Author Archive
BlackRock Hires Goldman Veteran to Lead Debt ETF Push in U.S.
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Heather Brownlie started at the money manager on Monday
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Derivatives expert Jim Hill joins firm to advise ETF business
BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest provider of exchange-traded funds, has tapped Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Heather Brownlie as U.S. head of fixed-income ETFs, a new role at the money manager.
Brownlie will oversee product creation, sales and capital markets in BlackRock’s debt ETF business as the company looks to accelerate the growth of these funds, according to Melissa Garville, a spokeswoman for New York-based BlackRock. Brownlie, who started Monday, was previously the global head of fixed-income for private wealth management in Goldman Sachs’s investment management division…
Columbia Property Trust Completes Renovations at DC Office Building
Posted by: | CommentsColumbia Property Trust Inc. finished renovating 80 M St. in Washington, D.C. The $3 million dollar renovations commenced in July 2016 and managed to transform the 285,000-square-foot, seven-story building into a Class A, LEED-certified prime office asset.
The owner hired architect Wingate Hughes to handle the building’s design, which is inspired by the area’s heritage and is filled with U.S. Navy symbols. Amenities include an upgraded building entrance, new façade with floor-to-ceiling glass, modern streetscape, map-imprinted main lobby floors depicting southeast D.C., tenant lounge with wood ceilings portraying the U.S. Navy fight song in Morse code, an outdoor terrace with patio interconnected to the lounge through an industrial-themed garage door, refurbished lobbies and restrooms and an underground garage…
Better Economy Easing Canadian Housing Worries, Poloz Says
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Central bank flags worries about uninsured mortgages
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Governor downplays financial stability, inflation conflict
The Bank of Canada said vulnerabilities associated with household debt have increased amid surging prices for homes in Toronto and Vancouver, though not enough to threaten a financial system that is being aided by a recovering economy.
In its semi-annual report on the financial system, Canada’s central bank painted a picture of a housing market in which recent government mortgage tightening measuresare working, although they’re being offset by the escalating costs of homes in the country’s two biggest markets. In particular, policy makers cited risks around growth of uninsured mortgages…
Tampa Office Tower to Undergo Major Renovation
Posted by: | CommentsCity Office REIT Inc. has embarked on an extensive multi-million-dollar renovation of Park Tower, a Class A, 475,000-square-foot office building in Downtown Tampa, Fla. Completion of the project is anticipated in the first quarter of 2018.
The modernization process will include a dramatic change of the 36-story tower’s façade. In addition to painting the exterior a lighter color that will transform the building’s overall look, amenities will be upgraded with a new lobby and the entrance will feature a “light box” on the corner of Tampa and Madison streets. Renovation plans also include the addition of new tenant amenities:
Quantum Capital Secures $50M Retail Refi
Posted by: | CommentsQuantum Capital Partners secured two separate CMBS loans totaling $50 million to refinance a Walmart-anchored shopping center in Torrance, Calif., and four fully leased retail buildings in Beverly Hills, Calif. The firm worked on behalf of Ko Property Management and a private investor operating as MC Ventures LLC, respectively. Wells Fargo Bank provided the financing…
Manhattan Renters Seeking Deals Send Leasing to a Record for May
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Share of new signings with landlord incentives doubles to 25%
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Brooklyn leases also at a May record in supply-heavy market
It’s a renter’s market in New York City, and apartment-seekers jumped in last month to get themselves a deal.
In Manhattan, the number of newly signed leases climbed 17 percent in May from a year earlier to 5,969, the biggest total for the month in nine years of record-keeping, according to a report Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. In Brooklyn, new apartment contracts surged 23 percent to 1,460, also the biggest total for the month in data going back to 2008…
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Said to Examine Frankfurt Offices
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Goldman said to weigh SEB’s Skylight building among options
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U.S. bank said to move as many as 1,000 jobs to Frankfurt
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is scouting for office space in Frankfurt that could serve as its new trading hub inside the European Union after Brexit, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The bank is considering options including leasing space in the Richard Rogers designed Skylight building in the city center, the people said, who declined to be identified because the plans are not public. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, which occupies the building, is looking to cut jobs in Frankfurt, Johan Andersson, the bank’s Germany chief, told Borsen-Zeitung earlier this year…
Home2 Suites by Hilton Expands in Emerald City
Posted by: | CommentsThe newest Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel in Seattle is located near the largest military installation in the western U.S. Lexmar Hospitality owns the property.
