In the News—Week of August 31, 2026
Deal of the Week
Thomas Title & Escrow successfully closed a $30,315,000 commercial construction loan in Chandler, Arizona, supporting continued industrial development and investment in the Arizona market. The transaction brought together WDP Partners and Seefried Industrial Properties, with financing provided by Pinnacle Financial Partners. The transaction was handled by Senior Commercial Escrow Officer Joel Montemayor and Business Development Officer Emma Chester. This successful closing reflects the strong collaboration, expertise, and attention to detail required to bring a significant commercial transaction smoothly to completion. Congratulations to everyone involved on a successful closing!
National
Residential units at Flatiron Building in Manhattan are selling flat-out fast
Manhattan’s iconic Flatiron Building is on the verge of selling out its residential conversion, the New York Post reports. All but four of the 22 publicly listed units are already under contract — an unusually fast pace for a still-under-construction luxury building. The 1902 tower, long used as office space until Macmillan Publishing vacated in 2019, went through a chaotic sale process that included a failed $190 million auction bid before its owners partnered with the Brodsky Organization to convert it into 36 residences. Studio Sofield designed the interiors to work around the building’s wedge-shaped floors, pricing units from roughly $11 million to $58.5 million for the top penthouse, and the building recently topped Olshan Realty’s luxury contract report in back-to-back weeks. Amenities will include a 60-foot pool, sauna, cold plunge and residents’ lounge, with move-in expected this fall and the full amenity package opening in early 2027.
National
Opposition to building data centers gains momentum across the country
Opposition to data center construction is spreading across the country, Commercial Cafe reports. Critics of data centers are concerned over energy use, higher utility bills, tax incentives and pollution. A recent Gallup poll found that about 70% of Americans oppose having a data center built near them, and that sentiment is increasingly showing up at town halls, in proposed moratoriums and even at the ballot box, where some local officials have lost races or reversed positions under voter pressure. The trend crosses party lines: Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul enacted a one-year pause on large-scale data center projects, while Republican-led Pennsylvania and Texas have moved toward similar restrictions. Texas’s involvement is particularly notable given its business-friendly reputation and its status as the leading state for planned data center development. But Gov. Greg Abbott called for a moratorium pending a full review of projects seeking access to the state’s power grid. Abbott pointed to developers’ unwillingness to disclose water and power usage as a key driver of the review.
National
Ray of hope for Tampa Bay as funds OK’d for ballpark, mixed-use project
The Tampa Bay Rays, who are in their 29th season in MLB, have had excellent seasons, winning two American League championships. But the team has ranked near or at the bottom for attendance every season. Much of this has been blamed on their dreary domed stadium in St. Petersburg. CBSSports reports Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa have finalized approval for a $2.3 billion ballpark and mixed-use development for the Tampa Bay Rays, clearing the way for the team to stay in the region for decades. County commissioners passed their funding package Friday by a 5-2 vote, a day after the Tampa City Council approved its portion 4-3, with the city putting up about $80 million and the county contributing nearly $800 million; the rest of the cost, along with any overruns, will come from private financing. The stadium, set to open in time for the 2029 season, will replace Tropicana Field. Under the deal, the county will own the venue while the Rays pay $4 million annually in rent over an expected 35-year lease, closing out more than 10 years of on-and-off negotiations over a new home for the team.
National
Odd picture for San Francisco office market: high vacancy rate, high prices
San Francisco’s office market showed a split picture through the first half of 2026, Commercial Property Executive reports. Figures from Yardi Matrix show strong pricing offsetting persistently high vacancy. The city led the nation in office sale prices, with properties averaging $609 per square foot in June, edging out Manhattan and drawing $2.4 billion in total investment — the third-highest sales volume among U.S. metros. The trend was led by Yoda PLC’s $725 million purchase of the Transamerica Pyramid Center, the market’s biggest deal since 2021. At the same time, vacancy stood at 25.8%, the highest of any major U.S. market despite a 180-basis-point improvement from a year earlier. Asking rents averaged $65.13 per square foot, the second-priciest in the country behind Manhattan. New construction has slowed considerably, with just 1.5 million square feet underway across nine projects as developers work to absorb space from a recent wave of deliveries, including the 3.3 million square feet completed last year.
Arizona
Esplanade III in Camelback Corridor acquired in biggest office sale of year
Southwest Value Partners has purchased Esplanade III for $86 million, the year’s largest single-building office sale in Phoenix, AZ Big Media reports. The seller, an entity tied to Transwestern and C-III Capital Partners, bought the 222,000-square-foot Class A tower in Phoenix’s Camelback Corridor for $60.2 million in 2019, meaning the property gained about 43% in value over that span. Part of the larger 1.3-million-square-foot Esplanade campus, the building is roughly 83% leased to tenants such as Vanguard Realty Advisors and Husch Blackwell.
Arizona
Banner Ironwood Medical Center starts work on expanding Queen Creek facility
Banner Ironwood Medical Center broke ground on a 32,000-square-foot expansion at its Queen Creek campus, AZ Big Media reports. The project will add a two-story building adjacent to the existing emergency department, featuring an interventional radiology suite with pre- and post-op areas, along with room for future growth. Plans call for enlarging the emergency department lobby to ease wait times, boost patient privacy and increase capacity for critical care cases. Archsol is leading the architectural design and Mortenson the construction, with the project expected to wrap up in December 2027.
