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Seizing upon a market that demands investors create focused strategic plans, James O’Connell, principal of O’Connell Hospitality Group, and Robert Crawford, president of Hospitality Resolutions Inc., have formed a new venture called Collateral Strategies Inc. Collateral Strategies will provide lenders, loan servicers, borrowers and investors with focused strategic plans designed to assist with portfolio and single asset credit recovery. CS’s credit strategies will identify the maximum recoverable value for both the asset and the collateral debt. CS’s team will assist its clients in achieving optimal values for troubled hospitality loans and investments. “Bob and I created the group because of…

ProLogis has leased more than 140,000 square feet in Bratislava, Slovakia, to Tesco International Clothing Brand,  a division of Tesco plc.Construction on the 290,000-square-foot building located at ProLogis Park Galanta-Gan commenced in July 2008, and is scheduled for completion during the first quarter of 2009.This is Tesco’s third lease with ProLogis in Slovakia. The company also occupies 700,000 square feet in another building at the same park and more than 375,000 square feet of space at ProLogis Park Bratislava. ProLogis Park Galanta-Gan comprises two completed warehouse facilities totaling more than 1.7 million square feet in addition to the 290,000-square-foot facility…

The eyes of the world were on Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for the U.S. government’s historic changing of the guard, but also for further clues about what the new administration will do to expedite economic recovery. Delivering his inaugural address as 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama soon touched on the sickly economy. “Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered,” the new president said early in his speech. “Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our…

As markets dipped at the end of last week–largely on renewed fears of deflation and the lingering weakness in the industrial sector, specifically auto production–calls continued for more government fiscal intervention. The market moved downward on Friday morning after the government released an assortment of dispiriting economic numbers, but regained its composure by afternoon, ending in positive territory. The Dow Jones index gained 68.73 points, or 0.84 percent, while the S&P 500 was up 0.76 percent and the Nasdaq was up 1.16 percent. The specter of deflation, last characteristic of consumer prices during the Great Depression, might have spooked investors….

As economic news has moved from bad to worse over recent months, significant population shifts are occurring throughout the country that will markedly impact the commercial real estate investments over the coming years. Moreover, amidst these shifts, the decade’s population growth has slowed to the lowest level in the past 50 years, all of which points up the need for commercial real estate investors to identify the segments of the population that will have a measurable impact on how things in the real estate world evolve. Those segments, as Nielsen Claritas sees it, are the Baby Boomers, born between 1946…

Though the decision by Circuit City Stores Inc. to go out of business for good is hardly unexpected, the chain’s liquidation will add to the challenges facing retail real estate owners.Circuit City made the announcement on Friday, after efforts to sell the company fell through. In a statement, the retailer said it expected to close its remaining 567 stores by the end of March. The giant electronics chain’s decision came only a few months after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and disclosed plans to close 155 stores in the United States.Thus Circuit City became the retail sector’s first…

The average U.S. hotel is likely to suffer a 5.3 percent drop in occupancy and a 7.9 percent decline in profits in 2009, according to Atlanta-based PKF Hospitality Research. A well-run spa operation can contribute revenue that is likely to be increasingly important for hotels as occupancy contracts this year.Spa services also can define the market position of a hotel, provide a competitive asset that is attractive to multiple demand segments and diversify a hotel’s revenue stream. These benefits could be especially valuable for hotels seeking to differentiate their product, increase their market share, achieve revenue stability and maintain profitability…

The global economic slowdown and greater difficulty in financing hotel development has translated into a diminishing hotel development pipeline. According to a Lodging Econometrics report, the total global construction pipeline declined 6 percent to 10,169 projects and 1.7million rooms during the third quarter of 2008. The second quarter represented the pipeline’s peak, and all regions reached cyclical peaks in the second quarter of 2008, except for Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central and South America, which reached their peak in the first quarter of last year.All regions declined from the second quarter to the third. The report cited a number…

Significant availability-rate increases are affecting a great number of U.S. markets—yet another side effect of the current economic recession in the United States. Manufacturing activity and industrial production declined substantially in the fourth quarter, and weak consumer spending continues to put downward pressure on demand for imports, further reducing the demand for warehousing and distribution space. The fourth quarter also marked a considerable drop in goods exports, which had been propping up demand for industrial space in many markets.The warehouse availability rate for CBRE Torto Wheaton Research’s Sum of Markets increased 70 basis points to 11.8 percent in the fourth…

Although the sector’s returns fell considerably below their historic levels during 2008, industrial properties continued to outperform other major commercial real estate categories, RREEF Research concluded in a recently updated report. However, the sector will have to wait until 2010 for an upswing in growth, given a global economy that has weakened considerably during the past year.RREEF, an affiliate of the Deutsche Bank Group, presented its outlook in a revised version of a February 2008 report on commercial real estate investment. Highlighting changes that have affected the industrial sector over the past year, RREEF analysts updated statistics and commentary in…