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.
Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 85.40 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 18,168.45. The S&P 500 fell 10.71 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 2,150.49. The NASDAQ composite fell 11.22 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 5,289.66.
U.S. benchmark crude oil fell 12 cents to close at $48.69 a gallon. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 2 cents to close at $50.87 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline rose 3 cents to $1.50 a gallon, heating oil was little changed at $1.55 a gallon and natural gas increased 4 cents to $2.963 per 1,000 cubic feet.
IMF reduces its forecast for US economic growth this year — The International Monetary Fund is downgrading its forecast for the U.S. economy this year and warns that political discontent threatens global growth. The IMF on Tuesday cut its estimate for U.S. economic growth in 2016 to 1.6 per cent from the 2.2 per cent it had predicted in July. The American economy grew 2.6 per cent in 2015. The fund’s dimmer outlook for the U.S. occurs even as the Federal Reserve is thought to be preparing to raise interest rates in December. (Washington, DC AP)
Oro Valley Holding FREE Halloween Spooktacular and screening of Star Wars Episode VII on Oct. 28 – More than 700 costumed kiddos enjoyed last year’s Halloween Spooktacular at the Oro Valley Community Center, and this year we are ready for even more! Bring the entire family to this FREE event on Friday, October 28, 5 – 7 p.m., and wear your costumes while you enjoy activities, crafts, a trick-or-treat candy cart lane, and cool photo ops with costumed staff, including Kylo Ren from Star Wars. The Oro Valley Community Center is located at 10555 N. La Cañada Drive. Halloween-themed food and beverages will be available for purchase, and hay rides will be $2. When the party ends at 7 p.m., head on over to the driving range for a free screening of Star Wars Episode VII. Blankets and chairs are welcome. Click here for the event flyer. For questions, call 229-5362.
Cushman & Wakefield | Picor team was awarded earlier this month the Copper Cactus award for Best Place to Work (companies 31-75 employees). This is the firm’s seventh Copper Cactus Award since the program's inception, with past awards in Community Service, Business Growth, as well as an Innovation award finalist. Congratulations to the other BCBS of Arizona Best Place to Work winners, Pinnacle Plan Design (3-30 employees) and Hotel Congress (76-250 employees). Click here for full story.
National Retail Federation Forecasts Holiday Sales to Increase 3.6% - Americans are expected to spend at a faster clip than last year for the critical holiday season, helped by an economy that should only continue to pick up, according to the nation’s largest retail industry trade group. The National Retail Federation, based in Washington, D.C., is forecasting holiday sales for the November and December period to rise 3.6 per cent to $655.8 billion, much better than the 3 per cent growth seen in the year-ago period. The figure also is much higher than the 10-year average of 2.5 per cent and above the 3.4 per cent growth seen since the recovery began in 2009. For historic sales information visit NRF’s Holiday Headquarters and the Retail Insight Center.
Sundt wins W. Burr Bennett Award for Safety Excellence – The American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC) has honored Sundt Construction, Inc. with the 2016 W. Burr Bennett Award for Safety Excellence. The award, which recognizes one general contractor and one specialty contractor for placing the highest priority on safety, was presented at ASCC’s 2016 annual conference in Minneapolis. “This is not only a reflection of Sundt’s positive safety culture at work but its commitment to protecting each and every Sundt employee,” said Sundt Concrete Division Manager Stew Grauer. “Sundt put in more than 3.5 million hours in 2015 and had just a handful of recordable incidents.” Earlier this year, Sundt also won the Associated General Contractors of America Grand Award, which is the organization’s highest honor for Safety Excellence and is given annually to the country’s safest construction company. It is the only general contractor to have won the award twice.
