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 Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 7.15 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,348.69. The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 30.95 points, or 0.2 percent, to 20,547.76. The Nasdaq composite fell 6.26 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,910.52.
Benchmark U.S. crude shed $1.09, or 2.1 percent, to $49.62 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell $1.03, or 1.9 percent, to $51.96 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline lost 3 cents to $1.64 a gallon and heating oil fell 3 cents to $1.55 a gallon. Natural gas gave up 6 cents to $3.10 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Losses for finance, health care companies send stocks lower — U.S. stocks slumped Friday as financial and health care companies moved lower. Industrial companies rose as stocks continued the up-and-down pattern they've been stuck in for the last month.
US Treasury rejects Exxon Mobil request to drill in Russia — The Trump administration has denied a request from Exxon Mobil to waive U.S. sanctions against Russia and allow it to resume oil drilling around the Black Sea. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says in a brief statement that the administration "will not be issuing waivers to U.S. companies, including Exxon, authorizing drilling prohibited by current Russian sanctions."
Fry’s Food & Drug Store’s Rezoning Hearing of the northeast corner of 22nd Street and Houghton Road will be held Thursday, April 27, 2017 at the Mayor and Council Chamber at City Hall, 255 W. Alameda, Tucson, AZ at 5:45 p.m. Last fall, the project was successful in getting City of Tucson Mayor and Council approval on the first part of this rezoning process: an amendment to the Houghton East Neighborhood Plan (HENP) which allowed the anchor tenant, a 99,000 SF Fry’s Food and Drug, to increase the ceiling height of their store from 20 feet to 26 feet. We credit much of our success to the people who came to the hearings to voice their support for this project. These concerned citizens and business colleagues recognized that we all need to come together and support responsible growth in our community. The Save Houghton East Coalition is currently opposing this project will show up in large numbers to the Tucson Planning Commission, Zoning Examiner, and City Council hearings to voice their opposition to these new projects. If we want to see new, responsible growth in Tucson, we need to work together as a business community and rally supporters to attend and speak at these public hearings to counter this opposition. Please let us know if we can count on your support. Contact Linda Morales of the Planning Center by email lmorales@azplanning center.com If you are unable to attend this hearing, it would be greatly appreciated if you would email the Zoning Examiner, Principal Planner, and Mayor and City Council Members. Please be sure to mention if you live near this project.
TUCSON WATER SAYS NEW TREATMENT PLANT EFFECTIVE IN REMOVING CONTAMINATION - Tucson Water says its investments in technology to ensure water quality and long-term water reliability are paying off when it comes to treating contaminated groundwater at the Tucson International Airport Area Superfund Site. Under direction from the Mayor and Tucson City Council, Tucson Water built the Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) Water Treatment Facility, which went into service in January 2014. AOP technology combines ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide to remove the carcinogen 1,4-dioxane from the underground plume at the Tucson Airport Remediation Project (TARP) well field. The facility also removes Trichloroethylene (TCE), an industrial solvent used in aircraft manufacturing locations from the 1940s to the 1970s. This will allow the original treatment facility to be shut down once approved by the EPA. Together, TARP and AOP treat nearly seven million gallons of water per day from drinking water that is delivered to approximately 60,000 customers. Tucson Water AOP Facility: https://bit.ly/2o4zmeb
U.S. Economy Shows Only Modest Signs of Inflation Pressures: Fed “The U.S. economy expanded at a modest-to-moderate pace between mid-February and the end of March, but inflation pressures remained in check despite more difficulties in attracting and retaining workers, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. ‘On balance, prices rose modestly,’ the U.S. central bank said in its periodic gauge of the health of the economy derived from surveying business contacts nationwide.” (Reuters)
Think Running Retail Stores Is More Expensive Than Selling Online? Think Again “Conventional wisdom suggests that running retail stores is more expensive than selling the same merchandise online. Conventional wisdom is wrong. It may also seem that using existing retail stores as mini-distribution centers to fulfill online orders for shoppers is a less expensive option than full-fledged distribution centers. But in actuality, it's typically the most expensive option.” (CNBC)
As Economy Recovers, Commercial Real Estate in Houston Remains Mixed “Houston's office market is stabilizing and the appetite for commercial real estate is ratcheting up among out-of-town investors. But in the city's long robust retail sector, cracks are starting to show, analysts said. National retailers are closing stores and more fallout could be seen among banks and medical facilities, said Jason Gaines, a senior vice president with NAI Partners, a real estate services firm hosting a panel Wednesday morning on commercial real estate.” (Chron.com)
Rental Real Estate or Stocks? “I generally prefer learning from someone else's experiences rather than my own. It's easier, faster, and cheaper that way. That's why I am passing along my personal experiences owing a rental property and giving the reasons for why I decided to sell it and reinvest the proceeds into a portfolio of income-producing stocks. Almost two years ago, my family and I moved from the Washington DC area to Lisbon, Portugal.” (Seeking Alpha)
Trump Tower Among Dozens of Building to Flout Public Space Rules “Most of 333 buildings in the city that added public spaces in exchange for extra floors are violating their deals — and the Buildings Department isn’t doing anything about it, according to an audit released Wednesday. The violators include Trump Tower, which was missing tables, seats and signs required under an agreement that allowed it to grow by an extra 200,000 square feet, said Comptroller Scott Stringer.” (New York Post)
How I Did It: Mary Ann Tighe on Cracking—And Staying On Top Of—The Brokerage Game “If you need to know what’s going on in New York City politics, inside the high-powered boardrooms on Wall Street or among the city’s cultural elite, book a meeting at CBRE’s headquarters in the MetLife Building and keep your ears open. ‘I often joke, you could stand in the hall of 200 Park Avenue and learn more about what’s happening in the city than almost any place you could go in New York,’ CBRE’s Mary Ann Tighe said.” (The Real Deal)
Amazon, JPMorgan Close to Monster-Sized Deals at Manhattan West “J.P. Morgan Chase and Amazon are both nearing deals for at least 300,000 square feet of office space a piece at 5 Manhattan West, Commercial Observer has learned. The bank, which has occupied 125,000 square feet in the building since 2015, is considering taking an additional 300,000 square feet there—or the top three floors—for its financial technology arm, also known as FinTech, a source with knowledge of the deal said. Meanwhile, Amazon is mulling 350,000 for offices in 5 Manhattan West.” (Commercial Observer)
Inland Real Estate Acquisitions Buys Shopping Center “Inland Real Estate Acquisitions purchased a New Hampshire shopping center shadow-anchored by a Super Wal-Mart with a grocery component. The Pentucket Shopping Center is a 199,335-square-foot retail center located in Plaistow, New Hampshire, approximately one mile north of the Massachusetts state border and approximately 40 miles north of Boston. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.” (Daily Herald)
WeWork Wants to Up the Energy in Big Office by “Getting People to Work a Little More Closely” “Shared office space company WeWork is starting to expand with a broader real estate facilities management service, it said on Wednesday. WeWork is building on what it calls "on-site services" that began with an unnamed corporate client in Chicago that is reducing its leased space to two floors from three, said David Fano, the New York-based company's chief product officer.” (Business Insider)
Judge Orders Harry Macklowe to Stop Meddling in Meyer Equities’ Midtown Deal “Harry Macklowe’s got to get his finger out of Meyer Equities’ pie, a New York State Supreme Court judge decided. Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich ruled that Macklowe has no power under a right-of-first-refusal agreement to purchase the home of the Children’s Aid Society in Midtown, which Meyer Equities has offered to buy for $28 million, according to a decision filed Tuesday.” (The Real Deal)