After opening a 108-key development in Livermore, Home2 Suites by Hilton completed Home2 Suites by Hilton DuPont, a 140-key hotel located in DuPont, Wash. Lexmar Hospitality II LLC owns the property and Kalyan Hospitality manages it.
Located at 600 Station Drive off Interstate 5 at Exit 119, the hotel offers convenient access to Hudson’s Bay Company’s Fort Nisqually, the Nisqually Methodist Mission site, the Wilkes Observatory site and the historic DuPont Company town. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Olympia Airport, Tacoma Narrows Airport and downtown dining and shopping options are also nearby…
Vintage NYC Building Scores $430M Refi
Posted by: | CommentsOrda Management Corp. has closed on $430 million in debt financing on 225-233 Park Avenue South in Manhattan. Newmark Knight Frank Capital Markets was Orda’s exclusive advisor in the debt placement.
The loan was structured as a 10-year, fixed-rate, interest-only loan. Barclays provided the financing, which replaced a previous $217 million loan from the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System. The funding reportedly allowed ownership to recapture equity spent on a recent $135 million, 18-month capital improvement plan…
Real Estate Companies Ditch the Paperwork, Get on the Cloud
Posted by: | CommentsSeattle real estate agent Bree Al-Rashid used to spend several hours each week phoning and emailing clients to schedule property tours, producing charts of pricing data in her market, and coordinating house closings. “There were a ton of logistics involved in taking care of customers,” which made her work inefficient, says Al-Rashid, who works for Redfin, an online residential real estate company. Today, many of those tasks are automated on Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud computing network, leaving Al-Rashid more time to meet with clients—and close more deals.
CBRE Promotes Jack Fraker to Managing Director
Posted by: | CommentsGerman Fund Enters US Market With Boston Buy
Posted by: | CommentsThe fund was advised by Northwood Investors. Newmark Knight Franks Boston-based debt team oversaw financing for the transaction and NKF has also been retained as the exclusive leasing and management arm for the property.
A German investment fund has made its first acquisition in the United States, acquiring Tower Point @ A Street, a 157,000-square-foot office and retail property in Boston’s Upper Seaport District, for $86.85 million.
Universal-Investment-Gesellschaft mbH, on behalf of the BVK-US-Value-Immobilienfonds, bought the restored 117-year-old building from Rockpoint Group. The fund was advised by Northwood Investors. It was the Frankfurt-based fund’s first U.S. investment, according to DLA Piper, the global law firm that represented Universal-Investment-Gesellschaft mbH…
CIBC Reduced Its Stake in Home Capital as the Stock Recovered
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Second-biggest Home Capital holder cuts stake to 14.8%
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Home Capital up 20% since April 28 as deposit flight slows
Home Capital Group Inc.’s second-biggest shareholder trimmed its holdings of the Canadian alternative mortgage provider as the stock rebounded in May.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s asset management division, which oversees about C$124 billion ($92 billion), reduced its stake by almost 200,000 shares last month to 9.5 million, according to a company filing. CIBC Asset Management held 14.8 percent of Home Capital across its funds as of May 31, down from 15.1 percent on April 30…
Santander’s Botin Takes on Crippled Lender in Her Riskiest Bet
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Purchase of Popular signals bolder approach by chairman
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Banks had been called in to look Popular over weeks ago
As dawn broke in Madrid on Wednesday, Ana Botin embarked on the boldest move of her almost three-year tenure as chairman of Banco Santander SA, Spain’s largest bank.
