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Commercial Real Estate & Business News – October 22, 2012

Here are the news articles you might find interesting today for commercial real estate and business:

To view the October 2012 Multifamily Executive magazine, click here…

Market Trend: Phoenix’s Industrial Vacancy Decreases to 13.0% The Phoenix Industrial market ended the third quarter 2012 with a vacancy rate of 13.0%. The vacancy rate was down over the previous quarter, with net absorption totaling positive 588,678 square feet in the third quarter. That compares to positive 2,618,560 square feet in the second quarter 2012. Vacant sublease space increased in the quarter, ending the quarter at 2,101,437 square feet. View article…

New townhomes proposed for Historic Avondale When a 40-year-old building was demolished two years ago in Historic Avondale, no one seemed sad to see it go. The blighted multi-family housing unit had become an eyesore and a hotbed for crime on Hill Drive between Third and Fifth streets. Now city staff is proposing a redevelopment of the so-called “Hill Drive properties” into six new townhomes. View article…

America’s Taco Shop signs franchise deal with Kahala One of Phoenix’s homegrown restaurants is partnering with another local firm to franchise its brand. America’s Taco Shop is franchising through a partnership with Kahala, the Scottsdale-based company that owns and franchises Cold Stone Creamery, Blimpie and several other restaurant brands. View article…

FH movie-theater project still alive, developer says A partner in the development group that wants to bring Fountain Hills its first movie theater along with an entertainment complex said the project is alive despite the loss of financing. Last week, Town Manager Ken Buchanan said the project was dead because the group behind the project hadn’t met the terms of a development agreement. The highly anticipated complex, named the Avenue, would include a 12-screen movie theater and retail, restaurant and office space. View article…

Goodwill honors real-estate developer Pollack It’s difficult to drive through Chandler without seeing a corner touched by real-estate mogul Michael Pollack. Many centers even carry his name, like Pollack Business Park, Pollack Pecos Square, Pollack Plaza and Pollack Professional Plaza. “I’ve always done my best to give something back to our community, in the way of a project that I and the city and the neighborhood will be proud of when I’m done,” Pollack said. View article…

CG getting 2 sports bars If you like sports bars, this is a good time to live in Casa Grande. Two new ones are opening just a few days apart, and both are good-sized restaurants with all the amenities you’d expect in a sports bar – walls covered with TVs, an assortment of burgers, sandwiches, wings, salads and the like, along with all your favorite cold beverages. View article…

Slow, Steady Recovery Expected for Commercial Real Estate: Report The commercial real estate sector is improving, but investors need to be patient and not expect “quick wins,” according to findings from Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2013, which was jointly released by PwC and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). View article…

HOUSING:
The Burden of Transportation Costs on Housing Affordability: Report Oftentimes, when the idea of home affordability is calculated, the focus is on the monthly mortgage payment, and how to bring that particular number down through a modification or refinancing. One report, Losing Ground: The Struggle of Moderate-Income Households to Afford the Rising Costs of Housing and Transportation, assessed the burden of housing expenses combined with transportation costs to offer a more comprehensive view of what defines housing affordability. View article…

Housing starts surge 15% U.S. home building surged in September to the highest level in more than four years, the latest sign that housing is becoming an increasingly important boost to the troubled economy. Housing starts increased 15.0% last month from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Compared with a year earlier, new construction was up 34.8%. View article…

Phoenix metro becomes virtual investor’s housing market Buying sprees by billion-dollar hedge funds and real-estate investment firms have investors owning nearly 20 percent, or one out of every five, of the region’s single-family houses and condominiums, according to an Arizona Republic analysis of recent sales data. That’s double the number of rentals considered normal in metro Phoenix in 2000, according to housing-market analysts. View article…

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