Here are the news articles you might find interesting today for commercial real estate and business:
New Ownership Likely to Help CityNorth The best way to describe the 630,000-square-foot CityCenter of CityNorth might be “roller-coaster ride.” Launched in 2006 by Chicago-based Klutznick Co. and partners as “a true mixed-use project with retail, restaurants, office above retail and residential above retail,” according to John Klutznik in 2006, the project fell into disarray when the Great Recession and its aftermath it. Then came years of foreclosures and lawsuits, ending in a judge awarding master-developer rights to Gray Development Group. View article…
Mesa city council debates whether to include bar at Riverview-area Marriott hotel With only a partial City Council on hand, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith ultimately pulled an agenda item on a proposed Marriott Springhill Suites Hotel – slated for the “Wrigleyville” area between the news Cubs’ baseball stadium and park at Riverview – from the council’s meeting during its study session Monday night. View article…
Federal initiative to boost manufacturing in Mesa Using Able Engineering’s expansive new Mesa facility as a backdrop, U.S. Deputy Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank last week unveiled a national initiative that will assist cities trying to attract or expand manufacturing opportunities. The Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership aims to shake up the way federal dollars are used for economic-development efforts, forgoing targeted incentives for specific companies in favor of pushing cities to create generally investment-friendly environments through workforce training, infrastructure and innovation. View article…
Despite Council approval, Mtn. Shadow plans face foes After months of negotiations, revisions, concessions and meetings, the Paradise Valley Town Council has approved redevelopment plans for the long-shuttered Mountain Shadows resort. However, a lingering legal dispute with a nearby homeowners group could throw yet another curve into the process. View article…
Scottsdale hotel occupancy down in March, but revenue up Spring is the busy season for travel and tourism in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, and hotels for the month saw a decrease in occupancy but slight revenue growth compared with a year ago. According to research from STR, Scottsdale hotels saw a 2.5 percent decline in occupancy in March compared with a year earlier. The March occupancy rate at Scottsdale hotels was 86.4 percent. View article…
Why the U.S. economy is about 3 percent bigger than we all thought Less than a week after faults were found in a popular theory linking a nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio to negative economic growth, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis is preparing to eat some crow of its own. According to The Financial Times, the BEA is undergoing a “comprehensive revision” of the data it uses to calculate the U.S. gross domestic product that will result in the nation’s economy being 3 percent bigger than previously thought. View article…
HOUSING:
Homeless get chance at housing in Phoenix A few seconds after David Hartnett opened the door to his new studio apartment, he broke down. It was just before Christmas. Hartnett, 40, had been living on the streets for more than 25 years when he was accepted into a program that social-service experts say could end chronic homelessness. Hartnett has vowed that Housing First, a federal strategy designed to provide housing before arranging social services, will end his homeless days for good. View article…
Wall Street betting billions on single-family homes in distressed markets Big investors are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into real estate hard hit by the housing crash, bringing those moribund markets back to life but raising the prospect of another Wall Street-fueled bubble that won’t be sustainable. Drawn by the prospect of double-figure profit margins on rents and the resale of homes whose prices plummeted in the crash, hedge funds, Wall Street investors and other institutions are crowding out individual home buyers. View article…