Botin, better known for accumulating capital and emphasizing internal growth than doing deals, took a page from her late father’s playbook. She agreed to acquire failing Banco Popular Espanol SA for the knockdown price of 1 euro, while absorbing the 37 billion euros ($42 billion) of non-performing assets that laid its rival low…
Dilweg Cos. Snaps Up Tampa Office Portfolio
Posted by: | CommentsHFF sold a Class A suburban office portfolio comprising seven buildings in the Tampa, Fla., area for $101 million. The buyer, Dilweg Cos., worked with HFF to secure $67.8 million in financing. The sellers, Osprey East LLC and Osprey S.A. Ltd, also worked with HFF, partnering with the company’s investment sales team to seal the deal.
On behalf of Dilweg Cos., HFF arranged a floating-rate mortgage, originated by Benefit Street Partners Realty Trust. Senior managing directors Hermen Rodriguez and Ryan Clutter led HFF’s advisory team, alongside Director Ike Ojala and Associate Directors Chris Lingerfelt and Tracey Goo, while Senior Managing Director Travis Anderson and Director Brent Bowman led debt placement, representing the buyer/borrower…
Vancouver Lands First WELL-Certified Office
Posted by: | CommentsChina’s Top Property-Bubble Prophet Says Prices Set to Soar
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Zhu Ning says China home prices could rise another 50 percent
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Buyers see property market curbs as a bluff to be reversed
China’s home prices could rise by another 50 percent in the nation’s biggest cities, as the latest measures to rein them in are likely to be eased by policy makers seeking to support the broader economy.
So says Zhu Ning, deputy director of the National Institute of Financial Research at Tsinghua University in Beijing and author of “China’s Guaranteed Bubble: How Implicit Government Support Has Propelled China’s Economy While Creating Systemic Risk.” As measures to curb housing prices drag on growth in the second half and early next year, he says, the government will resort to its old playbook of dialing them back again to shore up expansion…
Law Firm Signs Full-Floor Lease at Rudin’s 1675 Broadway
Posted by: | CommentsKennedy Wilson Buys Big in Seattle
Posted by: | CommentsFirst Phase of Upgrades Unveiled at Charlotte Office Tower
Posted by: | CommentsLincoln Property Co. and Foundry Commercial has completed the first phase of repositioning at 121 West Trade, a Class A, 329,930-square-foot office tower in Uptown Charlotte, N.C. The modernization process began in late 2015 when the asset changed hands and the new owner, Lincoln Property Co., selected Foundry Commercial as leasing manager.
LA: Affordable Housing Wanted
Posted by: | CommentsCMBS Walks a Fine Line in 2017
Posted by: | CommentsPAC Nabs GA Grocery-Anchored Shopping Center
Posted by: | CommentsPreferred Apartment Communities Inc. (PAC) purchased Rockbridge Village, a roughly 102,432-square-foot retail center in Stone Mountain, Ga. that is anchored by a 68,632-square-foot Kroger grocery store.
Located at the intersection of Rockbridge Road and Five Forks Trickum Road in Gwinnett County, the asset features entrance signage and superior visibility. The immediate area has 6,406 households within a three-mile radius. The property’s tenant list includes Orangetheory Fitness, Great Clips and AT&T
PAC acquired the asset through its wholly owned subsidiary, New Market Properties LLC, which specializes in the grocery anchored shopping center sector. The company financed the purchase through a non-recourse first mortgage loan originated by The Prudential Insurance Company of America. The almost $14.3 million first mortgage loan bears interest at 3.8 percent fixed rate per annum. PAC or its operating partnership offered no loan guaranties…
U.S. Mortgage Applications Surge to a 7-Year High
Posted by: | CommentsMore aspiring U.S. homeowners are signing on the dotted line. An index of applications for mortgages to buy homes rose 10 percent last week to the highest level since May 2010, according to data released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. A combination of low borrowing costs and steady job growth is likely driving the increase, said MBA economist Joel Kan. At the same time, the number may reflect difficulty adjusting for the Memorial Day holiday. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage slipped to 4.14 percent last week, the lowest since mid-November, continuing its retreat from a post-election surge…
Santander Rescues Popular as Spain Real Estate Loans Sink Lender
Posted by: | CommentsIn what may prove one of the final acts in Spain’s banking crisis, Banco Santander SA stepped in to take over Banco Popular Espanol SA before the bank collapsed under a mountain of bad property loans.
