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.

Monday, the S&P 500 jumped 24.52 points, or 1 percent, to 2,465.84. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 135.39 points, or 0.6 percent, to 21,993.71. The Nasdaq composite added 83.68 points, or 1.3 percent, to 6,340.23. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies climbed 20.08 points, or 1.5 percent, to 1,394.31.

U.S. crude oil lost $1.23, or 2.5 percent, to $47.59 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, shed $1.37, or 2.6 percent, to $50.73 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline lost 4 cents to $1.58 a gallon. Heating oil fell 3 cents to $1.61 a gallon. Natural gas slid 2 cents to $2.96 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Top Fed official tells AP: Bond portfolio could shrink soon — A top Federal Reserve official is suggesting that the Fed will likely announce next month that it will begin paring its bond portfolio — a step that could lead to slightly higher rates on mortgages and other long-term loans. In an interview with The Associated Press, William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said he thinks the Fed has adequately prepared investors for a reduction in the portfolio, which swelled after the 2008 financial crisis as the Fed bought bonds to reduce long-term rates. With the economy now much healthier, the Fed is ready to begin trimming its bond holdings.

Target moves to shore up grocery, improve delivery service — Target has announced moves to address two key areas: its grocery department and faster delivery. To boost its grocery business, the company said it hired executives from rival Walmart and Cheerios maker General Mills. Target is also buying delivery logistics company Grand Junction to help it offer same-day delivery service to in-store shoppers.

U.S. Tax Change Proposals Anger Builders, Real Estate Agents, Charities “Looking for an easier legislative win ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, most lawmakers in the Republican majority want to cut individual incomes taxes. President Donald Trump has been pushing hard for tax changes this year. Still, proposed changes to the personal tax code have already stirred opposition from real estate agents, home builders, mortgage lenders and charities. These groups say proposed changes will hurt home sales and cut charitable contributions.” (CNBC)

How to Insure Your First Investment Property Isn’t a Bust “Investment property is a prime way to start your real estate portfolio and get in on the rental game. While it can be easy to get caught up in the excitement of making your first property purchase, it is important to take it slow and proceed with some caution. Jumping the gun on a property can be a costly lesson for buyers to learn. You could end up with an investment that costs far more than you bargained for.” (Forbes)

Chicago’s Grocery List Gets Shorter: Fewer Stores in Area “Grocers aren’t stocking up on new stores in Chicago, leaving many shoppers with fewer places to fill their cart. There are 262 grocery stores in Chicago and close-in suburbs, the lowest number since 2009, according to an urban grocery report by retail brokerage Mid-America Real Estate Group. Grocers occupy just over 9.3 million square feet of space, also an eight-year low.” (Chicago Tribune)

Meridian, Rockefeller Partner on DC-Area Office Tower “The Gensler-designed Boro Tower, located at 8350 Broad St. within close proximity of the new Greensboro Metro station, will be part of the first phase of The Boro, a mammoth 15-acre project that will ultimately feature approximately 1.8 million square feet of office space; 1,500 apartments and condominium units; 316,000 square feet of retail space; and a hotel. Boro Tower will be the first office facility to be erected at the Washington, D.C.-area mixed-use destination.” (Commercial Property Executive)

Brick-and-Mortar Shops Are Surviving the Retail Apocalypse “Lisa Salzer, who opened her first Lulu Frost store on Prince Street in July, is one of the latest entrepreneurs to go brick-and-mortar in the city — and so far, she says, ‘I love it.’ Salzer, a jewelry designer who started her Lulu Frost online 14 years ago, met up with floral designer Tess Casey when the two did the flowers and jewelry for the 2006 movie ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’” (New York Post)

“Like a Divorce with No Prenup”: The Story of How a Century-Old Real Estate Dynasty Got Divided “On August 19, 2014 lawyers for Robert and Laura Lemle met in a courtroom in Lower Manhattan. Litigation is a fact of life in the New York real estate business, which the Lemle family had been involved in for almost a century. But this suit didn’t involve disgruntled tenants or contractors. Instead, Laura was suing her brother, alleging that he had refused to pay her nearly $800,000 as a 2014 arbitration decision stipulated.” (The Real Deal)

