Commercial Real Estate Finance

Posts Tagged ‘Orlando’

Mensch 

Noun, informal. A decent, upright, mature and responsible person. 

Schlemiel 

Noun, slang. An awkward, clumsy, or unlucky person whose endeavors tend to fail; a loser.

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Mensch of the Week:

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust

PREIT (NYSE: PEI), a retail and shopping mall investor not far from Llenrock’s offices in Philadelphia, has a good understanding of the opportunities and unique challenges of their sector. Malls, community centers, and other retail assets comprise an enormous segment of America’s commercial real estate inventory, and there are plenty of attractive core and value-add investment opportunities within this market. But retail (like so many other asset classes) has been the victim of overbuilding–not to mention dampened consumer confidence, big-name bankruptcies, and competition from the mighty Internet.

Yes, there are still revenue-producing malls full of high-end tenants and wealthy clientele, and fully leased community shopping centers anchored by Internet-proof businesses like grocery stores, gyms, and popular eateries. But to find the gems in the retail sector, one must sift though a lot of fairly mediocre inventory.

For a major retail REIT, navigating and growing in this challenging sector requires a big-picture strategy and some very selective investments. PREIT seems to have both. In the last few months, the REIT has pared down its non-core assets, selling off properties like Orlando Fashion Square Mall, Paxton Towne Centre and the Phillipsburg Mall, all of these sales part of the company’s ”previously-announced plan to improve the quality of its portfolio by selling certain non-core assets” (according to various related press releases). Read the rest of this entry »

From an article published last year in BusinessReviewUSA, here is a (largely subjective) ranking of the Top 10 Convention Centers in the U.S.: 

10. San Diego Convention Center (Exhibit space: 615,700 SF)

9. Anaheim Convention Center (800,000 SF)

8. Moscone Center, San Francisco (700,000 SF)

7. Phoenix Convention Center (312,000 SF)

6. Georgia World Congress Center (1,500,000 SF)

5. Dallas Convention Center (1,000,000 SF)

4. Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington DC (undergoing expansion) Read the rest of this entry »

Week in Review for February 16 – 22:

 - According to the first three paragraphs of a Wall Street Journal article (you have to have a “Pro” account to read the rest), many investors are missing opportunities for high yields among smaller-cap REITs.

- Private commercial real estate service Cushman & Wakefield expands its presence in Central Pennsylvania, opening a local office in Harrisburg. John Derham, Cushman & Wakefield’s local director, tells CoStar Group the expansion is a response to the Harrisburg market’s growth, the fastest in the state.

- High-profile Federal Reserve officials voice opposition to the organization’s ongoing bond-buying practices, which are intended to stimulate the economy and hold down interest rates, says Reuters. The Fed had previously indicated it would maintain its stimulus program until the U.S. unemployment rate drops substantially. The Fed’s bond-buying is considered significant to many parts of the commercial real estate sector, including the REIT market.

-  In Manhattan, Comcast Corp (NASDAQ: CMCSA) acquires the iconic 30 Rockefeller Plaza. This purchase coincides with Comcast’s $16.7 billion purchase of General Electric (NYSE: GE)’s 49% stake in NBCUniversal, the building’s tenant.   Read the rest of this entry »

Top 10 International Cities for Tourism:

10. Darwin, Australia

9. Orlando, FL, US

8. Hong Kong

7. Santiago, Chile

6. Guimaraes, Portugal Read the rest of this entry »

In its second large move in the Retail Commercial Real Estate market, Blackstone (NYSE: BX) has agreed to purchase $473MM in shopping centers in Atlanta, Tampa, and Orlando from Equity One Inc (NYSE: EQY) .  This move marks the continued focus for Blackstone into the Retail market after their massive buy of 588 shopping centers in February for $9.4BB from Centro Properties Group.

Read the rest of this entry »