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Southeast Feature Archive

MOL Benefactor, Port of Savannah
FeaturesIndustrialSoutheast Feature ArchiveTop Stories

Southeastern Ports Adjust to Expanded Panama Canal

by Jeff Shaw

The Southeast’s top seaports and their surrounding industrial real estate markets have braced themselves for years for the larger post-Panamax vessels that can now pass through the newly expanded Panama Canal. The 102-year-old canal opened in late June 2016 following its $5.4 billion expansion, creating a shortcut for the larger ocean carriers coming from Asia. The opening of Panama Canal’s expansion was delayed by two years, missing the 100-year anniversary of its 1914 debut. Shipping companies had their larger vessels in place, though, and decided to ship those vessels to the East Coast via the Suez Canal, according to Walter Kemmsies, managing director, economist and chief strategist of JLL’s U.S. Ports, Airports and Global Infrastructure Group. “As the Panama Canal gets through the learning curve, we’re seeing the number of weekly transits increase, and we’re still in that phase and perhaps will be for the next six months,” says Kemmsies, who is currently engaged with three of the top five seaports in the United States on their master plans. “The ocean carriers are starting to scrap their smaller vessels and moving their services back from the Suez Canal to go through the Panama Canal. Right now the East Coast has …

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Modera by Mill Creek-Morningside, Atlanta
FeaturesMultifamilySoutheast Feature ArchiveTop Stories

Multifamily Opportunities Lie in Niche Product, Amenity-Rich Neighborhoods

by Jeff Shaw

Following years of frenzied development across the country, the multifamily industry is entering a slowdown period where developers have fewer starts and even fewer completions. As of the end of October, multifamily starts are down 1.8 percent year-to-date compared to this time last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Year-to-date completions are down 3.1 percent in that same time frame. “We’re entering a more normalized market going forward, as opposed to an aggressive development market of the past few years,” says Steven Shores, president and co-founder of Pollack Shores, an Atlanta-based multifamily developer. “I don’t view it as a negative. In a lot of respects, we were trying to catch up with demand in the years immediately following the recession where there was no new development.” Core submarkets within major metros saw the bulk of new multifamily construction in the years following the downturn as developers were answering renter demand to live within close proximity of employment centers, dining, shopping and entertainment. Construction in those submarkets is now slowing as those sites have become more difficult to come by, in addition to the existing governors of construction such as the industry’s …

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FeaturesHeartland Feature ArchiveMidwestNortheastNortheast Feature ArchiveSoutheastSoutheast Feature ArchiveTexasTexas & Oklahoma Feature ArchiveTop StoriesWesternWestern Feature Archive

Forecast Survey: What’s Your Take on Real Estate in 2017?

by John Nelson

REBusinessOnline.com is conducting a brief online survey of brokers, lenders and the owner/developer/manager community to gauge market expectations for 2017, and we welcome your participation. This survey should only take a few minutes to complete. The results will appear as a news feature story in the January 2017 issues of the regional publications. Questions cover a variety of topics, ranging from the outlook for investment sales and leasing activity in 2017 to development and lending opportunities to interest rates. Note: We prefer to attribute comments we quote from open-ended responses, however you may respond anonymously if you prefer. To take our 2017 broker survey, please click here To take our 2017 developer/owner/manager survey, please click here To take our 2017 lender survey, please click here Thanks for your participation! Matt Valley Editorial Director of Regional Real Estate Publications France Media, Inc.

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Conference CoverageFeaturesMultifamilySeniors HousingSoutheast Feature ArchiveTop Stories

