The era of globalization continues to plague Detroit’s industrial real estate market, as one of every six buildings in that metro area sits empty, The Detroit News reported.

But cumulatively, there are more empty industrial spaces in the suburbs, contributing to blight conditions that have typically been associated with the city’s core.

“The vacancy rates tell me the world has changed,” said Fred Liesveld, managing director of the Grubb & Ellis Co. office in Southfield. “It wasn’t that long ago that those kind of buildings used to have a waiting list” of prospective tenants.

According to Grubb & Ellis, the regional industrial vacancy rate more than doubled to 16.3 percent in April from 7.3 percent in 2000, as many small industrial buildings constructed in the mid- to late-20th century are now considered obsolete.

Now brokers and economic development officials are lamenting their lack of prospects.

The trend reflects the state’s embattled auto industry, especially in recent years as Detroit’s automakers struggled to slash costs and complete with foreign rivals.

Many of the vacant properties once housed small manufacturing companies, 68 percent of which had fewer than 20 workers, according to the Michigan Manufacturers Association. According to Michigan’s Bureau of Labor Market Information, the state lost nearly 450,000 factory jobs between 2000 and the end of 2009.

“The city of Detroit used to have many small machine shops that were killed when auto plants moved to the suburbs,” said Wayne State University professor Jerry Herron, who has followed the region’s downsizing for more than 20 years. “This is the continued mutation of capital and industry.”

“I don’t know if some of these (suburban) buildings have become obsolete, but possibly this mutation leads to different kinds of employment and different kinds of growth.”