Catriona Orosco
Catriona Orosco is the director of REACH and a search marketing expert with more than a decade of experience in real estate-related marketing. She has played a prominent role in developing the search services for REACH clients, along with our Marketing IQ analytics platform. When she’s not in the office, she can often be found riding a tandem bicycle around Santa Barbara, CA.
Economy Watch – Feds to Publish CRE Loan Modification Guidelines Soon
The heads of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision were all before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Financial Institutions on Wednesday sounding a warning about bad commercial real estate loans and their threat to the health of the banking system, none of which is news, but all of which is troubling.
MBA Report: Recession Over, But Impact Will Continue Next Year
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s forecast for 2010, the good news is that the recession is over; the bad news is that the country will continue to reel from the ramifications next year.
Distressed Debt Sales Likely to Soar
Like moths to a flame, investors these days are forming around what some believe could be the biggest distressed debt sales market since the days of the U.S. savings and loan crisis, according to a recent Ernst & Young survey.
Dog Days of Distress
Long lines of cash-rich investors, including REITs, are forming around what some believe could be the biggest distressed debt sales market since the days of the U.S. savings-and-loan crisis, but Ernst & Young L.L.P.’s latest survey of those investors suggests this market won’t follow quite the same pattern it did in the 1990s.
Beyond Banks and Life Companies
While commercial banks and life companies continue to dominate the limited volume of commercial real estate lending currently taking place, new lending sources are beginning to emerge to replace a portion of the liquidity formerly supplied by the now dormant CMBS market. The three vehicles most often used to raise this new capital are (i) private/non-traded REITs, (ii) publicly traded mortgage REITs and (iii) private equity debt funds.
To Shore Up Balance Sheets, REITs Like Brandywine Look to Divest Non-Core Assets
With loans still hard to come by, Brandywine Realty Trust is shoring up its balance sheet, reducing leverage and preparing for investment opportunities with the disposition of non-core assets, including two properties in Trenton, N.J. The REIT just completed the sale of the office buildings at 33 W. State St. and 50 E. State St., totaling 474,000 square feet, to a private investment group.
As Gov’t Demand Buoys DC Office Market; ING Makes $73M Sale
The Washington, D.C., office market may have reached a turning point in demand as the region experienced improved fundamentals last quarter—figures propelled by expanded demand for government office space. And if deals like the recent $73 million sale of an office building in Falls Church, Va., are any indication, buyers are taking interest in the area’s strong demographics..
With Lenders Bullish on Medical Office Market, Healthcare Realty Trust Snags $550M
The medical office market has fared better than most real estate sectors in the midst of the economic crisis, and it appears lenders are taking note. Nashville-based Healthcare Realty Trust Inc. has just entered into a $550 million unsecured revolving credit facility with a group of 16 lenders.
Chicago CRE Industry Laments Failed Olympic Bid
The pain of Chicago’s loss of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to Rio deJaneiro is palpable across the country, especially in the Windy City.Local officials had proposed a bevy of new commercial venues in andaround Chicago to accommodate the various competitions; the developmentactivity would have been a big boost for the city. Now, commercial realestate industry players, still reeling from the rejection, arereflecting on what might have been.
Sluggish Miami Office Market Buoyed by 80,000SF Financial District Pre-Lease
While Miami’s office market vacancy rate lingers beneath the U.S. average, it has not gone unscathed by the worldwide economic crisis. However, law firm Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod L.L.P’s pre-lease of 80,000 square feet at the 576,000-square-foot 1450 Brickell office tower downtown has players in the Miami office market game buzzing. The transaction marks South Florida’s largest new office lease this year.