The U.S. Department of Commerce had a bit of a surprise to share on Thursday, reporting that American retailers reported a 1 percent gain in sales in January compared with the month before, reflecting somewhat higher gas prices but also more spending on food and clothing. It’s the first time in six months that retail spending has increased, and the question now is whether this is a mere fluke of post-holiday bargain-hunting or the beginning of the bottom for retail spending. Many economists, glum sorts that they are, opine that it’s a fluke. The National Association of Realtors has reported…

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. scored big recently when it secured a new loan agreement through the United States Bankruptcy Court to fund the complete construction of its joint venture project, The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences at Kapalua Bay, after its main investor filed bankruptcy. But other resort projects haven’t been as lucky. Last month, Revel Entertainment’s developers of the planned beachfront casino entertainment resort on 20 acres of land along the Atlantic City Boardwalk said they would suspend work on the interior of the project and lay off workers. “This modification to the construction timeline will allow the project…

Less than two months ago, CPN reported that real estate owned (REO) sales may be a driving force in sales volumes rebounding in the coming year. Sperry Van Ness brokered an REO deal just a couple of weeks ago and now Mission Capital Advisors L.L.C. is hoping to get bids for a $221 million commercial mortgage loan and REO portfolio secured by assets in multiple states. The commercial real estate mortgage loan and REO portfolio has an outstanding balance of $221.3 million. The sale includes assets in bankruptcy and sub- and non-performing assets secured by a variety of collateral types…

Commercial real estate development is on life support in the United States, but in parts of Canada, like greater Toronto, construction is still alive and kicking, and Aecon Group Inc. is among those companies that are in the midst of building. Acting through its Buildings and Concessions divisions, Aecon just wrapped up the financial close on the $91.5 million Lakeridge Health Oshawa hospital redevelopment project in Oshawa. Located within the Regional Municipality of Durham, an eastern submarket of Toronto, the Lakeridge Health Oshawa endeavor is a build-finance project that is being implemented through the Ontario government’s Alternative Financing and Procurement…

Are grocery stores and grocery-anchored centers immune to the slings and arrows of outrageous economic fortune? Or at least better prepared to weather the recession by virtue of the fact that people have to eat? Maybe, maybe not. Earlier this week, Citigroup downgraded Kroger to “hold” and Safeway to “sell,” and share prices in those companies and other grocery specialists fell in response. The thinking is that imminent price wars among the major grocery chains are going to hurt the business, with the likes of Costco already cutting prices on staples such as milk and eggs. Still, retail space brokers…

As the cost of operating escalates and the global economy continues to struggle, businesses are examining ways to cut expenses by saving energy. Iselin, N.J.-based Bergman Real Estate Group has entered into an energy management contract with Pine Brook, N.J.-based GSH Group Inc. to use GSH’s EnergyPlus program to help the firm consume less energy. And even a winery and parking garages are getting in on the energy-cutting action.GSH, a facilities and energy management provider that operates in the United States and Europe, guaranteed energy consumption savings for two office buildings in New Jersey: 51 Haddonfield Road—a 96,400-square-foot, three-story Class…

Commercial real estate managers must find ways to stretch budgets and resources and maximize productivity. It’s worthwhile, therefore, to consider the tremendous operational-efficiency and service improvements available from topline commercial property management technology:• Electronic transactions—Advanced commercial property management software lets you cut costs and mistakes associated with multiple touchpoints by centralizing, automating and streamlining accounts-payables processing and building-supplies procurement. Such a solution reinforces sustainability initiatives while improving operations for the business at large.• Data centralization—Operating commercial property management and accounting functions from one database represents a single solution for the full real estate lifecycle, from raising capital and investment management…

Data centers form 30 to 40 percent of a building’s operating costs, and reducing them is a complicated matter for owners, tenants and clients who know little about them. A facilities/operations manager’s job is to ensure that proper infrastructure is in place, along with varying degrees of backup and reliability to support data center equipment. Reliability and the elimination of downtime are the bases for judging any data center’s success or failure. Other important considerations are the data center’s energy demand and amount of redundancy necessary to build into cut sheets, matrix and equipment lists and striking a balance between…

By now it’s standard practice to conduct business on the web. In fact, it is a significant part of how commercial real estate brokers do business. They post property information, communicate with clients and other brokers via e-mail and conduct research, all using the Internet.Still, much of their prospecting and new business generation is done through cold calling, networking and signage. And even commercial brokerage firms that use Internet resources to a greater degree have not nearly reached the level at which residential brokers and agents are using it.Residential realtors have historically been aggressive in using the Internet to prospect…