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InterFace: Concessions Remain an Operational Necessity for Multifamily Stakeholders

John Nelson — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Midway through a panel discussion comprising apartment operators, moderator Stephanie Garris, director and head of North Carolina at property management firm Arqline, asked the panelists for one thing in multifamily operations that they wish they could stop doing tomorrow. “Offering concessions,” said Dallas Green, regional vice president of RPM Living. “Dallas stole my answer,” said Sherry Yarborough, director of multifamily management Southeast at Drucker & Falk. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. The panelists were part of InterFace Carolinas Multifamily, an annual networking and information conference held on May 21 at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown. The conference, hosted by InterFace Conference Group and Southeast Real Estate Business, brought in 273 attendees. Concessions often take the form of free rent for a set period, typically one or two months. Renters at newly delivered properties can get up to three months of free rent in some markets today, with longer rent-free periods reserved for those who sign longer term leases or for signing a lease within 24 to 48 hours of touring the property. Yarborough said…

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How Developers Can Prioritize Successful Adaptive Reuse Lending Relationships

Taylor Williams — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

By John Garrett of Enterprise Bank & Trust Driven by an ongoing shift in demand and industry-specific needs from commercial real estate space, adaptive reuse projects can transform existing underutilized buildings into new and more functional spaces. Offices and retail properties can be reimagined for shared or added functionality, or in some cases, reconfigured for entirely different purposes, including residential use. These projects allow developers to capitalize on opportunistic investment into value-add acquisitions, as well as tenant-driven opportunities. However, the size of these transitional, sub-institutional development projects creates a unique financial challenge. Many traditional lenders see these as too small and risky, with an aversion to arranging moving pieces to creatively manage tailored financing solutions that are needed to acquire and alter spaces for new opportunities. Transitional development projects don’t involve stabilized properties. Instead, the opportunity lies in repositioning the space to add value, which often means limited cash flow for an interim period while needing immediate access to funds. Creating efficient and flexible banking partnerships can allow real estate developers that are interested in pursuing these projects to scale business in a manner that helps meet a growing demand. How Lending Can Differ Both the complexity and varying size…

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InterFace Panel: Affordable Housing Deal Flow Gains Momentum as Brokers Turn Bullish

Abby Cox — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:45:00 +0000

ATLANTA — For much of the past two years, affordable housing transactions in the Southeast moved at a measured pace, slowed by severe cost burdens on both renters and prospective buyers and widening supply deficits. But inside this year’s InterFace Affordable Housing Southeast show, a networking and information conference held at The Westin Buckhead Atlanta on May 12, the tone has shifted. Phones are ringing again, deals are re-entering the pipeline and investors are showing a renewed willingness to chase affordable housing opportunities across the region. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Rachel Chapman, national account executive of Stewart Title Guaranty Co., moderated the discussion, entitled “Brokers, Buyers and Capital.” The investment sales panel notably reverted to a subject and question that’s shaping much of today’s affordable housing market: with elevated borrowing costs and general economic uncertainty, why is transaction activity accelerating? Necessitating that question for developers and brokers are the thorns still present in the industry, such as the lengthy process of securing and pricing loans, interest rate volatility and capital markets shifts. Even with these headwinds,…

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InterFace Panel: Architects Share Solutions to Affordable Housing Delivery Gaps

Kristin Harlow — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:49:04 +0000

Affordable housing developers are under pressure to deliver more units at a time when financing, approvals, construction pricing and long development timelines can easily slow projects down. At InterFace Affordable Housing Southeast, architects and construction leaders emphasized the importance of early collaboration among developers, designers, lenders and public-sector partners. They also explored how modular construction, mass timber, light-gauge steel framing and energy-efficient strategies are being used to control costs, shorten schedules and improve long-term operations. The panelists agreed that design decisions in affordable housing are increasingly tied to insurance costs, maintenance expenses and resident quality of life. The panel’s central message: affordable housing must pencil out financially, but it also must be built to best support all aspects of the communities it serves. Read the full story here.

