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Economy Watch: Consumer Debt Edges Up
U.S. consumers pried their credit cards out of their wallets and pocketbooks for some extra use in December, according to the Federal Reserve. Credit card spending was up during that month, the first monthly increase in more than two years. The total amount of credit card debt was up $2.3 billion in December, a 3.5 percent annualized rate increase.
Mesa West Closes $47M First Mortgage
The firm supplied institutional real estate firm Savanna with capital for 5 Hanover Square, a 333,000-square-foot Class B office property in Manhattan that is being repositioned.
Economy Watch: January Jobs Report Unclear
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that a measly 36,000 jobs were created in January, and yet the overall unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent flat, its lowest level since April 2009, when the unemployment rate was on an escalator ride upward.
Energy Upgrade Plan Wins Kudos
The Obama administration has unveiled its energy efficiency proposal. Industry observers especially like provisions that are intended to make it easier for energy upgrades to pencil out.
L.A. Uses Tax Breaks to Lure Gensler
Even in a recovering office market, it is unusual for a modest-size 45,000-square-foot office lease to command the attention of a big-city mayor and other officials. That was the case in Los Angeles, however, as the mayor and other leaders publicly touted the architectural firm’s decision to relocate to the City of Angels as a vindication of its pro-business policies.
In Rare Big-Block Phoenix Office Lease, Cognizant Takes 130,700 SF
The worst may be over for the struggling Phoenix office market, where vacancy edged up only 10 basis points to 22.9 percent from the first to the fourth quarters last year.
L.A. Complex Fetches Rumored $300M
The sellers, Lincoln Property Co. and ASB Capital Management, have entitlements to build another 750,000 square feet at the master-planned office development.
Forest City Sells Stake in L.A. Apartment Complex to JV Partner CalPERS
Forest City cites an attractive 4.5 percent cap rate in its decision to sell its 50 percent share of the property, developed jointly with CalPERS.
Boston Properties Buys Bay Colony Corporate Center
The million-square-foot premier office park joins the firm’s stellar portfolio with the completion of the REIT’s $185 million acquisition of the suburban Boston asset. Talk about a steal of a deal; the asset traded in 2007 for $366 million.
Economy Watch: Investors Gung-Ho for Apartments
Real Capital Analytics reported in its year-in-review of the U.S. apartment market that a gold-rush mentality hit last year as investors eagerly sought and bought properties. All together, apartment property investment sales mushroomed 96 percent in 2010 compared with 2009. Buyers acquired some $33.7 billion worth of apartments last year, with about $12.6 billion of that total in the fourth quarter of 2010 alone–and with nearly half of the fourth-quarter total, $6.1 billion, occurring in December.