by David Bodamer May 20th, 2008
Stephen M. Ross, chief executive of Related Companies, signed an agreement Sunday night with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to develop 12 million square feet of office towers, apartment buildings and parks over the 26-acre railyards, which sit on both sides of 11th Avenue, between 30th and 33rd Streets.
It was a welcome turnabout for the authority, which is counting on the railyards deal to provide hundreds of millions of dollars for new trains, stations and rail work. The speed of the new agreement, occurring 10 days after the collapse of the authority’s earlier deal with Tishman Speyer Properties, is also a measure of how much Mr. Ross, one of the city’s most prolific developers, wants control over the railyards.
Mr. Ross, who had bid on the yards before and clearly suffered loser’s remorse, essentially agreed to the same tentative $1.054 billion deal that Tishman had signed in March. The deal requires the approval of the authority’s board, which will vote on the agreement at a special meeting on Thursday. The two sides will take the next four months to complete a contract to buy the development rights.
Link.
Related Topics: Development, News, Retail Real Estate |
by David Bodamer May 20th, 2008
NREI editor-in-chief Matt Valley had a bit of an adventure last night. Tony Wilbert has the scoop.
Matt Valley, editor of National Real Estate Investor magazine, and Rachel Ramos, retailer reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, are both in Las Vegas to cover ICSC’s Recon 2008. While here, they expect to cover some of the hottest stories in retail real estate, meet with key real estate magnates and eat at some of the city’s best restaurants. But on Monday night, they ended up seeing the seedier side of Vegas – an area better suited for an episode of “Cops – Sin City.”
Matt, Rachel and I were heading to dinner in a taxi – Western Cab No. 165 – when our driver decided to try to drive past an older-model Cadillac Eldorado veering on a four-lane shortcut off the Strip. Just after the cab accelerated, the Eldorado’s driver tried to turn into our lane, and bam! The cars collided and Rachel bounced off Matt in the back seat.
Related Topics: Conference Coverage, News, Quirky |
by David Bodamer May 20th, 2008
Retail developers have become a bit more cautious in pursuing ground-up development in light of the economic slowdown and concerns about consumer spending. While few projects are being scrapped altogether, firms are pushing back projects in some instances to time the openings with what they hope will be a more auspicious economic climate.
Still, there are plenty of developments in the works this year, as evidenced by all the projects on display at ICSC’s RECon show in Las Vegas. Overall, according to CoStar Group, the retail market has added 450 new projects already in 2008 bringing the total number of shopping centers to 98,791 with a total leasable area of 6.8 billion square feet of space. The majority of the projects coming on line are smaller centers. There are, however, a few notable exceptions. For example, Meadowlands Xanadu, a 2.3-million-square-foot retail and entertainment project outside New York City being developed by Colony Capital Acquisitions, Dune Real Estate Funds and KanAm USA is on pace to open next summer. Meanwhile, Westfield is working on host of projects, including a pair of 1-million-square-foot centers opening in London. One will come online this year and the other in 2011, in time to operate for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
“To bookend the east and west ends of London is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” says Randall Smith, executive vice president of business development for Westfield.
That’s a common refrain among the big projects moving ahead. Developers with unique opportunities in strong markets are the ones most likely to succeed in this climate. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: Conference Coverage, Development, News |
by David Bodamer May 20th, 2008
NREI’s Matt Valley reports on the state of investment sales.
The velocity of U.S. retail property sales across the industry plunged 40 percent in the first quarter of 2008 on a year-over-year basis, according to brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap, reflecting a major pricing gap between buyers and sellers. What’s more, a bifurcated sales market has emerged. Among properties valued above $10 million, deal volume nationally dropped a whopping 60 percent compared with a 20 percent drop for properties under $10 million.
“If you are taking an offering to market north of $10 million, from a strategic point of view you better establish the pricing to get buyers’ attention quickly or sit on the property,” says Bernie Haddigan, managing director of the National Retail Group for Encino-Calif.-based Marcus & Millichap. Haddigan’s comments came at the Las Vegas Hilton on Monday during a one-hour program, “Bulls or Bears: Which Will Drive Your Real Estate Strategy?” hosted by Marcus & Millichap.
One reason for the dip in property sales above $10 million is that up until recently many buyers relied heavily on commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) as their principal source of financing. But with CMBS debt capital drying up due to the credit crunch, buyers have been forced to pursue other financing alternatives. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Topics: Conference Coverage, Finance, Investment, News, Retail Real Estate |
Industry Remains Upbeat at RECon
by David Bodamer May 20th, 2008
It’s been a rocky nine months with the credit crunch having deep impacts on investment and development and pressures on consumers cutting into retail sales. Yet industry executives at ICSC’s RECon remain optimistic about the sector’s future. Few have taken a bearish stance to the conference. Developers, managers and owners are reporting healthy dealmaking volume. And many will leave Las Vegas confident of the industry’s prospects.
Overall, attendance at the show is close to last year’s levels, according to ICSC. There were nearly 43,000 pre-registrations–almost the same as last year. Overall, nearly 48,000 attended in 2007. ICSC will report final numbers for this year’s conference in a few weeks. However, anecdotally many attendees have said they are coming in for shorter trips this year. Many arrived Monday morning and are planning on leaving Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning rather than staying for the full four days of the conference. As a result, most attendees estimate there’s been a drop in foot traffic this year, although it’s not as bad as some had feared coming into the conference.
“We’re in a correction, not a recession,” says Greg Maloney, CEO and president of Atlanta-based Jones Lang LaSalle retail. “Retailers are doing deals. Maybe it’s not as many as a year ago and they are being more selective. But they are active.” That’s kept Jones Lang LaSalle busy and Maloney says he’s been happy with the way things have played out, especially since there was a lot of uncertainty and pessimism heading into the show.
Other attendees are expressing similar sentiments. Read the rest of this entry »
No Comments Related Topics: Commentary, Conference Coverage, Development, Finance, Investment, News, Retail Real Estate |