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Utilities, Infrastructure Can Make or Break the Next Cycle of Industrial Development, Say InterFace Panelists

John Nelson — Thu, 28 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The U.S. industrial real estate sector has been on a long rebound from the supply wave following the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 2.5 billion square feet of industrial space was delivered between 2020 and 2025, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield. In the Southeast, deliveries were especially pronounced, most notably in the high-growth I-85 industrial corridor that spans from Montgomery, Ala., to south Richmond, Va. The 666-mile interstates traverses through Atlanta, Greenville-Spartanburg, Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad (Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem) and Raleigh-Durham. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Gregg Healy, executive vice president and head of industrial services at Savills, says that since the beginning of 2022, nearly 250 million square feet of industrial space has been delivered along the I-85 corridor, which has taken longer to be absorbed than anticipated. “We were oversupplied, not just in the I-85 corridor, but nationally, because of the post-COVID boom when everyone was developing,” says Healy. “But vacancy rates did drop in the first quarter of 2026 for the first time in three…

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A Winning Recipe for Office Conversions

Kristin Harlow — Tue, 19 May 2026 12:30:00 +0000

The number of underutilized office buildings being converted into apartment units continues to steadily rise, largely due to the acceptance that the post-COVID hybrid work format is here to stay. At the start of 2026, the national office-to-apartment conversion pipeline reached 90,300 units, up 28 percent year over year and nearly four times larger than in 2022, according to RentCafe, a sister company of Yardi Matrix. Office conversions now account for almost half (47 percent) of all planned adaptive reuse projects nationwide (roughly 90,300 apartments out of 193,900 planned projects). Behind New York City and Washington, D.C., Chicago ranks third on the list for the largest office-to-apartment conversions pipeline, according to RentCafe. Cleveland and Cincinnati round out the top 10. Five other Midwest markets — Detroit, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee and St. Louis — are included in the top 20. These cities are deploying combinations of tax-increment financing (TIF), local tax abatements, Housing Trust Fund dollars and historic tax credits to support office conversions in their downtown districts, says Al Fiesel, commercial business unit leader at Chicago-based LJC Design & Engineering. “The specific tools differ by market, but the underlying premise recognizes that public participation is the mechanism that makes…

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MBA: Commercial, Multifamily Borrowing Increased 52 Percent in First-Quarter 2026

John Nelson — Tue, 12 May 2026 11:45:00 +0000

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations were 52 percent higher in the first quarter of 2026 compared to first-quarter 2025, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations. First-quarter production falls in line with the organization’s 2026 forecast made in February that commercial and multifamily loan originations this year would increase by 27 percent compared to 2025. Among capital sources, the dollar volume of loans originated for investor-driven lenders increased by 133 percent year-over-year in the first quarter. There was also an 80 percent increase in loans for depositories (i.e. banks and credit unions); a 38 percent increase in government-sponsored enterprises (i.e. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac); and a 9 percent increase in life company loans. There was also a14 percent decline in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loans compared to a year ago. “The most notable increase was the 80 percent rise in depository lending, driven in part by the large volume of bank-held loans maturing this year and the need to refinance those positions,” says Reggie Booker, MBA’s associate vice president of commercial research. “The slowdown [from fourth-quarter 2025] is consistent with typical first-quarter seasonality and does not detract from…

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Inside the New Office Playbook: Designing for Today’s Tenants

Taylor Williams — Tue, 05 May 2026 11:58:00 +0000

With flexible work schedules now the norm, today’s modern office buildings must justify the commute. According to the Flex Index Q1 2026 report, a quarterly workplace trends report, 67 percent of U.S. companies now use a hybrid model. Gensler’s Global Workplace Survey 2026 also underscores a shift in employee priorities, with nearly half of employees (46 percent) noting that wellness amenities matter more than high-tech features in the office. To explore how these trends play out locally in leading commercial real estate markets, REBusinessOnline talked to Bill Baumgardner, who leads VanTrust’s Texas office as executive vice president, and Guy Grivas, vice president of Hillwood’s retail division. Those priorities are on display at Frisco Station, where VanTrust, Hillwood and The Rudman Partnership are developing a 242-acre mixed-use destination in Frisco’s North Platinum Corridor, about 30 minutes north of Dallas. Centered around The Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ world headquarters, the development brings together Class A office space, a mix of residential options and modern hotels — all within walking distance of dining, shopping and entertainment options — creating a seamless, experience-driven workday. REBusinessOnline: What are the top priorities for today’s employers when selecting an office building? Bill Baumgardner: To succeed, today’s workplace…

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C-PACE and Gross Leases: An Affordable Housing Solution