Santander will tap shareholders for about 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) to shore up Popular’s balance sheet after acquiring the bank for 1 euro in a deal brokered by European regulators, according to a filing on Wednesday. The deal imposes losses of about 3.3 billion euros on Popular stock and bondholders and serves as the first real test of European rules to deal with failing banks…
Mack-Cali’s NJ Horizon Center Hits the Market
Posted by: | CommentsReal estate investment trust Mack-Cali Realty Corp. continues its non-core properties disposition plan with marketing for sale its Horizon Center Business Park, following its recent acquisition of a 26-building portfolio. Horizon Center comprises six office/flex buildings and two development sites totaling 300,000 square feet in Hamilton, N.J. Newmark Knight Frank Executive Managing Director Steven Schultz, Managing Director Tony Georgiev, Executive Managing Director Stephen Tolkach and Director Robert Loderstedt were selected to handle their marketing and sale.
Comcast Opens Charleston Center of Excellence
Posted by: | CommentsComcast, the largest broadcasting and cable provider in the world according to revenue, opened the company’s new Center of Excellence in North Charleston, S.C. The $21.4 million, 80,000-square-foot building will provide work for approximately 550 customer care and technical support employees. Comcast’s new Center of Excellence is part of a 2,000-acre mixed-use development consisting of office, retail, hotel and residential properties.
JPMorgan Will Fund Luxury-Condo Tower at NYC’s 1 Wall Street
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Developer Macklowe plans to convert landmark office building
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Financing deals tougher as Manhattan’s high-end market slows
JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to provide Harry Macklowe with an $850 million loan to construct a luxury-condo tower at New York’s One Wall Street, enabling the developer to proceed with the conversion of a landmark office building even as the city’s high-end residential market slows.
The deal is a coup for Macklowe at a time when lenders are wary of funding new Manhattan projects. JPMorgan, which has expanded its construction-financing business over the past year, will recruit other lenders to participate in the funding, according to people with knowledge with the transaction, who asked not to be identified because terms are private.
U.K. Housing Weakens Further as Market Emits `Ominous’ Signals
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Many first-time buyers still can’t afford homes, RICS says
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National price index drops to lowest level since August
Britain’s housing market weakened in May and a shortage of properties means it’s showing increasing signs of dysfunction, according to a report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
While the general election probably played a part in damping buyer demand and new sellers coming to the market last month, RICS highlighted longer-term risks. That includes a shortage of homes for sale, which has pushed up values in recent years, cutting off many potential first-time buyers.
Why Regulators Are Needed to Handle Failed Banks
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the major reforms to avoid the recurrence of the severity of the financial crisis was a set of mechanisms by which the regulators could wind down failed banks or restructure them if they were still viable.
The House of Representatives is set to vote to repeal this measure and replace it with a bankruptcy that only the bankers themselves could decide to enter. These are dangerous actions that can risk turning a tumultuous bank failure into a deep and full financial crisis, like that of the 2008-9 financial panic. Bankruptcy alone cannot handle a financial crisis emanating from collapsed banks…
Medical Device Manufacturer to Relocate to Southlake
Posted by: | CommentsJLL has negotiated a 4,634-square-foot office lease for HeartSciences in Southlake, Texas. The medical device manufacturer will relocate its corporate headquarters to Granite Place I at Southlake Town Square. JLL’s Steve Thelen, managing director, and Kimarie Ankenbrand, vice president, negotiated the lease on behalf of the tenant. Burson Holman and Avery Bush represented Granite Properties.
Blackstone to Sell Logicor for $14B
Posted by: | CommentsFive years after establishing Logicor to serve as its pan-European logistics platform, Blackstone has entered into an agreement to sell the company to affiliates of China Investment Corp. CIC will pay a whopping $14 billion for Logicor and its 147 million-square-foot portfolio of high-quality logistics and distribution warehouses…
Divorce Is Pushing Hong Kong’s House Prices Even Higher
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Hong Kong residents increasingly seek new partners in China
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Divorce surge adds pressure to lower end of housing market
The usual suspects for Hong Kong’s sky-high property prices are low interest rates, a housing shortage and demand from mainland China. But there’s another unforeseen factor: divorce.
