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.
• "Is
Your Office An Asset Or A Liability? Practical Advice For Tenants To Get The
Most Out Of Their Real Estate" by Mindy Saffer of National Real Estate
Investor.
Key excerpt:
“If you treat your office as an asset, this will boost
productivity and decrease costs,” Saffer writes. “This will enable you to
enhance your organization’s mission and promote a productive and safe work
environment. Staff members and guests should have easy access to your office,
and you must make sure that your real estate expenses are in-line with general
industry standards.”
• "Investors
Turn From Once-Hot REITs" by Robbie Whelan of the Wall Street Journal.
Key excerpt:
"We're in the second quarter of
blah returns, and I think there certainly could be more of this funk going
forward," Larry Raiman, chief executive of LDR Capital Management who runs
a $180 million REIT fund, told the Wall Street Journal. "Based on what
investors seem to be telling us, they still think [interest] rates are going
up. The REIT equities are not poised for any substantial rebound."
• "Pulling
Space Out of a Hat" by Andy Misiaveg for Shopping Center Business.
Key excerpt:
“So, with retailers large to small,
local to national, start-ups to established brands, all looking for new space
and with little space available, how are expansion opportunities created where
seemingly there are none?” he writes. “It's simple – create space (out of thin
air) that, on the surface, doesn't seem to exist. Retail real estate brokers,
although academically not magicians, have had to do what seems impossible.
Through invention and creativity, space must be created to meet this new demand.
This is, in essence, the new normal.”
• "No
End In Sight for Implementing New Lease Accounting Rules" by Randyl
Drummer of CoStar.
Key excerpt:
“Efforts to require companies to
capitalize their property leases on their balance sheets have now dragged on
for more than four years — and judging from the hundreds of letters submitted
during the public comment period on the latest revision of the proposal, new
rules are not about to go into effect any time soon,” Drummer writes.
• "Start-Up
Chic Goes Corporate, as Couches Replace Desks" by Martha White of the New
York Times.
Key excerpt:
“Small start-up tech companies have become known for renting
tiny offices in expensive loft areas, and providing employees a less structured
work space — often without even a traditional desk,” White writes.“But the casual work space has taken hold in corporate
America, too, as employees shift between remotely communicating and maintaining
a base at work. Large and small companies are beginning to shrink their office
footprint, achieving savings by the sheer reduction in the number of employees
requiring traditional work stations.”