Conference Coverage

Investment in Infrastructure, Processes is Key to Owner-Operator Success, Says Expert Panel

by Taylor Williams September 26, 2023

By Channing Hamilton ATLANTA — Today’s seniors housing market is a tough one, characterized by an inflationary environment and high operational costs. Amid the challenges the industry currently faces, owner-operators within the sector must focus on controlling expenses, such as labor and insurance, to maintain profitability — and earlier is better when it comes to planning to mitigate these expenses. Eric Mendelsohn, CEO and president of National Health Investors, a REIT that specializes in seniors housing, emphasized the importance of labor market analysis in the underwriting stage of operations. “Labor is a key element of expense structure in the building,” he said. “Before, we could give it a cursory look. Now, it’s important to really drill down into a market. “We pay closer attention to labor expense and availability,” he continued. “We’ll see what our competitors are paying, and then see what other industries such as retail and fast food in the area are paying. If Target and TGI Fridays are unable to find labor, that’s an indicator that you’re going to have a problem.” Mendelsohn’s remarks came during the keynote address at the 10th annual InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast, a networking and information conference hosted by France Media’s InterFace …

September 26, 2023

Conference Coverage Market Reports Retail Texas Texas Market Reports

InterFace Panel: With Limited Availability in Texas, Retail Concepts That Exude Authenticity, Local Flavor Have Advantages

by Taylor Williams September 26, 2023

By Taylor Williams Brick-and-mortar retail has quietly, yet emphatically resurrected itself from the e-commerce- and COVID-induced death knell, bolstered by multiple years of low supply growth that have put a premium on quality space and allowed landlords to zero in on what truly constitutes a winning concept. This notion is inherently subjective and difficult to quantify. But in Dallas-Fort Worth, retail owners and operators say that authenticity — as defined by uniqueness of the offerings and adherence to and reflection of local culture — is paramount to success. From the presentation and packaging of products and services to utilization of local architectural styles to creating a certain shopping or dining ambiance, the ability to capture the authenticity of the market is crucial. Consumers and landlords can afford to be choosy, and they won’t waste time at stores, restaurants or entertainment venues that feel cookie-cutter, phony or out-of-place. But retail landlords can ill-afford to do deals with tenants that simply look the part but lack the financial ability to pay rents, which are growing in urban locations where availability of space remains tight. Monetary due diligence remains critical, but as often as not, there is considerable overlap between the financial solvency …

September 26, 2023

Conference Coverage Features Georgia Multifamily Seniors Housing Southeast

InterFace Panel: Seniors Housing Developers Must Get Creative in Sourcing Financing, Changing Up Product Mix

by Kristin Harlow September 7, 2023

ATLANTA — Charlie Jennings, chief development officer with Vero Beach, Fla.-based Harbor Retirement Associates, said he would challenge the “Stay alive until ‘25” mantra that some real estate professionals are touting amid today’s economic uncertainty. The phrase is a play on the late billionaire investor Sam Zell’s remarks amid the downturn in 1991 when he coined the mantra “Stay alive until ’95.” “I do not agree with that at all; that insinuates that we’re just going to sit on our hands as an industry and wait for somebody else to turn the lights back on,” said Jennings. “Our industry will continue to grow, push forward and be innovative, and build relationships outside the normal REIT and private equity model that we’ve all grown accustomed to.” Jennings’ remarks came during the development outlook panel at the 10th annual InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast, a conference hosted by France Media’s InterFace Conference Group and Seniors Housing Business on Wednesday, Aug. 16 at the Westin Buckhead in Atlanta. Todd Hudgins, senior vice president of senior living for Madison, Wisconsin-based ERDMAN, moderated the panel. Jennings went on to say that while it is tough to get a deal done right now, eventually it will get …

