The Berkshire Hathaway building for lease on Henry Clay Bouilvard in Liverpool, N.Y. © 2026 Adam Crooks
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — The city of Syracuse and its surrounding area are home to 47 million square feet of industrial space. To put that into perspective, that is 800 football fields or 530 Walmart stores worth of factories, warehouses, and distribution centers.
But over the last three years, these spaces have been part of a trend. In 2023, the vacancy rate was 2.8%; now it is 6.5%. That is a 3.7% jump and accounts for 1.7 million new square feet of vacant space. Some of that vacant space can be chalked up to a COVID-19 boom.
“We had a run on available space, so a lot of that vacancy was taken up. So, post-pandemic, you had this big run of development, so a lot of markets are playing catch-up. Well, we have caught up now,” said Dan Wagner, Chief Data Officer.Lee and Associates Atlanta office.
Sometimes it isn’t a run of space; sometimes big buildings can cause a spike in vacancy rate.
“There’s one building in particular that is 600,000 square feet that became vacant, that is the Rite Aid warehouse on Henry Clay Boulevard,” said Mark Austin of Pyramid Brokerage in Syracuse.
That’s 12% of the 3 million vacant square feet. The good news for the region is that Micron and its supporting businesses are expected to cause the vacancy rate to drop significantly.
“I would think overall probably 2 to 2.5 [percent] … it sounds long, but five to 10 years,” said JF Real Estate Saleswoman Peyten Shirley.
A report from the Texas Real Estate Research Center says that when industrial vacancies decrease, hiring increases. Syracuse’s unemployment rate was 3.3% at the end of 2025, well below the national average of 4.6%.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: From COVID boom to cooling market: Syracuse industrial vacancy jumps
Sydney Cuillier: Vacancy rates across central New York on industrial properties are reaching their highest level since covid.
Adam Crooks: Both Buffalo and Rochester have vacancy rates of 6.7% with Syracuse just trailing at 6.4%.
Crooks: The city of Syracuse and its surrounding area are home to 47 million square feet of industrial space. To put that into perspective, that is 800 football fields or 530 Walmarts worth of factories, warehouses, and distribution centers. But over the last three years, these spaces have been part of a trend. In 2022, the vacancy rate was 2.8%; now it is 6.5%. But Lee and Associates’ Dan Wagner says that is expected after COVID.
Dan Wagner: “But we had a boom during the pandemic, and we had a run on available space, so a lot of that vacancy was taken up. So, post-pandemic, you had this big run of development, so a lot of markets are playing catch-up. Well, we have caught up now.”
Crooks: Mark Austin of Pyramid Brokerage in Syracuse says sometimes big buildings can cause a spike in vacancy rate.
Mark Austin: “There’s one building in particular that is 600 thousand square feet that became vacant, that is the Rite Aid warehouse on Henry Clay Boulevard.”
Crooks: That’s 12% of the 3 million vacant square feet. The good news is that Payten Shirley of JF Real Estate expects Micron and its supporting businesses to have a significant impact on the vacancy rate.
Payten Shirley: “I would think overall probably yeah, 2.. 2.5 within… uh… it sounds long but five to ten years.”
Crooks: A report from the Texas Real Estate Research Center says that when industrial vacancies decrease, hiring increases. The Syracuse unemployment rate was 3.3% at the end of 2025, well below the national average of 4.6%. Experts say Micron and its supporting business should drop unemployment even lower.