So today I decided to go check out the grand opening of the Microsoft retail store at Simon’s Shops at Mission Viejo. I must say the store is impressive but the design does remind me of another retail store but I just can’t quite put my finger on which store that might be….. The store [...]
Bill Gross, PIMCO’s revered managing director, has just published his most recent investment outlook. In it, he calls the end of the recent market rally and warns of a necessity to come to grips with the fact that a new normal is headed our way. The closing sentences sum up his point nicely and he [...]
DealBook has an article up today about the office sublease market in NYC and the impact lower offering rates are having on space offered directly by building owners. Every time I read about NYC rents my head just spins. The numbers are just astronomical. According to the article, average asking rents for Class A office [...]
Vitamin Shoppe has just completed an IPO, raising about $155 million. You can read more about it at DealBook. What I thought was most interesting was the fact that this was first I.P.O. by a traditional retailer since December 2007!
The proceeds from the offering are being used to pay down debt and to pad the [...]
Yesterday I wrote a post about a buyer requirement email that was so all encompassing it was essentially useless to the author. This morning a new buyer requirement email landed in my inbox and, as luck would have it, the email was well targeted and gives me some good content for a follow-up post. If [...]
Below is the text of an email I received this morning from a broker seeking investment property submissions from the CRE community. The only problem is that the stated requirement is a buyer’s dream wish list and it warrants nothing more than an immediate “delete.” Here is the email:
Please forward me available properties that [...]
Standard & Poor’s had downgraded 15 classes of bonds backed by a $425 million loan secured against the Four Seasons Hotel in New York and 3 other luxury resort hotels. The action was triggered by a drop in cash flow which was 46% below S&P expectations. Surely, the expected cash flow figure had already been [...]
This is just a quick follow-up post about Fresh & Easy. I mentioned in my last post about Fresh & Easy that I had recently heard radio advertisements for F&E. Well coincidentally, I spotted a Fresh & Easy skyscraper ad on the home page of 89.9 KCRW while looking up the name of a song [...]
I wanted to make another quick point on CRE underwriting as it relates to vacancy. Some of the more “with it” sellers have begun allowing vacancy factors underwritten into their offering memorandums. What is often overlooked is the actual relation of the vacancy factor to operations. Often you will see a vacancy factor of 3% [...]
I received a marketing brochure today that, quite frankly, left me a bit shocked. The property is a multi-tenant retail building in a power center in Southern California. The shocking part of the offering was that the seller and broker were NOT attempting to capitalize income from the vacant suites. Maybe CRE practitioners are starting [...]
