Real Estate Daily News Buzz – July 17, 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.
Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average climbed 70.08 points, or 0.4%, to 18,120.25. The S&P 500 gained 16.89 points, or 0.8%, to 2,124.29. The NASDAQ composite climbed 64.24 points, or 1.3%, to 5,163.18.
Benchmark U.S. crude lost 50 cents to close at $50.91 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 46 cents to close at $57.51 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline rose 3.8 cents to close at $1.897 a gallon. Heating oil fell 0.3 cent to close at $1.666 a gallon. Natural gas declined 6.4 cents to close at $2.854 per 1,000 cubic feet.
US homebuilder sentiment hits highest level since 2005 – U.S. homebuilders’ confidence in the market for new homes is back up to levels not seen since the height of the housing boom a decade ago. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Thursday rose this month to 60, the highest level since November 2005. The latest reading is unchanged from May, which was revised upward one point from 59. July’s reading is up from 53 a year ago. Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor.
Ethan Allen Rises After Sandell Calls It an Ideal Buyout Target “Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. rose as much as 6.8 percent in New York after the head of activist hedge fund Sandell Asset Management Corp. called the furniture seller an ideal private-equity takeover candidate.” (Bloomberg)
JLL Pulls Double Duty in Phoenix “A $300 million mixed-use business park will start construction soon now that developer Irwin G. Pasternack + Associates and the Phoenix office of JLL have completed assembling the 215 acres where the project will be built along Interstate 10 and 83rd Street in Phoenix.” (Commercial Property Executive)
How 20 Years of Amazon Changed Retail “Since it opened its website in July 1995, Amazon.com Inc. has grown from a seller of books into one of the world’s biggest retailers. Its growth has been fueled by a consumer shift to online shopping and Amazon’s willingness to sacrifice profits to expand. Here’s a look at 20 years of sales for Amazon and three close competitors— Target Corp, Best Buy Co. and Barnes & Noble Inc. —and a look how Wall Street has valued those companies.” (Wall Street Journal)
The Most ‘Interesting’ Investment in Bill Ackman’s Portfolio That ‘No One Has Really Noticed’ “Activist investor Bill Ackman, CEO of the $18 billion hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, says the most interesting investments in his portfolio right now are the mortgage originators Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” (Business Insider)
The ‘And Daughter’ Evolution of Family Businesses “The Trump Organization is a lot like the thousands of family businesses that dot the land, even though its current leader, Donald Trump, is a U.S. presidential candidate.” (Wealth Management)
Thor Among Bidders for SL Green’s 609 Fifth Avenue Due Today “SL Green Realty Corp. is on a mission to sell off property in order to buy 11 Madison Avenue for $2.29 billion, and today, bids are due for its 609 Fifth Avenue, home to Mattel’s American Girl Place, a source with intimate knowledge of the situation said. Among the bidders for the West 49th Street property is Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities, the source said.” (Commercial Observer)
Developer Plans 632K-sf Flushing Mixed-Use Complex “An affiliate of Triple East Construction acquired the site of a former Asian grocery store in Flushing for more than $90 million, and has plans to build a 632,000-square-foot mixed-use development.” (The Real Deal)
Midtown Manhattan Office Market Outperforms Downtown in Q2 “According to JLL, midtown continued to outperform the rest of Manhattan’s office market in the second quarter of 2015, fueled by a robust increase in the number of large transactions. The submarket posted 21 leases in excess of 100,000 square feet year-to-date, compared with 14 in the first half of 2014. The heavy activity ensured the fifth consecutive month of tightening Class A vacancy rates in Midtown.” (World Property Journal)
Macy’s Jumps After Starboard Says It Could Be Worth $125 a Share “Macy’s Inc. jumped the most in more than a year after activist investor Starboard Value acquired a stake, saying the department-store chain’s stock would be worth $125 if it better capitalized on its real estate.” (Bloomberg)
The Luxury Real Estate Boom Taking Over Midtown South “Take a walk down Park Avenue South, then up Lexington Avenue between 18th and 28th streets ― a small crossroads of the NoMad, Flatiron and Gramercy neighborhoods ― and it’s immediately evident that this commercial pocket is now taking on a new residential identity.” (New York Post)