Commercial Real Estate Finance

Posts Tagged ‘los angeles’

Week in Review for May 11 – 17:

- CoStar Group releases a list of 25 REITs “Most Likely to Sell You a Property in 2013.” The list includes many well-known public REITs, and just about every major asset class is represented, including multifamily and healthcare properties.

- Post Brothers, an up-and-coming multifamily developer in Philadelphia, begins listing apartments for its latest development, a conversion of a former industrial property on the outskirts of Center City.

- In developing this property, Post Brothers had a tense stand-off with the city’s labor unions in response to their use of non-union workers.

- JW Pepper & Son acquires a 43,000 -SF office building in the Stone Ridge Corporate Center in Exton, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. They acquired the property for $5.1 million ($118/SF), reports CoStar.

- In Los Angeles, Hines REIT sells the One Wilshire building, an office and retail property, to GI Partners for $437.5 million, as well as one other property for $112.5 million.  Read the rest of this entry »

Week in Review for March 9 – 15:

- Writing for The Atlantic Cities, Eric Jaffe discusses the cultural, demographic, and economic conditions reshaping American communities and real estate–and potentially diminishing the role of the suburb.

-  Three Philadelphia brokers form a new boutique brokerage firm, Rittenhouse Realty Advisors, which will focus on sales and advisory services in the multifamily sector. Two of the firm’s founders are former members of Marcus & Millichap.

- Los Angeles REIT Kilroy Realty Corp. (NYSE: KRC) resumes its redevelopment of Columbia Square in Hollywood, reports the Wall Street Journal. The REIT acquired the enormous office building last year for $65 million and plans to convert the property into a mixed-use building, including residential, office, and retail spaces.

- Also on the West Coast, investment groups from China and Singapore commit greater amounts of capital to trophy properties in San Francisco, reports CoStar Group.

-  In Buckhead, Georgia, Tishman Speyer returns the distressed One Alliance Center to special servicer Orix Capital. The 22-story office tower was constructed at the height of the real estate boom, but fell into distress in 2010 and has suffered from high vacancy ever since. Read the rest of this entry »

Turning to a region we don’t usually explore (we’re based in Philadelphia, after all), here is a list of the Top 10 CRE Firms on the West Coast, selected by the Portland Business Journal:

9. (tied) Marcus & Millichap, Calabasas, CA

9. (tied) Elliott Associates, Inc., Portland, OR

7. (tied) Macadam Forbes, Inc., Portland, OR

7. (tied) Capacity Commercial Group, LLC, Portland, OR

6. Colliers International, Seattle, WA

5. Norris & Stevens, Inc., Portland, OR Read the rest of this entry »

Based on the number of residents per square mile, here is a list of the 10 Most Densely Populated Towns in the U.S. I’ve included the population density and metro area in parentheses.

10. Cudahy (LA, 21,627.7)

9. Passaic (NYC, 21,804.7)

8. East Newark (NYC, 23,330.0)

7. Cliffside Park (NYC, 23,847.7)

6. Maywood (LA, 23,887.2) Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the top Major Metropolitan Markets in the US and their average rates for leasing Class A Office Space over the past year.  (Note that these are for the Metro areas, not just downtown space.) No surprise that most of the usual suspects show up here, but there are also some surprises that popped up.  Most of the markets are showing lower rates than a year ago, some considerably, but there are several markets that have shown growth and rising rates.

As you can see above, most of the major metros have falling rates for leasing office space, but there are a few notable exceptions.  New York is still going strong and showing just over a 3% increase as the city rebounds.  With more office space coming on the market in the next few years as the World Trade Center rebuilding continues, as well as difficulties for financial firms, look for this rate to stay steady or fall slightly as more space begins to open up.

Boston is also moving up once again as a high-tech corridor.  With a less than 1% increase in average rates, there is some action happening here, but nothing incredibly substantial.  We’ve seen more venture capital investment in Boston in recent years as well.

San Francisco shows the biggest jump with a 7.6% increase.  Most of this increase can be attributed to the new tech boom that is following on the heels of web companies like Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, LinkedIn, Netflix and others.  Additionally, the being in the same building as or next to Twitter or Facebook has helped to drive up average rates as well as companies are willing to pay more to be in close proximity to web company leaders.

Commercial Real Estate Week In Review For the Week of April 30th to May 6th

- Bernanke Urges Government to Avoid Burdensome Regulations on Banks.

- Hersha Hospitality Buys LA Marriott for $48 Million.

- REITs Resume Top Ranking in Equity Stocks.

- The Federal Reserve Wraps up Bond Buying Program.

Read the rest of this entry »

Commercial Real Estate Week In Review For The Week of April 16th to April 22nd

-  Health Care Industry Construction Operating at Full Force.

- Still Some Hurdles to be Jumped to Invest in China.

- Warren Buffet Looks Abroad for Investments Due to Weak US Dollar.

- Earthquake in Japan Delays Malaysian Sharia REIT. Read the rest of this entry »

CNNMoney lists the most overvalued cities in America this year, according to Local Market Monitor. By their standards, the majority of housing markets are fairly valued, while eight markets are overpriced, and 15 are underpriced.

8. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Median Home Price: $236,016. Overvalued for 2011 16%. Overvalued for 2012 16%.
Read the rest of this entry »

I recently wrote an entry on the continued importance of “big cities” and news from around the country suggests that Big-Box retailers share the same view.  Admittedly, my original post and the article that inspired it didn’t focus on any particular industry or even any particular asset class, for that matter. But the general premise of my prior post is certainly applicable to this situation.  In fact, one of the most cited reasons for the move to the suburbs—that is, lower prices per-square-foot—appears again in this context.  Like before though, the idea that cost per-square-foot should be the primary driver for investment decisions is dismissed fairly quickly; and retailers get this.  Markets by and large are created by consumer demand, not the reverse, which brings me to the point of this writing: what happens when retailers have demonstrated a demand for their services, and a bona fide interest in urban expansion, but are blocked?  In short, they must open their wallets and begin to exert their influence.

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President Obama, in his recent State of the Union Address asserted that, “the worst of the storm has passed, but the devastation remains.” Of course, Obama was referring to the economy in general, however, there are some indicators in particular real estate markets that seem to support the president’s assertion. In December, CNBC.com published a list of housing markets most likely to have hit bottom. CNBC did not rank the list, however, based on the numbers, below are what I believe to be the the top 10. The criteria for the ranking was a combination of the overall decline in prices by percent, number of months with year-over-year favorable change, last year’s overall change, and December’s month-to-month change.
10. Philadelphia, PA
Fall from peak: 10.6%
Months with YoY favorable change: 7
Current YoY change: -4.1%
Current month-to-month change: N/A

9. New Haven, CT
Fall from peak: 13.5%
Months with YoY favorable change: 8
Current YoY change: -1.3%
Current month-to-month change: 0.8%
Read the rest of this entry »