Conference Coverage

Net-Lease Investors Prioritize Assets Occupied by Essential Retailers, Says InterFace Panel

by Taylor Williams December 9, 2020

By Taylor Williams Retail tenants with strong credit, sales and branding have long been the darlings of the net-lease investment market via their ability to unlock value in their underlying real estate. But as the COVID-19 pandemic has battered brick-and-mortar retailers in a plethora of categories, net-lease investors are placing added emphasis on the products and services that tenants offer when targeting new acquisitions. After nine months of the public health crisis, investors have a better sense of which tenants are flourishing in the net-lease space and which ones are languishing. This more targeted, stable approach to investing is joining forces with the unleashing of pent-up demand from the spring and summer months, when capital sources largely took to the sidelines. According to a third-quarter report from Avison Young, deal volume in the single-tenant net-lease (STNL) retail space rose by 13.8 percent from the second to third quarters of this year, though the period’s 329 trades fell well short of the first-quarter mark of 416 deals. As a result of elevated investment demand, cap rates in the market are starting to compress — again with a pronounced difference among retail assets based on their tenancy profiles. Avison Young’s report found …

December 9, 2020

Conference Coverage Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

Multifamily Architects, Contractors Deliver Services in New Ways to Keep Projects Moving, Say InterFace Panelists

by Taylor Williams November 23, 2020

By Taylor Williams Like most members of the working world, professionals who design and build multifamily properties in Texas have had to adjust how they do business and service clients in response to COVID-19. But many of these companies and individuals have managed to do so in ways that haven’t significantly hindered workflow. From conducting virtual meetings with staff or clients to using complex interfaces that allow for real-time illustrations to maintaining strict distancing and tracking protocols on job sites, architects and contractors are finding solutions that minimize pandemic-related disruptions. Some delays in the design and building processes have been inevitable. Job sites sometimes have to be shut down when workers test positive. But these solutions, paired with Texas municipalities’ general recognition of construction as an essential industry, have limited the extent to which public health concerns have pushed projects behind schedule and/or over budget. That’s according to design and construction panelists at the ninth annual InterFace Multifamily Texas conference. The two-day event was held virtually on Nov. 18-19. Rich Kelley, president of InterFace Conference Group, the division of Atlanta-based France Media that hosted the conference, moderated the panel. Conducting Daily Work The pivot to platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft …

November 23, 2020

Conference Coverage Features Retail Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Lenders Bearish on Retail Sector Except for ‘Prime’ Assets, Says Expert Panel

by Alex Tostado November 20, 2020

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, retail and restaurant space has been severely impacted by government-mandated shutdowns. While some stay-at-home orders have been lifted, the sector has struggled to return to its pre-pandemic norms. As a result, lenders have shied away from retail, whether it be construction, refinancing or acquisition loans, according to an expert panel assembled by France Media, Inc. Retail has “lost a lot of favor” with lenders, said Pierce Mayson, managing principal of SRS Real Estate Partners, during a webinar panel titled “Southeast Retail Investment Outlook: Will Retail Investment Activity Bounce Back in 2021?” Southeast Real Estate Business and Shopping Center Business jointly hosted the webinar on Monday, Nov. 16. “There is still some money out there for retail, but it’s few and far between,” said Mayson. Joining Mayson on the panel were Fred Victor, vice president of capital markets and investment sales at Transwestern; Greg Matus, senior vice president of investment sales at Franklin Street; Jeff Enck, associate director of capital investments at Stan Johnson Co.; and moderator Craig Thompson, partner at accounting firm Carr Riggs & Ingram. One telltale sign that banks are bearish on the retail real estate sector is the fact that …

