Each Wednesday, The Wrap presents a compilation of recent noteworthy commercial real estate stories from a variety of publications. Below are links to four stories that caught our eyes in recent days.
• Real-Estate Crowdfunding Finds Its Footing by Andrew Blackman of The Wall Street Journal.
Key excerpt:
“Crowdfunding has caught on in a variety of industries, spurred in part by regulatory changes that make it easier for such businesses to look for investors. In real estate, Mr. Whaley says, the key advantages are the ability to access more deals, invest smaller sums and connect directly with developers to ask questions and research deals. Unlike real-estate investment trusts, crowdfunding also allows people to invest in particular buildings.”
• Just What the Doctor Ordered: New 'Medtail’ Tenants Filling Vacant Shopping Center Space by Randyl Drummer of CoStar Group.
Key excerpt:
“Stores left vacant by the demise of big-box retailers and struggling strip centers are turning out to be reasonably priced options for many health care facilities which are increasingly moving away from the centralized service delivery model centered on a traditional hospital campus and trending toward mixed-use properties where medical office buildings (MOBs) and retail stores and restaurants co-exist, according to Laura Lee Garrett, a partner with Hirschler Fleischer in Richmond, VA, and member of the firm’s real estate and retail practice group.”
• Multi-Housing Refinancing Dilemma: Pay Now, Or Lock In Later? by Brandon Harrington and Matt Steffen for Multi-Housing News.
Key excerpt:
“In today’s capital market, multi-housing investors with maturing debt are facing a quandary. On the one hand, refinancing is an option because interest rates are still at or near historically low levels. On the other hand, it’s hard to stomach paying a stiff pre-pay penalty in order to take advantage of today’s low rates. Should an investor shoulder that pre-pay penalty now and refinance, or does it make sense to wait a year or two?”
• Making the Case for Wellness: 13 Developments Building for Health and Value by Trisha Riggs of Urban Land Magazine.
Key excerpt:
“The report finds several common experiences across the developments examined:
• Developers received a better-than-anticipated market response, and their expectations were exceeded in terms of leasing times, sales rates, rental and sales premiums, and waiting lists.
• The development costs attributable to the inclusion of wellness components were generally reported to represent a minimal percentage of the overall development budget. Exceptions to this were limited to cases of highly amenitized master-planned communities, where the additional costs were partially offset by homebuilder and resale fees.”