the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Stimulus to Bring New Government Jobs, Office Space Demand to D.C.
Before the real estate market took a plunge, Washington, D.C., consistently ranked among the top tightest office markets in the country. In the last 18 months, vacancy rates have headed south, but with the District of Columbia being home to a plethora of government agencies that will get a boost from the government’s stimulus package, the area is due to sprout a bevy of new jobs over the next decade. And as noted in a recent report by real estate services firm Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers, with those new jobs will come new employees, who will need new places to…
Economic Update – Wall Street Doesn’t Mind Employment, Foreclosure Numbers
Retail is taking whatever it can these days in terms of good news. On Thursday the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that sales by American retailers decreased only 0.1 percent in February compared with January; analysts were expecting worse. If car sales are excluded, Americans actually bought 0.7 percent more than they did the previous month.But it isn’t time to break out the party hats, since consumers may well be stocking up on peanut butter and macaroni & cheese in the event of a job loss. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that new jobless claims rose 654,000 in the…
Sears Tower Adds Tenants, Plans Name Change
Chicago’s office trends aren’t much different from the rest of the country as companies of all sizes are terminating their leases or are downsizing, but the Sears Tower is as popular as ever. About a week after expanding the lease for a major tenant in the tower, the building may be changing its name to the Willis Tower after global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings inked a lease in the world-famous Chicago high-rise.Under an agreement with the building’s owners, the Chicago icon and tallest building in the Western Hemisphere will be renamed Willis Tower, according to Willis Group Holdings information.Willis…
Interstate Hotels Delisted from New York Stock Exchange
The deep recession that the United States is mired in has cut travel significantly, both on the leisure and business side, thus harming hotel performance. Many hotel company stocks have thus plummeted in value. Interstate Hotels & Resorts, a hotel investment and management firm, announced that it received notice from the New York Stock Exchange that its common stock would be suspended from trading prior to opening of trading on Thursday.The New York Stock Exchange is taking the action because Interstate did not meet the continued listing standard, requiring maintenance of a minimum $15 million market capitalization over a consecutive…
Commercial, M-F Delinquencies Rise, but with Silver Lining
Commercial and multi-family loan delinquencies increased during the fourth quarter of 2008, as the contracting economy and continuing credit crisis stressed property fundamentals, according to the “Commercial/Multi-family Delinquency Report” released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.The report found that the 30+ day delinquency rate on loans held in CMBS rose 0.54 percentage points to 1.17 percent. The 60+ day delinquency rate on loans held in life insurance company portfolios rose 0.01 percentage points to 0.07 percent. The 60+ day delinquency rate on multi-family loans held or insured by Fannie Mae rose 0.14 percentage points to 0.30 percent. The 90+ day delinquency…
With Student Housing Holding Steady, Prime Property Grabs Coveted Notre Dame Complex
While most sectors of the commercial real estate industry suffer under the pressure of the distressed economy, the student housing market continues to keep its head above water and stay, to a certain extent, in the good graces of the lending community. Among the companies beefing up their portfolios in this relatively stable niche market is Prime Property Investors Ltd., which just closed the acquisition of a 20-building student housing complex just a stone’s throw from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. According to Prime, the transaction marked the largest close-to-campus student housing property purchase ever completed…
Cypress Equities, SRS JV Launches New Service Portfolio
Since the economic downturn has considerably restricted real estate investment activity across all sectors, investors are looking for ways to expand on underperforming assets. Cypress Equities and SRS Real Estate Partners, formerly Staubach Retail, with plans to produce new resolutions for each stage of the development process, have joined together to create a new service portfolio called Managed Services, which is designed to enhance underperforming assets and to assist developers, lenders, property owners and investors to strategically position their real estate portfolios through planning, analysis and execution.“By bringing together Cypress Equities and SRS Real Estate Partners, Managed Services will be…
Cost Cutting Through Technology
Q: How can technology in my building save me money?A: Technology can save money in quite a few ways. First, if you’re using traditional phone service (Private Branch Exchange, T1s, Primary Rate Interface), then switching to Voice over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, with good providers can significantly lower costs. In addition, VOIP makes it easy to move people: Unplug phone, move to new desk/office/location, plug phone in. Voila–instant change of location!In addition, if you haven’t already switched to electronic billing or e-statements, now is the time. Most billing and accounting systems support e-billing or e-statements. E-billing is fast, cuts costs…
Business Intelligence, the Smart Way
If gathered efficiently and used effectively, business intelligence translates into faster decision-making and organizational success. Underscoring this fact, a 2008 Aberdeen Group survey found that best-in-class companies—the top 20 percent of aggregate performance scorers—using business intelligence applications decreased the time between delivery of information and resulting action by an 8 percent mean average over 12 months. These companies, which represent several business sectors, also gained a 12 percent mean average improvement in employee productivity over the same period. A 2007 Aberdeen survey found that 25 percent of best-in-class retail companies using business intelligence increased their gross margin by 10 percent…
Partnership Improves Electronic Multi-Family Resident Screening
In the current environment of credit inaccessibility and economic turbulence, the multi-family market has been faring better than other commercial real estate sectors, but it has not gone unscathed. Thus, multi-family property owners and managers are focused more than ever on maximizing net operating income and minimizing risk by weeding out applicants with undesirable tenancy profiles. That has given rise to online resident screening services provider RentGrow’s decision to amplify vetting options by joining forces with multi-family credit bureau RentBureau. “The focus of the apartment industry today is running properties tightly to squeeze as much as possible out of…