Features

How Developers Implement Seriously Smart Amenities in Student Housing

by Katie Sloan September 26, 2019

Student housing amenities used to have a reputation in the popular press and in most multifamily circles for over-the-top extravagance. “Millennials came into the space when it was an all-out amenities war,” says Madison Meier, vice president of business development at Austin, Texas-based Campus Advantage. “Everyone was on standby wondering, ‘What’s going to be the next big thing? Lazy river? Climbing wall? Golf simulator? It felt like every developer was grasping at straws to find their unique, defining amenity.” A generational changing of the guard, along with rising construction costs, has muted some of those larger-than-life community perks. The New York Times recently interviewed Campus Advantage about this very topic, having caught wind of the company’s promotion of its intangible “success amenities.” The article, published on June 25, says student housing amenities today directly support the gig economy through shared study spaces, sophisticated digital networks and well-planned fitness centers. Mental, social and financial health are the main aspirations of Gen Z, where extravagance takes the form of Peloton bikes and creatively designed, high-tech study nooks that do double duty as flexible social space. Campus Advantage’s success amenities are provided by its Students First residence life program, which preps students to …

September 26, 2019

Features Retail

Retailers Look to Capture the ‘Laptops and Lattes’ Crowd

by Jeff Shaw September 24, 2019

LOS ANGELES — The four F’s may need to move over: there’s a new consonant in town. While fun, food, fitness and fashion are still category staples in shopping centers, retailers at ICSC’s Western Conference & Deal Making event, held Sept. 16 to 18 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, are now interested in courting the two L’s: laptops and lattes. “We do really well with the laptops and lattes crowd,” said Felicia Alexander, a Health & Wellness panelist and co-founder and co-owner of BoxUnion boxing studio. “We look at daytime population, but residential density is also really important to us.” Alexander’s sentiments were reiterated throughout the three-day conference as retailers began to prioritize what the customer is lacking above what they’re selling. “Shopping center owners and retailers alike are forced to acknowledge that time has become consumers’ most important commodity, even perhaps more so than money,” said Dan Villalpando, attendee and partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson. “Getting the consumer to part with their time has become paramount to the success of a shopping center.” Putting Time On Your Side For BoxUnion, prioritizing a member’s time means keeping the workout to 45 minutes, publishing extremely detailed instructions on parking on …

September 24, 2019

Conference Coverage Features Industrial Texas Texas & Oklahoma Feature Archive

InterFace Panel: Deal Size, Institutional Capital, Infrastructure Have Fueled DFW Industrial Growth

by Taylor Williams September 19, 2019

DALLAS — Over the last decade, the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) industrial market has transitioned from the middle of the pack of major U.S. industrial markets to Tier-1 status in terms of leasing and development, and the drivers extend beyond job and population growth. So went the opening conversation of the development panel of the InterFace DFW Industrial conference, held Sept. 4 at the Westin Galleria hotel and attended by more than 200 industry professionals in its first year of existence. Moderated by Keith Holley, partner at Method Architecture, the panel wasted no time in providing quantitative evidence of DFW’s emergence as a leading industrial market. Panelist Tony Creme, senior vice president at Hillwood, backed this assertion by pointing out that since the recession, the market has averaged about 25 million square feet of new deliveries per year. That rate of development puts DFW on pace to exceed 1 billion square feet by 2021, joining Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles as the only U.S. markets with that much inventory. “We’ve got about 36 million square feet of product under construction, which is about 40 percent preleased,” said Creme, citing numbers from CoStar Group. “That’s helping to temper development a little bit. …

September 19, 2019

Features Healthcare

Top Three Reasons Healthcare Real Estate is Recession-Resistant

by Alex Tostado September 18, 2019

This has been a roller coaster of a year when it comes to the economy, and many are talking about the potential of a recession happening very soon. According to the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, August has been just slightly down. Consumer spending makes up 70 percent of the U.S. economy. If sentiment moves down, consumers and purchasing managers begin to curtail spending and an economic slowdown is inevitable. Unfortunately, the more the news and articles focus on the impending recession, the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Other signs that point toward a potential recession include an unemployment rate that is at the lowest point in 49 years, trade wars that are causing material prices to increase, and geopolitical unrest abroad that could have a huge impact on the U.S. economy. On the bright side, wages appear to be moving up, initial unemployment claims remain low, interest rates support continued investment and inflation remains in check. There is a close correlation between real estate values and the health of the U.S. economy, but like most things, it is quite nuanced. As companies retract and give back space, occupancies fall and therefore so does the value of commercial real estate. …

September 18, 2019

Features

Janet Yellen: Trade War Could Trip Up a U.S. Economy on Solid Footing

by Jeff Shaw September 17, 2019

CHICAGO — Riding the strength of a strong labor market and robust consumer spending, the U.S. economy remains healthy, asserts former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. But she cautions that a weak business investment climate, fallout from President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with China and the slowdown in the global economy have led to increased downside risks to the near-term outlook. “There are a lot of recession fears out there. There are reasons to worry, but I think saying the economy is in a good place and is doing fine so far is an important starting point,” says the 73-year-old economist with the Brookings Institution and a proud baby boomer. Still, it’s possible that a trade war with China could ultimately be the shock to the U.S. economy that triggers a recession, according to Yellen. “It certainly resulted in a downturn in investment spending. It’s led to a moderation in growth throughout the global economy, although that’s not the only factor,” points out Yellen, referring to Brexit and other geopolitical risks. Yellen’s comments came last Thursday, Sept. 12, during a nearly hour-long interview with Kathleen Hays, Bloomberg Media’s global economics and policy editor, at the 2019 NIC Fall Conference. …

