Each Wednesday, The Wrap presents a compilation of recent noteworthy commercial real estate stories from a variety of publications. Below are links to five stories that caught our eyes in recent days.
• New Wave of Retail Tenants Filling Power Centers by Randyl Drummer of CoStar.
Key excerpt:
“By the end of third quarter 2013, the vacancy rate for national big-box power centers had fallen to below 5.5%, from a high of nearly 8% in 2009. The total retail center vacancy rate has declined more gradually, from a high of about 7.5% in early 2010 to below 7% at the end of the most recent quarter.
Many of the retailers taking space in power centers have traditionally leased space in community shopping and other smaller types of spaces, but are increasingly eyeing big-box space, especially in centers with good traffic and demographics.”
• Next Evolution in Micro-Housing: Smarter, Shared, and Modular by Brett Widness of Urban Land Magazine.
Key excerpt:
“San Francisco already has some experience with smaller modular units. Cara Houser of Berkeley, California–based Panaromic Interests said her company believes it has found the ‘just right’ size for micro-units with its SmartSpace project in the South of Market neighborhood.
Though Panaromic had experimented with units as small as 166 square feet (15.4 sq m), SmartSpace units are 275 square feet (26 sq m) and use a combined Murphy bed/table to maximize the usable living space. High-speed Internet of up to 200 Mbps is a feature that scales easily, and the site is near a Bay Area Rapid Transit stop, so most residents do not need cars.”
• Hotels to Fully Recover by 2014, JLL Says by Robert Carr of National Real Estate Investor.
Key excerpt:
“The hotel market has returned to almost normal since the recession, according to a recent Jones Lang LaSalle report, with growth in revenue per available room, the national occupancy up to almost the 2006 peak, $14.6 billion in transactions this year and lenders hungry to invest in hospitality.
The Cross Sector Outlook report indicates the volume of transactions this year is a 15 percent increase from last year, and another 15 percent increase is expected for 2014. Bill Grice, executive vice president with JLL’s hotel investment banking team, says lenders are competing for strong hotel deals. ‘For the most part, hospitality has recovered to almost pre-recession peaks, and lenders are actively pursuing quality hotel opportunities,’ he says.”
• Net Lease REIT CEOs See Solid Growth Prospects by Sarah Borchersen-Keto of REIT.com.
Key excerpt:
“Net lease REITs own properties, typically free-standing buildings, that they lease to single tenants. The leases require tenants to pay all the costs of operating the properties, in addition to the rent.
Nicholas Schorsch, CEO of American Realty Capital Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCP), predicted that the net lease sector could grow to be a $100 to $120 billion sector.
‘I don't think we'll ever go back to $10 billion,’ he said. ‘Money is moving.’”
• Determining Tax Basis on Your Commercial Real Estate by Phil Jemmett for the Huffington Post.
Key excerpt:
“Properly determining the ‘basis’ on your commercial real estate asset is critical. It is particularly important when you are looking to determine depreciation deductions (other than for the land itself) and whether you will incur a profit or loss when you decide to sell. If not calculated properly, on a continuing basis, it could result in significantly higher capital gains taxes if you sell it at a profit, whether by traditional sale or ‘forced sale’ (i.e., foreclosure, short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure).”