Real Estate Daily News November 30, 2015

Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz of the day will be.

Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average gave up 14.90 points, or 0.1%, to 17,798.49. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 1.24 points, or less than 0.1%, to 2,090.11. The NASDAQ composite index added 11.38 points, or 0.2%, to 5,127.52.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.33, or 3.1 percent, to $41.71 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, gave up 60 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $44.86 a barrel in London.

Wholesale gasoline fell 0.6 cents to $1.391 a gallon. Heating oil fell 5 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $1.352 a gallon. Natural gas tumbled 8.7 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $2.212 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Blackstone Said in Talks to Sell L.A. Towers to Douglas Emmett “Blackstone Group LP is in talks to sell four Los Angeles office towers to a group led by Douglas Emmett Inc. for more than $1 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations. The buildings total 1.7 million square feet (158,000 square meters). Three of the towers are on Wilshire Boulevard — at 10880, 10940 and 10960 Wilshire — in the Westwood commercial district near the campus of University of California, Los Angeles. (Bloomberg)

In South Florida, More Builders Buy in Bulk “As prime development sites become scarce in many parts of the country, particularly in coastal areas like South Florida, condominium developers are becoming more creative in their efforts to secure buildable land. More builders nowadays are targeting existing condos and cooperative buildings in desirable locations with the intention of tearing them down and building anew, analysts said.” (Wall Street Journal)

Real Estate: Nothing’s Normal About This New Normal “With 300,000 new residents expected in 2016, Florida is Florida again, and the real estate market is roaring back. Or is it? Yes and no, the three News-Press Market Watch experts say in this analysis of the third quarter of 2015. It’s a market unlike any they’ve seen, where you can be right or wrong, and some of the most spectacular wins seem to come from left field.” (News-Press.com)

Farmland: A Growing Investment Option “The last 20 years have seen a new asset category grow in popularity… farmland. And it’s easy to see why, because farmland is profitable. In fact, the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries’ ((NCREIF)) Farmland Index had an average annual return of 12% over 20 years. That beat the NCREIF’s Commercial Property Index and the S&P 500’s return of about 9%. It also topped investment-grade corporate bonds, which had returns in the 7% range.” (Seeking Alpha)

Cornell Tech Project Tests ‘Passive’ Design in the U.S. “A new European building method that is touted to cut energy costs by as much as 90% is going to get one of its first big U.S. tests at a new technology campus that Cornell University is developing on an island in New York City’s East River. The first  residential building on the Cornell Tech campus that is beginning to take shape on Roosevelt Island is using cutting-edge design, materials and insulation to make the tower virtually airtight.” (Wall Street Journal)

Hudson Yards Resi Tower Secures $1.3B in Financing “Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group closed on a $1.3 billion financing package for 15 Hudson Yards yesterday. The finance package includes equity provided by Related, Oxford and a sovereign wealth fund, tax-exempt bonds from New York State Housing Finance Agency and an $850 million construction loan provided by London-based The Children’s Investment Fund.” (Commercial Observer)

$1.3 Billion Financing for Biggest Office Deal in Beantown “New York Life Real Estate Investors has given more than a helping hand to a joint venture between Oxford Properties Group and a group of institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The debt and equity investment company teamed with TIAA-CREF Global Real Estate to provide the joint venture with $648 million in financing for the $1.3 billion acquisition of 500 Boylston and 222 Berkeley Streets, two interconnected office towers totaling 1.3 million square feet in Boston’s coveted Back Bay area.” (Commercial Property Executive)

A&P Sues Bidder of Deal Gone Bad “A&P is suing a real estate company that submitted winning bids for two of its supermarkets in a bankruptcy auction for failing to disclose it made the offer on behalf of an unqualified buyer, among other improprieties. Bidder Lee & Associates also failed to submit proper documentation to acquire the stores, evidently after encountering resistance to its plans from a landlord and union representing store workers, according to evidence filed in the case Tuesday.” (Supermarket News)

Q&A with ICSC Chairman Stephen Leibowitz: What Retailers Can Expect This Holiday Season “As chairmain of ICSC and in his role as the CEO of CBL, one of the country’s largest mall REITs, Stephen Lebovitz has his finger on the pulse of retail. Bisnow sat down with him to get his views on REIT spinoffs, interest rates and what the industry can expect from the upcoming holiday sales season.” (Bisnow)

Judge Upholds $55M Settlement Between Malkins, ESB Investors “An appeals court judge on Tuesday ruled upheld a $55 million settlement struck between Anthony Malkin’s Malkin Holdings and former investors in the Empire State Building, a victory for the Malkin family and the highly-contested REIT conversion of King Kong’s favorite skyscraper. The judge upheld the original terms of a 2012 settlement inked in wake of a class action lawsuit by the investors — who claimed Malkin’s Empire State Realty Trust unfairly compensated them.” (The Real Deal)

More Than 121 Million Holiday Shoppers Plan to Shop Online on Cyber Monday – Incredible online savings starting in early November have changed the way that consumers are shopping on Cyber Monday. Online holiday shoppers this year are hoping to see deals on everything from cashmere sweaters to home décor before they decide to shop on Cyber Monday. According to the National Retail Federation’s Cyber Monday Expectations Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics over the weekend, 121 million (49.5%) shoppers plan to shop online on Cyber Monday, down slightly from the 126.9 million who planned to participate last year. NRF’s Thanksgiving weekend results showed that 103 million people shopped online over the weekend. Up from 24.4 million last year, 29.6 million (24.4%) consumers said they will use their mobile device to shop on Cyber Monday, while eight in 10 (80%) said they will use their home computers to shop online. Mobile retailing continues to grow as more and more consumers rely on their smartphones and tablets to research products and find gift ideas.