Economy Watch: Low Inflation Generally Positive for CRE

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the CPI was down 0.4 percent in December. That’s the steepest drop in that particular metric since 2008, which has seen modest increases during most months, and for most years has been staying under 2 percent, which happens to be the Fed’s target for inflation. There’s some argument about why inflation has been so persistently low, but at least one thing’s certain: the low interest rate policies pursued by central banks in most of the industrialized world haven’t stoked the fires inflation during a period of stagnation. This isn’t the ’70s... Read more »

Top 5 Predictions for Medical Office Real Estate in 2015

The “retailization” of healthcare will continue to increase this year, according to executives at Revista, an Annapolis, Md.-based research firm that focuses on the medical real estate industry... Read more »

Crane Counts Show Multifamily Dominates

If you want to gauge how much construction is really taking place, count the cranes. That’s what Rider Levett Bucknall is doing with the launch of its North American RLB Crane Index. The new report measures construction activity in major cities across North America. The verdict of the inaugural edition: more cranes are on the horizon, and therefore so is the prospect of further growth... Read more »

Lots of Renters Balance Lots of New Apartments

Strong demand for apartments helped keep the percentage of vacant apartments low, even though developers finished many new apartments in 2014. “We are getting to the point where net absorption and construction kind of level,” says Brad Doremus, an associate in the research and economics department at Reis Inc., a data firm based in New York City. The percent of apartments that were vacant stayed at 4.2 percent in the fourth quarter in the top 79 markets tracked by Reis. That’s the same as the vacancy rate in the third quarter and it’s up slightly from 4.1 percent the year before... Read more »

Arizona Economy: Elliott D. Pollack & Company

The good news continues. The CPI (even before food and energy prices) is below the Fed target and consumer confidence is strong. Despite this, retail sales were weaker than expected. That simply doesn't fit. It is also possible that more consumer spending is going to services which isn’t included in the retail sales report. Other than that, everything else fits the picture of a healthy economy that would be in the boom portion of the cycle were it not for weakness in the construction (mainly housing) sector. That weakness will turn into strength only slowly. Enjoy what is going on. It is likely to be as good as it gets for the foreseeable future... Read more »

Improving Job Market Leads to Office Sector Success

With businesses finally embracing expansion in 2014, the office sector posted its best performance in years, according to fourth quarter statistics. And the outlook for 2015 remains bright. Office vacancy averaged 13.9 percent nationally in the fourth quarter, 100 basis points lower than at year-end 2013, marking the sector’s best performance since 2007. San Francisco had the lowest vacancy rate in the country, at 7.3 percent... Read more »

Signs of Paradise Valley Resort Revitalization Take Shape

The first step toward rebirth of the popular Mountain Shadows Golf Resort is underway as workers begin renovating a portion of 56th Street running alongside the central resort property. Crown Realty and Development is making good on its promise of dedicating $1.6M to allow the Town of Paradise Valley to completely renovate a rundown stretch of road at 56th Street at Lincoln Drive... Read more »

Top of the Phoenix lists: LEED-Certified Buildings

Intel's Ocotillo Campus, the 14-building collection of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver-level advancements in water saving and waste recycling, captured the No. 1 ranking in the Phoenix Business Journal's LEED-Certified Buildings list, published today. The list was ranked by square footage. At 3.9 million square feet, the Intel facility was easily the largest on the list. Second on the list was One & Two Renaissance Square, a pair of office towers comprising 965,508... Read more »

6 Most Troubled Retail Chains

Department store chains Macy’s and J.C. Penney may have gotten the lion’s share of attention when they announced store closings at the beginning of the year, but both retailers remain viable as operating concerns. The chains landlords should be really worried about are those in the specialty sectors—apparel, electronics, toys. With the help of retail consultants, we took a look at the companies that face the greatest danger of bankruptcy, liquidation or massive store closings... Read more »

Seniors Housing Stacks Up

Seniors housing generated solid returns for investors in 2014. By many measures, the returns were well above those of other investment opportunities. The sector has attracted growing attention from seasoned veterans in the sector as well as new entrants who find the fundamentals compelling and the investment thesis reasonable. A look at the sector’s 2014 performance helps explain the factors that will shape this year’s investment potential... Read more »

Martin Luther King, Jr. in a speech titled "Beyond Vietnam," delivered April 4, 1967, in New York, he showed he didn't see anything through rose-colored glasses, and admitted that he wasn't super hopeful about the US's prospects in Southeast Asia:  "The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve."

Meritex Developing Industrial Project Near Chandler Airport

After entering the Valley market last year with the purchase of an industrial project in the Deer Valley area of north Phoenix, Meritex Enterprises Inc. in Minneapolis, Mn. (Paddy McNeely, CEO) is now going to develop and industrial project in Chandler. Meritex plans to develop 210,926 sq. ft. of light industrial space at the southwest corner of Germann and Cooper roads. The 21-acre site is north of the Chandler Municipal Airport... Read more »

Top 5 Scottsdale Projects Opening in 2015

Expansions at two major shopping malls, new corporate offices and high-end urban housing are among several major Scottsdale development projects scheduled to open this year, providing a boost to the city's already-robust shopping, dining and employment sectors. Post-recession construction has ramped up across the city, a fact made evident by the increasingly-familiar sight of cranes, scaffolding and wood-framing at work sites from Old Town to the Scottsdale Airpark... Read more »

Construction Ramps Up at PhoenixMart Commerce Center

Grading is under way at PhoenixMart, a huge bazaar-style trading center south of Phoenix, billed by its developers as the largest commerce center in the Western Hemisphere. The 1.5 million-square-foot PhoenixMart, being built along Interstate 10 in Casa Grande, AZ, will be comprised of more than 1,700 vendor suites when it opens by the end of the year... Read more »

Speculative Class A Office Campus Slated for Chandler

The real estate arm of Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU) and the Trammell Crow Co. are developing a speculative office park in Chandler. Prudential Real Estate Investors and commercial developer Trammell will build two two-story office buildings near Chandler Municipal Airport as part of their Mach One project... Read more »

ASU Skysong’s Newest Building Approaching Full Occupancy

SkySong's newest 145,000-square-foot building at the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, which officially opened this week, already is approaching full occupancy. The four-story $32.6 million office building is situated southwest of the 120-foot-tall iconic shade structure of SkySong's 42-acre campus at Scottsdale and McDowell roads. Among its diverse nine tenants... Read more »