Features

How an Owner Rep Can Fill Gaps Between Designers, Builders

by Taylor Williams July 2, 2020

By Evan Wyner, Senior Director of Commissioning and Energy Services, Colliers Project Leaders Designing a building can be a busy, chaotic and somewhat messy process. It is a complicated negotiation between theory and practice in which architects create the vision and the aesthetic of the building and its related spaces, structural engineers develop the bones that ensure the building is sound. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers develop the systems that help create the experience of the space and keep people comfortable, productive, healthy and safe in the most energy-efficient manner possible. And then there are the owners, who are praying that all this can be done within their budget so they can deliver a building they are proud of to their stakeholders. The design team brings order to this chaos by following a program, developed closely with the owner, to ensure that spaces meet the needs of the occupants. Whether a project is a residential high rise with one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment units or a mix of different office types with open spaces, private offices and a multitude of conference rooms, the design team delivers guidance to achieve a functional space that meets the vision of the owner and …

July 2, 2020

Facility Management Will Require Changes Under New COVID-19 Regulations

by Sarah Daniels July 1, 2020

Facility managers across the nation are sorting through information about the coronavirus and looking at building modifications that can prevent the spread. Owners and tenants alike in the office and retail sectors have turned to facility management professionals to help their businesses thrive under rapidly evolving circumstances. REBusinessOnline recently spoke with three facility management professionals from Lee & Associates via video conference about their company’s approach to facility management during the coronavirus pandemic. Teresa Gascho, Director of Management Services, Indianapolis; Frances Smith, Senior Vice President, Property Manager, Cincinnati; and John Rickert, President-Executive Managing Director, Cincinnati, spoke about how facility managers communicate with tenants, encourage healthy behaviors and support businesses in compassionate and creative ways. Communicating with Tenants About COVID-19 Regulations Early in the pandemic, facility managers were charged with limiting access to properties as buildings shut down. Now that occupants are returning to retail and office buildings, the team at Lee & Associates sees themselves as “facilitators and accommodators” for their tenants. Working to reopen buildings under the guidance and recommendations from state health departments and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) is a lot more involved than closing buildings — and it can be frustrating for all involved. However, Rickert notes, “We’re …

July 1, 2020

Features Office

How COVID-19 Is Drastically Altering Office Design

by Taylor Williams June 30, 2020

By Taylor Williams As office-using companies and employees slowly return to their workplaces, they will see major changes in the layouts and functionalities of their buildings and workspaces as a result of COVID-19 — features and practices that could potentially rewrite the playbook for how architects and engineers approach office projects in the future. Virtually all major components of office design stand to be impacted on some level by COVID-19, a virus that spreads through both shared contact of surfaces and physical proximity among users and employees in buildings. Further, ripple effects exist within the various components of design that have been impacted in the post-COVID-19 office market. In other words, one change in design will beget others. That’s because all of the forthcoming changes have one thing in common: an aim to bolster health and wellness. Building operators must approach all aspects of design with social distancing and heightened sanitation guidelines in mind — a different agenda from the previous ones of comfort, convenience and service. “Moving forward, design is going to be all about safety,” says Ari Rastegar, owner of Austin-based commercial investment firm Rastegar Property Co. “You’re going to see a move away from open layouts and …

June 30, 2020

Features Retail

Brad Umansky Takes Reins of Retail Brokers Network During Interesting Times for Retail

by Jeff Shaw June 26, 2020

As Brad Umansky assumed the volunteer role of president of the Retail Brokers Network in May, the nation — and the retail real estate industry — was in the throes of dealing with closures and stay-in-place orders brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Umansky is president of Rancho Cucamonga, California-based Progressive Real Estate Partners, and spoke with REBusinessOnline’s sister magazine California Centers about assuming his role for the network at this time, and how its members are helping each other cope with the changes that the pandemic has brought to their businesses and their clients’ businesses. CC: How did you get started in the commercial real estate business? Umansky: I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. I had a short stint in the luxury hotel business; I quickly realized that wasn’t for me. My girlfriend at the time — now my wife — was from Southern California, so I moved here. I started doing retail leasing for a small brokerage. I learned the market. I went to Grubb & Ellis, where I was for four years, followed by four years at Lee & Associates. I then moved to investment sales, spending seven years at Sperry Van Ness. In 2007, I decided …

June 26, 2020

Features Student Housing

Student Housing Owners Expect On-Campus Learning Will Return This Fall, Exclusive Survey Reveals

by Jeff Shaw June 24, 2020

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major impact on all aspects of on- and off-campus student housing. In an attempt to better assess that impact and the sector’s outlook for the future, Student Housing Business (SHB) conducted a survey of industry professionals over the course of several weeks in May. The survey was segmented by industry function for specific elements of the business, allowing SHB to better understand the pandemic’s distinct influence on each segment of the industry. Of the survey’s 569 respondents, 79 defined their role in the industry as that of an on-campus housing officer or operator. In this segment of the industry, 38 percent of institutions laid off or furloughed employees and 24 percent instituted pay cuts. Sixty-four percent of respondents noted that they are involved with traditional on-campus residence halls; 10 percent are involved with public-private partnership development; and 26 percent work with both types of residence halls. Of those polled, 88 percent of universities saw residents leave behind clothing and belongings when they moved out in March following evacuation orders due to the pandemic, and 67 percent had not begun the process of turning on-campus housing rooms yet. Looking toward the summer, 60 percent of respondents …

