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Conference Coverage

Core Retail Sales Are at All-Time High Despite Industry Shakeout, Says Nadji at RECon

LAS VEGAS — The roof isn’t about to cave in on the retail industry despite a rash of store closures and bankruptcies. Far from it, insists Hessam Nadji, president and CEO of Marcus & Millichap. Core retail sales, which exclude auto and gasoline sales, have risen 28 percent from the peak of 2008 on a nominal basis and 12 percent when adjusted for inflation, according to combined data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau and Marcus & Millichap. Unlike the..

May 30, 2017

RECon Recap: ‘The Magic’ Is Reimagining Real Estate, Panel Concludes

LAS VEGAS — In the midst of a particularly tumultuous period for the retail sector, evidenced by waves of store closures, what advice do seasoned shopping center executives have for aspiring young professionals seeking to make their mark in this business? The question arose Monday during a panel discussion moderated by Marcus & Millichap’s Bill Rose, national director of the brokerage firm’s retail group, at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel. The hour-long program, titled “Retail..

May 25, 2017

Food, Fitness, Entertainment Firms Will Save Houston Shopping Centers, Says InterFace Panel

HOUSTON — As brick-and-mortar retailers such as Sears, Macy’s and hhgregg continue to shutter stores throughout the country at a furious pace, Houston developers are rapidly warming to the idea of anchoring their shopping centers with restaurants, fitness centers and entertainment-based businesses. Retail executives throughout the Houston area convened at the InterFace Houston Retail conference on April 18 to discuss the impact of this trend and others on the metro’s retail real estate..

April 27, 2017

Apartment Locators, Property Managers in Houston Cash In On Rent Slump, Say InterFace Panelists

HOUSTON — While it’s not an ideal time to be a multifamily property owner in Houston, it is a good time to be working on behalf of one. With their clients sitting on excess supply, apartment locators — middlemen who match tenant preferences to properties — are being increasingly called upon to deliver tenants. Locators work on commission, typically earning about 20 percent of the first month’s rent for their services. But in Houston’s soft market, that figure is rapidly..

April 13, 2017

Millennials in Houston Multifamily Driver’s Seat, Say InterFace Panelists

Tenant concessions, ranging from free rent to complimentary carpet cleanings to distribution of gift cards, have become the norm in Houston’s multifamily market over the last few years. And according to several industry experts who spoke at the InterFace Houston Multifamily Conference on March 28, it’s the millennials who are taking advantage of them. Houston has become an especially attractive destination for millennials in recent years. According to a survey by JAXUSA Partnership,..

April 4, 2017

Job Growth, Oil Stability to Spur Houston Multifamily Rebound, Predicts Data Researcher

Tumbling rents, landlord concessions and weakening levels of absorption have defined Houston’s multifamily market for much of the duration of the oil bust that spanned from late 2014 to mid-2016, but the multifamily market is now on the mend, says a third-party multifamily data analyst. Bruce McClenny, president of Apartment Data Services, which tracks the vital signs of nearly 3,000 multifamily properties nationwide, believes Houston’s multifamily market is about nine months past the..

March 30, 2017

Building Emotional Connection to Visitors Paramount to Retail Success, Say EEE Panelists

SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — The retail landscape is changing, and the tried and true formulas for retail centers and malls are no longer cutting it. The convenience of e-commerce is cutting into purchases once almost exclusively entrusted to the local mall, and consumer tastes are evolving to demand better experiences from the centers they choose to shop at with their discretionary dollars. Those were the conclusions suggested by panelists at the third annual Entertainment Experience Evolution..

February 16, 2017

Pace of Apartment Construction Slows Due to Growing Supply, Cautious Bankers, Say InterFace Panelists

The multifamily industry has entered a phase in the development cycle where the velocity of starts and completions is decreasing. Through the first 10 months of 2016, multifamily starts nationally are down 1.8 percent year-over-year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Completions are down 3.1 percent during the same period. One of the governors on construction today is the ample supply of existing multifamily product in the top markets..

December 8, 2016

Multifamily Industry Needs to Adapt to the Sharing Economy, Say InterFace Panelists

How are apartment communities adapting to the sharing economy? That’s the central question that multifamily developers need to ask themselves going forward, according to Wes Taubel, co-founder and managing partner of TWO Capital Partners, a private multifamily developer and investor based in Atlanta. The sharing economy is a term given to the online-driven practices of consumers shopping and ordering food online, renting out their apartment or house via AirBNB and uploading their experiences..

December 6, 2016

Nearly 300 Professionals Participate in Annual Saul Ewing Real Estate Conference

BALTIMORE — Highlighted by a presentation from Marc Weller of Sagamore Development Co. and Demian Costa of Sagamore Industries LLC, who provided an update on the development activities occurring at Under Armour's Port Covington development in South Baltimore, nearly 300 professionals from around the country attended the 8th-annual Saul Ewing Real Estate Conference at the Baltimore Convention Center. The half-day seminar also featured educational sessions focusing on placemaking principles..

November 22, 2016