Here are the news articles you might find interesting today for commercial real estate and business:
2013 ULI Trends Day Arizona Recap – Part 7 – Office/Industrial Panel Following the Land Panel was the Office/Industrial Panel. Key characters from this group were: John DiVall, Liberty Property Trust; Kurt Rosene, The Alter Group; Dave Warren, DW Capital Partners; moderated by Craig Coppola, Lee & Associates. Craig did a good job leading the discussion and tried to get the inside scoop when he could from the panelist when the discussion would turn to specific projects in town. View article…
2013 ULI Trends Day Arizona Recap – Part 8 – Retail Panel Following the Office/Industrial Panel was the Retail Panel. Key characters from this group were: Judi Butterworth, Velocity Retail Group; Mike Ebert, RED Development; Sam Fox, Fox Restaurant Group; moderated by David Larcher, Vestar. Optimism seemed to be the tone of this group. 2012 was the start of the turnaround for Retail. The two key indicators are Employment Growth and Housing. View article…
Goodman Takes on Distressed MF Properties Seattle-based Goodman Real Estate acquired two distressed multifamily properties from Newport Beach, CA-based Sabal Financial Group, with plans to upgrade them and add them to the area rental pool. Upon closing, Goodman Real Estate claimed Colbalt, for which it paid $5.6 million, and Indigo, which went for $4.2 million. View article…
Portillo’s opens in Scottsdale and transplanted Chicagoans rejoice; see photos from the big event Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to the grand opening of Portillo’s in Scottsdale today, but my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I grew up in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, and Portillo’s was just one of those places where you always ate – maybe with family for a quick dinner out, with friends for lunch or after high school football games on Friday nights. View article…
Developer confident Kingman construction will start again Unwilling to let another long-stalled housing subdivision fade into oblivion, the City Council on Tuesday voted 6-0 to allow a developer to sell lots before he makes required on- and off-site improvements. The decision went against the recommendation of Gary Jeppson, the city’s director of Development Services, who wanted developer Scott Lander to finish paving sidewalks and roads before his property assurance escrow was released. View article…
City Hall to consider fate of Phoenix’s largest pool Some central Phoenix residents fear developers will tear down the city’s only competition-certified, Olympic-size pool to make way for a housing development. So, they’re taking their fight to City Hall. Brophy College Preparatory, an all-male Jesuit high school in central Phoenix, owns the 10-acre property near 32nd Street and Camelback Road. Many organizations use the pool – most notably, the Phoenix Swim Club. View article…
Pending Commerce Bank merger would put John P. Lewis back in banking If approved by federal regulators, the pending merger of First Scottsdale Bank and the parent company of Commerce Bank of Arizona would put local executive John P. Lewis back into the banking business after a short retirement. The combined entity will operate statewide under the Commerce Bank of Arizona brand. Upon the merger’s close, expected to be approved by regulators in the second half of 2013, Lewis will become president of the bank’s Tucson operations. View article…
Sequestration could cost Arizona 49,000 jobs Automatic federal spending cuts set to take effect March 1 under sequestration could end up costing Arizona more than 49,000 jobs and could take big bites out the state’s defense, aerospace and R&D sectors. View article…
HOUSING:
Case-Shiller Indices Show Fastest Gain in 6 Years Home prices rose at their fastest pace since July 2006, according to Standard and Poor’s Case-Shiller 10- and 20-city Home Price Indices. At the same time, the Case-Shiller national index, reported quarterly, registered its strongest gain since Q2 2006. View article…
New Home Sales Post Strongest Increase in 20 Years New home sales jumped 15.6 percent in January – the strongest gain in 20 years – to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 437,000, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected the report to show a much smaller sales pace: 381,000. View article…