Demand for separations and remarriages have accelerated sharply over the past two decades as the former British colony has deepened its integration with the mainland. That’s according to Richard Wong, an academic at the University of Hong Kong and a veteran analyst of the local housing sector…
BenefitMall Relocates to Hidden Grove in Dallas
Posted by: | CommentsBenefitMall, a provider of employee benefits, HR and payroll products and services, is set to relocate its headquarters from Miramar, Fla., to a new corporate facility situated in the heart of Dallas’ Park Central neighborhood. The company recently signed a lease for nearly 43,000 square feet of space at Red River Asset Management’s Hidden Grove office building.
Bentall Kennedy Teams Up With Warba Bank
Posted by: | CommentsBentall Kennedy is serving as the real estate advisor for Warba Bank K.S.C.P., and has acquired a Class A, 280,000-square-foot office building in Milwaukee, Wis., from The Brewery Works Inc…
How China’s Biggest Bank Became Wall Street’s Go-To Shadow Lender
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ICBC emerges as a major U.S. dealer in government debt repos
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Loophole in post-crisis rules leads to ‘regulatory arbitrage’
High up in a New York City skyscraper, China’s biggest bank is playing in the shadows of American finance.
The prize for Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. isn’t stocks, bonds or currencies. It’s the grease in the wheels of all those markets: repurchase agreements.
San Diego Industrial Asset Trades for $19M
Posted by: | CommentsSTAG Industrial Inc. has expanded its California portfolio with the acquisition of a 205,800-square-foot, Class A industrial facility in the Otay Mesa submarket of San Diego. With help from HFF, the property traded for $19.3 million, free and clear of existing debt.
Senior Managing Director Nick Psyllos and Director Nick Frasco, with the company’s San Diego office, led the investment sales team on behalf of the undisclosed seller…
Xenia Sells 5-Hotel Portfolio for $163M
Posted by: | CommentsAn affiliate of Summit Hotel Properties Inc., of Austin, Texas, has agreed to purchase from Xenia Hotels & Resorts, of Orlando, Fla., an 812-guestroom, five-hotel portfolio, for a total price of $163 million, both parties announced Monday. The deal follows other very recent, separate acquisitions by each company.
The hotels are the 203-key Courtyard Fort Worth Downtown/Blackstone, the 123-key Courtyard Kansas City Country Club Plaza, the 182-key Courtyard Pittsburgh Downtown, the 116-key Hampton Inn & Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor and the 188-key Residence Inn Baltimore Downtown/Inner Harbor…
The Cost of Renting a London Home Is Falling Fast
Posted by: | CommentsThe cost of renting a home in the U.K. capital fell the most in eight years in May as a glut of rental properties came onto the market and affordability issues led Londoners to seek cheaper accommodation.
The average monthly rent paid in May for new lettings in Greater London was 1,502 pounds ($1,940), a 3 percent decline from a year earlier, HomeLet, the U.K.’s largest reference-checking and rentals insurance company, said in a statement on Tuesday. Rents across the U.K. fell 0.3 percent from a year earlier, the first annual decline since December 2009, the data shows…
Home Contractor Employment Flourishes in the U.S.
Posted by: | CommentsThe steady rise in U.S. home sales is translating into big-time hiring in residential specialty trade contracting. In May, another 5,100 jobs were added, marking the ninth month in the last 10 of employment gains in the sector, according to latest jobs report from the Labor Department on Friday. Over the last six years, the economy added a half million home contractor jobs — a 32 percent increase from the end of 2011 that dwarfs the 12 percent advance in total private employment…
Home Contractor Employment Flourishes in the U.S.
Trump’s America Is Facing a $13 Trillion Consumer Debt Hangover
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Percentage of overdue debt has risen for last two quarters
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Consumer companies say their customers are under stress
After bingeing on credit for a half decade, U.S. consumers may finally be feeling the hangover.
