Here are the news stories you might find interesting today regarding commercial real estate and business:
To view the April/May 2010 Affordable Housing Finance magazine, click here.
Medical buildings sell for $6.6M A consortium of doctors and affiliated firms has purchased two medical office buildings, one in Mesa and one in Sun City. BDPEC Medical Properties LLC, which is affiliated with the Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center, paid $6.6 million for both properties. View article…
ESI Ventures pays $4M for Scottsdale building sold in 2004 for $8.25M ESI Ventures, a privately held real estate investment and development company, has purchased a Scottsdale office located directly east of Scottsdale Healthcare. ESI’s entity, Black Canyon Place LLC, purchased Mercado Del Rancho, a 71,200-square-foot property at 10301 N. 92nd St. The price was $4 million according to records provided by Mesa-based research firm Ion Data. View article…
Tucson Investor Buys Phoenix Apartment Complex Inland Empire Builders sold the Desert Sands Apartments at 720 W. O’Neil Drive in Casa Grande, AZ, to Tucson-based investor HSL Properties, for $16.75 million, or about $52,000 per unit. The 323-unit apartment complex was built in 2008. It reached 78 percent occupancy before the economic downturn and has remained at a low vacancy. The complex is comprised of two-story, garden-style buildings housing a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units. View article…
Ikea plans 600 kilowatts of solar on Tempe roof Ikea is planning two 300-kilowatt solar systems on the roof of its Tempe store, which would be one of the largest installations in the Phoenix area. The Swedish furniture maker announced plans Wednesday to have the two systems operational by early fall. Officials would not release information on cost of the system or whether Ikea will own them or use a third-party power-purchase agreement to get the power. View article…
Retail vacancies hit 11.9%, big box vacancies soar The amount of empty retail space continues to rise in the Phoenix area with vacancy rates hitting 11.9 percent in the first quarter and negative absorption of 398,760 square feet. This is the sixth consecutive quarter marking the loss of more occupied space compared with gains, according to CB Richard Ellis MarketView report. The vacancy rate, up from 11.4 percent in the fourth quarter, compares with 9.7 percent a year ago and 6.5 percent two years ago. View article…
Macerich Raises Capital in Stock Offering The Macerich Co. is conducting a public offering of 30 million shares of common stock at $41.00 per share. The offering will raise more than $1.2 billion in equity for the company. In connection with the offering, the company also has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 4,500,000 shares of common stock solely to cover over-allotments, if any. The closing of the offering is expected to occur on April 20, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. View article…
Bankers Prepare for Increase in Retail REOs Commercial real estate lenders have prolonged dealing with distressed loans for close to two years. But they may no longer be able to remain passive. Speakers at the Bankers Forum on Distressed Properties and Real Estate Loan Workouts, which took place in New York City on Apr. 19 and 20, said they are seeing the amount of distressed retail property continue to grow. View article…
Economists Say Outlook for Apartment Finance Sector is Mixed Call it cautious optimism. Unclear but not dire. Choppy. Mixed. Whatever you call it, the economic outlook is, at best, uncertain. So concluded a panel of powerhouse economists at the 2010 Apartment Finance Today Conference in Fort Lauderdale yesterday. Here’s a look at their key conclusions and takeaways. View article…
Rosier View for Global Commercial Real Estate Rebound A new survey finds that most commercial real estate investors perceive the U.S. market as at or near the bottom, according to Colliers International’s 2010 Global Investor Sentiment Survey. The majority of respondents to the survey, which was released last week, pegged the recovery at 6 o’clock on the “global property clock.” View article…
Early 1Q Estimates: Bank Commercial Mortgage Delinquencies Rise Although final figures for the first quarter won’t be available until late May, early estimates show that commercial mortgage delinquency rates rose to 5.5%, up from 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to Oakland, Calif.-based Foresight Analytics, a unit of Trepp LLC. The analysis is based on earnings reports and call report filings from many small banks. View article…
McDonald’s sales rise across all markets McDonald’s said its first-quarter profit climbed above analysts’ expectations Wednesday as hungry diners looking to stretch their dollars chowed down on its value menu items. The world’s largest hamburger chain said Wednesday that sales rose across all its markets, especially Europe and Asia, as more customers visited its restaurants. The company’s U.S. sales rose as well, though more slowly than elsewhere. View article…
Underlying Concerns in CMBS Defaults on commercial mortgages bundled into securities are climbing to records, threatening bondholders with steeper losses and putting pressure on property owners and lenders to restructure their loans. According to Fitch Ratings, more than 11% of some $536 billion of loans packaged into commercial-mortgage-backed securities are expected to be at least 60 days past due by year’s end. View article…
Feel free to contact me regarding any of these stories, the current market, distressed commercial real estate opportunities or your property.