OC Corporate Campus Trades for $443M “An investor group led by Five Point Holdings, LLC has acquired Broadcom Limited’s 73-acre corporate campus in Irvine, Calif., for $443 million and renamed the property Five Point Gateway. The Orange County campus consists of nearly one million square feet of planned research and development and office space across four buildings. Broadcom will remain the property’s largest tenant, leasing approximately 660,000 square feet of R&D space pursuant to a 20-year lease.” (Commercial Property Executive)

Why Discount Grocer Aldi is Getting into Delivery Game “One of the hottest discount supermarket chains in the U.S. is partnering with Instacart to offer grocery delivery—a service once reserved primarily for high-end food retailers and high-income customers. The move by German grocery chain Aldi, which will test the service in Dallas, Atlanta, and parts of Los Angeles starting August 31, is a sign of how competitive the supermarket landscape has become as food retailers look for every edge possible in a fast-changing marketplace.” (Fortune)

Developer Describes ‘Epic’ Impact of Google’s Downtown San Jose Plans “Mike Kim grew up in San Jose and can deftly describe the transformation of the city’s downtown — its gradual, and at times painful, progress toward becoming an urban destination. Planners and developers have been waiting for the day when there are enough feet in the street to create a big city vibe in the downtown core. That day may be upon us now that plans are on the table to remake downtown San Jose into a massive, transit-centered Google village with up to 20,000 new jobs. Separately, Adobe Systems has announced its own expansion plans to bring 3,000 more workers downtown.” (Mercury News)

A Real Estate Play That’s More Than ‘Location, Location, Location’ “One type of investment that’s typically shunned in a rising interest rate environment is real estate investment trusts, or REITs. That’s because higher rates mean higher borrowing costs — literally the price of doing business for REITs — which can weigh on returns for investors. Also, as rates move higher, lower-risk fixed-income investments, including Treasuries, become attractive again. But not all REITs are created equal.” (Nasdaq)

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.

Ballots in Mail for Tucson August Primary Election – The Tucson City Clerk’s Office this week mailed ballots to those eligible to vote in the City of Tucson’s Aug. 29 primary election. The materials were sent only to voters in contested wards (3, 5, and 6). The deadline to mail back your ballot is Aug. 23. While the City is conducting the primary election, the November general election will be consolidated with Pima County.
Tucson City Clerk’s vote-by-mail calendar:

The 25 Most High-Tech Cities in the World “Cities are the way of the future. In less than 35 years, the World Health Organization estimates that two-thirds of the world population will be living in urban areas. That’s an additional 2.5 billion people. The cities that will flourish the most are those that rely on cutting-edge technologies and create opportunities for people to develop new ones.” (Fortune)

Ivanka Trump’s Opening a Store in Trump Tower “Less than a year after major retailers started dropping Ivanka Trump’s fashion brand en masse, the label is opening its own brick-and-mortar store. A Politico reporter spotted the first daughter’s storefront opening in New York’s Trump Tower this fall. Insert nepotism joke here?” (Racked)

J.C. Penney Shares Hit New All-Time Low As Turnaround Fails “J.C. Penney’s turnaround has officially turned around. The department store’s shares fell 22% on Friday morning to less than $4—heading for a new all-time low when trading opens—after it reported a fourth straight quarter of comparable sales declines and a wider net loss hurt by how cheaply it has sold items in liquidation from the dozens of stores it has closed.” (Fortune)

Commercial, Multifamily Starts Fall 9% in First Half of 2017 “In eight of the top 10 metropolitan markets, the dollar volume of commercial and multifamily construction starts decreased on a year-over-year basis, according to the latest Dodge Data & Analytics report, covering the first half of 2017. At the same time, nine of the next 10 metro markets (ranked Nos. 11–20) experienced start growth, indicating that smaller metro areas are “picking up the slack” from the deceleration under way in larger cities.” (Multifamily Executive)

