Here are the news stories you might find interesting today:
Walmart reopens after expansion
Report: Booming commercial real estate market a generation away
It will take decades for the commercial real estate industry in the U.S. to return to the transaction volumes it enjoyed from 2005 to 2007, Jones Lang LaSalle said in a report. Investors will return to commercial real estate slowly beginning around the middle of 2010, but it will take decades for the sector to get back to its previous peak, the real estate services firm said.
Sharp rise in commercial property mortgage defaults reported
U.S. banks reported the default rate for commercial real estate mortgages more than doubled in the second quarter compared with the same period last year. The proportion of loans more than 90 days past due soared from 1.18% in the second quarter of 2008 to 2.88% of the unpaid balances at the end of the second quarter of 2009, research firm Real Estate Econometrics said. Sam Chandan, the company’s president and chief economist, predicted the default rate will reach 4.1% by the end of this year.
Redefining Debt
Downsized operations and scarcity of tenants have temporarily left many business owners and developers with too much real estate and too much debt. Refinancing often is the solution of choice, but doing so isn’t always viable. Owners or developers may owe more than a project’s or property’s current value. Or, they may face a maze of servicing agents behind highly securitized notes, making it nearly impossible to identify the lender, let alone build a relationship that would favor loan renegotiation. Even if selling the property or development is an option, owners want to be in a position to resume expansion plans and occupy the space when the economy rebounds.
City Of Phoenix Closes on Industrial Unit
| The City of Phoenix purchased and industrial condo at 3325 W. Flower St. in Phoenix from private sellers for $2 million, or $73 per square foot. The unit measures 27,647 square feet. It is part of a 44,447-square-foot warehouse in Maricopa County… |
Jumpstreet Leases 26,000 SF in Chandler
| Jumpstreet, an indoor trampoline park, has signed a five-year lease for the industrial building at 455 E. Warner Road in Chandler, AZ. The 50,000-square-foot warehouse was constructed in 2008 in the Chandler North Gilbert Industrial submarket. Ken… |
Plaza Cos. to manage 350,000SF for REIT
| Health Care Trust of America Inc., a real estate investment trust, has signed a deal for the Plaza Cos. to manage 350,000 square feet of office space in Arizona. |
Law firm cuts 30-plus attorneys, Phoenix office spared
| Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP – based in Chicago with an office in Phoenix – is cutting about three dozen attorneys as the economy takes a bite out of the legal sector. |
Thunderbird set to renovate WWII air traffic control tower on campus
| Thunderbird School of Global Management will spend up to $2.8 million to renovate the World War II air traffic control tower that is part of its campus. The Thunderbird Tower project was made possible by a $2 million pledge from the Merle and Miriam Hinrichs family and other private donations. (GSOL) |
Big Surf future caught in changing tide
| Tempe’s Big Surf closes for the season each year on Labor Day, but on this coming Monday the iconic water park may just be closing for good. |
Orbital Sciences opens new Chandler building
| Orbital Sciences Corp. has taken possession of a new 82,000-square-foot building in south Chandler and has started moving employees into the new space. |
Jones Lang LaSalle Reports 93% Drop in CRE Transactions from Peak, True Debt Liquidity Unlikely to Return Before Mid-2010
Chicago–Overall transaction activity for all commercial property types in the first half of 2009 slumped to $16 billion, down a whopping 80 percent from $79.8 billion in the first half of 2008, and down 93 percent from $231.4 billion in the first half of 2007, when the market was at its peak, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s U.S. Mid-Year Capital Markets bulletin.
Each day I sort through various industry publications and local news sources and narrow down the top local articles that matter to commercial real estate owners and business owners.
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