It is no secret that the student housing industry was impacted significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic. Few groups felt that more accutely than colleges and universities. New on-campus development slowed dramatically as higher education institutions shifted their focus primarily to keeping classes in session while maintaining student safety. Moving out of the pandemic, new residence hall development has picked up once again — even accelerating past levels seen prior to the pandemic in certain markets. And the focus for many of these new projects is providing collaboration space and allowing for plenty of study room, while keeping costs at a minimum. “When the pandemic started in spring 2020, public-private partnership (P3) activity slowed dramatically as universities and the private sector were forced to address the more immediate issues relating to distance learning implementation, newly enacted health and safety protocols, and mandated government shutdowns,” says James Wilhelm, executive vice president with American Campus Communities (ACC). “However, by fall 2020, certain universities resumed their planning and procurement activities in an effort to position themselves to commence P3 project development in early 2022,” Wilhelm continues. “Since the fall of 2021, we’ve seen P3 planning and procurement activity steadily increase to more normal levels. …
Features
— By Glen Collins, founder of Autside — Many people care deeply about their own wellness — not just fitness and nutrition, but overall physical, emotional and mental health. This has spurred multifamily property decisionmakers to reimagine how amenities can be leveraged to enhance vitality and well-being. The push to improve quality of life for residents offers additional advantages by bolstering tenant retention and making properties more desirable and competitive. Active social spaces enhance well-being According to the Urban Land Institute, top-ranked amenities that appeal most to today’s consumers include those located outdoors where people can meet and socialize, as well as amenities promoting healthy lifestyles. Outdoor living spaces that encourage activeness and social interaction can have powerful impacts on human health and happiness. In fact, numerous studies point to the mood-lifting benefits of recreational fun out in nature, unplugged from technology and dynamically engaged with other people. This much-needed mental break from day-to-day stressors can go a long way toward improving emotional well-being and relationships. The positive effects of physical activities on mind and body are also endorsed by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, a public health authority. “Physical activity’s implications for significant positive effects on …
Interview by Randall Shearin As shopping centers evolve to have more experiential tenants, many owners and operators are looking at design as one way to convey experience to visitors. Adding open-air elements — public gathering spaces, parks, murals —has become popular. Centers are also more open to blending uses than creating retail districts. To gain more insight on the efficacy of these practices and understand how they add value, Shopping Center Business recently interviewed Mitra Esfandiari, partner at Long Beach, California-based RDC, who has worked on a number of forward-thinking centers over the past decade. What follows are her edited responses: Shopping Center Business: How are center owners viewing design as an asset to their properties? Mitra Esfandiari: As architects, we are continuously looking to the future, examining lifestyle, local cultural heritage and demographic trends to be sure we are creating human-centric and authentic places to meet the needs of the community. This approach creates a roadmap that leads the design process for creating experiential and memorable environments that will draw visitors and further entice them to stay longer and repeat their visits. For the past decade, with the emergence of e-commerce and the recent disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer …
By Nellie Day LOS ANGELES — The advice offered by a panel of developers at InterFace Seniors Housing West, held Feb. 2 at the Omni Los Angeles, mirrors the advice many would give to their senior residents. Namely, “stay active and stay creative.” But these verbs take on a slightly different meaning when you’re talking about the smartest plays for seniors housing developers during a time in which key economic conditions are changing. “The smarter operators and developers have been developing pipelines,” said panelist Paul Mullin, principal at Flatiron Development Group. “The key is momentum. Keep momentum going. Keep the pipeline going. Don’t stop because bankers aren’t lending. We’ll all get out of this; it’s just a short-term issue we have to overcome.” The issue of the current market conditions may be short term, but it’s also multifaceted, as David Waite, partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson, pointed out. “The challenges are real,” he said. “You’ve got the spread between bid and ask and a rising-cap-rate environment. To go in and buy an asset today in this market is super challenging because you know it’s going in the wrong direction in terms of the valuation.” The solution, according to Waite, …
‘Conference Season’ Is Underway and Early Feedback Shows Concern Over Low Deal Volume, Office Sector
by John Nelson
By Brennen Degner of DB Capital Management The early part of the real estate industry’s “conference season” brings many quality catch-up conversations, and those talks have included concerns. The biggest takeaways from the expert exchanges regarding the broader market are stagnation in transaction volume, office becoming a four-letter word and, most worrying, the limited number of active deals getting re-traded as though it were the new industry standard. Regarding transaction volume, the majority of individuals I had the pleasure of connecting and reconnecting with maintain that the first quarter will be slow as all eyes are on the February and March moves to be made by the Federal Reserve. The consensus seems to be a couple additional 25 basis point rate increases — modest compared to what was seen through the second half of 2022 — and then some pricing stability while the Fed monitors the impact now making its way into the capital markets from its 2022 moves. Once that leveling off occurs, transaction volume should increase rather quickly as there is significant idle capital that needs to be put to work, along with sellers sitting on the sideline waiting for capital market stability. Regarding office real estate woes, …
