the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Houston Office Market Continues to Flourish
Over the course of a couple of days, the Houston office of real estate services firm CB Richard Ellis Inc. represented several clients in long-term leases in the city for a total of more than 60,000 square feet.The deals are representative of the city’s continued growth in a nation troubled by a shaky economy. But, for Houston, it’s all in a day’s work.“This is the normal course of business,” said John Pruitt, senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis in Houston. “We still have a growing economy even though job growth slowed from 100,000 new jobs a year to 40,000…
Hyatt Regency Aims to Revitalize North America Portfolio with $1.3B Investment
Dozens of Hyatt Regency properties in key business, convention and resort locations in North America are undergoing renovation or being opened as part of a $1.3 billion dollar investment. Seventeen such properties have been renovated or opened in the past three years and 31 additional hotels are scheduled to be revamped or to open by the end of 2010. The renovations entail remaking dining and public spaces, upgrading technology, adding distinctive amenities and updating design. Major completed projects include the first phase of a $60 million transformation of Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago and a $20 million makeover of Hyatt…
Bascom Acquires Denver-Area M-F for $60M
The Bascom Group has acquired Gleneagles Apartments, a 562-unit property in Northglenn, Colo., a northern suburb of Denver, for $60.8 million. The seller was Principal Life Insurance Co. Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services’ most recent report on the Denver multi-family market posited that the area will remain relatively healthy through 2008, with vacancies forecast to trend about to 6.9 percent by the end of the year, or about 60 basis points higher than the beginning of the year. New construction will add to the market’s supply, and single-family houses and vacant condo units being rented will take some…
Fannie Mae Announces M-F Financing Modifications, Record $2B in First Half Volume
Fannie Mae is working on a number of enhancements to its multi-family financing offerings, including a combined construction-permanent financing product. The agency says it is cooperating with several DUS lenders who have construction lending expertise to combine construction financing with permanent debt. “The construction-to-permanent product will offer a seamless, lower cost execution and more certainty for the construction of new multi-family properties,” Fannie Mae states. Currently, only HUD offers a multi-family construction-permanent loan, under its FHA mortgage insurance program. HUD’s combined financing requires one underwriting and approval for both loans, with the construction loan rolling over to permanent loan. Despite…
Southeast Strip Center Investment Market Feels a Chill
With the slowdown of the economy and the huge downturn in the housing market, the retail real estate market is taking a hit across the board and many investors are feeling sheepish–especially in the southeast. According to Ray Hayhurst, vice president of retail investment with real estate services firm Grubb & Ellis Inc.|Commercial Florida, the Southeast’s previously hot-strip center investment market has cooled down more than any other region in the country. “There was a huge volume of investment in 2006 and part of 2007 in the southeast, but it was down 88 or 89 percent in the first quarter…
Eye on NYC: Developers Press Ahead with Massive Projects
Developments that will reshape the Manhattan skyline continue to move forward by fits and starts. A joint venture of Vornado Realty Trust and affiliates of Lawrence Ruben Co. won a six-month extension on a deadline that is central to plans for a 1.3 million-square-foot office tower that would rise above the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, granted the extension to allow the joint venture, 20 X Square Associates L.L.C., to wrap a 99-year lease for redevelopment of the terminal’s north wing. The extension will also allow for a transaction to…
Industrial Market Slows, But Newest Space Does Well
The U.S. industrial property market is sagging somewhat along with the national economy, but certain segments of the business are doing fairly well despite macroeconomic conditions, according to a new report on the national industrial market by brokerage giant Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. As with most downturns, newer, more efficient properties are the winners, while older properties aren’t doing as well.”Elevated fuel prices and rising production costs have made it increasingly important for companies to create logistics efficiencies,” the company’s 2008 National Industrial Report says. “As a result, newer industrial properties that offer the most modern features,…
Atlanta Office Market Slows but Stays Ahead
Office leasing is starting to slow around the United States , but the Atlanta market is faring better than most, a Grubb & Ellis Inc. researcher told CPN. “Atlanta overall seems to be faring pretty well despite some of the concerns about the economy,” noted Dan Wagner, research manager in Grubb & Ellis’ Atlanta office. “When we’re in a slow economic growth period, Atlanta always seems to experience a shallower type of slow growth.”Grubb & Ellis research for Atlanta shows positive absorption of about 50,000 square feet, Wagner said. “That will probably change as new buildings in Buckhead deliver but…
Cushman & Wakefield New Jersey Update Paints Mixed Picture
Three Cushman & Wakefield Marketbeat reports covering New Jersey office and industrial markets depict a state that’s for the most part mirroring the national commercial real estate scene’s uncertainties, ambiguities and contradictions.And although the three reports cover northern New Jersey office, central New Jersey office and the state’s overall industrial market, there are some noteworthy similarities and parallels. The state lost 10,900 jobs in May, which bumped the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent, or just 0.1 percentage points below the national rate. Job losses have been especially heavy in the financial sector. In northern New Jersey, overall office vacancy rates…
ProLogis Leases New Facility to French Supermarket Group
International distribution facility giant ProLogis has leased 277,000 square feet near the Port of Le Havre, France’s largest container port by volume, to Cedilec, a French provider of third-party logistics services for the food retail industry. Cedilec has leased 100 percent of the space in a recently completed facility (pictured) at ProLogis Park du Hode, a 1.6 million-square foot rail-served distribution park being developed along France’s A13/131 highways, which connect Le Havre to Paris, seven kilometers from the Le Havre port terminal. Cedilec will operate the space as a break-bulk facility, distributing product on behalf of Leclerc Supermarkets Group to…