Industrial Vacancy Rates Slip: Vacancies lowest in L.A.

May 31, 2007 on 10:05 am | In FASCINATING INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE INFORMATION, FASCINATING INFORMATION, FUNNY...MONEY, Investment Opportunities, LIGHTS…CAMERA…TRANSACTION, PROPERTY MAINTENANCE, PROPERTY WISH LIST, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Industrial Vacancy Rates Slip: Vacancies lowest in L.A.  

Vacancy rates at U.S. distribution centers, warehouses and other industrial sites fell in the first quarter amid a decline in the amount of newly built space that came on the market, Cushman & Wakefield said.

The industrial vacancy rate dropped to 7.2 percent in the three months ended March 31 from 8.1 percent a year earlier, the New York-based real estate services provider said. It was the lowest vacancy rate since second-quarter 2001, when it was 6.9 percent.

The amount of space in newly constructed buildings that became available in the first quarter totaled 21.2 million square feet, down 26 percent from a year earlier. The amount of new space in build-to-suit projects dropped to 3 million square feet from 7.9 million square feet a year earlier.

“There was a serious reduction in the amount of square footage that came on line from a construction standpoint,” Mike McKiernan, executive director of industrial brokerage for Cushman, said. With the drop in vacancies, “it’s almost a 1 percent difference year over year, which would be huge, but a lot of that would have to do with not as much construction coming on line.”

Vacancies lowest in L.A.
The four regions with the lowest industrial vacancy rates in the first quarter all were in Southern California. Los Angeles’ southern region and its central area had vacancy rates of 2.5 percent, followed by Orange County and northern Los Angeles, at 3.3 percent, according to Cushman. The rate in Los Angeles’ central region was the lowest in eight years.

Southern California is home to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest U.S. cargo port complex.

The average rent at warehouses, the largest category of industrial space in the U.S., rose to $6.31 a square foot in the first quarter, up 4.3 percent from the previous quarter and 11 percent from a year earlier Cushman said. Warehouses account for almost two-thirds of the industrial market, with 4.61 billion square feet of space nationwide.

Supply of industrial space will rise as buildings now under construction come on line, McKiernan said. As of the end of the first quarter, 94.2 million square feet of projects were under construction. That included eight speculative projects, each with more than 1 million square feet of space.

Historically, buildings of that size usually were developed only on a build-to-suit basis, McKiernan said. The trend shows developers believe tenant demand for larger spaces is rising, he said.

info courtesy of Bloomberg News

Seller of $27M El Monte Business Park Exits Early

May 23, 2007 on 11:48 am | In FASCINATING INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE INFORMATION, FASCINATING INFORMATION, FUNNY...MONEY, Investment Opportunities, LIGHTS…CAMERA…TRANSACTION, PROPERTY MAINTENANCE, PROPERTY WISH LIST, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Seller of $27M El Monte Business Park Exits Early

EL MONTE, CA - Scanlan Kemper Bard Cos. of Portland, OR has sold the 182,352-sf Arbor Courtyard for $27.12 million after reaching its investment goals sooner than expected and deciding to take advantage of a strong sellers’ market. SKB principal Todd Gooding revealed that the Portland-based firm, which bought the office and industrial park for $17.7 million less three years ago, had planned to hold it for five and a half years but wound up selling it “for more than we originally thought we would get for it after five-and-a-half years.”
When it bought the business park at 9420-9500 E. Telstar in August 2004, SKB’s business plan called for holding the property for five-and-a-half years because the company assumed a five-and-a-half-year loan.
The decision to sell was based on a combination of factors -> rising rents, a renewal by the main tenant and capital improvements by SKB that added value to the property, which is about 40% office and 60% industrial.
SKB had counted on some appreciation from rising rents because it knew the market was getting tight when it bought the building. However, the property’s main tenant, the California Air Resources Board, was a question mark because the state agency was on a month-to-month lease and had not yet committed to a renewal.
Thanks to building improvements by SKB, the Air Resources Board renewed and extended its lease to 2014. The agency now occupies about 40% of the project, which was approximately 95% leased at the time of the sale to Boston’s TA Realty Associates.
The Arbor Courtyard consists of five buildings, two of them 100% office space, with the remaining three buildings used as office and industrial warehouse/light manufacturing space.
Info courtesy of Bob Howard of GlobeSt.com
 

Famous Quotes about Real Estate

May 20, 2007 on 5:38 pm | In FASCINATING INFORMATION, Investment Opportunities, New Developments, OFFICE FODDER, PROPERTY MAINTENANCE, PROPERTY WISH LIST, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

 

Famous Quotes about Real Estate
 
 

“Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate.”
Andrew Carnegie
 

 
 

