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Daily News from the desk of Nicholas L Miner, CCIM – May 4, 2009

Here are the news stories you might find interesting today:

Demand for Apartments Expected to Bottom Out This Year
Boston–Demand for commercial real estate is expected to hit rock bottom this year with the apartment sector enduring the lightest demand loss in 2009 of all the commercial property types. However, that’s not saying much, as this will still be the heaviest loss in apartment demand in 25 years (Graph 1), according to the first quarter 2009 forecast report from Property and Portfolio Research Inc. (PPR).

Real Estate Outlook: the Good, Bad, Ugly
The extraordinary level of job losses in the United States, currently at about 700,000 a month, is creating a black hole of uncertainty that is having a ripple effect worldwide on productivity, business investments, and consumer spending, according to a panel of market analysts at ULI’s recent Spring Council Forum. The overwhelming number of white- and blue-collar workers now laid off is affecting and will continue to affect all segments of real estate, with improvement likely to come later rather than sooner, they noted.
http://thegroundfloor.typepad.com/the_ground_floor/2009/05/real-estate-outlook-the-good-bad-ugly.html

Read a synopsis of the panel’s discussion at

Furniture superstore to open in May

Retail in Ahwatukee still shows strength

Companies may be shedding fewer workers

Superstition Mountain auction delayed again

An auction of the financially troubled Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club in Gold Canyon has been delayed for a second time, according to the trustee of the property.

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What’s in a name? Not much for Q.C. caf

There’s no deep meaning behind the name of downtown Queen Creek’s newest coffee shop and cafe that officially opened Thursday. Rhino Caffe, the only coffee shop downtown, was simply a name that owner Shawn Valdez and his three children pulled from the air.

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Sears outlet store hosts grand opening

Sears will hold a grand opening of its new outlet store from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at 857 N. Val Vista Drive in Gilbert.

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New Native New Yorker restaurant hiring

A planned Native New Yorker at the corner of Germann and Gilbert roads is hiring.

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Hispanic market set to open in Mesa

The list of Hispanic markets in Mesa is getting longer. A Detroit-based family-owned grocery firm called Mi Pueblo Supermercado is converting a former Albertson’s supermarket at Dobson Road and Main Street into an upscale Hispanic-oriented grocery, which is scheduled to open in June.

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Distressed Deals Losing Luster

A couple of significant news items came crashing onto the desks of industry execs recently. And these news items are swiftly bringing current market conditions into sharper focus. First, Normandy Real Estate Partners and Five Mile Capital Partners in late March bought the John Hancock Tower in Boston for $660.5 million, a far cry from the $1.3 billion paid three years ago by now defunct Broadway Partners.

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ARMS LENGTH DEAL ON VALLEY APARTMENT COMPLEX . . . $23.2 MILLION FOR 308 UNITS

Glendale – A company formed by Nevins, Adams, Lewbel and Schell in Santa Barbara, Calif. (Henry Nevins, et al., principals) paid $23.2 million ($75,325 per unit) to acquire the 308-unit Sage Stone at Arrowhead apartments located at 6233 W. Behrend Drive in Glendale. The seller was Glen Arrow Summit LLC, a company formed by Principal Life Insurance Co. in Des Moines, Iowa.

Full story

APARTMENT TRANSACTION

Mesa – CREF Colores LLC, a company formed by Corundum Partners Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Ronald Johnson, principal), paid $9.21 million ($76,750 per unit) to acquire the 120-unit Colores Del Sol apartments at 510 E. McKellips Road in Mesa. The seller was TWEST Investments LLC in Canyon Lake, Calif. (Dale Tittlemier, principal). The buyer acquired the property by assuming a HUD loan totaling $7.2 million. The 40-year mortgage has a 6.25 percent interest rate. The property, which was 90 percent occupied at closing, sold at a roughly 7 percent cap rate. Colores Del Sol was built in 2000. The investment is the first in the Valley for the buyer. In March 2006, BREW reported Tittlemier’s company paying $10.511 million ($87,592 per unit) to purchase Colores Del Sol.

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