Blog

By Sam Weatherby and Kim Vanderland, JLL   Creating a seamless, positive customer experience is the primary focus for customer service organizations. Delivering on that promise requires major organizational (and real estate) changes—including the evolution from call centers to multi-channel contact centers. Communication now spreads across telephone, email, live chat and social media interactions. While in the past, many senior executives may have viewed these locations as a cost-center to take calls and help solve problems, today’s contact center is turning into more of a strategic command hub that can provide a competitive advantage. Gone are the days of customer…

  In recent years, thought leaders in the multifamily sector have explained the national surge of urban high-rise apartment development in cities as a way to meet demand from one demographic group: Millennials. Now, more people are recognizing that Baby Boomers play an equally important role. The notion that older Americans are as attracted to high-rise apartment living as young people are isn’t new. Affluent empty nesters and active seniors have long driven apartment demand in places like Chicago’s downtown neighborhoods, where Golub & Company has been developing, redeveloping and managing apartments for decades. As more of the Baby Boom…

By Anthony Cinquini, Managing Director & Head of Affordable Housing, Berkadia Affordable housing rates still remain at historic lows, and that continues to be great news. But the better news is that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD have all improved their lending platforms for affordable borrowers, stemming from what may have been a shift toward refocusing their efforts on more lending related to the uncapped side of the industry. Not only have they dedicated intellectual capital to streamline their processes but they’ve identified creative solutions over the past 12 months in rolling out some new products and features. Whether…

By Steve Jones, International Director, Multi-site / Retail Project Management, JLL Retailers are incorporating technology into brick-and-mortar stores in order to improve efficiency, while simultaneously enhancing their brands. The use of technology to enrich the customer experience heightens the quality of shopping for loyal customers and also draws in new ones. Businesses of the past are bringing in the latest in sales and distribution technology to give their stores a much needed boost of energy. During the past few years, movie ticket sales have slumped. In reaction, theaters have started to incorporate technology into all aspects of their businesses. AMC has…

By Karen Raquet, Director of Retail Property Services for JLL Ask an American shopper to name her favorite food hall and the responses will vary. A New Yorker might choose Chelsea Market or Gotham West, but an LA shopper might point to the much-loved Grand Central Market. If you ask a food lover in Des Moines or Nashville that same question, the response may likely be a blank stare. While the food hall craze is at full frenzy in top tier U.S. cities, the rest of America is still ripe for growth. Food hall mindshare is growing. Food hall awareness…

By James Gray-Donald, Vice President of Sustainability, Bentall Kennedy In the past five years there have been various studies which present evidence on the linkage between green building certification and financial performance. While the results of these studies are remarkably consistent; skepticism still exists among property owners and managers. The validity of these studies, which have claimed to measure the financial benefit of green certified assets, has been questioned. A new study was designed to address this skepticism. The recently-published findings validate two key points. Firstly, making buildings more sustainable is a wise investment (it pays). Secondly, tenants care about…

By Paula Harris, Principal, Senior Vice President, Golub & Company There’s nothing but blue sky in the future of Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods (SUNs)—live-work-play areas with a strong appeal to upscale renters and companies seeking to employ them. The challenge for institutional investors is to identify and capture the best opportunities for high-yield investment. We’ve all seen this trend in recent years: companies have stepped up their pursuit of talented college graduates in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Whereas in the past, workers gravitated to cities where the jobs were, today companies are growing in markets where STEM workers choose…

By Joseph Franzetti, Senior Vice President, Berkadia The CMBS conduit market has experienced a significant amount of turbulence since mid-2015, with triple-A spreads widening dramatically. As a result, both investors and borrowers have been thrown into a state of consternation. Those who invested in triple-As during the summer of 2015 have witnessed a fair amount of value diminution in their bond portfolio. And the news is no better for borrowers, who have seen their cost of capital continually grow and been subjected to a tightening credit environment. Little surprise that property sales are also being impacted. There’s hope that the…

Owning a home is no longer foundational to the American Dream. Enter, the GSEs.

By Anita Sabine Esq., Partner in the Real Estate and Land Use Practice Group, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP             Retail, multi-family, office building and industrial real estate need to move over once again to make room for another niche sector ostensibly related to health care. The newest emerging commercial real estate market truly is a virgin market—cannabis real estate. Marijuana is the fastest-growing industry in the U.S., according to researchers at The ArcView Group, a cannabis industry investment and research firm, with legal sales said to have hit $5.4 billion in 2015. Currently, there is a gaping hole in…