November 20, 2020

Conference Coverage Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

COVID-19 Further Entrenches Digital Technology in Multifamily Leasing, Management, Says InterFace Panel

by Taylor Williams November 19, 2020

By Taylor Williams The unimpeachable role of technology in multifamily operations has been growing for some time, but COVID-19 has accelerated the importance of these platforms to a level that is unlikely to change even after the pandemic has fizzled out. Particularly with regard to leasing units to new renters and hiring and retaining talented management professionals, multifamily operators have had little choice but to embrace new technologically advanced ways of doing business. And since competition for tenants and staff are equally intense within the major apartment markets of Texas, operators that have developed proficiencies with new apps, platforms and equipment are pulling away from the pack. A panel of multifamily owner-operators and leasing agents discussed these topics at length during the first day of the ninth-annual InterFace Multifamily Texas conference. The two-day virtual event, which was hosted and organized by Atlanta-based France Media, was held Nov. 18-19 in lieu of the fall gathering that usually brings multifamily professionals from across the state together in Dallas. The Customer Side The panelists provided anecdotal evidence of just how important technology has become to the leasing and management aspects of their operations. “We’ve used basic equipment like video-stabilizing pods, which can be …

November 19, 2020

Acquisitions Affordable Housing Conference Coverage Features Georgia Multifamily Seniors Housing Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Affordable Housing Sector is a Seller’s Market as New Buyers Enter the Fray, Says Exclusive Webinar Panel

by John Nelson November 17, 2020

Like many industries, the U.S. affordable housing sector has undergone a sea change stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Processes and protocols have changed for affordable housing professionals, some perhaps permanently. Closings are conducted virtually and some of the front-end work such as appraisals and subsidy applications look completely different than a year ago. The “new normal” that industry professionals are navigating has had a few stops and starts since March, but the sector is now in a place of relative comfort, and that’s led to investment sales picking up, according to Kevin Morris, senior director of Colliers International’s Affordable Housing Services team. “By trial and error, we’ve had to figure out systems and programs to do business,” said Morris, who is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “We’ve gone through these couple of stages, and now we’re at a point where we can implement and have implemented systems and programs that will take us through this particular pandemic. We’re transacting now, and so in that regard it is kind of back to normal.” Morris was one of six panelists that comprised the broker and lender panel at Affordable Housing Southeast, a webinar hosted by Southeast Real Estate Business magazine. Kyle Shoemaker, …

November 17, 2020

Conference Coverage Features Loans Multifamily Seniors Housing Southeast Feature Archive

InterFace Roundtable: Capital for Active Adult Investment is Available, but ‘Fickle’

by Jeff Shaw November 10, 2020

While the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly made life tougher for active adult investors, there is still capital available. It has just become harder to get. “The equity is pretty rational right now. It’s the TINA phenomenon — there is no alternative,” said Mark Marasciullo, chief investment officer with The United Group of Companies, which develops active adult properties. “There is, institutionally speaking, more and more equity piling up on the sidelines. The market’s pretty liquid, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. There’s a lot of capital out there, but it’s fickle.” The comments came during a roundtable session titled “Investment Outlook for the Active Adult/55+ Market” at France Media’s InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast conference. The event was held virtually on Nov. 5 and 6. Marasciullo hosted the session, which invited attendees to openly lead the discussion. Marasciullo noted that continued high housing prices could keep move-ins high for active adult operators. Housing website Redfin reports that home-buying demand surpassed pre-pandemic levels by June. “If you’re contemplating selling your house, you’re looking around and saying ‘there’s never going to be a better time.’ Our industry has caught a bit of a tailwind,” said Marasciullo. “I’m actually very …

November 10, 2020

Conference Coverage Features Multifamily Student Housing

Student Housing Internet Providers Hustle to Upgrade Capabilities During Pandemic, Says NMHC/InterFace Panel

by Alex Tostado October 30, 2020

One of the biggest challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic for student housing internet providers has been upgrading their bandwidth capabilities to ensure that all students in a community have reliable and fast connections. The proliferation of video calling between students and professors during the pandemic has been a major driver of this hustle to upgrade connectivity services. The number of megabits per second needed for a Zoom call is something that today’s networks can handle, according to Daniel Myers, president and founder of DojoNetworks and a speaker at the NMHC/InterFace Student Housing Conference. The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and InterFace Conference Group co-hosted the virtual event, which took place from Oct. 19 to 22. The organizations’ physical events normally take place in April (InterFace Student Housing) and October (NMHC Student Housing). One problem that the panelists of the Internet Connectivity and Technology panel spoke about was hosting multiple students on the same network simultaneously. A Zoom call requires two-and-a-half megabits per second to upstream (when the video is input) and downstream (when the video is distributed), according to Myers. “If you have five students on a call and they only have eight or 10 megabits upstream, then they’re stuck …

