Internet purchases make up only about 9 percent of all retail sales, but their impact far outstrips that deceptively modest share. The rapid growth of online shopping is creating a palpable demand for specialized delivery streams, which are expanding steadily as retailers experiment with the best ways to serve their customers. Meanwhile, Amazon is unrelentingly…

At press time, Congress had just approved a $1.1 trillion spending bill funding the federal government until September. A follow-on to the two-year budget accord achieved in December, it marked progress after three years of partisan infighting that hit a nadir last October with the first shutdown of the federal government in 17 years. Besides…

This new year brings promise of further economic improvement, but as I noted last month, it brings ample challenges, as well. Improving occupancy, more widely available financing and renewed development all offer cause for optimism, yet we also face re-emergence of the national debt default threat and a likely rise in interest rates. Federal government…

It’s been quite a year. From inauguration to sequestration to the extension of quantitative easing to the two-week shutdown, the federal government’s actions have taken the country on an economic roller-coaster ride. While overall the economy has grown and employment has improved, the ups and downs that have occurred along the way have injected at…

During the past few years, the return to the cities has been at the center of attention as legions of new graduates and retirees, members of the massive Millennial and Baby Boomer generations, have gravitated to the jobs, entertainment and more accessible lifestyles increasingly offered in these walkable urban areas. Companies have long since shifted…

When Paris sneezes, Europe catches cold,” Prince Klemens von Metternich, first state chancellor of the Austrian Empire, commented during France’s reign of power in 1830. Some variation of the prince’s remark has been applied to many dominant nations over the years, but nowadays pretty much any country can sneeze and the whole world feels a…

As the economy recovers, investors and lenders alike have been eagerly pouring money back into real estate.

Technological advances represent the very essence of innovation. And the CRE industry has come a long way in adopting technology that improves construction, operations and business processes.

After writing last month about innovation as I reflected on the achievements of CPE’s Most Influential People in Real Estate, I flew out to the Urban Land Institute’s Spring Meeting in San Diego, where “Innovate” was the overriding theme. Coincidence? Perhaps, but these days creativity is paramount as the commercial real estate industry explores new…

Far from the provincial sector that once leapt from deal to deal with little thought for data or strategy, commercial real estate has grown into an analytical, sophisticated and accomplished industry.