As Many as 160 Applebee’s and IHOP Locations to Close “The parent company of Applebee’s and IHOP plans to close up to 160 restaurants, vastly boosting the number of eateries from the two comfort-food chains that it plans to shutter. Some 105 to 135 Applebee’s restaurants will close, up from the 40 to 60 that parent DineEquity said would close in the first quarter. Also on the chopping block are an estimated 20 to 25 IHOP sites, up from about 18.” (USA Today)

Trump’s D.C. Hotel Reportedly Turns a Sizeable, Unexpected Profit “President Donald Trump’s Washington hotel turned an unexpected profit in the first four months of the year, helped by charging higher rates than initially planned, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. The Trump International Hotel had a “nearly $2 million” profit in that period and recorded $18 million in revenue, the Journal said. The hotel initially budgeted for a $2.1 million loss, according to both newspapers.” (CNBC)

How Does the Live/Work/Play Shift Impact Office Trends? “Don’t write off those suburban office markets as unappealing to Millennial workers, occupiers or investors. A new report from CBRE notes that suburban office markets that provide an urban-like live-work-play environment—the so-called “urban-suburban submarkets”—are in a good position to be in high demand, particularly as rents climb and supplies dwindle in downtown locations.” (Commercial Property Executive)

Toys ‘R’ Us Opening Holiday Pop-Up at the Crossroads of the World “After a nearly two-year hiatus, Toys “R” Us plans to reopen a 35,000-square-foot temporary holiday store at 1466 Broadway (also known as the Knickerbocker Building) this month, the toy giant announced in a news release this morning. The store at the corner of West 42nd Street and Broadway will span three levels (lower level and first and second floors), with an entrance on Broadway. The terms of the lease were not immediately clear and nor was when the store would be open.” (Commercial Observer)

Why Grocery Stores Continue to Expand in an Over-Stored Landscape “J.C. Penney, Macy’s and Sears have been closing stores in large numbers in an acknowledgment that there is simply not enough business to support their continued operation. Others in the consumer electronics, specialty apparel, and sporting goods channels have also shuttered stores in large numbers. Are grocery stores next? The commercial real estate firm, CoStar Group, reports, via The Wall Street Journal, that the amount of retail space per person increased to a record 4.15 square-feet last year.” (Forbes)

Real Estate Titans… And Their Toys “There were live camels, trapeze artists, a 12-minute fireworks display and an enormous birthday cake carved in the shape of a Chinese temple. Blackstone boss Stephen Schwarzman’s 70th-birthday party, hosted at his Palm Beach mansion in February, drew dozens of high-profile guests including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, art dealer Larry Gagosian and billionaire businessman David Koch. Many of them cheered as Gwen Stefani crooned “Happy Birthday” at the end of the night.” (The Real Deal)

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 Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 35.81 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,438.21. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 204.69 points, or 0.9 percent, to 21,844.01, just shy of its low point for the day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite bore the brunt of the sell-off, losing 135.46 points, or 2.1 percent, to 6,216.87.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 97 cents, or 2 percent, to $48.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slid 80 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $51.90. Wholesale gasoline dropped 2 cents to $1.60 a gallon, while heating oil shed 2 cents to $1.63 a gallon. Natural gas jumped 10 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $2.99 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Department store chains see key sales figures fall again — Department store chains saw key sales figures fall again in the latest quarter as customers increasingly move online. At Macy’s the decrease wasn’t as bad as Wall Street expected and Kohl’s managed to keep the decline to just 0.4 percent. Shares in the stores fell.

