the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Harris Teeter Plans $101M Warehouse to Feed Growth
Word of new development plans is uncommon in the industrial sector these days, as it is for most commercial property types. Nevertheless, the supermarket chain Harris Teeter Inc. is bucking the trend. Making one of the largest commitments to an industrial facility so far this year, Harris Teeter intends to build a $101 million distribution center in King George County, Va. Virginia edged out North Carolina and Maryland in its bid for the distribution center, which will serve stores in Maryland and Delaware as well as in Virginia. The project’s size and construction schedule were not disclosed in the announcement…
REIT Takes 595,000-SF Chicago-Area Distribution Center
Making its entry into the Chicago-area market, US Industrial REIT II, which is owned by an affiliate of USAA Real Estate Co. and other institutional investors, has acquired the Cinram Distribution Center, a 595,000-square-foot facility located within the Meridian Business Campus in Aurora, Ill. The REIT purchased the property for an undisclosed price from Cinram Distribution L.L.C., a Canada-based manufacturer of DVDs, CDs and computer software. It was unclear at press time as to whether the deal was a sale-leaseback.“We’re very please to be adding this quality asset to the US Industrial REIT II portfolio,” said Pat Duncan, chairman &…
Carlson Expands Despite Tough Economies
Undaunted by floundering economies around the world, Carlson Hotels Worldwide, after adding 89 new properties to its portfolio in 2008, is continuing its expansion across the globe, with plans to debut 300 new properties between this year and 2013. Last year was a lucrative one for Carlson Hotels. The company saw record revenues of $7.5 billion across its five brands, marking an 8 percent increase from 2007. Carlson managed to come out on top during a time when the hospitality industry, as a whole, experienced–and continues to soldier through–one of its most difficult cycles. According to a report released yesterday…
Slated Financial Reports Suggest Rough Week Ahead
This week promises a heapin’ helpin’ of gloomy economic news. Twelve Dow Jones companies and 137 companies listed on the S&P 500 are slated to make quarterly reports. Many industries will be represented: manufacturing (Caterpiller), energy (Exxon-Mobil), financial (Amex), Internet (Yahoo!) and even fast food (McDonald’s). Except for the likes of McDonald’s, things aren’t looking so good, so the markets might take it hard. On the other hand, everyone’s expecting poor numbers, so the markets might not take it so hard. Yo-yoing is entirely possible in any case.As a bonus extra, the government will release fourth quarter U.S. GDP figures…
Phoenix Retail Softens, but Outlook Not Entirely Dire
The Phoenix retail market softened during the first half of 2008, with tenant demand failing to keep pace with completions and this weakening is expected to persist through the near term as the current economic slowdown weighs on consumer sentiment, according to the most recent report by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.Ongoing struggles in the local housing market have decreased spending, causing some merchants to vacate their locations. Additionally, new home sales have lagged in outlying suburbs, particularly in the West Valley, and retailers that expanded into these areas in anticipation of future household growth are currently recording…
Manhattan Investment Sales Sank in ‘08, Says C&W
Not even high-flying New York City escaped the debilitating grip of the credit crunch and the souring economy last year, and the numbers in a newly released fourth quarter 2008 Manhattan market report by Cushman & Wakefield Inc. tell the story. “Sales prices have dropped, but the biggest difference is in volume,” Jon Caplan, executive vice president with Cushman & Wakefield, told CPN. Commercial real estate price tags fell 30 percent, and transactions plummeted a whopping 60 percent, going from $47.7 billion in 2007 to $19.6 billion in 2008. Sixty-five percent of the deals that closed last year were in…
Home Construction Reaches New Lows
The U.S. Department of Commerce has reported that construction of new houses dropped more than 15 percent in December, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 550,000. The issuance of new building permits nationwide for residential projects also contracted–down 12.3 percent for single-family houses and 10.7 percent for apartments. These are the lowest figures since Commerce began keeping track of housing, and it’s playing as bad news, but considering how few houses are selling nationwide, that might be considered good news for the wider market, if not for homebuilders. The yo-yo week continued Thursday on Wall Street, with the indexes…
RioCan to Buy Montreal Retail Portfolio from ING for $67M
Toronto-headquartered RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust has just struck a deal to take six grocery-anchored shopping centers in suburban Montreal off the hands of ING Real Estate Canada L.P. RioCan REIT will shell out $67.5 million for the portfolio, which encompasses an aggregate 454,000 square feet. “These are safe assets you buy for the income with a little bit of growth through rent,” Jonathan Gitlin, vice president of investments for RioCan REIT, told CPN. Sicard Centre in Sainte-Thérèse and Saint-Jean Centre in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu are the two largest assets in the group, featuring approximately 107,000 and 103,000 square feet, respectively. The…
New Firm to Help Hospitality Companies with Credit Crisis
Seizing upon a market that demands investors create focused strategic plans, James O’Connell, principal of O’Connell Hospitality Group, and Robert Crawford, president of Hospitality Resolutions Inc., have formed a new venture called Collateral Strategies Inc. Collateral Strategies will provide lenders, loan servicers, borrowers and investors with focused strategic plans designed to assist with portfolio and single asset credit recovery. CS’s credit strategies will identify the maximum recoverable value for both the asset and the collateral debt. CS’s team will assist its clients in achieving optimal values for troubled hospitality loans and investments. “Bob and I created the group because of…
Bay Area Housing Sales Jump, CRE Indices Dip
Where in the United States did housing sales actually go up in December? The San Francisco area, bastion of exceedingly high housing costs throughout the early- to mid- 2000s, saw home sales spike upward 19.7 percent in the last month of 2008, compared with November, according to MDA DataQuick, which specializes in compiling real estate information. Compared with December 2007, last month saw 36 percent higher home sales in greater San Francisco.It’s no coincidence that the spike comes after a sharp drop in the Bay Area’s median home price, which is now a shade more than 50 percent lower than…