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Northeast Feature Archive

DevelopmentFeaturesNortheastNortheast Feature ArchivePennsylvania

Five Reasons to Use Virtual Reality in Design

by David Cohen

By Michael Prifti  Technology is moving quickly across many different industries. Architects are now using emerging technology like virtual reality (VR) to improve experience for clients, tenants and the general public.  An architecture firm can use VR to accomplish many different goals. VR can be used as both a design tool and a marketing tool. As a design tool, one can create impressive virtual mockups with the technology. To be used as a marketing tool, it is important to figure out the overall goals of the project, such as how interactive and immersive the VR models need to be.  For example, higher quality VR models require higher computer processing power.  In general, VR sets have become much more affordable, and jumping into this emerging technology doesn’t necessarily require a large investment. Today, VR headsets can be found for under $500, and the software has become so intuitive that nearly anyone can be taught how to produce very basic VR ready models in about 15 minutes.  While two-dimensional renderings will likely never disappear, the use of virtual reality is becoming more widespread throughout the industry. 2D drawings or 3D models can give you a general idea of a building’s scale, but VR …

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FeaturesIndustrialNortheastNortheast Feature Archive

Industrial Rents Reach New Heights in Northeast

by David Cohen

The industrial real estate sector across the Northeast continues to exhibit strong rent growth due to a number of factors: increased tenant demand, decreased supply and the ever-growing presence of e-commerce companies. In the five largest metro areas, rent growth over the 12-month period that ended June 4 averaged 6.2 percent, according to CoStar Group. The vacancy rates in those same markets were all at or below 6 percent as of June 4. The Northern New Jersey industrial market led the way with rent growth climbing 8.2 percent over the 12-month period, followed by New York (+7 percent), Boston (+ 6.3 percent), Philadelphia (+ 5.3 percent), and Pittsburgh (+ 4.6 percent). In each case, the spike in rent was more than double the historical average. “Supply is really struggling to keep pace with demand,” says Alex Previdi, managing director of Transwestern’s New Jersey office. “There’s an abundance of large tenants that are looking for industrial space and there’s just not a lot of options out there.” On the demand side, the New York market led the way with a 12-month net absorption of 7.6 million square feet, followed by Philadelphia (6.6 million square feet), New Jersey (3.4 million) square feet, …

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FeaturesLee & AssociatesNew YorkNortheastNortheast Feature Archive

Manhattan Sees Major Growth Spurt of Service-Oriented Retailers, Says Lee & Associates’ JP Sutro

by David Cohen

LAS VEGAS— Since joining Lee & Associates in the New York City office in 2012, JP Sutro has closed over $200 million in retail lease transactions. The executive managing director specializes in representing both retail landlords and tenants throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. REBusinessOnline caught up with Sutro during the RECon show in late May to get his take on the state of the retail market in New York City. The three-day deal making and networking event is the world’s largest global gathering of retail real estate professionals and typically attracts about 37,000 registrants. REBO:Nordstrom’s first foray into New York City has begun. A three-story, 47,000-square-foot men’s store opened at 57th Street and Broadway in April. How significant is it that Nordstrom has entered the market? Sutro:It’s fantastic. All the owners I know that have property on 57th Street have been waiting for this moment. They really think they are going to see an influx of more shoppers and more retailers playing off the Nordstrom’s idea — especially when you hear of other department stores not doing so well. It’s interesting to see Nordstrom having such confidence in the market, especially 57th Street, which has historically been a very strong shopping district. …

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FeaturesHeartland Feature ArchiveNortheast Feature ArchiveSoutheast Feature ArchiveTexas & Oklahoma Feature Archive

CBRE: U.S. Apartment Sector Gets Boost from Comprehensive Tax Reform

by David Cohen

LOS ANGELES — The sweeping tax reform bill signed into law in late 2017 by President Donald Trump is expected to benefit the U.S. multifamily investment market, according to a new report from CBRE. The report states that under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the tax benefits of renting over buying a home will increase in 29 of the 35 largest U.S. markets. That number is up from 15 markets before the tax reform. The new tax law increases the standard deduction from $12,700 to $24,000 for a married couple. This means more people will take the standard deduction rather than itemize items such as mortgage interest, which CBRE said will significantly benefit renters in most of the country’s largest markets and encourage renting over homeownership. Additionally, limitations on state and local tax deductions, as well as the loss of the mortgage interest deduction on home purchases of $750,000 or more, will marginally impact the cost of housing in high-cost markets. “The new tax policy’s raising of the standard deduction, combined with limitations on mortgage interest and state and local tax deductions, will significantly increase the attraction of renting versus buying housing,” said Spencer Levy, CBRE’s senior economic advisor and …

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FeaturesHeartland Feature ArchiveMidwestNortheastNortheast Feature ArchiveSoutheastSoutheast Feature ArchiveTexasTexas & Oklahoma Feature ArchiveTop StoriesWestern

Forecast Survey: What’s Your Take on Real Estate in 2018?

by John Nelson

France Media, Inc. is conducting a brief online survey to gauge market conditions, and we welcome your participation. This survey should only take a few minutes to complete. Questions range from property sectors that your firm is most bullish on heading into 2018 to trends in deal volume to the outlook for interest rates. The results will be collated and published in the January 2018 issue of our regional magazines. Conducting these surveys is part of our mission at France Media to provide readers with indispensable information. To participate in our broker/agent survey, click here. For developers/owners/managers, click here. For lenders and financial intermediaries, click here. (Note: Please remember to click on “done” to properly submit the survey.) Sincerely, Matt Valley Editorial Director, Real Estate Regionals France Media, Inc.

