Articles About Commercial Real Estate

Eleven of the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks showed signs of a stabilizing or improving economy during July and August, according to the Fed’s latest Beige Book report.  The Beige Book’s anecdotal evidence found that the nation’s worst recession in 70 years is coming to an end.  The Fed expects the economy to grow by […]

We are excited to announce that Michael Alter, president of The Alter Group, is part of an investment team that has purchased The New Republic (TNR).  TNR is one of the nation’s oldest political and cultural magazines.  The Obama administration has chosen it as one of the magazines placed on Air Force One, and Chief […]

An interesting comment in an article that some might have missed.  GlobeSt.com reports that Eastern Consolidated CEO Peter Hauspurg said  “part of the whole thing that’s keeping these banks glued up with the CMBS is the fact [that] no one has been able to unravel the loans they understood when they made them.” Hauspurg noted […]

Economic development organizations are stepping in to help plug the credit hole.  We all know what the economy is like today, and it is unlikely that the industrial and commercial real estate markets will soon turn around. As an economic developer, I see another side of the economy where both communities and businesses are seeking opportunities […]

While the commercial real estate market waits to bottom out, dozens of smaller buyers who pooled their dollars to buy office buildings during the boom may be in worse shape than large institutional investors.  These tenants-in-common (TIC) funds, which allow smaller investors to own multiple office buildings together, are facing the same issues as giant […]

Don’t look for the country’s commercial real estate market to improve any time soon.  In fact, expect it to continue to get worse for the next year or so.  That was the conclusion from a panel at the National Association of Real Estate Editors journalism conference in Washington, D.C., that addressed the question:  “Commercial Real […]

Moody’s reiterated its February analysis of CMBS loans,  noting that the majority of 2006 – 2008 ratings of conduit/fusion and large-loan deals are still stable.  The ratings agency warns that the assumptions hold up “as long as conditions in the commercial real estate market and the general economy do not weaken.” Since February, “property prices […]

Toxic commercial real estate loans could create losses up to $100 billion for small and mid-size banks by the end of 2010 if the economy worsens.  According to a Wall Street Journal report – which applied the same criteria used by the federal government in its stress tests of 19 big banks — these institutions […]

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have been closely watching the credit crisis evolve, according to a Deloitte LLP report.  The good news is that they haven’t entirely lost their taste for American commercial real estate. Consider that two of 2008’s highest profile transactions were the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s $800 million acquisition of the iconic Chrysler […]

A rather unexpected source may rescue the stalled Chicago Spire  condominium project – and pump significant money into Chicago’s battered economy by creating thousands of construction jobs.  Representatives from the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trusts are in early discussions with developer Shelbourne Development Group to revive construction of the twisting Santiago Calatrava-designed condominium tower, located on […]