Southeast Feature Archive

InterFace: Industrial Developers Are Fielding More Atypical Requirements from Tenants

by John Nelson June 18, 2026

During his keynote address at InterFace I-85 Industrial Corridor, a two-day conference held May 19-20 at the Hilton Uptown Charlotte, Gregg Healy, executive vice president and head of industrial services at Savills, shared a quote from Charles Darwin to end his presentation. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change.” Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Industrial owners and developers have had to be adaptable given the haymakers issued by macroeconomic forces the past several years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they rode the reinvigorated demand wave for e-commerce fulfillment with large-scale developments in key transportation corridors. In the following years, they scaled down their pipelines to focus on smaller, more targeted requirements as construction and capital costs rose significantly. And since Liberation Day, when the Trump administration declared a sweeping package of tariffs for foreign trade partners and specific commodities in April 2025, industrial developers have been building and leasing facilities for domestic and global manufacturers that were nearshoring their investments. Today, owners and …

June 18, 2026

Features Florida Retail Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Retailers Move Beyond Leasing to Legacy Ownership

by John Nelson June 16, 2026

Earlier this year, Publix Super Markets purchased a portfolio of six Publix-anchored shopping centers in the Southeast for $130.4 million. The Lakeland, Fla.-based grocer has been aggressively growing its ownership portfolio of shopping centers as the company sees value in being its own landlord. Other large anchors like Walmart and Dillard’s have also purchased shopping centers and malls in recent months. Jason Donald, managing director of retail investment sales at Franklin Street, says that it’s not just the big box anchors that are getting in on the trend. Donald represents an undisclosed retail bank that is pursuing this strategy, which he says is becoming more popular as the capital markets make the ownership model more viable, especially for high creditworthy tenants. “With interest rates coming down and money being readily available, the propensity is shifting that tenants now want to own their own assets,” says Donald. “We’re seeing less leasing and more propensity to own, banks and gas stations especially are getting on that train. That’s the shift in the market we’re seeing more than anything else.” REBusinessOnline recently caught up with Donald to discuss the buyer pool for retail properties, as well as other investment sales trends including the …

June 16, 2026

Conference Coverage Features Multifamily North Carolina Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

InterFace: Concessions Remain an Operational Necessity for Multifamily Stakeholders

by John Nelson June 11, 2026

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Midway through a panel discussion comprising apartment operators, moderator Stephanie Garris, director and head of North Carolina at property management firm Arqline, asked the panelists for one thing in multifamily operations that they wish they could stop doing tomorrow. “Offering concessions,” said Dallas Green, regional vice president of RPM Living. “Dallas stole my answer,” said Sherry Yarborough, director of multifamily management Southeast at Drucker & Falk. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. The panelists were part of InterFace Carolinas Multifamily, an annual networking and information conference held on May 21 at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown. The conference, hosted by InterFace Conference Group and Southeast Real Estate Business, brought in 273 attendees. Concessions often take the form of free rent for a set period, typically one or two months. Renters at newly delivered properties can get up to three months of free rent in some markets today, with longer rent-free periods reserved for those who sign longer term leases or for signing a lease within 24 to 48 hours of touring the property. Yarborough said …

June 11, 2026

Affordable Housing Conference Coverage Features Southeast Feature Archive

InterFace Panel: Affordable Housing Deal Flow Gains Momentum as Brokers Turn Bullish

by Abby Cox June 4, 2026

ATLANTA — For much of the past two years, affordable housing transactions in the Southeast moved at a measured pace, slowed by severe cost burdens on both renters and prospective buyers and widening supply deficits. But inside this year’s InterFace Affordable Housing Southeast show, a networking and information conference held at The Westin Buckhead Atlanta on May 12, the tone has shifted. Phones are ringing again, deals are re-entering the pipeline and investors are showing a renewed willingness to chase affordable housing opportunities across the region. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Rachel Chapman, national account executive of Stewart Title Guaranty Co., moderated the discussion, entitled “Brokers, Buyers and Capital.” The investment sales panel notably reverted to a subject and question that’s shaping much of today’s affordable housing market: with elevated borrowing costs and general economic uncertainty, why is transaction activity accelerating? Necessitating that question for developers and brokers are the thorns still present in the industry, such as the lengthy process of securing and pricing loans, interest rate volatility and capital markets shifts. Even with these headwinds, …

June 4, 2026

Affordable Housing Conference Coverage Features Multifamily Multifamily & Affordable Housing Feature Archive Southeast Feature Archive

InterFace Panel: Architects Share Solutions to Affordable Housing Delivery Gaps

by Kristin Harlow June 2, 2026

Affordable housing developers are under pressure to deliver more units at a time when financing, approvals, construction pricing and long development timelines can easily slow projects down. At InterFace Affordable Housing Southeast, architects and construction leaders emphasized the importance of early collaboration among developers, designers, lenders and public-sector partners. They also explored how modular construction, mass timber, light-gauge steel framing and energy-efficient strategies are being used to control costs, shorten schedules and improve long-term operations. The panelists agreed that design decisions in affordable housing are increasingly tied to insurance costs, maintenance expenses and resident quality of life. The panel’s central message: affordable housing must pencil out financially, but it also must be built to best support all aspects of the communities it serves. Read the full story here.

