Down Market Presents Surprising Opportunities for Commercial Deals

Commercial Observer, Apr. 25, 2016–Mandell, David
Mandell said the economy is on the cusp of an economic downturn. “We’re at a stage where the commercial real estate community has to make a choice: fall victim to the state of the market as we have in years past, or start planning for a down market and adopt unique strategies that will drive commercial sales regardless of the state of the economy.”

Department Stores Need to Cull Hundreds of Sites, Study Say

Wall Street Journal, Apr. 24, 2016–Kapner, Susan
Department stores need to close hundreds of locations if they want to regain the productivity they had a decade ago, according to new research from Green Street Advisors. The real-estate research firm estimates that the closures could include nearly 800 department stores, or about a fifth of all anchor space in U.S. malls.

Developers Are Turning Rust Belt Hulks Into Luxury Hotels

Bloomberg News, Apr. 22, 2016–Clark, Patrick
Developers have started to leverage adaptive reuse over the past three years, leading to creative conversions across the U.S., often from vacant or underutilized office buildings to full-service, lifestyle and select-service hotels.

Blackstone Now Owns More Than $100B in Real Estate

The Real Deal (New York), Apr. 21, 2016–Putzier, Konrad
The Blackstone Group’s real estate division passed the $100 billion mark in assets under management in the first quarter, while its earnings recovered slightly from a dip at the end of 2015.

Commercial Real Estate Hits The Pause Button

Richmond Times-Dispatch, Apr. 17, 2016–Little, Andrew Led Zeppelin was discussing the impact of a levee breaking on the last song of the band’s fourth album, but the iconic final words in the song could easily be referring to commercial real estate transaction volume today: “going down, going down now, going down …”

Multifamily Investors Seek More Value-Add Deals

National Real Estate Investor, Apr. 19, 2016–Anderson, Bendix
Yield-driven multifamily investors are more and more likely to focus on fixing up older properties.