BETHESDA, MD. — Marriott International (Nasdaq: MAR) has reported that its second-quarter revenue per available room (RevPAR) declined 84.4 percent worldwide at its hotels due to the coronavirus pandemic. RevPAR in its North American portfolio dropped 83.6 percent. Additionally, the hotelier’s occupancy rates are slowly recovering, having reached 34 percent during the week ending Aug. 1 after bottoming out at 11 percent April 11. Currently, 91 percent of the company’s hotels are open, compared to 74 percent in April. Marriott reported a net loss of $210 million in the second quarter, a significant drop from second-quarter 2019 when the company gained $525 million. The Bethesda-based company is seeing bright spots when it comes to its international recovery, especially in the area it refers to as “Greater China” (the area encompassing China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan). “Greater China continues to lead the recovery,” says Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott. “As of early May, all our hotels in the region are open, and occupancy levels are now reaching 60 percent, compared to 70 percent the same time last year. While Greater China’s recovery was originally led by demand from leisure travelers, particularly in resorts and drive-to destinations, we are now seeing …
DALLAS — VEREIT Inc. and Ocean West Capital Partners LLC have teamed up to acquire a 2.3 million-square-foot industrial facility in Dallas. The newly built property is located at 9314 W. Jefferson Blvd. and is fully leased to The Home Depot. NorthPoint Development sold the build-to-suit property to the buyers for $246.7 million. The Missouri-based developer is staying on as a joint venture partner. There are 20 years remaining on the lease with The Home Depot. “The property’s logistically desirable location along with the tenant’s creditworthiness and the established long-term lease make this a strong investment for the growing partnership,” says Thomas Roberts, VEREIT’s executive vice president and chief investment officer. The property, known as Dallas Global Industrial Center, offers access to Interstate 30, Texas Highway 161, Loop 12, Interstate 20 and Interstate 35E. The park also has a direct spur from the main Union Pacific Rail Service line. The acquisition is the latest in VEREIT’s (NYSE: VER) partnership with Korea Investment & Securities Co. Ltd., a global financial services firm based in Korea that Ocean West advises, as well as Tiger Alternative Investors Ltd. To date, the VEREIT-led partnership has bought seven Class A, single-tenant industrial properties totaling $653.7 …
CALABASAS, CALIF. — Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI) reported total revenues of $117.4 million in the second quarter, compared with $209.6 million during the same period a year ago, a 44 percent decrease, according to the company’s latest quarterly results released Thursday. The precipitous drop in revenue resulted in net income of $106,000 for the second quarter that ended June 30, compared with $21.3 million for the same period in 2019. The decline in total revenues was driven by the decrease in real estate brokerage commissions, financing fees and other revenues due primarily to the COVID-19 pandemic, the earnings release stated. “The health crisis and economic shutdown resulted in major market disruption during the second quarter with an estimated decline of roughly 60 percent in market transactions,” explained Hessam Nadji, president and CEO of the Calabasas-based firm. “Our team worked extremely hard to take care of our clients’ needs in a difficult environment, which resulted in 1,075 closed brokerage transactions.” Nadji added that the company’s long-term focus is on the continued hiring of experienced agents, investments in technology and strategic acquisitions. “We are positioning MMI to lead an eventual recovery in real estate transactions facilitated by record-low interest rates and …
KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Urban Outfitters (Nasdaq: URBN) has announced plans to develop a $350 million omni-channel distribution center near Kansas City. The 880,000-square-foot development will be located on ancillary land owned by the Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County, roughly 15 miles outside downtown Kansas City. The Philadelphia-based retailer is set to begin construction on the facility this fall with completion scheduled for early 2022. Documents obtained by The Kansas City Star identify Hillwood Development Co. as the developer for the project. Fort Worth, Texas-based Hillwood is led by Ross Perot Jr., son of the late Ross Perot, a billionaire who ran for president twice in the 1990s. Urban Outfitters selects the locations of its distribution centers based on a combination of factors, including location, available workforce and transportation infrastructure. Kansas City’s central location was cited as critical to the company’s distribution network. “Our priorities in identifying the home for our new omni-channel distribution center focused on people, and it was the quality of the local workforce and the commitment of their representatives in the state that convinced us this is the right place to be,” says Dave Ziel, chief development officer of Urban Outfitters. “This facility will be at the …
DETROIT — Detroit-based Rocket Cos. Inc. has begun trading today on the New York Stock Exchange. Rocket, which operates billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert’s Quicken Loans Inc. and Rocket Mortgage, is offering 100 million shares at $18 each for a valuation of $1.8 billion. The company has downsized its initial public offering (IPO) from an earlier filing that announced shares would be priced between $20 and $22. Investors viewed the business as more of a consumer finance company than a technology-driven organization, which contributed to the lower valuation, according to Bloomberg. The shares are trading under the ticker symbol RKT.
