- The $124 Billion Supreme Court Case That Could Throw the Housing Market into Turmoil, Explained “Collins v. Mnuchin (and a companion case called Mnuchin v. Collins) is the stuff that lawyers’ nightmares are made of. It involves a brain-twistingly convoluted array of issues, a complex set of transactions that may have saved the economy from a second Great Depression, and an astonishing amount of money: The plaintiffs argue that the federal government must give up as much as $124 billion. Beginning in 2008, the federal government took extraordinary steps to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two semi-private companies that, combined, were tied up in about half of all mortgages in the United States.” (Vox)
- NMHC Rent Payment Tracker Finds 75.4 Percent of Apartment Households Paid Rent as of Dec. 6 “The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC)’s Rent Payment Tracker found 75.4 percent of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by December 6 in its survey of 11.5 million units of professionally managed apartment units across the country. This is a 7.8 percentage point, or 894,864 household decrease from the share who paid rent through December 6, 2019 and compares to 80.4 percent that had paid by November 6, 2020. It should be noted that December 5th and 6th fell on a weekend in 2020 and therefore may not be a direct comparison to last year’s figures.” (NMHC)
- A New Orleans Tower Anchors a City’s Riverfront Ambitions “For many years, a distinctive X-shaped office tower looming over the New Orleans riverfront was a prominent reminder of the city’s woes. A 33-story edifice bordering the Mississippi River, the building, known as the World Trade Center, was completed in 1967. During the oil bust of the 1980s, tenants fled. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was another devastating blow. After 2011, the building stood empty. But today, it’s a hive of activity, teeming with construction workers who are converting it into a Four Seasons property combining a luxury hotel and condominiums, expected to open in the spring.” (The New York Times)
- Distress Signals: Special Servicers Are Keeping Busy as 2020 Draws to a Close “Distress in hotel loans and other asset classes, such as retail, which have been negatively impacted by the pandemic, may have crested and it won’t get much worse, according to analysts. Still, trouble in commercial real estate lending remains far more extensive than anyone expected before they heard of the coronavirus.” (Commercial Observer)
- Covid-19, Remote Work Make Austin a Magnet for New Jobs “The pandemic and the prospect of working remotely have spawned an exodus from New York and San Francisco to sunnier, more-affordable cities. Few have benefited more than Austin. Texas’ capital is attracting more corporate jobs and remote workers than ever before, lured by lower costs and lower taxes. Business relocations to Austin announced this year are expected to create nearly 10,000 jobs. That is the city’s highest figure on record for a single year, according to the Austin Chamber of Commerce, and is helping offset the hit from Covid-19 to the city’s tourist-dependent restaurants, bars and music venues.” (Wall Street Journal)
- Millions of Tenants ‘Headed for Absolute Disaster’ After New Year, Owing Average of Nearly $6,000 in Rent and Utilities “Without a coronavirus relief package centered on helping working families who have lost jobs and watched their savings dwindle amid the pandemic, millions of people are ‘headed for absolute disaster,’ one observer said Monday as Moody's Analytics reported that 12 million renters are expected to owe an average of $5,850 in back rent and utilities after the new year. The financial firm reported that $70 billion could be owed to landlords in January, after a federal moratorium on evictions—put in place in September by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the absence of any action from the Republican-led Senate aimed at helping working people—expires on December 31.” (Common Dreams)
- Top 5 Markets for Office Transaction Volume “Investment transactions in the office market lost steam throughout the country year-to-date through October. Investors closed deals totaling $43.6 billion, almost half the total for the same period last year, according to CommercialEdge data. One clear trend this year is investors’ increased interest in stabilized office markets. The five metros on this list accounted for more than 40 percent of the nation’s total transaction volume. Meanwhile, sales activity stalled in smaller markets such as Wilmington, N.C., Syracuse, N.Y., and New Orleans, La., following four quarters of consistent deal velocity.” (Commercial Property Executive)
- CBL Opens 1.4 million Sq. Ft. of New Retail in Emergence from Chapter 11 “Through the pandemic and a Chapter 11 restructuring, one of the nation’s largest owners of regional malls reports that it put tenants in 1.4 million sq. ft. of newly leased space as it attempts to transform its portfolio into suburban town centers. New tenants in CBL properties this year ranged from Live! Casino at Westmoreland Mall outside of Pittsburgh to Southerns Live Music and Entertainment at Post Oak Mall in College Station, Texas, to American Eagle’s first Offline location at CoolSprings Galleria in Nashville.” (Chain Store Age)
- Amazon Sellers Worry They Can’t Meet Holiday Demand as Company Limits Warehouse Space “Lutenschleger is one of several Amazon sellers who are up in arms over a recent policy change meant to help the company conserve space in its warehouses as it faces a pandemic-fueled surge in e-commerce demand alongside the peak holiday shopping season. In August, Amazon put in place stricter quantity limits on shipments from third-party sellers that use its fulfillment service to package and ship orders, known as Fulfillment by Amazon, or FBA. The limits apply to all product categories and differ on an item by item basis.” (CNBC)
- SL Green Expands Share Buybacks by $500M “SL Green Realty’s board has authorized another $500 million in share buybacks, bringing the real estate investment trust’s repurchase program to $3.5 billion. For the past three years, Manhattan’s biggest commercial landlord has been aggressively buying back its own stock, while shedding properties.” (The Real Deal)
- Rexford Industrial Realty Acquired Inland Empire Industrial Portfolio for $129M “Rexford Industrial Realty Inc. continues to expand with the acquisition of a portfolio of four single-tenant industrial buildings in Southern California’s Inland Empire for $129.4 million. The acquisition was funded with cash on hand. The properties total 632,497 square feet on 30.2 acres, averaging the purchase price to $205 per square foot. The portfolio is currently 63 percent leased to high-quality national tenants focused on logistics and wholesale trade; lease-up on the vacant space is expected in the near-term, according to Rexford.” (Commercial Property Executive)
- Outdoor Dining Isn’t Quite “Outdoors” Anymore “To the surprise of many restaurant patrons and public health experts, outdoor dining has begun to migrate indoors. Or, as one Twitter user put it, it’s become ‘indoor dining on the sidewalk.’ Pandemic restrictions on restaurants vary by jurisdiction or state, with some enacting bans or requiring reduced capacity on indoor dining. Many restaurants, therefore, heavily invested in outdoor dining setups when stay-at-home orders were lifted or lightened. That drew in customers — at least until temperatures began to drop.” (Vox)
- Visiting Your Mall Santa? Get Ready for ‘Santa Guards,’ Intercoms, No-Lap Policies “Carleigh Hansen’s visit to Santa Claus at the Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree, Colo., was a little different this year from Christmases past. The 8-year-old still wore a new dress for pictures and her mother treated her to cheesecake afterwards. But this time, Santa wore a face shield and sat behind a sheet of plexiglass. Carleigh passed him her list underneath the barrier and talked to him through an intercom system. ‘It was OK but I’d probably rather have it the way it was before,’ said Carleigh.” (Wall Street Journal)
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