More Flexibility, Consumer Choice Will Be Key to Future Seniors Housing Development, Say InterFace Panelists

by Jeff Shaw

ATLANTA — With so many new facilities and operational models altering the seniors housing landscape, what will be the key to a successful seniors housing development in the future? According to panelists at the InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast Conference, the answer is flexibility. Colleen Blumenthal, managing director with Florida-based seniors housing advisory firm HealthTrust, moderated the “State of the Industry” panel at the event, which drew approximately 315 industry professionals to the Westin Buckhead in Atlanta on Aug. 25. The panelists included Richard Hutchinson, president and CFO of Florida-based owner-operator Discovery Senior Living; Joe Weisenburger, vice president of seniors housing for Ohio-based REIT Welltower; Kevin Pascoe, executive vice president of investments for Tennessee-based REIT National Health Investors (NHI); Charles Turner, president of Texas-based developer PinPoint Senior Living; and Mark Spiegel, president of Georgia-based developer Formation Development Group. Flexible Spaces Create Agile Buildings When asked about the successful seniors housing communities of the future, several panelists cited flexibility as a top consideration — including everything from room sizes to price point to use of common spaces. “As we’re building new product, we’re trying not to have common areas that guess what the future trends are going to be,” said Spiegel. Formation …

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Conference CoverageFeaturesGeorgiaSeniors HousingSoutheastSoutheast Feature ArchiveTop Stories

Should Seniors Housing Developers Focus More on Hospitality or Healthcare?

by John Nelson

ATLANTA — Seniors housing by design has both elements of hospitality and healthcare. But which is more important to developers trying to build the next wave of senior facilities? Each developer has a different opinion, based on a development panel at the third-annual InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast conference, held Aug. 25 at the Westin Buckhead in Atlanta. The all-day event drew approximately 315 industry professionals. Zach Bowyer, managing director of CBRE, moderated the panel entitled “The Outlook for Seniors Housing Development: What’s Being Built, Where, and are Supply and Demand in Balance?” Jeff Arnold, chief operating officer of The United Group of Cos., mostly develops independent living assets in New York, Florida and Georgia. Arnold’s main concern is with the hospitality side of the business, as his projects tend to be lower acuity than some of his counterparts on the stage. “From a design standpoint, we’re trying to drive our age down as much as we can. Right now we trend at about 78 years old. If we could push that under 75, that will give us longevity,” said Arnold. “We try to design more active communities, focusing on things that are more modern.” The independent living sector has legs …

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Sonesta-Hilton-Head-Sims-Patrick-Studio-Interior-Design
FeaturesHospitalitySoutheast Feature ArchiveTop Stories

Coordination Between Hotel Renovation Team Members Is Key to Achieving ‘Wow’ Factor

by Haisten Willis

ATLANTA — There are many moving parts when refreshing or renovating a hotel property, and the key is engaging everyone involved early and often. This was the message delivered on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, by a panel of hospitality experts during the 28th annual Hunter Hotel Conference held at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. Titled “Design to Inspire: Creating the Unexpected,” the breakout session featured a four-member panel that included Libby Patrick, president of Atlanta-based interior design firm Sims Patrick Studio; Bethany Warner, director of design management for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide; Sam Cicero Jr., president of Plainfield, Ill.-based Cicero’s Development Corp., a general contractor specializing in commercial renovation; and Alan Benjamin, president of Boulder, Colo.-based Benjamin West, a furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) purchasing firm. Johnathan Nehmer, chairman and founder of Rockville, Md.-based architecture firm Jonathan Nehmer + Associates, served as moderator. The session was the first design-focused panel in the conference’s history. “How do we create the unexpected in design?” asked Nehmer. “How do we put that ‘wow’ factor out there and what role does design play in the hospitality experience? What we’re going to talk about today is how designers and contractors and purchasing agents do that.” …

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Gwinnett Panel
FeaturesGeorgiaSoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

Public, Private Initiatives Have Gwinnett County Poised to Take Off

by John Nelson

ATLANTA — Gwinnett County in metro Atlanta is flush with opportunity for commercial real estate investors and developers. The county boasts the most diversified demographic makeup in the entire Southeast and is one of the 20 most populous counties in the United States, with 890,000 residents. The county has grown by 250,000 in the past 10 years. Within the county is Gwinnett Place, a district situated off Pleasant Hill and I-85 that supports 2.5 million square feet of Class A office space, 15.7 million square feet of industrial space and 7.7 million square feet of retail space. Anchored by the once-bustling Gwinnett Place Mall, the district’s retail market has a 93 percent occupancy rate. The mall was recently taken out of receivership and the new owner — Moonbeam Capital — is positioning the mall for a major turnaround. The office market’s occupancy rate currently hovers at 81 percent, but the county is home to two companies in the Fortune 500 — AGCO Corp. and Asbury Automotive — as well as regional mainstays like Waffle House. NCR Corp. is still headquartered in Duluth, but the tech firm, also in the Fortune 500, announced its plans in January to move its headquarters …

