after Christmas. (Continued on PDF)