“The major fortunes in America have been made in land.”
John D. Rockefeller
 

 
 

“I would give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground.”
Shakespeare
 

 
 

“The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.”
Thomas Jefferson
 

 
 

“He is not a full man who does not own a piece of land.”
Hebrew Proverb
 

 
 

“A man complained that [on] his way home to dinner he had every day to pass through that long field of his neighbor’s.  I advised him to buy it, and it would never seem long again.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

 
 

“The best investment on earth is earth.”
Louis Glickman
 

 
 

“It is a comfortable feeling to know tht you stand on your own ground.  Land is about the only think that can’t fly away.”
Anthony Trollope
 

 
 

“My own recipe for world peace is a bit of land for everyone.”
Gladys Taber
 

“There have been few things in my life which have had a more genial effect on my mind than the possession of a piece of land.”
Harriet Martineau
 

 
Everyone says buying your first apartment makes you feel like an adult. What no one mentions is that selling it turns you right back into a child.
Anderson Cooper - Real Estate - Selling - Buying - Emotional

New Yorkers are predatory about real estate. When they sense softening, they move in for the kill.
Anderson Cooper - Real Estate - Competition - America

Selling your apartment in New York is like dating a manic-depressive.. you get used to cycles of elation and despondency. Every time someone would come to see the apartment, there was the thrill of the date. You want to be presentable, so you clean the place up, make sure it smells good, put on some mood lighting and mellow music.
Anderson Cooper - Real Estate - Selling - America - Emotional

Owning a home is a keystone of wealth.. both financial affluence and emotional security.
Suze Orman - Assets - Real Estate - Finance

I think selling techniques are basically the same in every country, except there are different cultures that have different methods of negotiating. But real estate is the same, whether it happens to be in Australia or if it happens to be in New York.
George Ross - Selling - Australia - America - Real Estate - Negotiation

It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful. It’s artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.
Donald Trump - Real Estate -

Every day, you’ll have opportunities to take chances and to work outside your safety net. Sure, it’s a lot easier to stay in your comfort zone.. in my case, business suits and real estate.. but sometimes you have to take risks. When the risks pay off, that’s when you reap the biggest rewards.
Donald Trump - Business - Real Estate - Opportunity - Risk

Well, real estate is always good, as far as I’m concerned.
Donald Trump - Real Estate - Investing -

I’ve never lived in a building without my name on it.
Ivanka Trump - Branding - Rich - Real Estate

The property boom has made us all feel wealthy, but unfortunately it has lulled many of those nearing retirement into a false sense of security.
Noel Whittaker - Rich - Assets - Real Estate

I have developer’s disease. I love to sit at a drafting table and draw plans for hotels, wrestling with problems of traffic and the flow of people. That’s what turns me on.
Steve Wynn - Passion - Real Estate - Problems
 

It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful. It’s artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.
Donald Trump - Real Estate -

Well, real estate is always good, as far as I’m concerned.
Donald Trump - Real Estate - Investing -
 

“It is a comfortable feeling to know that you stand on your own ground. Land is about the only thing that can’t fly away.”
-Anthony Trollope (1815-1882)

“Landlords grow rich in their sleep.”
-John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

“Land increases more rapidly in value at the centers and about the circumference of cities.”
-William E. Harmon, Noted realty operator

“Buying real estate is not only the best way, the quickest way, the safest way, but the only way to become wealthy.”
-Marshall Field (1835-1906)

“The best investment on Earth is earth.”
-Louis Glickman, American business executive

“Buy on the fringe and wait. Buy land near a growing city! Buy real estate when other people want to sell. Hold what you buy!”
-John Jacob Astor (1763-1848)

“Every person who invests in well-selected real estate in a growing section of a prosperous community adopts the surest and safest method of becoming independent, for real estate is the basis of wealth.”
-Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

“Land monopoly is not only monopoly, but it is by far the greatest of monopolies; it is a perpetual monopoly, and it is the mother of all other forms of monopoly.”
-Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

“Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)

“Real estate is an imperishable asset, ever increasing in value. It is the most solid security that human ingenuity has devised. It is the basis of all security and about the only indestructible security.”
-Russell Sage

“I have always liked real estate; farm land, pasture land, timber land and city property. I have had experience with all of them. I guess I just naturally like ‘the good Earth,’ the foundation of all our wealth.”
-Jesse H. Jones, former federal government financier

“Buy real estate in areas where the path exists…and buy more real estate where there is no path, but you can create your own.”
-David Waronker

 

 

 

 

COMMERCIAL MORTGAGES FLEW IN 2006

May 17, 2007 on 8:07 am | In FASCINATING INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE INFORMATION, FASCINATING INFORMATION, FUNNY...MONEY, LENDERS + VENDORS, New Developments, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

MBA Sees $406.1 Billion Loan Volume in 2006

Commercial mortgage origination volume skyrocketed last year by 10% to $406.1 billion, according to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group noted the increase in volume was driven by large spikes in the origination of loans against office buildings. Commercial and savings banks, both of which have been under regulatory pressure to limit their exposure to the commercial real estate sector, increased their activity.

INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY BEING CONVERTED INTO LOFTS IN MARINA DEL REY

May 15, 2007 on 6:39 pm | In FASCINATING INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE INFORMATION, FASCINATING INFORMATION, Investment Opportunities, LIGHTS…CAMERA…TRANSACTION, New Developments, Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Cisneros JV Unveils $90M Lofts Project
 
MARINA DEL REY, CA-A partnership called CityView that is chaired by former HUD secretary Henry Cisneros has teamed with Los Angeles-based California Landmark to unveil a new $90-million lofts project here, with the Cisneros group as the major equity investor. The 119-unit development, called G2, will feature lofts on a two-acre infill site within an industrial zone on Glencoe Avenue between Maxella Avenue and Washington Boulevard.

The new lofts are part of an ongoing revitalization of the area, which has come to be known as the Del Rey Arts District, a residential and commercial zone that was predominantly industrial for most of the past 50 years. The developers have started construction and plan to start advance sales of the lofts in the spring of 2008, with the first units slated to be occupied in the fall of that year.

California Landmark is already working on four properties in the Del Rey Arts District totaling more than 400 residential and commercial units, including the new G2 development. The firm has constructed dozens of residential developments in Los Angeles since its founding in 1988 and is also involved in two residential high rises on Wilshire Boulevard. According to Ken Kahan, president of California Landmark, the Los Angeles-based company has completed one of the projects, with two others expected to open this summer and next spring.

The design and project architect for the CityView development is Killefer Flammang Architects of Santa Monica. Corus Bank, the banking subsidiary of Corus Bankshares Inc., is providing financing.

Developers of properties in the Del Rey Arts District cite the district’s location within walking distance of the Marina del Rey’s harbor and its proximity to Los Angeles International Airport and key corporate and entertainment offices. Some industrial uses remain in the district, but it is now also home to advertising agencies and other service businesses, new loft developments and retail stores, as well as the arts-oriented community of Venice’s Abbot Kinney neighborhood.

CityView is a national investor focused on work force housing. It typically offers a flexible source of combined debt and equity for its partners in housing projects, providing funds for land acquisition, entitlement support, governmental assistance, marketing, community outreach and project insurance.

By Bob Howard of GlobeSt.com

INDUSTRIALS GO LOFT IN MARINA DEL REY

May 12, 2007 on 11:45 am | In FASCINATING INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE INFORMATION, FASCINATING INFORMATION, Investment Opportunities, LIGHTS…CAMERA…TRANSACTION, New Developments, PROPERTY WISH LIST, Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Cisneros JV Unveils $90M Lofts Project
 
MARINA DEL REY, CA-A partnership called CityView that is chaired by former HUD secretary Henry Cisneros has teamed with Los Angeles-based California Landmark to unveil a new $90-million lofts project here, with the Cisneros group as the major equity investor. The 119-unit development, called G2, will feature lofts on a two-acre infill site within an industrial zone on Glencoe Avenue between Maxella Avenue and Washington Boulevard.

The new lofts are part of an ongoing revitalization of the area, which has come to be known as the Del Rey Arts District, a residential and commercial zone that was predominantly industrial for most of the past 50 years. The developers have started construction and plan to start advance sales of the lofts in the spring of 2008, with the first units slated to be occupied in the fall of that year.

California Landmark is already working on four properties in the Del Rey Arts District totaling more than 400 residential and commercial units, including the new G2 development. The firm has constructed dozens of residential developments in Los Angeles since its founding in 1988 and is also involved in two residential high rises on Wilshire Boulevard. According to Ken Kahan, president of California Landmark, the Los Angeles-based company has completed one of the projects, with two others expected to open this summer and next spring.

The design and project architect for the CityView development is Killefer Flammang Architects of Santa Monica. Corus Bank, the banking subsidiary of Corus Bankshares Inc., is providing financing.

Developers of properties in the Del Rey Arts District cite the district’s location within walking distance of the Marina del Rey’s harbor and its proximity to Los Angeles International Airport and key corporate and entertainment offices. Some industrial uses remain in the district, but it is now also home to advertising agencies and other service businesses, new loft developments and retail stores, as well as the arts-oriented community of Venice’s Abbot Kinney neighborhood.

