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By Robert Mandelbaum and Alvin Minsk From 2008 and 2009, the averageU.S.hotel suffered a 13.2 percent decline in occupancy along with a 5.9 percent drop in average daily rate, or ADR. During this period, hotel managers were challenged to find tactics that maximized revenue for their hotels. On the sales side, adjusting room rates and experimenting with distribution channels garnered the most attention. However, back in the accounting offices ofU.S.hotels, decisions had to be made regarding the offering of credit to potential guests. On the one hand, loosening credit requirements may ease the way for certain groups to stay at…

An improving job outlook and a mild winter helped Americans shrug off high gas prices. Retail sales continued to outperform economist expectations, leading to gains in retail leasing. By analyzing CREOpoint’s crowd-sourced data, covering tens of thousands of news sources, online articles, forum posts and tweets mentioning ICSC and retail each day from October 15, 2011 to April 15, 2012, it is clear that something fundamental is also happening. The use of the words “recession” and “crisis” were being replaced by more positive words like “improvement” and “good”!  What does this mean for commercial real estate? Momentum. We’re seeing a…

Our construction and project management teams are seeing a lot more attention paid lately to the connection between sustainability and one of the biggest trends in the construction business: Integrated Project Delivery. IPD is not specifically about sustainability, but it offers a great way for design-and-construction teams to develop the most sustainable building at the lowest cost. The traditional development model is mostly sequential. The architect draws up plans, then the engineering firm figures out how to make HVAC work, then contractors follow the plans to construct the building, and eventually the facility manager operates the building.  The result can…

Starpoint CEO Paul Daneshrad blogs about how changes in U.S. demographics are impacting the multi-family market.

Christian Redfearn, director of the graduate programs in real estate at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy, weighs in on the abuse of IRR in measuring property value.

With the next iteration of Apple’s iPad newly launched, we’ve assembled a list of the good and the bad that can be expected from this new device: The Good The biggest feature of the new iPad is the Retina display, which provides the sharpest screen resolution on any mobile device available today. Apple has stated that it has packed 3.1 million pixels (1 million more than on a high-definition TV). The new iPad is also the first tablet that can play HD videos in their full resolution. For data, the new iPad (with cell network) comes with 4G LTE capability…

CREOpoint and ARGUS Software bring you the 3-day on-the-spot report from MIPIM, the next best thing to having been there. My key take-aways are: Cautious optimism pervaded (growing in direct proportion to number of drinks and lateness of the hour). Prime locations and properties are stil the focus of major investors. Secondary locations, not so much. Regions and countries are thinking ‘big’ again. Whether it be London’s Olympic Park, the Grand Paris project, Qatar’s Downtown Doha project; Russia’s Sochi and Skolkovo Innovation City, Istanbul’s Zorlu Center or Rome’s Ostia waterfront, the scale of ambition and vision is widening. Ultimately, demographics…

Starpoint CEO Paul Daneshrad offers his opinions on the outlook for the multi-family property sector and his company’s investment plans.

With the many security challenges that face the internet today, numerous companies have adopted a “Cloud” infrastructure utilizing different SaaS (Software as a Service) technologies.  In the commercial real estate industry sensitive information is being passed via the internet daily including accounting and tenant information.  A common misperception about the “Cloud” is that a company no longer has control over their network and is therefore more susceptible to security risks. Put those ideas to rest!  Because now more than ever our information is secure and protected.  To ease your suspicions, I have broken down these successful security technologies used by…

The USC Lusk Center’s Richard Green blogs about the intricacies of real estate investment in India and China.