the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Dow Jones Rises 550+ Points, Markets Globally Show Gains
On the eve of the G-20 meeting to address the global financial crisis, stocks staged a powerful rally Thursday after three straight down days, with the Dow Jones industrial average surging more than 550 points, according to the LA Times. The blue-chip indicator remains down. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index jumped 58.99 points and the S&P fell to a new intraday bear-market low before recovering. The Nasdaq composite index rose 97.49 points. Crude futures rose $2.08 to $58.24 a barrel. That sent energy stocks in the S&P 500 up 11 percent, more than any other sector. Exxon Mobil jumped…
Financial Market Update: Consumers Decide to Stay Home
After yesterday’s upward bump, the Dow Jones index slipped into another downward course today losing some 338 points, or 3.82 percent. The S&P 500 slipped more, 4.17 percent, and the Nasdaq even more than that, an even 5.0 percent.It’s official–and the office is the U.S. Department of Commerce, which released the numbers this morning–retail sales dropped in October by a record 2.8 percent. On the other hand, records only began in 1992: surely consumer spending also dropped precipitously in, say, 1991, 1974 and 1930. Excluding cars, sales still dropped 2.2 percent. Auto sales as a single category contracted by 5.5…
Weingarten, Hines REIT Form $271M Venture
Weingarten Realty Investors and Hines Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. have formed a joint venture, in which a subsidiary of Hines REIT will acquire a 70 percent interest in a Weingarten portfolio of 12 supermarket-anchored shopping centers. The aggregate transaction price is approximately $271 million and the transaction will close on multiple dates. The initial closing occurred on Nov. 13 and included eight of the properties for approximately $205 million. The purchase of the remaining four properties will be closed upon finalization of their loan assumptions.The 12 properties consist of 1.5 million square feet and are located across five states….
New ProLogis CEO Details Plans to Put Company Back on Track
In a presentation to investors Thursday, new ProLogis CEO Walter Rakowich, the company’s former president & COO, fleshed out some specifics about how the world’s largest developer/owner of distribution facilities will move forward past its current crisis. In addition, a new report on equity REITs documents just how much those entities have been shaken up lately. ProLogis’ stock price had plummeted 78 percent in the past month, and matters came to a head on Wednesday, when it was announced that Jeffrey Schwartz, CEO & chairman for the past four years, would resign. The news was accompanied by announcements that the…
Urdang Sells Pair of Atlanta-Area Business Centers for $48M
Urdang, a unit of BNY Mellon Asset Management, has announced the $48 million sale of two business centers in suburban Atlanta to CCI-B Marietta L.L.C., a partnership formed by Capital Commercial Investments Inc. The properties total nearly 14 buildings on 48 acres and comprise 620,000 square feet of office, medical, retail and warehouse space. The two properties, American Business Center and WhiteWater Business Center, are about four miles apart in Cobb County’s I-75 business corridor. Both centers consist of one- and two-story multi-tenant buildings. Major tenants include The Healthfield Group, General Electric, Bekaert Corp., Concentra, DaVita, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University….
Zogby: American Attitudes Shifting Away from Material Focus
Americans are increasingly shifting their focus away from wealth accumulation, and looking to find fulfillment in other pursuits, said John Zogby, president & CEO of Zogby International. The widely-quoted pollster was the keynote speaker and master of ceremonies of CPN’s Executive Awards luncheon, held Friday in New York. Zogby (pictured), author of a new book, The Way We’ll Be, said the American Dream still lives, but it is not all about accumulating wealth. “It is about finding fulfillment as a person,” he said. Many Americans have had to readjust their income expectations after losing a job and having to settle…
Grubb & Ellis 2009 Forecast: No Quick Fix for Economic Doldrums
Vacancy should increase in all property types, but investment sales could increase in the second half of 2009, even though many of those properties may be distressed assets. Those were some of the predictions offered at Grubb & Ellis’ 2009 Commercial Real Estate Forecast, held in Manhattan on Wednesday. All property types are seeing rising vacancy rates, and they should continue to increase, said Robert Bach (pictured), senior vice president and senior economist for Grubb & Ellis Inc. Nationwide, office vacancy has increased from 13 percent in the third quarter of 2007 to 14.3 percent in this year’s third quarter….
$3B Green Educational/Medical/Leisure District Planned for South Korea
Boston-based C Change Investments, Bio Medical City Inc. of Seoul, Korea and two government agencies of the Republic of Korea have joined forces to market, manage and develop a $3 billion sustainable educational, medical and leisure district in Sejong, Korea, the Republic’s new capital city, which has been under construction since last year. Korea wants the mammoth new district, like Sejong as a whole, to be a near-zero carbon emission development employing state-of-the-art clean building systems and technologies. The two government agencies, the Multifunctional Administrative City Construction Agency and the Korea Land Corp., will help secure about 2,000 acres for…
ProLogis Leases 750,000 SF near Chicago
ProLogis has leased approximately 750,500 square feet near Chicago to Kimberly-Clark Corp., a leading global, health and hygiene company.ProLogis Park 55 is a distribution park located southwest of Chicago in Romeoville, Ill., off Interstate 55. ProLogis owns and operates six buildings in the industrial park, comprising more than 3.1 million square feet of class A distribution space. This transaction marks the third lease agreement between the two companies. Kimberly-Clark now occupies approximately 1.6 million square feet with ProLogis in various locations across North America. “This is one of the largest lease agreements for ProLogis in the United States this year…
Despite Economy, Sustainability, Workplace Alternatives Still Focuses for Corporations
While the poor economy is a necessary consideration for every strategy today, corporate real estate’s recent big initiatives continue to progress. Thus, not only the economy but sustainability issues and workplace advances permeated CoreNet Global’s Fall Meeting in Orlando this week.The United States is in for a severe downturn, according to Jim Costello, principal & director of investment strategy at Torto Wheaton Research, during the economic outlook mega session moderated by CoreNet Global CEO Prentice Knight. Jobs are now being cut at a faster pace than during the early ‘90s recession, Costello noted, and while commercial property actually remains fairly…