CityView is a national investor focused on work force housing. It typically offers a flexible source of combined debt and equity for its partners in housing projects, providing funds for land acquisition, entitlement support, governmental assistance, marketing, community outreach and project insurance.

by Bob Howard of GlobeSt.com

San Fernando Valley Industrial Market Tightens

May 10, 2007 on 6:35 am | In FASCINATING INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE INFORMATION, FASCINATING INFORMATION, Investment Opportunities, New Developments, PROPERTY WISH LIST, Uncategorized | No Comments

San Fernando Valley Industrial Market Tightens

The industrial market has tightened in suburban Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, according to a report by Colliers International. The region’s vacancy rate remained steady at 2.9% at the end of 2006, despite more than 1.5 million sf of industrial space added to the area in the past year. At the end of 2006, average asking rents for industrial space in the region was $0.65/sf. However, the report expects the rates will continue to climb this year by as much as 8%.

RAISING THE ROOF TO SOLVE SOCAL’S OBSOLETE COMMERERCIAL PROPERTY CRISIS

May 5, 2007 on 3:33 pm | In FASCINATING INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE INFORMATION, FASCINATING INFORMATION, FUNNY...MONEY, Investment Opportunities, LENDERS + VENDORS, New Developments, Uncategorized | 4 Comments
Innovative Company ‘Raises the Roof’ to Combat California’s Obsolete Commercial Property Crisis
 
ROOFLIFTERS(TM), an environmentally entrepreneurial Company that rejuvenates older commercial buildings by raising their roofs for vertical expansion, today announced that CEO, Marty Shiff will speak at the Los Angeles Economic Development Council (EDC) to champion roof lifting as an affordable and environmentally superior solution to LA’s obsolete commercial real estate property crisis. 

“California is experiencing extremely low vacancy rates of 2.4 %. That’s 7.3 % less available commercial space than the national average,” said ROOFLIFTERS(TM) CEO, Marty Shiff. “With space at a premium, rents and purchase prices are soaring. Companies in California need warehousing space to distribute product but the low ceiling heights of many existing industrial buildings just can’t accommodate such an operation. Our solution allows Companies to simply lift the roof of their existing facilities to gain vertical space without the cost or environmental waste of new construction.”

ROOFLIFTERS(TM) technology works by placing their patented lifting post system underneath the main structural beams of a building. When the posts are welded in place, the columns, all services and other infrastructure are severed. The posts then hydraulically lift the entire roof of the building at one time at a rate of 6″-12″ inches per hour. ROOFLIFTERS(TM) maintains the structural integrity of the building and laser monitors progress throughout the entire lift. Once the roof reaches the desired height, the structure is enclosed with metal, stucco, brick or block cladding. Columns, services and other infrastructures etc. are then re-attached.

“Rooflifting is quicker, less expensive and much less taxing on the environment than other methods for expansion of commercial and industrial properties,” added Shiff. “Our rooflifting process retains 95% of the existing building components. In a typical demolition, nearly 100% of the building material would go to landfill,” added Shiff. “By utilizing the existing building structure, there is no waste of construction materials and a significantly smaller environmental footprint.”

PR Newswire US
 

Where the Millionaires Live, Work + Buy

May 5, 2007 on 3:25 pm | In FASCINATING INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE INFORMATION, FASCINATING INFORMATION, FUNNY...MONEY, Investment Opportunities, LENDERS + VENDORS, LIGHTS…CAMERA…TRANSACTION, New Developments, OFFICE BUILDINGS, PROPERTY MAINTENANCE, PROPERTY WISH LIST, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Where the Millionaires Live, Work + Buy

The number of U.S. millionaire households has risen to a record high of 9.3 million as of mid-2006, up 5 percent from 2005, according to TNS Global’s annual Affluent Market Research Program.

The millionaires’ mean net worth, not including their primary residence, is $2,167,167 with investable assets of $1,442,841. Their median age is 58 and 45 percent are retired.

Forty-six percent of millionaire households own investment real estate such as a second home, third home, rental properties, and undeveloped land. Thirty-four percent have a first mortgage on these residences and 25 percent have second mortgages on these additional residences.

The TNS study identified 10 counties with the highest number of millionaire residents.

  • Los Angeles County with 268,136
  • Cook County, Ill., 171,118
  • Orange County, Calif., 116,157
  • Maricopa County, Ariz., 113,414
  • San Diego County, Calif., 102,138
  • Harris County, Texas, 99,504
  • Nassau County, N.Y., 79,704
  • Santa Clara County, Calif., 74,824
  • Palm Beach County, Fla., 71,221
  • King County, Ore., 68,390

Source: Associated Press (05/01/07)

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