Hayden Spiess — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:19:00 +0000

By Bert Belanger, PACE Equity Seemingly every week, a commercial real estate publication publishes a story warning that nine out of 10 markets in America need more affordable housing units. Switching to an “all-bills-paid” mindset and utilizing Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing can help address this quandary. Going Through the PACEs In early 2021, after a 40-year career as a real estate lawyer, consultant and developer focused on affordable housing, I began “selling money.” By this, I mean that I was sourcing capital for PACE Equity, a Milwaukee-based private debt firm focused on providing C-PACE funding. Since C-PACE was new to my home state of Oklahoma, I was initially unfamiliar with its characteristics, but the practice of so-called “green building” was something I had experienced firsthand. I hoped that my mixture of experience might make me a unicorn — a guy who knew how to meld obtuse government subsidized housing tools with C-PACE, all for the greater good. However, I have quickly learned that mixing C-PACE with government-assisted housing financing tools is a non-starter. Why? Because cash flows within government-subsidized financings are thin by design, leaving no room for debt service beyond a small senior loan. Real Deals and Real Savings…

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Inside the Shifting World of Retail Construction

Abby Cox — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 11:45:00 +0000

Let’s get down to brass tacks: there’s not a lot of new retail space being built. What is getting developed reflects a fundamental shift in how retail functions. At the same time, construction itself is becoming more strategic and tech enabled. Developers and contractors are leveraging data, artificial intelligence (AI) and flexible design approaches to better predict demand, reduce risk and adapt spaces for multiple tenants or uses over time. The result is a sector that is leaner, more intentional and increasingly focused on creating places people want to visit. The Big Picture: How the Market Has Changed Retail construction has shifted significantly from the pre-pandemic era to today, shaped by higher material costs, disrupted supply chains and evolving consumer demand. Before 2020, projects benefitted from relatively stable pricing, predictable timelines and a strong emphasis on in-person shopping environments. Since then, inflation and global supply chain volatiltiy have driven up the cost of key materials, while also extending lead times and forcing developers to plan more conservatively. Carolyn Shames, CEO and president of Shames Construction, shared an anecdote about two identical Walmarts that were built by her company — one before the COVID-19 pandemic and one after. The difference in price…

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Next Generation of Office Space Is Designed to Perform

John Nelson — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:57:00 +0000

Walk through almost any office today and you will likely see a familiar scene: employees sitting at their desks wearing headphones, speaking into laptops and participating in video calls. Some are presenting to colleagues working remotely. Others are joining quick internal check-ins or connecting with clients across the country. Individually, these conversations are part of the normal rhythm of modern work. Together, they can create a surprising amount of background noise. This reality is one of the biggest forces reshaping office design. For years, workplace design emphasized openness. Walls came down, benching systems replaced private offices and large collaboration areas were introduced to encourage interaction. But as hybrid work has become the norm, organizations are recognizing that offices must support a wider range of activities than they once did. Employees still come to the office to collaborate and connect. At the same time, many arrive with schedules filled with focused individual work and virtual meetings that require quiet and concentration. As a result, workplace design is evolving. Instead of choosing between open offices and private offices, organizations are focusing on balance, creating workplaces that support focus, collaboration and connection within the same space. Privacy returning to offices One of the…

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The Best Commercial Buying Window Will Begin in 2029. Here’s What To Do Until Then

Taylor Williams — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:27:00 +0000

By Alan Stalcup, founder, CEO, GVA Real Estate Group Many investors are watching the distressed commercial real estate market and waiting for the moment to buy. That moment isn’t here yet. But the debt market? That’s a different conversation. By some estimates, more than $600 billion of multifamily debt matured across 2024 and 2025 — the largest two-year concentration on record. Lenders extended roughly $400 billion of those loans over the past several years. Most of them are coming due again. Same assets. Same problems. Higher rates, deflated values, limited options to refinance or sell. And to see what that looks like up close, look at the state of Texas. More than $800 million a month in commercial loans have hit foreclosure auctions in this state for four straight months. About 70 percent of those loans are backed by apartments. Houston alone saw $250 million in multifamily debt go to auction in a single week last summer. Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Houston delivered record levels of new apartments between 2022 and 2024. All that supply is now sitting on top of the debt problem. Rent rolls are coming in below levels that were underwritten at origination. The income isn’t there.…

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CoStar: U.S. Retail Construction Activity Remains Stymied Through the First Quarter