Americans faced with lackluster income growth have been financing more of their spending with debt instead. There are early signs that loan burdens are growing unsustainably large for borrowers with lower incomes. Household borrowings have surged to a record $12.73 trillion, and the percentage of debt that is overdue has risen for two consecutive quarters. And with economic optimism having lifted borrowing rates since the election and the Federal Reserve expected to hike further, it’s getting more expensive for borrowers to refinance…
CRE and the Great Outdoors
Posted by: | CommentsCurb appeal can have a big impact on a commercial property. This month, CPE and Kingsley Associates explore what owners and managers think about their outdoor spaces.
Curb appeal can have a big impact on a property. This month, CPE and Kingsley Associates explore what owners and managers think about their outdoor spaces.
“Outside lighting should be upgraded to brighter and more efficient LED lights. We run a late shift and the yard should be brighter for safety.” —Seabrook, Texas
“The key element that our employees have been looking for are places to sit outside in green areas with some tree shading.” —Orlando, Fla…
Trump Hotels Moves Beyond Luxury With Down-Market Lodging Chain
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American Idea brand will have first hotels in Mississippi
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Properties will compete with Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express
President Donald Trump built his hotel brand with luxury properties aimed at high-income travelers visiting pricey locales such as New York, Chicago, Miami and Washington. Now his company is moving down-market.
Trump Hotels’ newest chain, to be called American Idea, will be found initially in smaller towns — the first three are planned for the Mississippi cities of Clarksdale, Greenville and Cleveland — and will compete in the mid-tier hotel category. That’s a segment already stuffed with brands, including Courtyard by Marriott, Hyatt Place and Hilton Garden Inn…
Americans Are Pouring Money Into Their Homes Like It’s the 1990s
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Industry took advantage of second-warmest period on record
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Gains helped by home improvements, boosting employment
If you’re building or renovating a home in the U.S. these days, you’ve got plenty of company.
Americans’ spending on residential construction projects — from the pouring of foundations to home improvement — just hammered out its strongest three-month period since 1994.
Solid job growth, low borrowing costs and a recovery in home equity since the market crash a decade ago are generating momentum. The outsized advance in outlays also has its roots in more than favorable conditions for building across the U.S. After all, the first four months of 2017 were the second-warmest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration…
Bank at Center of U.S. Inquiry Projects Russian ‘Soft Power’
Posted by: | CommentsIt has offices in a sleek Manhattan skyscraper. Its bonds are accessible to millions of American investors. And it holds ties to some of New York’s biggest banks.
Despite this presence on Wall Street, detailed in previously unreported financial records, Vnesheconombank, or VEB, is no normal bank. It is wholly owned by the Russian state. It is intertwined with Russian intelligence. And the Russian prime minister is, by law, the chairman of its supervisory board…
Bank at Center of U.S. Inquiry Projects Russian ‘Soft Power’
The housing market is deep into mania. You can see it in the eyes of the house lusting buyers and the overweight Taco Tuesday baby boomers drooling at their mouth trying to justify why their World War II built crap shack is worth $1 million. The market has gotten unhinged and in this environment you keep hearing things like “crazy” and “insane” and “what the hell is going on?” over and over. That sure inspires confidence and stability! Yet people want to commit to a 30-year fixed mortgage on a dump. In a time when flexibility is key and being nimble in your mind is paramount, you have old thinking boomers trying to infect people with this old paradigm of how business is done. And the telling thing is what is happening right now is not any different from what happened in the last crisis. Mortgage debt is down because a large part of recent buying has come from investors! Of course mortgage debt in aggregate is down when many investors pay in cash – that is why the homeownership rate is also down. Duh! But overall household debt is up thanks to people loading up on student loans, auto debt, and credit card debt. Yet this is somehow better? Just look at some of the wild examples in the real estate market…
Hilton Des Moines Hotel Tops Off
Posted by: | CommentsThe Hilton Des Moines Downtown has topped off and exterior finishes for the hotel are now visible. A beam signing took place at the construction site to commemorate the occasion, featuring stakeholders Hilton Hotels, The Weitz Co., IEC Hotel Corp., Polk County Board of Supervisors, City of Des Moines, Catch Des Moines and Greater Des Moines Partnership. The hotel is set for full completion in April 2018.
