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InterFace Conference Investor Panel
Affordable HousingDevelopmentFeaturesMultifamily

InterFace Panel: Workforce Housing Growth Limited by Lack of Incentives for Developers, Investors

by Jeff Shaw

ATLANTA — Workforce housing is a hot topic in the multifamily sector. The apartments are designed to serve middle-class renters, with no government subsidies such as tax credits and fewer of the bells and whistles associated with luxury projects. The combination of the spike in the cost of living, elevated interest rates and a low housing supply has made it difficult for middle-income households across the nation to buy or rent housing. Theoretically this means there is a large market to serve by building workforce housing communities. However, while some developers, owners and investors see a world of new opportunities in this sector, others are more skeptical that workforce housing projects can be developed on a larger scale without more support from federal, state and local governments. This was the topic of discussion during a panel titled “Who is building, developing and investing in the Southeast?” at the inaugural InterFace Affordable Housing Southeast conference. The event was held on Thursday, May 9 at the Cobb Galleria Center in Atlanta. France Media’s InterFace Conference Group and Southeast Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business magazine hosted the conference, which drew about 170 industry professionals.  Workforce housing targets the missing middle Workforce housing is designed to …

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FeaturesRetail

Shoppers Are Coming Back to the Mall, But Will They Recognize It?

by Jeff Shaw

— By Anthony Sanchez, design director and principal, Nadel Architecture + Planning — Consumers are heading back to the shopping mall, which is great news for retail owners, operators and tenants that rely on in-person sales and experiences as part of their respective business models. According to Placer.ai, February and March of this year saw a steady rise in foot traffic at malls nationally. Indoor malls sit just 5 percent below their pre-pandemic foot traffic levels, while open-air shopping malls surpassed 2019 levels for the first time since the pandemic.  The trend marks an incredible resiliency for the retail space, especially as financing and inflationary issues loom over the economy. But with all these shoppers coming back to the mall, the question is: will they recognize it? Anchors Entering a New Era With news of some larger retailers like Macy’s and the Dollar Store closing locations en masse, developers are chomping at the bit to reimagine those spaces. There is exciting potential to recreate them within malls in ways that enhance the overall shopping experience for consumers and attract new foot traffic – all to the benefit of the existing retailers at the shopping center. The result might be a …

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Affordable HousingFeaturesSoutheast

Prevailing by Planning: Looking Ahead Is Crucial to Affordable Housing Success

by Hayden Spiess

There are a common set of headwinds — such as high construction costs and interest rates — facing the commercial real estate industry at large. But affordable housing development and operations also come with a unique set of challenges all their own. Despite this, panelists at the InterFace Affordable Housing Southeast conference, held May 9 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, expressed an optimistic outlook for the sector.  Closing out the day’s events, speakers on the “Southeast Regional Housing Authorities & Legal Update” panel shared strategies for surviving within the current affordable housing landscape and highlighted the importance of planning ahead to succeed in the sector.  The devil’s in the details Most crucial to navigating the sometimes tumultuous waters of affordable housing is engaging in thorough — even painstaking — preparation, concurred each of the panelists. This is especially true given the current macroeconomic climate and its difficulties.  When asked how her organization confronts these challenges, Yvonda Bean, chief executive officer with Columbia Housing, identified an emphasis on facilitating communication within the project team for planning purposes.  More specifically, Bean reported that Columbia Housing connects the “general contractor with the architect to work on design plans” early on, such that when …

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Affordable HousingConference CoverageDevelopmentFeaturesMultifamilySoutheast Feature Archive

