Manhattan’s Latest Tower Heats Up Hudson Yards Race for Tenants

Bloomberg, May 10, 2016–Levitt, David M.
Joseph Moinian, an owner of properties including the W New York Downtown hotel and the Sky apartment tower, has started work on a foundation for a 1.8 million-square-foot (167,000-square-meter), 66-story skyscraper whose height will rival the Chrysler Building.

CRE Executives’ Outlook Is Optimistic, With a Catch

National Mortgage News, May 10, 2016–Passy, Jacob
Commercial real estate executives remain upbeat about their prospects for 2016, though they do see some potential hurdles on the horizon, according to CIT Group’s 2016 Commercial Real Estate Outlook survey.

SBE Buys Morgans Hotel Group, Delano in $794M Deal

Miami Herald, May 9, 2016–Herrera, Chabeli
In a $794 million deal, SBE acquired Morgans’ 13 properties across the U.S., including the 194-room Delano, which SBE will take direct ownership of, the Mondrian South Beach and the Shore Club Miami Beach hotel for a short time.

Dan Gilbert Part of Group Tapped for $267M Development at Historic Detroit Site

Mlive.com, May 9, 2016–Thibodeau, Ian
Detroit officials selected a group that includes a Dan Gilbert company to build a massive, mixed-use development in Brush Park and Eastern Market. The project would expand the Quicken Loans founder’s growing real estate influence outside Downtown, where he owns more than 80 properties.

Fed’s Kashkari Says Current U.S. Interest Rates ‘About Right’

Reuters, May 9, 2016–Saphir, Ann
Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari on Monday signaled his support for the cautious and patient approach to rate hikes laid out by Fed Chair Janet Yellen, saying the current stance of monetary policy is “about right.”

REITs Are Coming of Age

Bloomberg, May 6, 2016–Molla, Rani
On Aug. 31, major market indices will no longer bundle REITs inside of “financials” as an industry classification. Instead, they will reside in a new category called, surprise, surprise, “real estate.”

Who Can Ride the CRE Volatility Wave?

The Real Deal New York, May 11, 2016–Brenzel, Kathryn 
Panelists at Weiser Mazars’ Commercial Real Estate Summit panel focused on the volatility of the market and the slowdown in certain construction financing. Banks are pulling back, leaving non-traditional lenders to fill the gap.

Retail Property Lending Surges, Industrial Mortgages Slump in 1Q

National Mortgage News, Apr. 29, 2016–Passy, Jacob
Commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations barely budged overall during the first quarter when compared to the same period last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Baby Boomers, Just Eclipsed by Millennials, Will Soon Be No. 3

Wall Street Journal, Apr. 29, 2016–Zumbrun, Josh
By the middle of 2015, the baby boom was finally eclipsed in size by the generation known as millennials-the people born in most of the 1980s and 1990s. But within the next few years, the baby boomers are likely to also be overtaken by the generation of people born after the millennials in the early years of the 21st century. In a brief span, the baby boomers will fall from America’s largest generation to No. 3.

Commercial and Multifamily Originations Flatline in Q1

National Mortgage Professional, Apr. 28, 2016–Hall, Phil
The first quarter of this year was something of a dud for commercial and multifamily originations, according to new data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.