June 24, 2020

Houston multifamily rent & occupancy_rev345tall

Content Partner Features Lument Multifamily RED Capital Group Texas

Weak Oil Price Outlook Puts Houston Multifamily Sector Back on Its Heels

by Sarah Daniels June 23, 2020

Houston is less reliant on the oil and gas industry than it once was, and considerable strides have been made to diversify the economy away from the oil patch. Still, the hard reality remains: Houston’s prosperity and hydrocarbons are intrinsically linked. Decoupling one from the other will be devilishly difficult. The world will derive the preponderance of its energy from oil and gas for decades to come, but market share will continue to diminish, and oil and gas revenue inevitably will stagnate and decline. Developing alternative economic drivers will be challenging, but Houston has the benefit of time on its side. However, the current coronavirus crisis is negatively impacting oil prices and therefore the Houston economy in the near term. Following the shutdown of the global economy to fight COVID-19, the price of a barrel of crude plunged from over $60 — well above the marginal replacement cost from East Texas fields — to less than $20. Although prices recovered to the mid-$30 range recently, they remain below the marginal cost of discovering and extracting a replacement barrel, annulling the incentive to prospect for new reserves or build additional refining and transportation capacity. Indeed, the Houston economy was impacted more …

June 23, 2020

Content Partner Features Multifamily Walker & Dunlop

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Multifamily Appraisal Industry

by Sarah Daniels June 19, 2020

The spread of COVID-19 is impacting all industries and markets — including the appraisal space. That said, appraisers should avoid making long-term assumptions about the impact the virus will have on real estate values. According to the Appraisal Institute, the current environment is fluid: An important part of any appraisal assignment is an analysis of market conditions. The coronavirus threat may be impacting market conditions. However, in most markets, it is not yet clear to what extent, if any, market conditions are affected. Related, complicating factors include fluctuations in the stock market and changes in mortgage interest rates. Market analysis includes observing market reactions. This analysis becomes more complicated when market participants themselves are facing uncertainty. Appraisal reports should include a discussion of market conditions and should mention the coronavirus outbreak and its possible impact. However, it is not appropriate to include a disclaimer or extraordinary assumption that suggests the appraiser is not taking responsibility for the analysis of market conditions. While it is important that multifamily appraisers do not jump to conclusions and make long-term predictions, we must understand the different ways in which COVID-19 is currently impacting the commercial real estate market. It is also important that we …

June 19, 2020

Features Office Retail

U.S. Economy Slowly Recovering from COVID-19 Impact, Says AEW Researcher

by Alex Patton June 17, 2020

As pandemic-driven restrictions steadily ease across the country, all 50 states have now entered some form of gradual economic reopening. Customers are returning to retailers and office workers returning to their cubicles, but businesses are still struggling to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. In a webinar titled “The Future of Real Estate,” Michael Acton, head of research at AEW Capital Management, addressed key reopening data, demographic trends and his real estate outlook for the remainder of 2020 on into 2021. Natixis Investment Managers, a French-based global asset management company, hosted the event on Thursday, June 11. AEW is one of the largest real estate investment managers of all property types in the world, and both companies are headquartered in Boston. One piece of surprisingly good news came early this month when the Department of Labor reported that the U.S. economy added 2.5 million jobs in May. On the downside, slightly over 1.5 million Americans filed for unemployment for the week ending June 6. Approximately 44 million Americans — about one-quarter of the nation’s workforce — have filed for unemployment benefits since mid-March when huge swaths of the American economy went into a lockdown mode to prevent the spread of …

June 17, 2020

Features Industrial Office

Buoyed by Industrial Sector, Market Confidence Improves Slightly Overall Among SIOR Survey Participants

by John Nelson June 15, 2020

The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) has released its second edition of the monthly SIOR Snapshot Sentiment Survey, and overall the association’s industrial specialists felt better about their market’s outlook than their counterparts in the office sector. Patrick Sentner, president-elect of SIOR and executive vice president of CBRE’s Pittsburgh office, says that the growth of e-commerce and the grocery sector during the pandemic are helping boost confidence among industrial brokers. “Certain industrial market segments have seen business increase steadily during the pandemic,” says Sentner. “As such, there has been some solid movement in the industrial sector during the past three months.” The newly created survey provides a snapshot of the industry during a time when the COVID-19 outbreak has significantly impacted the industrial and office sectors. The monthly survey posed three questions to its members, of which around 500 answered for the May edition. The first question asked the progress of transactions currently taking place. The second question asked respondents to rank their level of confidence six months from now for their local markets. The final question let participants write open-ended responses relating to trends and market changes affecting the industrial and office real estate sectors. Overall market …

June 15, 2020

Acquisitions Features Student Housing

Student Housing Business Survey: Investment Sales Volume Largely Dependent on Universities Reopening for Fall Semester

by John Nelson June 11, 2020

By Katie Sloan, Associate Editor of Student Housing Business The coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on all aspects of on- and off-campus student housing. In an attempt to better assess that impact and the sector’s outlook for the future, Student Housing Business conducted a survey of industry professionals over the course of several weeks in May. The survey was separated by industry function for specific elements of the business, allowing SHB to better understand the pandemic’s distinct influence on each segment of the industry. Of the survey’s 569 respondents, 27 defined their company’s role in the industry as that of an investment sales broker. In this segment of the industry, 15 percent of companies let go of or furloughed employees at the corporate level and 30 percent instituted pay cuts. Are investment transactions still happening during the pandemic? The response is mixed, with half of the investment sales brokers polled during SHB’s survey indicating yes and half indicating no. Of those who responded yes, 70 percent are deals that are being re-traded. When asked what kinds of buyers and sellers are still active, the response was predominantly 1031 exchange buyers and sellers and opportunistic buyers looking for dramatic …

June 11, 2020

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