Construction Experts Emphasize Teamwork as Key to Meeting Affordable Housing Building Standards

by Jeff Shaw

ATLANTA — In order to satisfy long-term affordability commitments, builders and designers of affordable housing must be well educated about the sector’s exacting design and construction rules, which are typically driven by the source of a project’s funding. A panel of construction experts speaking at the InterFace Affordable Housing Southeast conference held Thursday, May 9 at Cobb Galleria Centre shared insights about how their industry is meeting these standards today. The inaugural conference hosted by France Media’s InterFace Conference Group and Southeast Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business drew approximately 170 industry professionals. Energy efficiency, teamwork and accessibility were three themes running through the discussion. Accessibility in multifamily construction refers to features that enable people with disabilities or limited mobility to navigate common areas and individual units comfortably and safely. Many of these building features are required by various laws. “Get your consultants, architects and contractors to help you put the deal together,” advised Ross Haynes, chief executive officer of Roswell, Georgia-based Community Construction Group. The company focuses on construction and renovation of affordable housing projects.  “That team is there to understand the code requirements that affect the job, including energy programs and accessibility,” added Haynes. Specific energy-efficiency requirements for affordable housing vary. …

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Affordable HousingDevelopmentFeaturesMultifamily

Public-Private Partnerships: A Creative Approach to Increasing Affordable Housing Supply

by Jeff Shaw

— By John Williams, president, CIO and COO of Avanath Capital Management — It’s no secret that the dire shortage of affordable housing is an ongoing issue throughout the nation. The National Multifamily Housing Council reported in 2022 that the United States would need to build 4.3 million new apartments by 2035 to meet demand. The report also stated that the nation’s number of affordable housing units declined by 4.7 million from 2015 to 2020. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem. Both local and federal governments are taking steps to address the lack of supply in the market. President Biden’s 2024 Economic Report to Congress, for instance, prominently featured plans to increase the supply of and access to affordable housing. In the meantime, however, stakeholders must think outside the box to identify innovative ways to provide attainable housing. One effective way to do this, beyond the standard avenues, is through public-private partnerships. Public-private partnerships are a strategy that can benefit a wide range of stakeholders — including investors, developers, institutional owners, operators, property managers, service providers and leaders in nonprofit and government entities. In addition to serving renters with lower incomes and other specialized needs, actively pursuing these partnerships …

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AcquisitionsAffordable HousingConference CoverageFeaturesGeorgiaMultifamilySoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Volatility Disrupts Investment Sales Activity in Affordable Housing Market, Says InterFace Panel

by John Nelson

ATLANTA — The investment sales market for the affordable housing sector remains muted for one overarching reason: volatility. Cory Sams, executive managing director of GREA (Global Real Estate Advisors), said that a lack of certainty, especially in the capital markets, is giving buyers and sellers of affordable housing properties pause. “The worst thing for a deal is [interest rates] constantly moving around,” she said. “When they were running up and down, every deal fell apart.” Doug Childers, senior managing director of JLL, estimated that affordable housing transaction volume fell 40 percent in 2023 compared with the prior year. For context, multifamily investment sales overall declined by 61 percent year-over-year in 2023, according to MSCI Real Assets (formerly Real Capital Analytics). Childers and Sams made their comments during the investment sales panel of Interface Affordable Housing Southeast, an information and networking conference held at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta on Thursday, May 9. Interface Conference Group and Southeast Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business hosted the event, which drew approximately 170 industry professionals from across the region. Brian Flanagan, regional director of RBC Community Investments, moderated the investment sales panel. Fittingly, Flanagan kicked off the investment sales discussion by asking the …

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FeaturesRetail

Retail Owners Score Big With Sports, Entertainment Concepts 

by Hayden Spiess

Sports and entertainment destinations offer several benefits to retail properties — they boost foot traffic, encourage consumers to linger, complement traditional retail and provide opportunities for refilling vacancies. Pickleball, gaming and music venues are some of the most prolific concepts in today’s experiential marketplace.  “These users draw consumers into a development,” says Tim Katt, managing director of Transwestern Real Estate’s sports and entertainment advisory group. “Their ability to take up large, often dormant spaces and activate them is undeniable.”  Industry professionals emphasize that sports and entertainment tenants play a complementary role for traditional retailers. Steven Mueller, senior project manager with St. Louis-based HDA Architects, says that mixing entertainment concepts like pickleball with attached or adjacent restaurants is an “especially hot combination.” The idea is to entice guests to spend more time and money in a single location.  “Entertainment is complementary to retail in the sense that you get cross-pollination between tenants,” says Beau Arnason, executive vice president of asset performance at Columbus, Ohio-based Steiner + Associates. “You may come to a lifestyle center for an entertainment experience, but stop for food, drinks and shopping along the way.” Properly curating entertainment uses within retail and food-and-beverage spaces provides the opportunity to …