By Brian Niven As we begin to reopen most parts of our society following the COVID-19 pandemic that devastated our country and economy earlier this year, many in the commercial real estate industry are beginning to take stock of the massive shifts it may have put into motion. While the pandemic has decimated many sectors — shuttering retail shops, leaving offices empty and setting off an exodus of urban apartment dwellers — prospects for industrial properties have remained strong. Demand for warehouses of all kinds has been soaring in recent years, largely on the back of the growing e-commerce industry, and the sidelining of brick-and-mortar stores has only strengthened those tailwinds. However, that does not mean that the sector will not face challenges in the years to come. While most of the country’s core markets have a healthy pipeline of dry warehouse development that will help meet demand from users, the same cannot be said for an increasingly essential part of our supply chain — cold storage facilities. Vacancy for cold storage was already at or near zero across the country, but the pandemic has set off a chain of events that is likely to place significant stress on our …
By Nazir Khalfe, Principal, Powers Brown Architecture Having designed multiple millions of square feet of speculative and build-to-suit industrial buildings in my career, I’ve witnessed some striking trends over the past two decades, especially with the advancements made in tilt-wall construction. The ability to go higher and store and ship more product with today’s technology is creating an ever-changing landscape for industrial product. We have witnessed the boom of e-commerce, advancements in logistics and automation, and all the while tried to keep up with the dynamic market forces that produce a successful industrial park. Since the Great Recession, demand for industrial space has been at a premium, not only in Texas but also in most markets throughout the United States. Out of necessity for how our lives are changing, the industrial market has become the darling of the real estate industry. In 2020, thanks to the exponential growth of e-commerce activity and manufacturing jobs, we are breaking new ground on how a standard industrial park looks, feels and operates. While COVID-19 has not changed the expansive, open-space feel of warehouses where social distancing is inherently built-in, the pandemic has started to impact the industrial world on the development side. Developers …
WALTON, KY. — Dollar General (NYSE: DG) has unveiled plans to open a 630,000-square-foot distribution facility in Walton, approximately 20 miles south of Cincinnati and the Ohio border. The $65 million investment is expected to bring 250 jobs to the city and support 800 stores. The Walton facility will serve as Dollar General’s 18th distribution center. Construction is scheduled to begin in September with operations to begin in January. Dollar General has also announced plans to build three additional DG Fresh facilities to support a shift toward self-distribution of products that require cold storage such as dairy, deli meats and frozen products. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall on a 160,000-square-foot cold storage facility in Ardmore, Oklahoma, with completion slated for spring 2021. Similarly, construction is scheduled to begin this fall on a 160,000-square-foot cold storage property in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with completion slated for summer 2021. Dollar General is currently finalizing construction of a 200,000-square-foot cold storage facility in West Sacramento, California, to complement its West Coast distribution operations. The property is scheduled to open this fall. At full capacity, each of the DG Fresh facilities are expected to create approximately 65 new jobs and support roughly 1,500 …
NEW YORK CITY — Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) has signed a lease to fully occupy the office portion of The Farley Building, a mixed-use project under construction in Manhattan. The landlord, Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO), is redeveloping the historic property, which was formerly the James A. Farley Post Office Building. The social media giant will occupy 730,000 square feet in the building. A timeline for the move-in and the number of employees moving into Farley was not disclosed. “The Farley Building will further anchor our New York footprint and create a dedicated hub for our tech and engineering teams,” says Robert Cookson, Facebook’s vice president of real estate and facilities. The Farley Building spans a double-wide city block between 31st and 33rd streets and 8th and 9th avenues. The property is part of Vornado’s Penn District development. Vornado owns more than 10 million square feet in Penn District, which is undergoing a $2 billion redevelopment, not including infrastructure and transit improvements by City of New York totaling $3 billion. Penn District includes the Farley Building, Penn 1 and Penn 2, all of which are under construction. Penn 1 and 2 are redevelopments of One Penn Plaza and Two Penn Plaza, …
NEW YORK CITY AND FREMONT, CALIF. — The list of apparel retailers to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy grew longer over the weekend as the parent companies of Lord & Taylor and Men’s Wearhouse both filed petitions for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to restructure their debt loads. Le Tote Inc., a New York City-based e-commerce firm specializing in the clothing sector that owns Lord & Taylor, filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Tailored Brands, the Fremont-based parent company of Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, filed in a district court in Texas. Le Tote acquired Lord & Taylor about a year ago for $100 million from Hudson’s Bay Co. At that time, Lord & Taylor operated about 40 department stores around the country. Approximately half of those stores will now close. In mid-March, Hudson’s Bay Co., the Canadian firm that also owns Saks Fifth Avenue, also sold a 660,000-square-foot office building in Manhattan that had served as Lord & Taylor’s office hub. Amazon bought the property for $1.15 billion to serve as its New York City headquarters. Just two weeks ago, Tailored Brands unveiled a corporate restructuring plan that …