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With the economy still feeling shocks from the subprime mortgage meltdown and the ripple effect it sent throughout the financial world, the importance of risk assessment is now clearer than ever. And as commercial property deals with its own upheavals, industry lenders and investors are taking steps to more closely and accurately evaluate the risk profiles of underlying assets.To that end, HSBC is utilizing a program from consulting and technology firm Risk Integrated in order to keep tabs on its commercial real estate loans under its European lending business. The program, dubbed the Specialized Finance System (SFS), is aimed at…

Q: What should be my top considerations in backing up my system?A: Backups are a critical component of proactive systems management and yet are quite often overlooked. Among the most common mistakes people make with backup systems:• Relying on backup systems that were set up years ago without verifying that they actually work. We’ve seen a large number of firms where someone blindly swaps tapes in and out on a daily basis, without once testing the tapes.• Having incomplete backups. When most users think of backups, they generally just back up their documents and files. We’ve seen a large number…

On April 29, the AIA Technology in Architectural Practice Knowledge Community will recognize use of technology in building design when it bestows five award citations and six honorable mentions during its fifth Annual 2009 BIM Awards Program in San Francisco. From a submission field of 34 entries, the standout award was the Cooper Union Advancement of Science and Art Building by Morphosis, which won in both the Creating Stellar Architecture using BIM and the Jury’s Choice categories.This is the fifth year that AIA’s TAP community has conducted its award program for use of building information modeling. In the view of…

Across the country, the economic crisis has bolstered demand for below market-rate residential rental accommodations, and New York State is hardly an exception. Governor David Paterson was the first governor to push for the inclusion of affordable housing project funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and now the state has become the first to receive money–a total of $253 million in grants–for affordable housing from the stimulus package. The money will result in approximately 1,400 new or rehabilitated residences. An initial nine low-income housing projects have been identified to profit from the grants. Properties in the…

A pair of new reports outline divergent futures for the apartment sector. While a report from Reis Inc. paints a dire outlook for apartment occupancy as job creation dwindles, another–by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services–indicates the return of millions of households to the rental market after temporary homeownership along with the emergence of echo-boomer renters and a significant drop in new supply pipelines, all of which may ultimately lead to several years of strong rent growth. Reuters cited Reis in reporting that the vacancy rate for U.S. apartments hit a three-year high in the first quarter and asking…

Despite the economy, the international hospitality sector continues to move forward, with Ramada Worldwide the latest to expand on the international scene. The firm has unveiled plans for two new hotels in China. While projects across the globe suffer as a result of the troubling economy, international hotel developers remain hopeful about the future. The Ramada announcement comes just days after Intercontinental Hotels Group revealed its plans to develop 31 hotels in IndiaCurrently under development on Hainan Island just off the south coast of mainland China, the 1,000-room, 24-story Ramada Hotel & Suites Boao is expected to open in December…

The one-two punch of the credit crisis and the recession has significantly slowed office building sales in many cities, and Dallas is no exception. But KBS Realty Advisors pulled off the biggest commercial real estate buy in the city so far this year, with its purchase of Providence Towers, a 12-story, 504,700-square-foot office tower from CB Richard Ellis Investors L.L.C. The sales price was not disclosed. Located in the Far North Dallas Tollway submarket, Providence Towers is a familiar city landmark, featuring polished red granite exteriors and a nine-story entrance arch that splits the building into identical east and west…

There’s little doubt that the construction industry has felt the full force of hard times, earlier in fact than most other industries. With the popping of the housing bubble beginning in 2006, the residential side of the industry started to suffer, and with the credit freeze setting in in 2007, the commercial side of the business also faced a slowdown. Now the recession has dampened demand for new buildings even more. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, construction spending during January 2009 stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $986.2 billion, down 3.3 percent from the month before,…

While liquidity is virtually unavailable for big-ticket hotel investment sales, investors are eager for select-service properties and pockets of financing are available for hotels trading under $15 million. But competition is tight, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’ recently conducted biannual U.S. Select Service Hotel Investor Survey, which revealed that hungry buyers now outnumber sellers by more than six to one.According to the survey, 55 percent of investors are targeting distressed assets or loans/notes. But many equity-rich buyers are forced to sit on the sidelines, eagerly awaiting opportunistic acquisitions, as both distressed and performing assets are being put up for…

With hotel fundamentals in a nosedive due to the recession, many hotel companies’ finances are coming under stress. But Marriott International Inc. recently put its strong balance sheet to work on a deal that seems to have a lot of upside for the hotel giant.Marriott is setting out to save one of America’s signature resorts, having agreed to acquire The Greenbrier, a 721-room resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., that has hosted 26 U.S. presidents on its grounds but is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.Pending bankruptcy court approval, Marriott is striving to secure a long-term management agreement at the resort,…