MARKET WA T C H A Future Bright Spot for Bearish TABLE 3 Reduction in Space Allocations, 1994 to 2002 Building Construction Market Sq. Ft. per person, average Title or Function 1994 2002 % drop By Joe Salimando Executives, upper management 289 239 -17% P Senior managers 200 169 -15% rivate nonresidential build- strong only on the West Coast, Middle managers 151 126 -16.5% ing construction is facing a driven by Asian imports. Senior professionals 115 97 -16% Retail The Web isn't destroy- long-term bear market. Technical professionals 90 79 -12% ing store-based retail as once Why? Senior clerical staffers 81 79 -2% Manufacturing McGraw- feared, but it is slowly acquiring General clerical staffers 69 66 -4% Hill Construction estimates that more of the market. E-commerce new construction of industrial sales in 2004's second quarter Source: International Facility Management Association IFMA facilities has dropped from were 1.7 percent of total retail Efficiency See Table 3 for commuting trend is nibbling $11.5 billion in 1998 to an esti- sales. Compared with the second away at the need for buildings. information on reduced space mated $6 billion in 2004. Some quarter of 2002, however, Inter- Contributing factors include: allocations. estimates say industrial employ- net sales were 56 percent higher;