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Build-to-RentFeaturesNorth CarolinaSingle-Family RentalSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Single-Family Rental Communities Suffer Excessive Taxation

by John Nelson

By Gib Laite, Esq. of Williams Mullen Multifamily investors are accustomed to paying property taxes based on an assessor’s opinion of their asset’s income-based market value. But for the growing number of developers and investors assembling communities of single-family homes and townhomes for rent, tax assessment is more complex and potentially troublesome. The difficulty for these taxpayers is that most assessors shun the income approach to valuing single-family rental properties. In the following paragraphs, we examine the roots of this common assessor stance, and explore strategies that may help taxpayers argue for a more predictable, apartment-like treatment for their single-family rental communities. Similar, but different Multifamily construction has delivered a tremendous volume of apartment properties over the past decade. Once stabilized, these assets have been relatively simple to value by relying on market rents, occupancy, expenses, and cap rates. On the heels of this apartment construction, the nation is seeing a proliferation of investor-backed, single-family construction and acquisitions of large blocks of homes and townhouses for use as rental properties. This may take the form of constructing a multitude of homes or townhomes in a single development. Alternatively, it may involve the acquisition of many existing homes or townhomes in …

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Conference CoverageFeaturesStudent HousingTexasTexas & Oklahoma Feature Archive

InterFace Student Housing ‘Power Panel’ Provides Optimistic Outlook for Year Ahead

by John Nelson

AUSTIN, TEXAS — It’s no secret that today’s commercial real estate market can be challenging, whether you’re looking to break ground on a new project or close a transaction. But there’s plenty to be optimistic about in the student housing sector moving forward, according to Peter Katz, executive managing director of Institutional Property Advisors. Katz moderated this year’s “Power Panel,” which kicked off the first full day of the 16th annual InterFace Student Housing conference, held at the JW Marriott in Austin. The panel brought together a consortium of high-level executives to provide their thoughts on the current dynamics in the sector and their outlook for the year ahead.  “I always feel the energy and the excitement in the student housing sector,” began Katz. “And while we feel a sense of tempered exuberance this year, the investment community is still extremely enthusiastic. Consumer strength is coming in hotter than expected and inflationary readings are pushing out the timing of proposed interest rate cuts from The Fed.” Two years into the cycle of tightening from The Fed, investors are recognizing that the price adjustments that have already occurred have now become an acquisition opportunity, Katz continued. “And while there’s still pain …

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Demand for retail space in the first quarter of 2024 has been driven by food-and-beverage, discount and experiential sector tenants.
AcquisitionsContent PartnerDevelopmentFeaturesIndustrialLeasing ActivityLee & AssociatesLoansMidwestMultifamilyNortheastOfficeRetailSoutheastTexasWestern

Lee & Associates Report: Industrial, Office Sectors Face Challenges as Retail, Multifamily Show Positive Trends

by Sarah Daniels

Economic headwinds such as elevated interest rates and persistent inflation led to mixed outcomes in the first quarter for industrial, office, retail and multifamily sectors, with market observers anticipating a contracting economy, as outlined by Lee & Associates’ 2024 Q1 North America Market Report. On the industrial front, market pressures — including interest rates and supply chain challenges — led to higher vacancy in the United States in the first quarter of the year. U.S. office space experienced its fifth consecutive year of contraction, as office worker attendance stagnated. Additional challenges, in the form of loans maturing in a high-rate environment, signal further challenges in the near future for the office landscape. Continued merchant demand, reduced closures and bankruptcies and limited supply converged to create a feeding frenzy for retail space, with vacancies at historic lows. And finally, geographically based factors drove multifamily markets, many of which (especially in the Midwest and Northeast) experienced a rebound in apartment demand fueled by rising consumer sentiment and moderating inflation, despite supply outpacing demand. Lee & Associates has made their full, first-quarter report available here (with breakdowns of cap rates by city, vacancy rates, market rents, inventory square footage and more). The summaries from each sector …

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