CBRE Hires William DiVito and Jesse Blum

Tucson, Ariz. – The William DiVito and Jesse Blum brokerage team have joined the CBRE Tucson office to continue industrial market specialization.  DiVito and Blum, industrial specialists, will partner to assist clients in identifying opportunities and executing strategy.

“Bill and Jesse have an established track record and solid reputations in the industry making them the perfect complement to our team of best-in-class brokerage professionals,” said Ike Isaacson, CBRE’s managing director of the Tucson office. “Bill and Jesse’s leadership and experience in acquisition, disposition and leasing strengthen our ability to serve the complex real estate requirements of industrial users and investors.”

DiVito returns to CBRE as first vice president, a skilled professional, DiVito has 29 years of commercial real estate experience. DiVito’s diverse marketing skills and in-depth knowledge of the region’s economies often allow clients the ability to achieve the highest market sales in the shortest period of time, and over the last five years alone his annual transaction volume has exceeded 50 transactions valued in excess of $71 million. He is a member of the CBRE Colbert Coldwell Circle, which recognizes the top 100 CBRE professionals in the United States.

Blum comes to CBRE from Newmark Grubb Knight Frank/Grubb & Ellis where he was an associate director. Like DiVito, his focus has been on the industrial market. Blum’s commitment to local information keeps him ahead of new economic trends and development. His ability to successfully use this information to create the highest and best transaction for each of his clients has earned him many repeat and referred clients.

CBRE’s John Lenio to Speak at Ohio Economic Development Association’s Annual Summit

Phoenix, Ariz. – CBRE has announced that John Lenio, economist and managing director of CBRE’s Economic Incentives Group (EIG), has been chosen to speak at the Ohio Economic Development Association’s annual summit in Dublin, Ohio on October 25.

Economic Development is a constant topic for government and business leaders; for Lenio, it’s his job.  Lenio has been asked to share his expertise on site selection and economic development competitiveness at OEDA’s yearly gathering of business and economic development professionals.

“OEDA’s mission of advocacy for economic development issues important to growing the Ohio economy is very much aligned with CBRE’s goal to help business communities better understand how economic development and corporate site selection are linked together,” said Lenio. “We are very much looking forward to sharing our observations and having the opportunity to learn from the Ohio business and development community next week.”

Lenio, one of the founding principals of CBRE’s Economic Incentives Group (EIG), works with his team to identify, negotiate and secure economic & tax incentives for CBRE’s corporate clients in the United States and Canada. Lenio has managed incentive engagements in all 50 States and 10 Provinces in Canada. This has given him unique insight into the nuances of economic development and site selection from primary urban centers to secondary and tertiary communities. Since 2004, CBRE’s Economic Incentives Group has secured incentive packages valued over $1.2 billion for a multitude of companies throughout the U.S. in all industries.

OEDA’s Annual Summit will take place at the Columbus Marriott Northwest located at 5605 Blazer Parkway in Dublin. The event will run Wednesday, Oct. 23 through Friday, Oct. 25.

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 for the day will be.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 54.33 points to close at 15,413.33. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 8.29 points to 1,746.38. The NASDAQ composite fell 22.49 points to close at 3,907.07 on Wednesday, Oct. 23rd.

Benchmark U.S. crude for December delivery fell $1.44 to $96.86 a barrel in New York.

CONSTRUCTION UNEMPLOYMENT DECLINES TO 8.5% LOW
Construction employment rose by 20,000 in September and the industry’s unemployment rate fell to a six-year low of 8.5%, while construction spending increased for the fifth consecutive month in August, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials cautioned that the data does not address any potential impacts from the recent federal government shutdown. (Full report to be published tomorrow)

TUCSON APPROVES CHANGES TO PRIMARY JOBS INCENTIVE PROGRAM
TUCSON – The mayor and City Council unanimously approved changes to its Primary Jobs Incentive Program to make it easier for more businesses to qualify for building-fee exemptions and to temporarily retain sales taxes for their own benefit at Tuesday’s meeting. The program was launched in August 2011 to encourage businesses in the primary sector to expand, and in doing so, boost the economy. “A primary job is one that exports a product and imports dollars into the economy versus retail, which just re-circulates dollars,” said Chris Kaselemis, Economic Initiatives Program director. “The average wage is a little lower and more in line with what we pay here in the Tucson area,” Kaselemis said. “By lowering the threshold, it will make more firms eligible.” Since it began, only two companies, American Tire Distributors and B/E Aerospace have successfully applied for the program. The changes lower the minimum wage businesses must pay some workers in order to get the incentive.