September 17, 2019

Conference Coverage Features Multifamily Texas Texas & Oklahoma Feature Archive

InterFace Panel: Fickle Nature of Renter Tastes Creates Challenges for Multifamily Architects, Contractors

by Taylor Williams September 16, 2019

DALLAS — Multifamily projects are becoming more costly and time-consuming to complete, and the need to cultivate a unique amenity package that differentiates a property from the competition is contributing to inflated budgets and lengthier timelines. As noted by a panel of multifamily architects and construction managers at the InterFace Multifamily Texas on Sept. 5, the definition of what constitutes an ideal amenity package is in a constant state of flux. The event, held at the Westin Galleria hotel in Dallas, drew more than 225 attendees. The complications of designing and building multifamily communities are challenging and costly enough. That the amenities are subject to ever-changing consumer tastes adds another layer of complexity to maintaining project costs and schedules. Yet curating the right mix is a critical part of product differentiation in saturated markets. Many amenities found in new properties reflect broader changes in consumer behavior, which is fickle by definition. Features such as Amazon package lockers, rideshare lounges, electric car charging stations and coworking office space exemplify how changes in the ways people shop, travel and work are trickling down to the design and construction of apartment communities. “In our world, projects are increasingly complex,” said moderator Spencer Stuart, …

September 16, 2019

Conference Coverage Features Georgia Seniors Housing Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Memory Care is Down But Not Out, Say Investors

by John Nelson September 12, 2019

ATLANTA — Seniors housing investors are pumping the brakes on acquiring memory care facilities as the property type’s fundamentals and high turnover have proven to be worrisome. That’s according to an investment panel during the annual InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast conference. Held on Wednesday, Aug. 28 at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, the one-day conference attracted more than 430 seniors housing professionals from all over the Southeast. Memory care is a subsector of seniors housing real estate for seniors suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. According to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC), memory care is often located within assisted living facilities but also exists in standalone settings. Memory care residents are typically separated from assisted living residents in a secured area with specialized programming. The panelists said that memory care was a hot product type in the recent past but that the sector’s current distress is a direct result of overzealous developers. “Memory care was low hanging fruit for developers but now it has become overbuilt and has fallen out of favor,” said the panel’s moderator Adam Heavenrich, managing director of Heavenrich & Co., a seniors housing investment brokerage firm based in Chicago. …

September 12, 2019

Features Northeast Northeast Feature Archive

Environmental Contamination Reduces Market Value

by Taylor Williams September 12, 2019

Owners of properties with environmental contamination already carry the financial burden of removal or remediation costs, whether they cure the problem themselves or sell to a buyer who is sure to deduct anticipated remediation expenses from the sale price. Fortunately, New York law allows those property owners to reduce their property tax burden to reflect their asset’s compromised value. Tax Types Most local governments in the United States impose a property tax on real estate as a primary source of revenue, levied and calculated by either ad valorem or specific means. Latin for “according to value,” ad valorem taxes are imposed proportionately based upon thecurrent market value of the property. Thus, the higher the market value, the higher the real estate tax. Specific taxes, on the other hand, are fixed sums without regard to underlying real estate value. School, county and town governments nearly always compute real property taxes using the ad valorem method, whereas lighting, garbage or sewer districts typically apply specific taxes. Because school and county/town taxes account for the overwhelming majority of a property tax bill, property owners frequently use assessment litigation concerning the market value of the subject property to reduce assessments and, as a result, …

September 12, 2019

Features Georgia Multifamily Seniors Housing Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Independent Living Struggles to Keep Up With Active Adult, Say Conference Panelists

by Alex Patton September 11, 2019

ATLANTA — Seniors housing operators and developers are facing pressure to adapt as a new category of lower-acuity housing rises in popularity. The new player in the seniors housing game — active adult — is undercutting independent living developers by appealing to a slightly younger population of empty nesters and retirees. Active adult housing refers to residential communities designed for residents age 55 and older, but often do not have a strict age restriction. These are multifamily or single-family homes that often include amenities typically enjoyed by older residents, such as golf courses and clubhouses, but do not market themselves as full-fledged seniors housing. Independent living communities are structured similarly but often carry a strict age restriction of approximately 65 years old, and will sometimes offer basic assistance such as dining or laundry services. Independent living developers often struggle to attract residents when their target demographic of able-bodied senior citizens moves into nearby active adult communities 10 years early. Many of them will not move again until they are ready for assisted living or skilled nursing. “Independent living residents haven’t changed; the places where they are residing and the services they want that have changed, but we have stayed the …

September 11, 2019

Conference Coverage Features Multifamily Texas Texas & Oklahoma Feature Archive

InterFace Panel: DFW Multifamily Developers Must Stand Out from the Crowd

by Taylor Williams September 11, 2019

DALLAS — When developing multifamily product in a market that has added more than 20,000 new units in each of the past three years, distinguishing a community from its peers isn’t just important — it’s essential. According to data from CoStar Group, the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex added approximately 70,000 multifamily units between 2016 and 2018. The market has also absorbed more than 25,000 units over the last 12 months, a period in which only about 23,000 apartments were delivered. Vacancy currently sits at 7.5 percent. A panel of developers at the eighth annual InterFace Multifamily Texas conference discussed best practices for differentiating a property in a market that is not only teeming with new supply, but also home to segments of sophisticated renters. Held on Sept. 5 at the Westin Galleria hotel in Dallas, the event drew more than 225 attendees. Drew Kile, senior vice president at Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, moderated the panel. Cultivating A Story Whether by the inclusion of an unusual amenity, the delivery of distinct unit mix that is perfectly targeted to the surrounding demographic or the ascription of a unique story behind the project, multifamily developers in DFW simply …

September 11, 2019

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