October 30, 2020

Conference Coverage Features Student Housing

COVID-19 Crisis Brings Student Housing Industry Closer Together, Say Operators at NMHC-InterFace Event

by John Nelson October 23, 2020

Author John C. Maxwell coined the phrase “Teamwork makes the dream work,” and student housing operators are experiencing that truism firsthand as they deal with the nightmare scenario of the pandemic and its ripple effects. Closed campuses, virtual learning, COVID-19 outbreak concerns and an uncertain leasing season next spring are all challenges that property managers are tackling in real time. Ironically, industry professionals say that the pandemic may actually be a net positive in the long run as it has forged colleagues closer to one another. Demi Sterling-Kinney, vice president of operations at Aspen Heights Partners, a student housing owner and operator based in Austin, said that she met with her property managers more during the pandemic than she would in a normal year. “I feel like the shakeup was good; It was painful in the moment, but overnight it seemed like we were at war and we were all coming at it together,” said Sterling-Kinney. “It felt like everyone came together to be one team.” Sterling-Kinney’s comments were made during the Leasing & Marketing Spotlight panel at the 2020 NMHC/InterFace Student Housing Conference, a joint production between the National Multifamily Housing Council, France Media’s InterFace Conference Group and Student …

October 23, 2020

Conference Coverage Features Multifamily Student Housing

NMHC/InterFace Panel: Why an Aggressive Approach to Student Housing Development is Warranted

by Taylor Williams October 22, 2020

By Taylor Williams Student housing developers say now is a favorable time to aggressively pursue new projects as their customers voice a strong desire to resume on-campus learning, and they are using lessons learned over the past six months to bring debt and equity partners to the table in order to jump-start deals. Whereas demand drivers for new development in the traditional multifamily space typically center on job and population growth, the student housing sector often responds to different economic and social factors. In the COVID-19 era, these fundamentals are manifesting themselves in unusual ways, such as with empirical data suggesting students overwhelmingly want to return to campus. A survey of 800 college students conducted earlier this year by Axios and College Reaction found that 75 percent would prefer to return to campus, even if it meant giving up parties and sporting events. Developers also point to several positive indicators, including moves by prominent universities to reduce density on campus without compromising enrollment, the inclusion of parental co-signors on new leases and the simple fact that occupancy in the space is not linked to unemployment. With regard to concerns over diminished enrollment, developers are encouraged by the fact that some …

October 22, 2020

Conference Coverage Features Student Housing

COVID-19 Was ‘Black Swan’ Event for Student Housing, But Outlook Is Promising, Says NMHC/InterFace Panelist

by Katie Sloan October 20, 2020

Over the course of the past six months, the student housing industry has grappled with a variety of challenges. For colleges and universities, the largest hurdle heading into the fall semester was deciding the safest route to take for reopening campus. This included decisions on everything from whether or not in-person learning would be allowed, to whether students would be welcomed back into residence halls at normal volumes. These questions was deliberated over throughout the summer, sending a ripple effect through the industry as transactional volume slowed while investors waited to see how universities would proceed. As we move toward the close of October, universities have selected their path forward, and while these choices haven’t been set in stone due to the changing nature of the coronavirus, the industry is now able to get a better view of the pandemic’s impact on the fall semester and the outlook moving forward. Leaders in market analytics and multifamily research sat down for an early afternoon panel yesterday at the NMHC/InterFace Student Housing Conference to provide a comprehensive update on the economy at large with a focus on the student housing sector. Economic Update “COVID-19 ended almost an 11-year expansion period for the …

October 20, 2020

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