September 7, 2023

Conference Coverage Features Georgia Seniors Housing Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Seniors Housing Transaction Activity Will Not Return to Normal Levels This Year, Says InterFace Panel

by John Nelson August 22, 2023

ATLANTA — One of the central questions of the investment panel at InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast was: Will transaction activity return in the fourth quarter? When Brooks Blackmon, panel moderator and executive managing director of Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors, asked the question, there was a quick response from the panel — “no.” “Return to what?” asked Kelly Sheehy senior managing director of Artemis Real Estate Partners. “Higher than today? Yes. Compared to 2019? No, it’s going to take time.” InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast is an annual conference hosted by France Media’s InterFace Conference Group, Seniors Housing Business and Southeast Real Estate Business. The event was held on Wednesday, Aug. 16 at the Westin Buckhead Atlanta hotel. Blackmon moderated the discussion. The panelists agreed that the fly in the ointment that has stifled investment sales the past few quarters has been the rapid runup in interest rates. The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.3 percent at the time of this writing, which is the highest level since 2007. The secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) and federal funds rate, two short-term benchmark interest rates, have risen by more than 500 basis points in roughly 16 months. “Until debt markets improve, you’re …

August 22, 2023

Conference Coverage Features Multifamily

InterFace Panel: Multifamily Lenders Have Reason to Kill Deals

by Taylor Williams July 25, 2023

By Taylor Williams HOUSTON — Industry professionals say that while the fundamentals that underlie multifamily properties in major Sun Belt markets are quite healthy, the broader conditions of the U.S. capital markets are so choppy and disruptive that lending volumes are depleted across the board. The dearth of deals isn’t exclusively attributable to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, which has now happened 11 times in 17 months. The nation’s central bank is now targeting a short-term benchmark range from roughly 5.25 to 5.5 percent, the highest level since 2001. Underwriting standards are tightening as owners reckon with serious increases in property taxes and insurance, among other items. Major banks are scaling back their originations in favor of keeping more reserves on hand in anticipation of exposure to defaults on office loans that are coming due within the next 12 to 18 months. The wounds of the collapses of regional lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March are still fresh, and the country is scarcely a year removed from what will assuredly be a heated and divisive presidential election. For debt providers, the combined effect of those factors is major reluctance to transact. Lenders and investors have largely shifted …

July 25, 2023

Affordable Housing Build-to-Rent Conference Coverage Features Multifamily North Carolina Single-Family Rental South Carolina Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Suburbs Are King for Carolinas Multifamily Market, Say InterFace Panelists

by John Nelson June 21, 2023

Suburban markets in the Carolinas are the big winners in the current multifamily landscape, both from a new development and rent growth perspective, according to the various panelists at the InterFace Carolinas Multifamily conference. Hosted by InterFace Conference Group and Southeast Real Estate Business, the annual event took place on May 25 at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown hotel. At the end of the leasing and operations panel, moderator Mike Susen, senior director of real estate at Greystar, asked the property managers on stage if they could manage any product type in any Carolinas market, which they would choose. The consensus was their dream assignments lie in the suburbs. “Let’s do mid-rise suburbs, something out toward Matthews or the Mint Hill area,” said Amanda Kitts, senior vice president of property management at Northwood Ravin, referring to the suburbs of Charlotte. “I’d want to do product that those markets haven’t seen yet.” “Suburban product is still really strong right now,” added Bob Moore, co-founder and CEO of FCA Management LLC. “Tertiary markets are going to surprise you. You’ll see opportunities to do some deals where there has been a lot lower supply.” Property managers are keen to handle suburban communities because those …

June 21, 2023

Conference Coverage Features Industrial North Carolina Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Interstate 85 Corridor Industrial Markets Aren’t Overbuilt Yet, Say InterFace Panelists

by John Nelson June 1, 2023

Interstate 85 traverses through the heart of the Southeast, the fastest-growing region in the United States by way of population. The southern terminus of the 666-mile interstate is in Montgomery, Ala., home of the mega Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama plant, and it travels north to just shy of Richmond, Va., the site of North America’s first LEGO factory. Along the way, I-85 connects through Atlanta and the Carolinas markets of Greenville-Spartanburg, Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh-Durham. These I-85 Corridor markets have seen their fair share of industrial development in recent years, so much so that for the first time this cycle, some experts are worried about overbuilding. Steven McGee, vice president of Southeast development at Rockefeller Group, said that half of the nation’s population growth has been coming to the Southeast region, and that faucet isn’t expected to be shut off anytime soon. “America is getting bigger, and half of that growth is occurring in three or four states,” said McGee. “I don’t see any real structural elements that are stopping that growth. It’s a challenge on the timing [for industrial deliveries], but in almost every market we have record vacancy. We have very few options for occupiers coming into the …