WEYERHAEUSER TO USE REVERSE MORRIS TRUST VALUED AT $2.7 Billion
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tri Pointe Homes Inc (TPH.N), a homebuilder backed by Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group LLC, is in advanced talks to buy Weyerhaeuser Co’s (WY.N) homebuilding division for about $2.7 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Taylor Morrison, which went public in April and Alberta, Canada-based Brookfield Residential Properties are among those prospective buyers, but the most serious are between Tri Pointe Homes (NASDAQ:TPH). Weyerhaeuser announced in June it was reviewing strategic options for the homebuilding and real estate development unit, is trying to finalize a sale to Tri Pointe as soon as in the next two weeks, sources told Reuters this week. Under the proposed terms of a deal, the two companies are using a structure known as Reverse Morris Trust – a transaction that allows a parent company to sell its subsidiary in a tax-efficient manner, the people said.

ASIA’S RICHEST MAN SCRAPS PLAN TO SELL PARKnSHOPS
Oct 18 (Reuters) – Hutchison Whampoa, controlled by Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, has scrapped a plan to sell its Hong Kong supermarkets business, ParknShop and will instead focus on expanding in China, it said on Friday. The sale of ParknShop, which operates 345 stores in Hong Kong, China and Macau, had been expected to fetch between $3 billion and $4 billion, with prospective bidders including prominent retailers, such as state-owned China Resources Enterprises, Japan’s Aeon Co Ltd and Australia’s Woolworths Ltd.

BLACKSTONE PREPARING BRIXMOR IPO
As Blackstone Group LP prepares an initial public offering for shopping-center landlord Brixmor Property Group Inc., investors and analysts are watching the deal to see what tone it sets for other Blackstone-led IPOs waiting in the wings. Blackstone is expected to take as many as four real-estate companies public over the next year; three of them were purchased by the private-equity firm before the real-estate downturn. First up, shopping-center landlord Brixmor could raise up to $905 million. The company said late last week in a regulatory filing that it expects to offer up to 43 million shares of common stock for between $19 and $21 a share, potentially raising up to $905 million.

INVESTMENT CROWDFUNDING ABOUT TO GO BIG TIME
WASHINGTON (AP) —  For years, filmmakers, artists and charities have used the power of the Internet to generate money for projects. But in the coming year, with the blessing of Congress, startups will be allowed to raise money this way by selling stock to small-time investors.  For those investors, it’s a chance to make a small profit and possibly get in early on the next Twitter or Facebook. But it’s also extremely risky, given that a majority of startups fail. And critics warn that investment crowdfunding is ripe for fraud.  The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday took a step toward implementing the law by proposing how much people could invest and how much companies must divulge. The SEC voted 5-0 to send the proposal out for public comment. Final rules could be approved next year.

EUROZONE DEBT BURDEN ROSE AGAIN Q2
BRUSSELS (AP) — The eurozone’s debt burden rose further in the second quarter, official figures showed Wednesday, despite years of austerity that one prominent European Union economist says intensified the financial crisis. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said debt across the 17 countries that use the euro rose to 93.4% of the eurozone’s annual gross domestic product from 92.3% the previous quarter. Though countries across the region, such as Greece and Spain, have made great strides in reducing their borrowing through spending cuts and tax increases, they’re still running budget deficits that add to their stockpile of debt. The eurozone’s economy also isn’t growing fast enough to help lower the debt figures measured relative to total GDP — a sustained period of strong growth would help reduce the debt burden figures.

FEDEX EXPECTS HOLIDAY DELIVERIES TO INCREASE
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — FedEx expects that holiday shoppers will be more nice than naughty this year, with shipments rising from 2012.  The company said Wednesday that it expects to carry more than 22 million shipments on the busiest day of the season, which it believes will be Monday, Dec. 2.  FedEx predicts that shipments in the first week of December will rise 13 per cent over last year’s peak week, to more than 85 million shipments, driven by online shopping and retailers stocking up on electronics, apparel and other goods.