June 2, 2026

Conference Coverage Features Industrial North Carolina Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Utilities, Infrastructure Can Make or Break the Next Cycle of Industrial Development, Say InterFace Panelists

by John Nelson May 28, 2026

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The U.S. industrial real estate sector has been on a long rebound from the supply wave following the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 2.5 billion square feet of industrial space was delivered between 2020 and 2025, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield. In the Southeast, deliveries were especially pronounced, most notably in the high-growth I-85 industrial corridor that spans from Montgomery, Ala., to south Richmond, Va. The 666-mile interstates traverses through Atlanta, Greenville-Spartanburg, Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad (Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem) and Raleigh-Durham. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Gregg Healy, executive vice president and head of industrial services at Savills, says that since the beginning of 2022, nearly 250 million square feet of industrial space has been delivered along the I-85 corridor, which has taken longer to be absorbed than anticipated. “We were oversupplied, not just in the I-85 corridor, but nationally, because of the post-COVID boom when everyone was developing,” says Healy. “But vacancy rates did drop in the first quarter of 2026 for the first time in three …

May 28, 2026

District of Columbia Features Healthcare Industrial Loans Multifamily Office Retail Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

MBA: Commercial, Multifamily Borrowing Increased 52 Percent in First-Quarter 2026

by John Nelson May 12, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations were 52 percent higher in the first quarter of 2026 compared to first-quarter 2025, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations. First-quarter production falls in line with the organization’s 2026 forecast made in February that commercial and multifamily loan originations this year would increase by 27 percent compared to 2025. Among capital sources, the dollar volume of loans originated for investor-driven lenders increased by 133 percent year-over-year in the first quarter. There was also an 80 percent increase in loans for depositories (i.e. banks and credit unions); a 38 percent increase in government-sponsored enterprises (i.e. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac); and a 9 percent increase in life company loans. There was also a14 percent decline in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loans compared to a year ago. “The most notable increase was the 80 percent rise in depository lending, driven in part by the large volume of bank-held loans maturing this year and the need to refinance those positions,” says Reggie Booker, MBA’s associate vice president of commercial research. “The slowdown [from fourth-quarter 2025] is consistent with typical first-quarter seasonality and does not detract from …

May 12, 2026

Features Office Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Next Generation of Office Space Is Designed to Perform

by John Nelson April 23, 2026

Walk through almost any office today and you will likely see a familiar scene: employees sitting at their desks wearing headphones, speaking into laptops and participating in video calls. Some are presenting to colleagues working remotely. Others are joining quick internal check-ins or connecting with clients across the country. Individually, these conversations are part of the normal rhythm of modern work. Together, they can create a surprising amount of background noise. This reality is one of the biggest forces reshaping office design. For years, workplace design emphasized openness. Walls came down, benching systems replaced private offices and large collaboration areas were introduced to encourage interaction. But as hybrid work has become the norm, organizations are recognizing that offices must support a wider range of activities than they once did. Employees still come to the office to collaborate and connect. At the same time, many arrive with schedules filled with focused individual work and virtual meetings that require quiet and concentration. As a result, workplace design is evolving. Instead of choosing between open offices and private offices, organizations are focusing on balance, creating workplaces that support focus, collaboration and connection within the same space. Privacy returning to offices One of the …

April 23, 2026

Development Features Retail Southeast Southeast Feature Archive Virginia

CoStar: U.S. Retail Construction Activity Remains Stymied Through the First Quarter

by John Nelson April 9, 2026

ARLINGTON, VA. — U.S. retail construction activity totaled 64.2 million square feet in the first quarter, down from 70 million square feet in first-quarter 2025 and well below the 10-year average (+90 million square feet), according to research from CoStar Group. Brandon Svec, national director of retail analytics at CoStar Group, points to multiple governors for new retail construction, including the popularity of e-commerce, competition from other property types and the previous cycles of broad-based expansion in the retail industry. Additionally, he says elevated costs for land, construction materials, labor and debt have made it difficult for retail developers to justify new construction. “The pullback in construction reflects a development environment that remains difficult to pencil in most markets,” says Svec. “Even in markets with strong population growth and leasing demand, achieving returns that justify ground-up construction has become increasingly challenging.” Data from the Arlington-based commercial real estate information and analytics firm shows that the nation’s retail development pipeline is sinking to levels not seen since the previous two cyclical lows: the early stages of the COVID-19 recovery and coming out of the Great Financial Crisis in 2011. Among markets tracked by CoStar, three Texas markets are leading the way …

April 9, 2026

Features Georgia Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Why Bankruptcy Is Still Catching Lenders Off Guard

by John Nelson March 3, 2026

The commercial real estate industry has spent the past two years bracing for the next wave of loan losses as elevated interest rates collided with loan maturities. Instead of a wave of payoffs, many loans are still working through extensions and modifications while asset values are being deliberated. Lenders know how to model foreclosure risk. Bankruptcy risk? That’s where the real losses hide. A Class A asset with Class C governance is a Class C risk. Foreclosure risk can be modeled. Expected losses predicted. Timelines are known by state. Recovery assumptions can be debated. Cash flows stress tested and ultimately approved by a committee. Even when outcomes are unpleasant, they are at least visible, quantifiable and expected. Bankruptcy is different — and far more dangerous for lenders. The gap between foreclosure and bankruptcy is where some of the largest loan losses are being created, and painful lessons learned. Counterintuitively, bankruptcy risk runs higher in non-judicial states like Georgia, where 60-day foreclosures create incentive for borrowers to file. In longer-timeline states like New York, foreclosures can stretch 18 months, giving borrowers the luxury of time. Those foreclosure timelines are generally well known and accepted by both sides, which makes outcomes predictable. …

March 3, 2026

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