Scrutiny of Commercial Real Estate Loans Chills Small Lenders “A shakeout in commercial real estate is under way as some banks unwind or sell off the loans that are under regulators’ microscopes, and bankers say they are wary of making new loans. Brokers say they are finding fewer lenders for some commercial property deals. Aaron Appel at Jones Lang LaSalle in New York said there was less competition for $5 million to $10 million commercial property deals, particularly loans that involve construction or redevelopment projects.” (The New York Times)
Toys ‘R’ Us Is Selling Off Iconic FAO Schwarz Brand “FAO Schwarz, which closed its iconic New York City toy store in July 2015, has been sold off by parent company Toys ‘R’ Us after it owned the brand for a little over seven years. Fortune has learned that Toys ‘R’ Us, which remains the world’s largest specialty toy and baby products retailer, has sold the FAO Schwarz assets to California-based ThreeSixty Group—which manufactures and distributes toys and other consumer products for over 70,000 retail stores across the country. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed.” (Fortune)
Next Year May Spell End of Oil Downturn, but Houston Real Estate Will Take Longer to Recover “Bruce Rutherford, an international director with real estate advisory firm JLL in Houston, said there will be more bad news for energy in the short run and as a consequence, for real estate. ‘But we are coming to the end of this cycle,’ he said. ‘And we will see a dramatic improvement in demand for real estate from energy companies probably in 2018, 2019.’” (Houston Public Media)
Eddie Lampert: Kmart Is Not Closing “Don’t believe the rumors. Kmart is not going out of business. That’s according to Eddie Lampert, the beleaguered CEO of Kmart parent company Sears Holdings Corp.’Recent reports have suggested that Kmart will cease its operations,’ Lampert said in a blog post Monday. ‘I can tell you that there are no plans and there have never been any plans to close the Kmart format. To report or suggest otherwise is irresponsible and is likely intended to do harm to our company to the benefit of those who seek to gain advantage from posting these inaccurate reports.’” (Chain Store Age)
REBNY Revives Fight Against Hotel-to-Condo Conversion Ban “The Real Estate Board of New York is continuing its fight against a law that bars certain hotels from converting space into residential condo units. The organization is appealing the dismissal of its lawsuit, which sought to overturn a law that — for the next two years — prevents hotels with more than 150 rooms from converting more than 20 percent of their space to non-hotel use, Politico reported. New York State Supreme Court Justice Margaret Chan ruled in June that the lawsuit didn’t have legal standing.” (The Real Deal)
Convenience Retailers Experience Strong Q4 “Convenience retailer optimism picked up sharply as sales of both in-store items and motor fuels remained strong for the first nine months of the year, according to a new NACS survey. More than two in three convenience retailers (69%) say that in-store sales in the first nine months of 2016 were higher than the same period last year. And three in five (60%) say that motor fuels sales were higher compared to the same nine months of 2015. Only 9% of retailers say that in-store sales were lower.” (NACS)
Here’s How Affordable Housing Lottery Rules Are Changing “New rules for the city's affordable housing lotteries, expected to be announced by city officials Tuesday, will protect applicants with low credit scores and people who have taken their landlords to court. The new rules, to be released in an online Marketing Handbook, are the first major changes to be implemented since the city launched its Housing Connect online lotteries in 2013. The changes came out of feedback from community groups who act as ‘housing ambassadors’ by helping New Yorkers apply for housing, officials with the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development told DNAinfo New York.” (DNA Info)
First Hotel in Uptown Minneapolis Breaks Ground “Graves Hospitality has announced the groundbreaking of Moxy Uptown, the first hotel property in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. Scheduled to open in fall 2017, the six-story, 124-key hotel is part of the recently launched Moxy franchise by Marriott Hotels. GH is among the few exclusive companies designated by Marriott International Inc. as a developer and operator for this new brand that combines stylish design, approachable service and an affordable price for free-spirited travelers.” (Commercial Property Executive)
A 100-Year Old Theater in Argentina Was Transformed into World’s Most Incredible Bookstore “Shakespeare wrote that ‘All the world's a stage,’ but this bookstore actually was a stage once. El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires, Argentina, started out as a theater in 1919. It had a brief stint as a cinema before architect Fernando Manzone transformed it into the stunning bookstore it is today in 2000. Now, people come from all over the world to peruse its dramatically-lit shelves.” (Business Insider)
Olive Garden sales improve, boosting parent company Darden — Sales at Olive Garden improved in the latest quarter, helping parent company Darden post a higher quarterly profit from a year as it works to navigate changing dining habits. Darden Restaurants Inc. said sales at its existing Olive Garden locations rose 2 per cent in the quarter from a year ago and rose 1.3 per cent for across all its restaurant brands. The increase at Olive Garden was driven by higher prices and mix of more expensive items, while customer traffic slipped. Darden CEO Gene Lee noted the saturated restaurant market in the U.S. and newer competition from nontraditional businesses. (Orlando, Fla. AP)
Google gets aggressive with new phones, other gadgets — Google launched an aggressive challenge to consumer electronics giants like Apple and Samsung on Tuesday, introducing a new line of smartphones called Pixel and other gadgets designed to showcase a digital helper the company calls “Google Assistant.” The new devices represent a big push by Google to make and sell its own hardware, instead of largely just supplying software for other manufacturers. At a starting price of roughly $650, the new Pixel phones are aimed at the same markets as Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy flagship phones. (San Francisco, AP)