Blackstone, Starwood to Merge Rental-Home Business in Bet to Be America’s Biggest Home Landlord “Two of the country’s largest rental-home owners have agreed to merge in a deal that would create a giant landlord with roughly 82,000 homes in 17 metro areas. Blackstone Group LP’s Invitation Homes Inc. and Starwood Waypoint Homes plan to combine in a bid to gain scale and operating efficiencies in markets that include Atlanta, Miami and southern California.” (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

Good, Bad and Ugly REITs “Now interest rates are beginning to head north, and REITs will have to pay more to finance future acquisitions or to refinance old ones. Besides, higher interest rates will eventually slow down economic growth and hurt occupancy rates, rents and income payout rates. That’s why investors should be very selective in investing in REITs, and take care to separate the good REITs from the bad and the ugly.” (Forbes)

Friends with Amenities: New York Apartment Developers Embrace “Co-Living” “At Frank 57 West, a new zinc-clad residential building on Manhattan’s far West Side, renters can choose a conventional one-bedroom apartment for about $3,500 a month. But for intrepid New Yorkers willing to embrace the concept of “co-living,” there is a second option: three-bedroom apartments specifically designed for roommates that can cost more than one-third less per person.” (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

Walmart’s Latest Strategy Confirms the Death of the American Middle Class as We Know It “Walmart is getting into aspirational retail — and it says a lot about the American economy. On Wednesday, Recode reported that online cosmetics subscription service Birchbox has discussed a potential sale to retail giant Walmart. In recent months, Walmart has purchased several trendy, online retailers, including high-end men’s retailer Bonobos, hip fashion brand ModCloth, and outdoor gear retailer Moosejaw.’ (Business Insider)

In Tough Retail Landscape, Payless Emerges as Rare Bankruptcy Survivor “Payless ShoeSource is set to emerge from bankruptcy as soon as Wednesday, one of the largest retail chains to do so, and is banking on a strategy focused primarily on bricks-and-mortar sales at a time when e-commerce is casting an ever-growing footprint on retail sales. Payless’ emergence essentially gives the company a do-over after disposing of half of $847 million of debt it had built up under its private-equity ownership.” (CNBC)

Suburban Office Markets with Urban Settings Provide Nice Returns in U.S. “According to CBRE, suburban U.S. office markets that provide an urban-like live-work-play environment are well positioned to capture strong demand from office users. Among the most common attributes of so-called “urban-suburban” submarkets are the presence of abundant retail, office and housing options, as well as employment opportunities, based on a survey of CBRE Research professionals in the 25 largest suburban markets.” (World Property Journal)

Value-Add Visions “As luxury apartment towers continue to reshape skylines across the country, existing rental communities—some several decades old—are getting a new lease on life through renovations designed to appeal to more cost-conscious renters. Investing in and upgrading old properties in prime locations has proven to be a successful formula for a number of Chicago-based companies, including Draper and Kramer, Kass Management Services, Evergreen Real Estate Group, and The Habitat Co. Below, executives from each firm weigh in on the best practices for adding value to existing buildings small and large, market-rate and affordable.” (Multifamily Executive)

Plans Scrapped for Bronx’s Baychester Square Mall, Housing Development “After opposition from a local councilman, the Economic Development Corporation pulled a proposal for a Bronx mall and senior housing known as Baychester Square Wednesday. The project, slated for vacant city land leased to the MTA, would have included 180 affordable senior housing units — and meant $30 million for the MTA capital plan. Proposed developers Grid Properties sought to buy the parcel from the city, which was to pass on the cash to the beleaguered transit authority.” (New York Daily News)

Lowe, Partners Kick Off $300M Culver City Development “Lowe, formerly Lowe Enterprises, strikes a blow for smart growth in Los Angeles. The commercial real estate firm and its partners just commenced construction of the highly anticipated Ivy Station, a 500,000-square-foot mixed-use project that will sprout up across from a Los Angeles Metro Expo light-rail station in Culver City. Lowe is joined on the approximately $300 million transit-oriented development by AECOM Capital, its co-developer, and an investment vehicle sponsored by Rockwood Capital, which is providing additional financing.” (Commercial Property Executive)

The Cracks That Could Sink Lansco’s Ship “Soon after the embattled commercial brokerage Lansco Corporation relocated to the 17th floor of 415 Madison Avenue from 575 Fifth Avenue in early 2016, its brokers spotted a huge red flag. Unbeknownst to most of the firm’s employees at the time of the move, Lansco had a provision in its lease with Rudin Management at 415 Madison that gave it a one-time opportunity to return the space to the landlord after the first few months.” (The Real Deal)