the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Investors Await More Economic Reports, Another $800B in Bailouts Plans Announced
On the heels of the Fed’s announcement of its multi-billion dollar plans to help the economy, investors can expect a wave of economic reports today including readings on durable orders, personal income and spending, as well as a weekly report on jobless claims. The Chicago purchasing managers’ report, a survey of regional manufacturing, will also be released after the market opens, as is a revised reading on consumer sentiment and a report on October new home sales. The administration and the Federal Reserve rolled out two new programs Tuesday that would provide up to $800 billion in an effort to…
Financial Update-Consumer Spending Sees Historic Drop
Consumer spending numbers, as expected, are going nowhere but down. The U.S. Department of Commerce is reporting that personal consumer spending among Americans dropped 1 percent in October compared with the month before, which is the largest decline since September 2001. On the other hand, saving is up. Personal saving as a percentage of income rose to 2.4 percent during the same month, up from 1 percent in September. Orders for durable goods dropped even more than consumer spending, by an unexpectedly large 6.2 percent, which is the third monthly decrease in a row. Not counting cars, airplanes and other…
Gaming Firms Place Their Bets in Bidding for Final Illinois Casino License
Representing proposed casinos in various parts of the Chicago region, executives from the three companies bidding for Illinois’ last available casino license presented their plans to the Illinois Gaming Board yesterday. The license has been in limbo since a 2004 casino proposal for Rosement, near O’Hare International Airport, became fatally tangled in legal and administrative disputes. All bids are for the license itself and do not reflect the costs of actually building and opening a casino. * Rosemont: Trilliant Gaming Illinois L.L.C. has offered a $435 million upfront license fee, in conjunction with an arrangement under which the Village of…
CBRE to Handle FDIC’s Portfolio of Owned Real Estate
CB Richard Ellis Inc. has netted a major client: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has tapped the services firm to serve as primary advisor for the residential and commercial real estate it acquires from failed financial institutions. Terms of the deal were not revealed. CBRE will be tasked with the property management, leasing and ultimate disposition of these assets across the country, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. CBRE’s public institution and education solutions team, led by Theodore Carter, executive managing director in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office, will oversee ongoing client services. Ken Pearson, a CBRE first vice…
AMB Leases 590,000 SF in Toronto
AMB Property Corp. has leased more than 590,000 square feet of industrial space to a wholly-owned subsidiary of a Fortune 100 company, stabilizing its more than 1.1 million-square-foot development in the Greater Toronto Area West submarket.”The fact that AMB has fully leased a 1.1 million-square-foot development six months ahead of projected stabilization demonstrates just how focused companies are right now on streamlining operations, even in this challenging environment. We are continuing to see demand for infill-located, Class A facilities at our core hub and gateway markets,” Eugene Reilly, president of AMB’s Americas region, said in a release.As previously announced, AMB…
Intercontinental Acquires Tucson Industrial Portfolio
Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. purchased a technology & industrial portfolio in Tucson, Ariz., the company announced. The acquisition was made on behalf of Intercontinental’s U.S. Real Estate Investment Fund L.L.C.The six-building, multi-tenant industrial portfolio (pictured) totaling 606,000 rentable square feet also includes surface parking spaces and is comprised of two adjacent industrialparks: Medina Business Park I & II and Tucson Commerce Center I – IV. Additionally, the 40-acre site also includes four acres of land for future development opportunities.The 14-acre Medina Business Park offers two industrial/flex buildings totaling 199,7090 rentable square feet. The 406,300-square-foot Tucson Commerce Center consists of four…
Thomson Expands Princeton Lease
Mack-Cali Realty Corp. said today that Thomson Inc. has extended the term of its existing 62,500-square-foot lease at 2 Independence Way at Princeton Corporate Center in Princeton, N. J. In addition, the company has agreed to lease the building’s remaining 4,800 square feet. A provider of video solutions to the communications, media and entertainment industries, Thomson will now lease the entire 67,400-square-foot class A office building through January 2015.“We’re delighted that Thomson has chosen to expand its long-term presence at 2 Independence Way. This transaction demonstrates Mack-Cali’s ability to maintain long-term tenant relationships and we look forward to continuing to…
More Bad News Expected in Reports Released Later Today
While figures released by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development indicated that the U.S. is plumb in the middle of a recession now, the good news appears that the country may see some improvement by the third quarter of next year, according to a Reuters report. U.S. household wealth has taken an estimated $7 trillion hit from the tumbling housing and stock markets, and consumers are already curbing spending to try to recoup some of those losses, which hurts growth because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, the report stated.Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported…
Unsettling Calm After the Storm
The credit freeze that came with the Panic of 2008 this fall has put the sale-leaseback business in a peculiar bind. Because obtaining financing is more difficult than it used to be, companies that happen to own real estate are looking ever more closely at the possibility of unlocking that capital via a sale-leaseback.The problem is that the pool of potential buyers for such properties has shrunk, and the remaining players are finding it hard to finance deals. Andrew Sandquist, senior vice president for the Oak Brook, Ill., office of CB Richard Ellis Inc. and a net lease investment specialist…
The Trends: Retail Retracts
The average vacancy rate for neighborhood and community shopping centers rose from 8.1 percent in the second quarter to 8.4 percent in the third quarter and for regional/super-regional malls from 6.3 to 6.6 percent, according to data released by Reis Inc. during its third-quarter-2008 briefing. The Webcast did not forecast numbers for regional/super-regional malls, but the average vacancy rate for neighborhood and community centers is projected to hit 9.1 percent at the end of the year, 9.9 percent in 2009 and 10.3 percent in 2010. In 2011, however, the vacancy rate is expected to inch back down to 10.2 percent,…