STARBUCKS OPENING ‘TEA BAR’ IN NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — Starbucks is trying to make tea trendy, with plans to open its first “tea bar” in New York City. The Seattle-based company says Teavana Fine Teas + Teavana Tea Bar will serve sweets and other food including flatbreads, salads and small plates ranging in price from about $3 to $15. Drink prices will range from $3 to $6, and include novelties such as a Spiced Mandarin Oolong tea and carbonated teas. The menu of food and freshly made drinks is a switch for Teavana, a chain of about 300 stores that sell boxed and loose tea and accessories. Teavana stores are mainly in shopping malls, but Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said he plans to expand the footprint to include more locations in urban areas. The company plans to add brewed tea and food to more Teavana stores. The opening of the New York City store on Thursday comes after Starbucks bought Teavana last year. The company has said it plans to use the acquisition to make tea a bigger part of American culture, as it has with coffee.

700 IRS CONTRACT WORKERS OWE $5.4MILLION BACK TAXES
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 700 employees of Internal Revenue Service contractors owe $5.4 million in back taxes, said a report Wednesday by the agency’s inspector general. More than half of those workers are supposed to be ineligible to do work for the IRS because they are not enrolled in installment plans to pay the taxes they owe. Unlike other federal agencies, the IRS requires employees and those who work on agency contracts to comply with federal tax laws. That means they have to file returns on time and either pay all the taxes they owe or enroll in a payment plan.

TRIAL STARTS; IS DETROIT ELIGIBLE FOR BANKRUPTCY?
DETROIT (AP) — An attorney representing Detroit urged a judge Wednesday to allow the city to fix staggering financial problems through bankruptcy, arguing that without it nearly 65 cents of every tax dollar eventually would be gobbled up by debts and other obligations. The extraordinary trial, expected to last days, brings the bankruptcy case to its most crucial stage since Detroit in July made the largest public filing in U.S. history. If a judge finds certain legal requirements were met, the city would get the green light to restructure $18 billion in debt and possibly slash pensions for thousands of people, the most controversial target so far. Hundreds of protesters walked in a circle outside the courthouse with signs that said, “Bail out people not banks.”

September saw robust investor interest and activity among small users for industrial properties representing 40% of the commercial transactions in Pima County for the month, an aggregate of almost $11 million. Of these sales, most were cash and carryback buyers, with uses ranging from space for personal collections to small business expansion.  Investors are speculating industrial lease opportunities, which were also on the rise in 3Q.

According to new research from Cushman & Wakefield in New York City, despite the notion that manufacturing has basically left the United States, the industrial sector—by several measures—is alive and well. Nationwide, through the third quarter, warehouses have experienced fourteen consecutive quarters of declining vacancies. The momentum is supported by continued strong leasing velocity and absorption, and construction levels that already have surpassed last year’s total.

With indicators of equipment acquisition and economic optimism trending positive in the September 2013 data, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation (ELFF) expects some acceleration in the second half of the year, despite slowdowns in the first and second quarters. ELFF forecasts a 4.8% growth in equipment investment this year. This number is actually quite marked from last year, having jumped 5.2% in the first half of the year. By contrast, it also notes the U.S. economy still facing stiff challenges, and predicts the U.S. economy to see a modest 2% growth rate.

The other factors pointing to a recovery in the second half of the year for this sector is increased economic optimism coupled with improving credit markets that are providing businesses with easier access to credit.

The uptick is due to renewed consumer confidence, contends John Morris of Cushman & Wakefield. “Pent-up consumer demand for housing, automobiles, appliances and other less durable goods have translated to increased spending in 2013. As corporations respond, we have seen a jump in demand, especially for distribution space. With the continued ecommerce boom, online retailers have become the fastest-growing segment of warehouse occupiers. At the same time, traditional brick-and-mortar retailers continue to drive demand, with companies like Walmart and Home Depot among the most active.”

Industrial leasing volume increased in the third quarter and strength is broad based, Southern California, Dallas and Chicago were particularly strong. Greater Los Angeles continued to lead the nation with 28.1 million square feet leased year-to-date, followed by Chicago with 24.4 million square feet. Twelve of the 37 markets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield have reported increased activity in 2013, including 11 that experienced double-digit annual increases. Northern New Jersey posted a 37% year-over-year leasing increase, while Dallas/Fort Worth recorded a 28.2% increase.

To read the more of the Tucson report as published in the October TAR Scorecard click here.

To read the Cushman & Wakefield report as published in GlobeSt.com click here.