- Hotel REIT Files Chapter 11 Plan to Hand Itself Over to Brookfield “Hospitality Investors Trust Inc., which has stakes in 100 U.S. hotels, filed for bankruptcy protection with a prearranged plan that would hand the company over to Brookfield Asset Management Inc. The New York-based real-estate investment trust on Wednesday said it would use the chapter 11 process to put its prepackaged agreement into effect. The proposal includes modifications to loans and to hotel management agreements after the hotel industry had its worst year on record in 2020.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- CRE Investors Hope for Urban Revival, But Invest in Secondary Markets “Commercial real estate investors have high hopes that major office markets will return to normal in the near future, but most aren’t betting on it just yet. Nearly three-quarters of real estate industry professionals believe that office leasing velocity in major cities will return to pre-pandemic levels within the next four years, according to a new survey by law firm Morrison & Foerster, which polled over 500 CRE stakeholders across the U.S. in April and May.” (The Real Deal)
- Macy’s and Victoria’s Secret Are Abandoning the Dying American Mall in a Bid to Boost Sales “Both retailers are closing unprofitable mall-based stores and focusing on new locations.” (Insider)
- Real Estate Frenzy Overwhelms Small Town America: ‘I Came Home Crying’ “Home prices in the U.S. have shot up in the past year, driven by limited supply, record-low interest rates and buyer demand. Bidding wars have spread from such high-profile locations as Palm Beach, Fla., and the suburbs outside New York City to smaller cities and towns, including long-neglected locales where properties typically sat on the market for months.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- Self-Storage Giant Prime Group Raising $1.5 Billion to Expand Real Estate Portfolio “Prime Group's third fund will be more than double the size of the previous fund, which raised approximately $700 million in less than a year.” (Albany Business Review)
- New Study Aims to Crack Cap Rate Code “Forecasting the direction of property yields has long been the Holy Grail of commercial real estate research—although many have tried, finding a solution has been elusive—but a new study purports to have an answer. Dr. Peter Linneman of Linneman Associates and Matt Larriva, vice president of research and data analytics at Chevy Chase, Md., property firm FCP, believe they have devised a methodology that accurately forecasts acquisition yields up to a year into the future.” (Commercial Property Executive)
- Investors Are Buying Up Single-Family Homes Across the U.S. “After three straight quarters of declines, home purchases by investors rose 2.7% year over year in the first quarter of 2021, marking the first period of growth since the COVID-19 pandemic began, per a new study from Redfin. Looking to take advantage of the hot housing market and a soaring stock market, investors bought about 1 of every 7 U.S. homes in the first quarter — up from the prior three quarters, in which they bought closer to 1 in 10 homes. Investor purchases of single-family homes rose 4.8% year over year in the first quarter, outpacing growth in every other property type.” (Housing Wire)
- Why the Apple Store Will Fail… “The Apple Store was clearly one of those game-changers: Pre-pandemic, Apple had over 500 stores in 25 countries. The stores were among the top-tier retailers, the fastest ever to reach a billion per year in sales; by 2012, they had twice the sales per square foot of any other retailer. In 2017, the stores were generating $5,546 per square foot in sales, twice the dollar amount their closest competitor (Tiffany’s) was generating. Apple no longer breaks out the specifics of its stores in its quarterly reports, but estimates of revenue across all stores is about $2.4 billion per month.” (The Big Picture)
- The Evictions Surprised Trailer Park Residents. The Protest Stunned Officials. “For more than two months, a fight has burned in Morehead, a small college town in the hills of eastern Kentucky. It began in early March, when the residents of roughly 65 mobile homes at North Fork were told they had a month and a half to leave and take their homes with them. A new development was coming, bringing restaurants and stores, jobs and tax revenue. The city was subsidizing it. The trailer park had to go.” (The New York Times)
- Google’s First Retail Store, Where It Will Sell Phones and Other Gadgets, Will Open This Summer in New York “Google announced Thursday its first-ever retail store, where it will sell Pixel phones, Fitbit wearables, Pixelbooks, Nest thermostats and speakers, and more. The first-ever Google store is in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, located in the building that houses Google’s NYC offices and is close to an Apple Store. The store is expected to open this summer.” (CNBC)
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