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FeaturesNortheast Feature ArchiveOfficeTop Stories

Office Tenants Prefer Dynamic Workspace with Amenities, Says Coldwell Banker Survey

by John Nelson

MADISON, N.J. — Physical office space can have a positive influence on its tenant base, which ultimately helps companies attract and retain employees, according to a new survey conducted by Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates, a Madison-based company made up of independently owned and operated commercial real estate service practices. The survey uncovered which popular office amenities resonated with respondents to see how office spaces could further improve the functionality of their square footage. “Offices are becoming a center for social activity, and it is important for office commercial real estate to accommodate this,” says Fred Schmidt, president and COO of Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates. Working on behalf of Coldwell Banker, Harris Poll surveyed 2,001 adults from Aug. 15-17 as part of the online study. The participating cohort included younger Millennial workers (age 18-29), older Millennials (30-34), Gen Xers (ages 35-49) and Baby Boomers (50-69), to identify worker attitudes toward their current physical workplace and better understand how office space can be optimized to meet worker needs and comfort. The highest concentration of respondents identified themselves as Baby Boomers (a little over 44 percent), followed by Gen Xers, younger Millennials and older Millennials. Overall, the survey found that the most coveted office …

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FeaturesNortheastNortheast Feature ArchivePennsylvaniaTop Stories

Property Owners Celebrate Fair Taxation Ruling by Pennsylvania Supreme Court

by John Nelson

Commercial property owners around the country are cheering a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that breathes new life into constitutional guarantees of uniformity in taxation. Overruling a decade of lower court decisions, the ruling reestablishes the primacy of constitutional uniformity protections to taxpayers in the strongest possible language, fittingly issued just one day after the July 4 holiday. Nearly every state constitution requires uniformity in taxation, meaning that two like properties should receive the same assessment, no matter how they are owned, occupied, built or financed. Yet commercial property owners across the nation have been under attack by assessors attempting to alter appraisal theory in order to pin higher assessments and higher real estate taxes on specific owners. These assessors have been singling out occupied commercial properties by setting assessments based on financing mechanisms that fail to meet standard appraisal definitions of market sales, incorrectly basing taxable value on data relating to sale-leasebacks, turnkey leases and contract rights and duties associated with tenant financing. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, the only states that provide school districts a statutory right to file increase appeals, the school districts have been targeting specific commercial owners for higher assessments using this same flawed methodology. These …

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FeaturesIndustrialMultifamilyNortheastNortheast Feature ArchiveOfficePennsylvaniaRetailTop Stories

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Takes Up Issue of Reverse Property Tax Appeals Across State

by Haisten Willis

By Gregory Schaffer Pennsylvania property owners and tenants, who pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation, are no doubt aware of the annual deadline to file a property tax appeal. After all, one look at a new tax bill is often enough to make even the most seasoned tax manager scramble to contact their local tax counsel. However, very few taxpayers are aware that the assessment they may have accepted as favorable could easily trigger a reverse appeal filed by the local school district. Assessment appeals filed by the taxing entities, often referred to as reverse appeals, are increasingly common as cash-strapped school districts seek to fill their coffers. Just as a tax manager might view an inflated assessment as a reason to appeal, more and more school districts see potentially under-assessed properties as a much-needed source of additional revenue. To the bane of many taxpayers, this tactic has now reached the city of Philadelphia. Despite undergoing a citywide property revaluation for the 2014 tax year, with another currently slated for 2018, the Philadelphia School District recently decided to begin filing reverse appeals against properties it feels are under-assessed. On Sept. 15, 2016, for the first time, …

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FeaturesHeartland Feature ArchiveMidwestNortheastNortheast Feature ArchiveSoutheastSoutheast Feature ArchiveTexasTexas & Oklahoma Feature ArchiveTop StoriesWesternWestern Feature Archive

Forecast Survey: What’s Your Take on Real Estate in 2017?

by John Nelson

REBusinessOnline.com is conducting a brief online survey of brokers, lenders and the owner/developer/manager community to gauge market expectations for 2017, and we welcome your participation. This survey should only take a few minutes to complete. The results will appear as a news feature story in the January 2017 issues of the regional publications. Questions cover a variety of topics, ranging from the outlook for investment sales and leasing activity in 2017 to development and lending opportunities to interest rates. Note: We prefer to attribute comments we quote from open-ended responses, however you may respond anonymously if you prefer. To take our 2017 broker survey, please click here To take our 2017 developer/owner/manager survey, please click here To take our 2017 lender survey, please click here Thanks for your participation! Matt Valley Editorial Director of Regional Real Estate Publications France Media, Inc.

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FeaturesNortheast Feature ArchiveTop Stories

Property Tax Assessments Are Spiraling Out of Control in New York City

by John Nelson

Massive assessment hikes in New York City confirm that Mayor Bill de Blasio intends to extract as much revenue as possible from real estate, one of the city’s most important industries. This will kill the golden goose underlying New York City’s economic recovery. The city released its tentative assessment roll for the 2015-2016 tax year on Jan. 15, 2015, revealing painful and substantial increases in market value for both residential and commercial properties. The city pumped up the value of residential properties by almost 11 percent, while driving up commercial assessments by 12 percent over the prior tax year. These increases are nearly double the rate of increase affected by last year’s final assessment roll, where residential market values increased by 6.6 percent and commercial market values increased by 7 percent over the 2013-2014 roll. Owners’ Bottom Line Takes a Hit The compound effect of year-after-year increases is a crushing burden to owners and tenants, but the higher end of the commercial property spectrum was particularly hard hit in the latest assessment roll. Owners of trophy office buildings saw their market values spike by more than 31 percent over the prior year’s values. Even worse, owners saw the market value …

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