‘Conference Season’ is Underway and Early Feedback Shows Concern Over Low Deal Volume, Office Sector
by John Nelson
By Brennen Degner of DB Capital Management The early part of the real estate industry’s “conference season” brings many quality catch-up conversations, and those talks have included concerns. The biggest takeaways from the expert exchanges regarding the broader market are stagnation in transaction volume, office becoming a four-letter word and, most worrying, the limited number of active deals getting re-traded as though it were the new industry standard. Regarding transaction volume, the majority of individuals I had the pleasure of connecting and reconnecting with maintain that the first quarter will be slow as all eyes are on the February and March moves to be made by the Federal Reserve. The consensus seems to be a couple additional 25 basis point rate increases — modest compared to what was seen through the second half of 2022 — and then some pricing stability while the Fed monitors the impact now making its way into the capital markets from its 2022 moves. Once that leveling off occurs, transaction volume should increase rather quickly as there is significant idle capital that needs to be put to work, along with sellers sitting on the sideline waiting for capital market stability. Regarding office real estate woes, …
By Taylor Williams After eight interest rate hikes totaling 450 basis points over the last 10 months, courtesy of the Federal Reserve’s war on inflation, commercial borrowers can only hope that the fundamental law of gravity — “what goes up must come down” — will start to become reality in 2023. But the economic clarity that the commercial lending community seeks is muddied by conflicting agendas. On the one hand, the nation’s central bank has made some headway in taming inflation through the rate hikes. The Consumer Price Index fell from an annual rate of 9.1 percent in June 2022 to 6.5 percent in December, but is still well above the Fed’s 2 percent target rate. On the other hand, expansionary fiscal policy such as the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill signed into law in late 2021 and the $1.7 trillion omnibus appropriations bill passed in December 2022 could undermine the Fed’s efforts to curb inflation, say some economists. The U.S. national debt stood at a record $31.5 trillion as of press time due to the cumulative effect of recessions, wars, tax cuts, the COVID-19 pandemic, and excessive government spending. The ratio of U.S. federal debt to GDP as of press …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With many office buildings, hotels and shopping malls sitting vacant or underutilized, repurposing commercial properties into multifamily housing is growing more commonplace. A recently released report suggests that these conversions could be financially feasible across a broad range of markets and circumstances. “Conversions have existed for decades, but the pandemic has accelerated their growth potential by rendering more commercial properties obsolete,” says Anita Kramer, senior vice president of the ULI Center for Real Estate Economics and Capital Markets. “Our research demonstrates that there’s no ‘cookie-cutter’ formula for executing a successful project, but we do hope the insights that experienced developers shared with us can provide valuable guidance.” Behind the Facade: The Feasibility of Converting Commercial Real Estate to Multifamily was conducted by the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) Research Foundation and the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Housing. The report examines the viability of converting old or under-utilized commercial properties, with data gathered through interviewing the developers of 29 commercial-to-multifamily conversion projects. According to the report, costs can vary based on several factors, particularly the initial acquisition and the demographic the project targets once completed. Most developers reported successful returns on investment regardless of cost, however, …
By Kul Wadhwa, founder & CEO, BeyondView It has been widely broadcasted that commercial leasing and office occupancy have struggled since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with headlines including words and phrasing like “zombie,” “apocalypse,” “urban doom loop” and even “epic crash” routinely making the rounds. As employers, landlords and commercial real estate professionals all grapple with fully remote and hybrid work routines, proptech and its application of artificial intelligence (AI) can prove to be essential tools in accelerating commercial leasing activity and supporting property management. Simply put, digital twin technology looks amazing, is cost-effective and saves time. For real estate professionals looking to streamline processes, digital twin technology eliminates the need for multiple service providers, facilitates a streamlined decision-making process and is more visually appealing than other proptech on the market. In dealing with an uncertain economy, deploying new technologies will offer a smart and versatile troubleshooting platform all while allowing for significant savings. And this relatively new digital offering is only going to get better with time. Real estate’s use of digital twins is the property technology of the future. Digital twins provide an exact digital representation of a physical object and can be developed from various …
It is hard to imagine that anyone could be insulated from the strife currently pervading the economic landscape. Likewise, the rise of e-commerce has for years been permeating everyday life and discussions of commercial real estate. One might think that these two factors in combination would spell depressed retailer expectations. But the opposite turns out to be true: Nearly 70 percent of retail store managers say they are bullish on the current state of retail and its future going into 2023. That’s according to the most recent Outlook Retail Sentiment Survey by Levin Management Corp. (LMC), an owner of 120 shopping centers. Survey respondents are store managers from LMC’s over 1,100 individual tenants. Undeniable obstacles With inflation reaching a 40-year high in June, and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) registering a 9.1 percent increase, a full 80 percent of survey respondents say that they have had to raise prices, with 34.7 percent anticipating further increases. Inflation has now cooled somewhat, with the CPI clocking in at 6.4 percent in January of this year. Nevertheless, it is a factor that continues to put strain on consumers and retailers alike. Considering this, in conjunction with supply chain issues, low supply of labor …