June 1, 2023

Conference Coverage Features Student Housing

Wellness Amenities, Updated Technology are Top Priorities for Student Housing Projects, Says InterFace Panel

by Katie Sloan May 4, 2023

With some markets today saturated with new student housing development, differentiating your project has become of paramount importance. One of the primary ways of doing that is by keeping in touch with the wants and needs of today’s student — and specifically a community’s surrounding demographic. This was discussed at length during the kick-off panel for InterFace Student Housing, which took place in April in Austin, Texas. In preparation for the panel — titled “What’s Trending in New Development: A Survey of 2023 New Deliveries & How Developers and Operators Aim to Address the Needs and Wants of Today’s Students” — a survey was sent out by uForis to 500 Gen Z students ranging in age from 18 to 24 years old regarding their wants, needs and preferences when looking for their next place of residence. The primary takeaways from this year’s survey were the impact of regional differences due to weather and year-round use of amenities; the shift away from entertainment towards health and wellness for shared amenity spaces; and the increasing impact of tech offerings like digital touring and online leasing, according to panel moderator TJ Chambers, owner and founder of Chambers Real Estate Advisors. “During pre-development at …

May 4, 2023

Conference Coverage Features Student Housing

InterFace Student Housing ‘Power Panel’ Highlights Positive Outlook for Sector

by Katie Sloan April 19, 2023

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Experts in the student housing industry are bullish on the outlook for the upcoming academic year, citing the strong performance and outstanding fundamentals of the sector. At the recent 15th annual InterFace Student Housing conference in Austin, industry professionals from around the country convened at the JW Marriott downtown to share insights and discuss industry trends. The first full day of the conference kicked off with the ‘Power Panel’ session, where a consortium of high-level executives provided their outlook for the year ahead. “Evidenced once again by a packed house in this room, the sector is popping,” began moderator Peter Katz, executive director of Institutional Property Advisors. “As we continued to experience unprecedented, off-the-charts asset operations in 2022 and through the first quarter of this year, while simultaneously seeing the most mercurial capital markets we’ve seen in years, we have now statistically proven that the industry is not only recession resilient but pandemic resilient.” The real estate industry has been under a lot of pressure since the summer of 2022 as a result of the rapid rise in the cost of debt, which has created challenges as it pertains to valuing assets. “The recent quarter-point rise has …

April 19, 2023

Conference Coverage Features Restaurant Retail

Foodservice Remains Retail Darling as Customers Have Appetite for Experiences

by Jeff Shaw April 14, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Whitney Livingston had a question for those in attendance at the annual Entertainment Experience Evolution conference in Los Angeles: Which user — food halls or restaurants — are more beneficial to driving traffic at retail properties? By show of hands, most attendees said food halls. Livingston, president of Centennial REC, was moderating the event’s “Fireside Chat: What’s Better for Traffic, Food Hall or Restaurants?” panel at the JW Marriott LA Live. Each of the categories was embodied in the form of a panelist. Representing food halls was Michael Morris, CEO of the aptly named Food Hall Co., with Rich Renninger, SVP and chief development officer of Darden Restaurants, weighing in from the perspective of more traditional, full-service restaurants. Despite what the name of the panel might suggest and Livingston’s opening poll, the dialogue that emerged between Renninger and Morris did not take on the shape of a debate so much as a conversation that illustrated that, for all their distinctions, there are many commonalities between the two types of food-and-beverage users. Ultimately, the panelists revealed that though food halls and full-service restaurants may take different paths, there is one shared recipe for success: creating a robust customer …

April 14, 2023

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