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Retail real estate is in for a rough ride, according to the latest “Emerging Trends in Real Estate” report by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.C. “Retail stays down for a while,” the report stated.According to the report’s assessment of the prospects for 11 subsectors–three of which are retail–neighborhood/community centers have the best outlook among the retail subsegments. On a scale of 1 to 9, with 1 meaning “abysmal,” 5 representing “fair” and 9 signifying “excellent,” that subsegment earned a mark of 4.67 for investment projects and a tally of 4.08 for development prospects. Power centers pulled in a…

Those who do not study history, it’s said, are condemned to repeat it, which suggests that the Big Three automakers’ libraries might have gathered a thick layer of dust. It was just about 29 years ago that the legendary Lee Iacocca (remember those patterned shirts with the white collars?), then CEO of Chrysler, approached Congress to ask for about $1.5 billion in loan guarantees. Congress eventually agreed, and then-President Carter signed the legislation into law in January 1980. The action, essentially unprecedented at the time, worked in spades. The automaker, previously on the verge of bankruptcy, introduced some successful new…

The whipsawing stock market took a wild swing upward today, with the Dow Jones gaining 889 points–its second-biggest one-day jump ever–as the Federal Reserve began a two-day meeting, during which it is expected to cut interest rates. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 91.6 points, also its second-biggest one-day point gain ever.While the stock market soared, it was not all good news for the economy today. U.S. consumer confidence is down, says the Conference Board. Down to a record low of 38 this month, following the largest one-month decline (from 61.4 in September) since the organization devised the index…

One day after announcing third-quarter results with a 16 percent increase in FFO due to strong leasing in Manhattan, SL Green Realty Corp. has announced four lease transactions totaling more than 170,000 square feet, apparently signaling that tenant demand for quality Manhattan space has not yet diminished. “Despite uncertainty about the New York office market, we continue to experience tenant demand for well-located, quality buildings that provide attractive rental value,” Steven Durels, SL Green’s executive vice president & director of leasing and real property, said in a release. “Additionally, these transactions continue to unlock the rent growth embedded in our…

The nationwide office market trudged slowly through the third quarter of 2008, posting the fourth consecutive quarterly rise in vacancy, according to a report from Colliers International.  According to the report, national office vacancies stood at 13.7 percent at the close of the quarter, back to vacancy levels last seen in Q4 2005.This ascending trend in vacancy was reflected in both downtown (CBD) and suburban markets nationwide, with vacancy rates at 11.4 percent for downtown markets and 14.8 percent for suburban markets, Colliers said. The slowdown in demand for office space is consistent with a struggling national economy and ongoing…

Prices for commercial real estate essentially flattened in August, according to a report released from the Moody’s/REAL CPPI.The measure for August was 169.74, a slight decline of 0.1 percent from the previous month, an essentially “flat result.” The index has declined for six consecutive months, and has shown an 11.2 percent fall over the last 12 months. The index is now 11.5 percent below its peak of October of 2007. Transaction level was at the lowest point since the fourth quarter of 2004. The Western office market was the only segment to show a positive quarterly return, from June to…

Look for a steady climb in sublease space next year as the recession hits the nation’s office market in a big way. That is a major prediction made by several third-quarter reports on the national office market released last week. The studies coincided with new estimates placing job losses in the financial sector alone at more than 200,000 by the end of the year. Such reductions may take many quarters to show up in vacancy figures, given the lead time required for tenants to assess their space needs, shrink the work force and vacate space. Sublease space increased in three…

On the heels of suspension of dividend payments and the replacement of the company’s CFO at the beginning of October, Chicago-based REIT General Growth Properties Inc. has shaken up management and announced intentions to market certain Las Vegas properties. All of these efforts are designed to help the company survive billions of dollars in maturing debt coming due at a time when credit markets are frozen, according to an Oct. 22 CPN report. About $1.2 billion in debt will mature in November with another $1.3 billion following in December, according to the company’s second quarter financial report. All told, GGP’s…

Early this week, the U.S. Treasury will start shelling out $125 billion to the first nine banks that have signed up to receive capital investments from the federal government, according to an statement this morning by David Nason, assistant secretary for financial institutions. The disbursal will be the latest step in a fast-moving sequence of events that was kicked off on Oct. 14 with an announcement by President Bush at the White House. The strategy of purchasing preferred shares in major banks represented a major shift for the Bush administration, toward a more European-style response to the global financial/credit crisis….

The U.S. and California state economies will move in tandem over the next few years, with income and employment deteriorating further before the housing market hits bottom, according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast for Orange County, which was released today. The UCLA Anderson School of Management produces the report annually. The forecast for 2009 is substantially more pessimistic than the outlook presented by UCLA Anderson in its third-quarter 2008 report on the economy, released at the end of September. That report did not forecast a recession but suggested that economic growth had stalled at about 1 percent growth in gross…