the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Office Vacancies Increase, but Many Rents Endure
It’s no surprise office property sales are down. While the 77 percent skid in the first half of the year from the same period last year was largely attributable to The Blackstone Group’s $39 billion blockbuster acquisition of Equity Office Properties Trust and the resale of many Equity Office assets to other parties last year, office sales during the first half of this year tallied just $30 billion, according to Grubb & Ellis Co.’s second quarter “Capital Markets Update.” And CBD properties accrued at a cap rate of 6.1 percent, an increase of 30 basis points from the same period…
Retail Woes Wobble Short-Term Investor Confidence
While the retail sector netted an annual price appreciation rate in June over the same period a year ago, the increase was modest at only 0.6 percent, according to the June results of the S&P/GRA Commercial Real Estate Indices. That return is markedly lower than retail’s peak of 15.1 percent in June 2007.To that end, amid the frosty economic climate, investors are wary about all types of retail properties, according to the third quarter 2008 Pricewaterhouse Coopers Korpacz Real Estate Investor Survey. Among assets that investors are eyeing cautiously are power centers—those that feature big-box and discount retailers—although the top…
ING Expands to Brazil, Appoints Beccar as Managing Director
ING Clarion Partners appointed Florencio Beccar as managing director of its new office in São Paulo, Brazil. Beccar established ING”s investment management office in Italy and headed the firm’s acquisition team in Spain. He most recently served as managing director and portfolio manager for the ING Real Estate Southern European Fund, and before that was acquisition manager for the ING Real Estate Iberica Fund. Additionally, Marcela Drigo joins Beccar in the São Paulo office as a vice president. Drigo comes to ING from Capital Trust Inc., where she was responsible for Brazilian investments. Prior to that, she was with AIG…
Government Places Freddie, Fannie Under Investigation
About three weeks after being seized by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and put in conservatorship, beleaguered housing mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae revealed that they have been notified of new investigations that are underway. Late last week, the two entities received federal grand jury subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and they were put on notice by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Staff of the Enforcement Division that it would be conducting its own inquest. The government appears to be bound and determined to discover the intricacies of…
Reports: WTC Transit Hub $500M Over Budget, 5 Years Behind Schedule
Just days before the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is due to release an update on the construction timetable and costs of rebuilding the 16-acre World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, new reports have surfaced claiming the planned transit hub is $500 million over budget and five years behind schedule. The Port Authority is scheduled to issue an update on the WTC rebuilding at its board meeting Thursday and is also expected to announce a redesign of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s initial $2.5 billion plan. As previously reported by CPN, Christopher Ward, the new Port Authority…
A Pause in the Action Following Defeat of Bailout Bill
With the U.S. House of Representatives not scheduled to be in session again until Thursday, the stage today was set for lots of talk but no action, temporarily at least, on the $700 billion federal legislation intended to rescue a financial system in crisis. The House yesterday defeated the bill 228-205, triggering a record-setting drop in the Dow. President Bush pointed out that the $700 billion price tag to start restoring confidence in the financial markets, although it’s obviously sticking in many legislators’ and voters’ craws, is nonetheless smaller than the $1 trillion in value lost yesterday in the stock…
After the Closing Bell-Tuesday, Sept. 30
Congress has paused for Rosh Hashanah, but the game isn’t over yet. President Bush went on TV early this morning to say, “No, really, you have to do something.” Investors either believe that before long Congress will do something, or they were out looking for bargains today, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shooting back upward, ending the day with a 485.21-point advance, a fair chunk of the 777 points it lost on Monday. Sovereign Bancorp Inc. was one of the bounce-back stocks, gaining about 70 percent, which nearly erased its loses from yesterday. Investors may have been heartened by…
Survey Says: Capital Markets Outlook Dim
News has been coming fast and thick about the volatile capital markets landscape, but mostly it features overall trends and large abstractions. But what about the observations of those working in the trenches of the capital markets or those in real estate directly affected by it? The 2008 Capital Markets Survey, orchestrated by the Chicago chapter of CREW–Commercial Real Estate Executive Women–gives some insight into what’s going happening on the ground in commercial real estate finance. CREW Chicago surveyed the nationwide membership of senior-level executive women across all real estate-related sectors to set the framework for a luncheon discussion it…
ProLogis Signs 2 Build-to-Suit Agreements with Home Depot
ProLogis has signed two build-to-suit lease agreements with Home Depot, the company announced. ProLogis is currently developing a distribution center for Home Depot in Redlands, Calif., at ProLogis Park Redlands, totaling approximately 658,000 square feet, and another 20 miles north of Cincinnati in Monroe, Ohio at ProLogis Park Corridor 75, also totaling approximately 658,000 square feet. The Redlands facility is located in Inland Empire region at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Highway 30. Construction is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2009. ProLogis Park Corridor 75 is a 420-acre, master-planned industrial park under construction at the…
NAREIT’s Grupe: Is the REIT Market at the Bottom?
Even as financial markets were imploding recently, a spokesman for the real estate investment trust sector was calm and knowledgeable in explaining why REITs are weathering the storm comparatively well.CPN caught up with Michael Grupe, executive vice president for research and investor outreach at the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Washington, D.C“There’s a large amount of residual uncertainty in the market,” Grupe acknowledged, but added, “we’re reasonably encouraged by this year’s performance” among REITs, despite the volatility in the financial markets.At that point, Grupe said, year-to-date the Dow was down about 16 percent, the S&P 500 was down…