Chicago’s Shangri-La Hotel has joined the list of high-profile hotel casualties of the credit crunch. Yet the JW Marriott Indianapolis four-hotel complex continues to rise, with full financing in place.Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts had planned 200 rooms in the long-stalled Waterview Tower mixed-use project overlooking the Chicago River but announced earlier this month that it was suspending the hotel project and did not reveal when, or even if, work might start up again.Less than 200 miles away, however, a $450 million, four-hotel project is proceeding on schedule. The JW Marriott complex in Downtown Indianapolis began construction in May 2008 and…

As the economic gales continue to blow, do any U.S. office markets offer a port in the storm? The short answer is, ‘Not really.’ Vacancy fell modestly last year in an eclectic mix of eight markets, led by Greenville, S.C.; Wichita, Kan.; and Pittsburgh. However, even these holdouts are unlikely to escape the floodwater in 2009.Beyond the current turmoil, which markets are likely to offer the best five-year investment outlook? Every year Grubb & Ellis Co. ranks major markets against a set of criteria important to the performance of office properties, including economic indicators like job growth, demographic indicators like…

A falloff in advertising and competition from online information sources have written themselves into tough economic times for many newspapers. But one newspaper, The Miami Herald, recently dug up some economic relief in a major lease deal at its headquarters, located on Biscayne Bay.Brown Mackie College announced on March 11 that it will lease 50,000 square feet at One Herald Plaza, from the paper’s parent, The McClatchy Co. The 10-year deal is valued between $18 million and $20 million, based on current Downtown office rental rates.The lease will have a powerfully positive effect on the paper’s bottom line, said Alan…

This is not a typical economic downturn. Owing to structural effects from the housing bust and the correction in the global capital markets, its effects on the nation’s industrial markets are dispersed. While nearly all regions will surpass their previous availability-rate highs, the reasons can vary. Arizona and Texas are examples of regional economies that are declining for different reasons, one local and one global.The fallout in consumer-driven markets is pronounced most acutely in states like Arizona, those highly affected by the housing bubble. In Arizona, for example, the aggregate availability rate increased 520 basis points in 2008 to a…

The student housing market continues to grow, despite a struggling economy. College enrollment remains on an upward trajectory and is expected to increase 8 percent over the next four years. Despite the recession, more than 15 million additional degreed workers will be needed nationwide through 2012 to replace retiring Baby Boomers, and this should further stimulate demand for higher education and, in turn, student housing.Another driver of student housing demand is the continued expansion of the college-aged population, which is expected to grow 4.2 percent through 2012. There are some pressures in the near term, however. The subprime meltdown and…

In what is surely a sign of our troubled economic times, Western National Property Management has announced a new benefit for renters: its Layoff Protection Program. Under the plan, which began on March 11, renters of Western National units can cancel their rental contracts without penalty if they lose their jobs.Thomas Shelton, president of the firm, likened the plan to Hyundai Motor America’s program, announced in January, which permits new-car buyers to return vehicles within a year of the purchase date if the buyers lose their jobs.Western National, which manages more than 22,000 units across more than 140 communities in…

General Growth Properties Inc. faces another decisive moment today in its long struggle to avoid bankruptcy. The nation’s second-largest retail REIT is awaiting a response to the request it extended to creditors last week for forbearance on $2.25 billion in debt that matures this year for its Rouse Company L.P. affiliate. Of that total, a combined $595 million is due today and on April 30. “We believe that the deadline posed by these particular maturities suggests that some clarity to the GGP situation will be forthcoming,” said RBC Capital Markets lead REIT analyst Rich Moore in a research note published…