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As municipalities reassess real estate within their jurisdictions, those counties and cities which are required to rely upon market value, as opposed to formulaic or historic cost based approaches, have a major problem.  The lack of transactions in the late 2007-late 2009 time frame means that appraisers’ jobs will be far more complicated.  How to estimate market rent when there are a few tenants signing leases?  Is there a way to determine market-based capitalization rates when there are few sales from which rates can be derived?  How to calculate band of investment capitalization rates when mortgage financing is so difficult…

Earlier this summer, the IGDS (Intercontinental Group of Department Stores) held their annual high profile summit in New York.  This is the one conference that attracts the CEOs of the leading retail companies from all over the globe into one place, to converge, discuss and debate the state of the world in retail. There were over 300 delegates from 36 countries – including 54 CEOs from the retail store industry. Last year it was held in Moscow, and the year before in London – next year it will be Paris. I’ve had the good fortune of being invited to join this group…

By: James DuMars, Phoenix office managing director-NorthMarq Capital The gloves are off as several life companies lowered their rates below 5% in order to compete for loans against Class A apartment communities and institutional industrial.  We’ve seen rates as low as 4.45% fixed for 10 years for low leverage loan requests on multifamily.  Let me emphasize that these are for large loans against Class A multifamily in solid locations across the US.   However, the trend of narrowing spreads continues as life companies seek out opportunities to deploy capital on quality assets and multifamily is at the top of many companies’…

Many states assess commercial property on a fee-simple basis, using market rents and vacancy rates to calculate a property’s potential income and value. That may work in a stable market, where multi-tenant properties have rent rolls that continually turn over and are consistent with market rents.  Few U.S. markets are stable these days, however. In today’s economic tumult, a property’s leased fee position—its value based on contract lease rates—may not reflect current, dire market conditions that can bring down its taxable value. It’s more important than ever to educate the assessor to the realities of leasing in 2010. In many…

Con Edison steam has provided reliable service to its customers for over 100 years, with over 1,800 steam customers south of 96th street Con Edison has capacity close to 13,000 Mlbs. More importantly, the steam system provides close to 625,000 tons of cooling, relieving the Con Edison electric grid of close to 375 MW of electricity that it does not need to carry or a supplier produce in the peak of summer. Each year with the summer peak cooling season about to commence, various energy consultants (Curtailment Service Providers or “CSP’s) begin to offer enrollment incentives to sign up for…

The Lusk Center’s Richard Green blogs on CPE’s From the Inside about the future of financial services jobs and the impact on the commercial real estate property sectors.

Amid all the hoopla surrounding the news that LeBron James would be joining the Miami Heat next season, I overheard one sports analyst comment that “King James’” arrival in the Magic city would make Heat games – and by extension, the community – “more corporate.” The rationale behind this idea is that major corporations will now clamor for high-priced basketball tickets, squeezing out mainstream fans in the process. He had apparently seen similar dynamics unfold during Michael Jordan’s years in Chicago and then Washington, D.C. Despite its strong position as an international hub for finance and commerce, the core of…