John Nelson — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:45 +0000

ARLINGTON, VA. — U.S. retail construction activity totaled 64.2 million square feet in the first quarter, down from 70 million square feet in first-quarter 2025 and well below the 10-year average (+90 million square feet), according to research from CoStar Group. Brandon Svec, national director of retail analytics at CoStar Group, points to multiple governors for new retail construction, including the popularity of e-commerce, competition from other property types and the previous cycles of broad-based expansion in the retail industry. Additionally, he says elevated costs for land, construction materials, labor and debt have made it difficult for retail developers to justify new construction. “The pullback in construction reflects a development environment that remains difficult to pencil in most markets,” says Svec. “Even in markets with strong population growth and leasing demand, achieving returns that justify ground-up construction has become increasingly challenging.” Data from the Arlington-based commercial real estate information and analytics firm shows that the nation’s retail development pipeline is sinking to levels not seen since the previous two cyclical lows: the early stages of the COVID-19 recovery and coming out of the Great Financial Crisis in 2011. Among markets tracked by CoStar, three Texas markets are leading the way…

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Gen Z Is Defying Traditional Shopping Patterns, Says NRF Panel

Abby Cox — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:47:45 +0000

The U.S. retail industry is entering a new era of transformation, and two forces are emerging as the primary architects of change: Generation Z and artificial intelligence (AI). Insights from the National Retail Federation’s recent “State of Retail and the Consumer” webinar underscore the industry’s modern reality — today’s consumer is actively reshaping how products are discovered, evaluated and, ultimately, purchased. While the oldest of Gen Z consumers are on the cusp of turning 30, the youngest are transitioning into high school. “They’re not kids anymore — they’re teenagers, college students and young adults, and it shows in their spending habits and their sentiment,” said Katherine Cullen, vice president of industry and consumer insights at NRF, during the webinar. “We see them increasingly influencing holiday traditions, differentiating themselves and how they manage costs, as well as leading the adoption of AI tools and platforms.” Even with feelings of uncertainty on both the broader macroeconomic and individual levels, Gen Z consumers are still choosing to spend money in moments of joy and looking for ways to “treat themselves.” In the past five years, average apartment rental rates in the United States have risen 25 to 30 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels…

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Seniors Housing Industry Faces Predicament of Strong Demand, Limited Supply

Kristin Harlow — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:30:00 +0000

Supply and demand dynamics within the seniors housing sector are at a crossroads, according to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2026 report produced by PwC and the Urban Land Institute. Like most commercial real estate property types, new supply is constrained due to increasing financing and construction costs. However, demand for senior living units continues to grow. According to the report, factors driving demand for seniors housing include a rapidly growing older adult population and an increase in older adults renting. The 75-plus age category is expected to grow by more than 4 million people by 2030, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections. The oldest baby boomers turn 80 in 2026. The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) expects that the limited new supply and steady demand will drive the average seniors housing occupancy rate above 90 percent in 2026, potentially reaching the highest occupancy rate reported in the 20 years that NIC MAP has tracked this data. Investors are poised to achieve strong returns. The National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF), which tracks the performance of institutional-grade U.S. commercial real estate, reports that seniors housing strongly outperformed all other property sectors in 2025,…

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NRF Projects 2026 U.S. Retail Sales to Rise 4.4 Percent, Exceed $5.6T

Abby Cox — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:45:00 +0000

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Retail Federation (NRF) has projected that 2026 U.S. retail sales will grow 4.4 percent over 2025 to $5.6 trillion, outpacing pre-pandemic averages and signaling continued momentum despite global volatility. This year’s projection was announced during the organization’s sixth annual “State of Retail and the Consumer” webinar held on March 18, which examined the health of American consumers and the overall retail industry. NRF’s calculation, created in partnership with Oxford Economics using a new economic model, excludes auto dealers, gas stations and restaurants. The new model integrates a wider range of real-time data to better capture consumer behavior compared to the previous forecasting methods that relied on broader indicators. Although the forecast is in nominal terms (unadjusted for inflation), this model anticipates that a higher proportion of projected sales growth will reflect real gains, rather than inflation-driven increases. The 2026 sales forecast compares with 3.6 percent average annual sales growth over the past 10 years, excluding the COVID period from 2020 to 2022 when growth was atypical. “While the geopolitical environment and ongoing trade policy challenges warrant close attention, we remain optimistic that the underlying fundamentals of the U.S. economy will support continued stability in the year ahead,” said…