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State of the Market InterFace Carolinas
Conference CoverageFeaturesSoutheast Feature Archive

Carolinas’ Commercial Real Estate Activity Described as ‘Frothy’ by InterFace Carolinas Panelists

by John Nelson

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Things are feeling a little frothy in the Carolinas, according to Wells Fargo senior economist Mark Vitner, who opened the sixth-annual InterFace Carolinas show with a keynote economic overview on topics such as oil prices, interest rates, single-family housing and overall economic growth. “Nobody wants to use the term ‘bubble’, but ‘froth’ seems to be the right tone,” said Vitner, addressing more than 200 commercial real estate brokers, developers, investors, lenders, owners and managers last Wednesday, June 3 at the Charlotte Convention Center in downtown Charlotte. InterFace Carolinas featured panels discussing the state of commercial real estate in the Carolinas, the economic health of the region, capital markets and the health of the four principal property types — office, retail, industrial and multifamily. Vitner set the table for the conference with his valuation of the market as frothy, a term that Investopedia describes as the market condition preceding an actual market bubble where demand for assets drives their prices to unsustainable levels. “The Carolinas are very frothy,” echoed Larry Brown, president of Starwood Mortgage Capital, during the capital markets panel. “The bond buying community thinks it’s very frothy, it’s getting to very aggressive levels. If you’re a …

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FeaturesSoutheast Feature Archive

Roundtable: Economic Developers Stay Busy

by John Nelson

As national and international companies like Target, Under Armour, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are expanding their presence in the Southeast, what often gets lost in the shuffle is the behind-the-scenes work done by economic developers in the region. Whether they work for the government, an independent coalition or a branch of a utility company or railroad, economic developers have helped shape the Southeast’s commercial real estate landscape by recruiting and servicing clients around the world. To get a better sense of the day-to-day work necessary to land deals big and small, Southeast Real Estate Business recently spoke with three economic developers in Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina. Ben Teague is the senior vice president and executive director of Asheville-Buncombe County’s Economic Development Coalition. Part of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, the organization has helped recruit 50 businesses to the market the past six years for a capital investment of approximately $1.1 billion. Nitin Motwani is the economic development and marketing chairman of the Miami Downtown Development Authority (DDA). The DDA is an independent pubic agency of the city of Miami and is funded by a special tax levy on properties in its district boundaries. Motwani leads the DDA’s hedge fund initiative …

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CBRE-Atlanta
FeaturesOfficeSoutheast Feature ArchiveTop Stories

Demand For Tech Workers Drives Atlanta Office Market, Says CBRE

by Haisten Willis

LOS ANGELES — Tech talent clustering is a growing driver of demand for office space in both large and small markets across the U.S., according to a new CBRE Research report, “Scoring Tech Talent,” which ranks 50 U.S. markets according to their ability to attract and grow tech talent. Atlanta ranks as number 10 on the overall tech talent list, and has the lowest apartment rents, cost of living, occupancy costs and overall cost of doing business when compared with the other cities in the top 10 (Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Francisco Peninsula, New York, Seattle, Boston, Baltimore and Austin). While established tech markets like San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Seattle dominated the top spots on the “Tech Talent Scorecard,” many smaller, up-and-coming markets stood out as top “momentum markets” based on tech talent growth rates. Oklahoma City and Nashville had tech talent growth rates of 39 percent between 2010 and 2013, higher than Seattle (38 percent) and just below that of San Francisco (44 percent) and Baltimore (42 percent). Portland, Ore., and Charlotte both saw tech talent growth rates of 28 percent, outpacing well-known tech markets like Austin (26.5 percent), Silicon Valley (20.8 percent) and Los Angeles …

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