Located at 435 Park St. in Des Moines, Iowa, the 330-key hotel will offer a business center, gift shop, fitness room, a heated indoor pool, 4,000 square feet of meeting space, a signature restaurant called Park Street Kitchen, 14,000 square feet of event space, a 10,000-square-foot ballroom, tech lounge, 24-hour snack shop, and is connected to the Iowa Events Center and Des Moines Skywalk…
Rational Analysis of Donald Trump Is Ray Dalio’s Psychological Waterloo
Posted by: | CommentsHave you ever watched an adult cat stare at a human baby and wondered what it could possibly be thinking? Well thanks to Ray Dalio’s ineffably beautiful LinkedIn blog, we may be able to answer that.
Naturally, my inclinations are to view Donald Trump’s policies through the lens of one who thinks about economies and markets, as well as from my vantage point of being a global and US citizen. My perspectives are colored by studying patterns and the cause-effect relationships of history and nature. My inclinations are to view things in a mechanistic way and to try to express the cause-effect relationships in principles and algorithms. While most cause-effect relationships can be expressed that way, not all can. Human nature is one that is difficult to express this way, and it is uniquely important now in Donald Trump’s presidency.
Cress Expands Western Portfolio With $110M Buy
Posted by: | CommentsCress Capital LLC has acquired more than 800,000 square feet of office and flex industrial space in Southern California and Colorado for about $110 million. The two transactions include Prospect Portfolio, a 23-building office and flex industrial portfolio totaling more than 500,000 square feet in Fort Collins, Colo., and Sandpointe, two office buildings totaling 301,168 square feet in Orange County, Calif.
Ex-Deutsche Bank Spoofer Has Some Valuable Career Advice
Posted by: | CommentsOn Friday, former Deutsche Bank commodities trader David Liew pleaded guilty to spoofing precious metal futures as wells as front-running customer orders. While the CFTC case documents include the usual tidbits of spicy and incriminating chats from the scene of the crime – “i can hunt with u,” he tells a trader at another firm – the real story is Liew’s online trail of illuminating and at-times poignant career advice.
According to what appears to be Liew’s personal WordPress site, the former trader has long enjoyed the avocation of personal memoir. Though his blog has since been taken down, we can still peruse what we assume to be Liew’s ruminations thanks to Google Cache…
New Logistics Property Coming to Metro Atlanta
Posted by: | CommentsRobinson Weeks Properties broke ground on a new building in the Gillem Logistics Center, a 1,168-acre state-of-the-art, regional distribution and e-commerce logistics campus in Forest Park, Ga.
The plan is to build a 1-million-square-foot logistics building, which could be expanded to 1.4 million. The building will offer 40-foot clear heights, cross dock loading and abundant truck trailer storage…
Ground Breaks on $150M Mixed-Use Project in Suburban LA
Posted by: | CommentsTen years in the making, the 345,000-square-foot The Vineyards at Porter Ranch mixed-use project in the San Fernando Valley area of metropolitan Los Angeles, just took a big step toward realization. Developer Shapell Liberty Investment Properties, a joint venture of Shapell Properties and Liberty Building Co., held a groundbreaking ceremony for the luxury $150 million project.
JPMorgan Pays $35 Million To Make Good Technology Go Away
Posted by: | CommentsFor the last few months, the legal team at JPMorgan has been doing its utmost to shoo away Good Technology, a onetime software unicorn and investment banking client that ended up selling itself to BlackBerry in an acquisition so fantastically good for the latter – “an absolutely fire sale fantastic deal,” one venture capital backer said – that Good investors began to grow a bit suspicious. Their fear, according to a suit filed last year, was that JPMorgan pawned off Good on the cheap in order to deepen its relationship with BlackBerry…
JPMorgan Pays $35 Million To Make Good Technology Go Away
Alexander’s Cashes Out Nearly $200M in Manhattan Refi
Posted by: | CommentsAlexander’s Inc., a Vornado Realty Trust affiliate, completed a $500 million refinancing of the office portion of 731 Lexington Ave. in Manhattan.