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Why Commercial Debt, Equity Arrangers Are Excited for 2026

Taylor Williams — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 11:46:00 +0000

By Taylor Williams Olympic rings, Great Lakes, stages of grief, military branches and factors that point to a more robust landscape in the world of commercial debt and equity placement in 2026 — they all come in fives. Unlike the other items in that set, however, there is room for debate as to what those five capital markets factors actually are. But according to sources, they are, in no particular order of importance: • Rising investment sales volume, which allows for better pricing and risk assessment in the equity markets • No shortage of deals in need of recapitalization • Strong liquidity and competitive spreads in the debt markets • Short-term stability in the 10-year Treasury yield • Resilient acclimation to a new geopolitical environment Combined, these market forces form the basis of a larger perspective that is defined by optimism — and that optimism is rooted in both qualitative observations and quantitative analysis. And so far, the expectations of at least one major industry research and advocacy organization appear to be in line with the observations of individuals interviewed for this story. In early February, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its 2026 Commercial Real Estate Finance Forecast report,…

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General Contractors: Early Collaboration Is Key in Today’s Market

Kristin Harlow — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Builders have “dampened” expectations for construction activity in 2026, apart from data centers and power projects, according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Citing broader worries about the direction of the economy, the findings were part of the AGC/Sage Construction Hiring and Business Outlook Survey, which was released in early January. Kurt Steinmann, vice president and residential business unit leader at Swansea, Illinois-based Holland Construction Services, says “the market is clearly more disciplined than it was a few years ago, but that’s not a bad thing. “We’ve moved out of a speculative cycle and into one where projects need to be fundamentally sound to move forward,” he explains. “For general contractors, that means fewer starts overall, but stronger alignment on the projects that do proceed.” In other words, developments are better planned, more realistic on budgets and supported by experienced ownership groups. “Owners are moving forward with intention, prioritizing projects that are well-defined and aligned with long-term operational needs,” echoes Caitlin Russell, president of Davenport, Iowa-based Russell. “While interest rates and financing conditions continue to influence timing, demand for experienced general contractors who can provide cost clarity and early collaboration remains strong. Our outlook for the…

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InterFace Panel: Early Planning, Collaboration Are Crucial to Affordable Housing Development

Taylor Williams — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 11:55:00 +0000

By Taylor Williams DALLAS — Costs are always a sensitive subject in all types of residential and commercial development. But with projects that draw heavily on alternative and public-sector sources of financing to pencil out — namely affordable housing — the margin for error on cost overruns is even tighter. That’s a very unfortunate reality for developers working to mitigate America’s profound shortage of both affordable housing and housing that’s affordable. But with measured, deliberate upfront planning and collaboration between architects, engineers and general contractors, some of that risk can be mitigated. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. To keep these critical developments on time and on budget, these project partners have had to not only adjust some of their traditional forms of value engineering (VE) — the term given to the collective effort of cost minimization and utility maximization over the course of a project — but also embrace completely new ones. The framework for trying new types of VE hinges on the notion that the whole of the project is greater than the sum of the…

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Webinar: Flood Zones & FEMA Compliance — How Developers Avoid Delays, Cut Insurance Costs & Increase Property Value

Sarah Daniels — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

The March 2 France Media webinar “Flood Zones & FEMA Compliance — How Developers Avoid Delays, Cut Insurance Costs & Increase Property Value,” hosted by France Media and sponsored by National Flood Experts, examined how flood zones and evolving regulatory requirements are shaping development and financing outlooks. Flood risk is often treated as a late-stage compliance issue, but it can influence site design, permitting timelines, construction costs (and cost expectations) and long-term insurance expenses. Flood maps established by federal and local authorities define development constraints such as base flood elevations and floodways. Because these maps are updated slowly and regulations vary by municipality, developers frequently encounter unexpected complications during permitting, including the need for additional engineering studies, modeling requirements and extended approval timelines. The webinar panelists emphasized ways that developers can mitigate these risks by approaching flood zones strategically and incorporating flood analysis earlier in the development lifecycle. Early collaboration can identify opportunities to cut costs and avoid delays. Watch this brief webinar to learn about common problems caused by flood zones, changes in regulatory needs and practical pathways to help reduce or eliminate flood zone requirements (to increase the value of properties). Click here to download the slide presentation.…

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