Phoenix – Trammell Crow Co in Scottsdale (Jim Mahoney and Cathy Thuringer, principals) plans to develop 219,521-square-feet of general industrial space within the Spectrum Ridge at Deer Valley commerce park in north Phoenix. Trammell Crow will develop the spec project in a joint venture with Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa.

The 14.37-acre site is located just south of Deer Valley Road at the northeast corner of 7th Street and Covey Lane. Spectrum Ridge Industrial LLC (Trammell Crow venture) paid $3.852 million to acquire the land. The Trammell Crow/Principal Financial venture plans to complete construction, lease the space and hold the property for investment

The seller was TOF DV Bixby LLC, a company formed by Turner Real Estate Investments in Newport Beach, Calif. (Rusty Turner, president).

The cash sale was brokered by Darren Tappen, Mike Ciosek and Eric Bell of Voit Real Estate Services in Phoenix. Plans from Butler Design Group in Phoenix show three buildings of 66,507-square-feet, 83,400-square-feet and 69,614-square-feet. Construction expected to start late third quarter of this year, with completion of all three structures anticipated second quarter 2015. The concrete tilt-up buildings will have grade level and dock-high truck wells for loading.

Contractor has yet to be named. Development cost (land and buildings) are estimated at $15 to $20 million. Construction financing still to be arranged.

The leasing will be handled by Mitch Stravitz, John Werstler and Cooper Fratt of CBRE in Phoenix. The CBRE agents are looking for tenants needing from 6,000-square-feet and up.

Trammell Crow Co., which is a subsidiary of CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE:CBG), is interested in more development opportunities. Learn more from Thuringer at (602) 285-3104. Sean Sheward is the contact at Turner (949) 757-5407. Reach Stravitz, Werstler and Fratt at (602) 735-5555. The Voit agents, Tappen, Ciosek and Bell are at (602) 952-8648.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home construction fell in June to the slowest pace in nine months, a setback to hopes that housing is regaining momentum and will boost economic growth this year.

Construction fell 9.3% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 893,000 homes, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was the slowest pace since last September and followed a 7.3% drop in May, a decline even worse than initially reported.

Applications for building permits, considered a good indicator of future activity, were also down in June, dropping 4.2% to a rate of 963,000 after a 5.1% decline in May.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for June 2014:

BUILDING PERMITS
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 963,000. This is 4.2 percent (±1.5%) below the revised May rate of 1,005,000, but is 2.7 percent (±1.8%) above the June 2013 estimate of 938,000.

Single-family authorizations in June were at a rate of 631,000; this is 2.6 percent (±1.4%) above the revised May figure of 615,000.

Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 301,000 in June.

HOUSING STARTS
Privately-owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 893,000. This is 9.3 percent (±10.3%)* below the revised May estimate of 985,000, but is 7.5 percent (±14.4%)* above the June 2013 rate of 831,000.

Single-family housing starts in June were at a rate of 575,000; this is 9.0 percent (±10.1%)* below the revised May figure of 632,000.

The June rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 305,000.

HOUSING COMPLETIONS
Privately-owned housing completions in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 789,000. This is 12.0 percent (±8.3%) below the revised May estimate of 897,000, but is 3.4 percent (±11.6%)* above the June 2013 rate of 763,000.

Single-family housing completions in June were at a rate of 586,000; this is 6.5 percent (±9.4%)* below the revised May rate of 627,000.

The June rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 198,000.

The worse-than-expected June performance reflected a big drop in activity in the South, where construction plunged by 29.6% last month.

(Reuters) – U.S. strip mall vacancies fell slightly in the second quarter, while retail mall vacancies remained unchanged, real estate research firm Reis Inc said in a report.

The national vacancy rate for strip malls was 10.3%, down from 10.4% in the first quarter and 10.5% in the second quarter of 2013.

Retail mall vacancies were unchanged at 7.9%.

Asking and effective rents both rose 0.5% in the second quarter, but rent growth remained below that seen in mid-2007, before the onset of recession.

“At 10.3%, the national vacancy rate remains far too elevated to be conducive to faster rent growth, which continues to lag inflation,” Ryan Severino, senior economist and associate director of research at Reis, said in a statement.

Reis, however, noted that rent growth exceeded inflation rate in an increasing number of markets.

Apart from markets with affluent households, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Las Vegas benefited from a rebound in hotel occupancy rates, Reis said.
As expected, construction of shopping center space rebounded to 1.08-million-square-feet from 988,000-square-feet in the first quarter.