The interest-only loan is at LIBOR plus 0.9 percent (currently 1.95 percent) and matures in June 2024, as extended. The Paramus, N.J.–based REIT realized net proceeds of about $188 million after repaying the existing $300 million mortgage and closing costs…
Don’t Bet the House on Poloz Busting Toronto and Vancouver Bubbles
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Bank of Canada faces calls to raise rates, cool home prices
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BoC Governor has said interest rates are a blunt instrument
The old debate about whether central banks should raise rates to counteract housing bubbles is finding new life in Canada as the country copes with record prices in its two biggest real estate markets.
Toronto home prices were still up almost 30 percent last month, compared with the previous year, the city’s real estate board reported Monday, and have more than doubled since the 2008-2009 recession. In Vancouver, the country’s most-expensive real estate market, they’ve climbed 58 percent over four years. Meanwhile, household debt is at record levels, recently surpassing gross domestic product for the first time…
Who needs a loan to buy a home? Loan originations are down to a three year low.
Posted by: | CommentsThe housing market is running on opioid induced euphoria and the tentacles of mania are deep into every large metro area. You would think given all this unchecked optimism that mortgage originations would be near a record level since you would assume people are out buying in mass. Yet that is not the case. What is happening is people are fighting over the scraps with low inventory and are bidding prices up on crap shacks to ridiculous levels. And there is data to back this up which is important because people are living in an alternative reality. Loan origination volume hit a three year low this year. What? How is that possible when all the cheerleaders are out in the streets preaching the good gospel of buying real estate? Well the reality is that a good portion of the market is still driven by investors…
Summit Acquires Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale
Posted by: | CommentsSummit Hotel Properties Inc. acquired Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale, which also included a 0.8-acre vacant land parcel and 6,200 square feet of retail space, for $85 million.
Located at 440 Seabreeze Blvd., the 261-key hotel recently underwent renovations and the company plans to invest $1.6 million over the next year for public space improvements and a patio bar redesign. Summit estimates a capitalization rate of 7.8 percent based on management’s current estimate of the hotel’s net operating income during the first year of ownership.
Toronto May Home Price Gains Slow as New Listings Surge 49%
Posted by: | CommentsToronto’s housing fever is showing signs of cooling as price gains slowed and new listings surged in May, the first full month reflecting a new tax on foreign buyers and a crisis at mortgage lender Home Capital Group Inc.
The number of new listings soared 49 percent last month from a year earlier to 25,837, the biggest increase since 2010, according to Toronto Real Estate Board figures published Monday. The average price rose 15 percent to C$863,910 ($640,076), compared with annual gains of 25 percent in April and 33 percent in March. The benchmark price index, which measures more typical mid-priced homes, rose 29 percent, also down from a 32 percent gain in April…
Sovereign Wealth Funds May Sell Off U.K. Assets on Brexit Vote
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Invesco report shows institutions plan to underweight U.K.
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Investors question future of Britain as an investment hub
Sovereign wealth funds and central banks may look to cut their U.K. assets in 2017 after sentiment toward the country slumped since Britain voted to leave the European Union, according to an Invesco Ltd. report.
About 41 percent of institutions, who together oversee about $12 trillion in assets, said they expect to introduce new underweight positions in the U.K. this year, a survey published on Monday showed. Britain was also deemed to be the least attractive developed market, scoring 5.5 out of 10 in 2017, the report said. That’s down from 7.5 in 2016…
U.S. Bank Stocks Lag Europe After Years of Outperformance: Chart
Posted by: | CommentsU.S. lenders are sliding in 2017 as their European counterparts rally, on course to reverse a trend that’s been in place for the past seven years. The KBW Bank Index slumped more than twice as much as the Euro Stoxx Banks Index on Wednesday after Wall Street banks signaled a decline in markets revenue. All may not be lost: The recent underperformance has led JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Kian Abouhossein to recommend U.S. lenders over their European peers, citing better valuations and more scope for gains…
U.S. Bank Stocks Lag Europe After Years of Outperformance: Chart