In the News—Week of February 6, 2023
Deal of the Week
A bulk property transaction between two institutional-level investment funds closed in Florida. This portfolio was handled in our Scottsdale office by Vice President Bryan Selna with Justin Wine.
National
Long-delayed 88-story tower in NYC gets financing to move forward
Construction will start up again at 125 Greenwich Street after the 88-story condo tower in lower Manhattan was delayed for several years, The Real Deal reports. The project was supposed to be topped out in 2018 and is 85% complete. But infighting among the partners stalled the project. Now Northwind has agreed to a $313 million loan to Group Bizzi & Partners and Fortress Investment Group.
National
Marijuana business often charged a so-called cannabis tax for facilities
Now that marijuana can be legally sold in some states, cannabis entrepreneurs say they are still not treated like other businesses, MJBizDaily reports. They must often pay more to rent commercial properties. “Yes, there is a cannabis premium,” says Berekk Blackwell, an executive with a cannabis-focused commercial real estate leasing and investment company based in Scottsdale. Among the reasons is that some landlords believe that renting to a pot business puts them and their assets at risk, and some believe selling legal marijuana is high-profit business. “The starting point is, if you’ve ever tried to get a land-use permit for cannabis, you’ll know that it’s pretty difficult compared to just locating any business,’’ says Chris Cox, a California cannabis consultant. “There are many requirements starting at the state level.”
National
Blackstone’s real estate trust fund hits limit for investors pulling out
Blackstone’s REIT had some bad news for investors, Bloomberg reports via Yahoo. In January it repurchased about 2% of the fund’s $69 billion net asset value. But that was about a fourth of what investors wanted to take out of the fund. That was partly because of unfulfilled requests the previous two months. Investors have soured some on the fund, which owns properties from casinos to storage facilities.
Arizona
Phoenix area home to eighth-largest office property transaction in 2022
The Phoenix market was the home to the one of the largest office deals in the United States in 2022, AZ Big Media reports. CommercialEdge tracked the 50 largest deals in the nation and found LBA Realty’s $504 million sale of the Esplanade portfolio of properties to Monarch Alternative Capital/Tourmaline Capital Partners ranked No. 8. The transaction consisted of the four buildings of the Esplanade office park in the tony Camelback corridor. The biggest sale nationally was Manhattan’s 245 Park Ave., bought by SL Green for $1.77 billion. No market had more than one deal in the top 10.
Arizona
Proctor & Gamble buys 430-acre site in Coolidge for a factory
Procter & Gamble, the Cincinnati-based consumer goods maker, has competed a deal to buy 430 acres in Coolidge, Commercial Property Executive reports. P&G spent $53.4 million for the land and plans to spend $500 million on a 2-million-square-foot manufacturing facility. The plant, which will make products involved with fabric care, is expected to be up and running by 2025.
Energy and Efficiency
Smart ways homeowners can save energy, money with gadgets
It’s time to get smart with energy savings by using a few gadgets, the New York Times reports. These gadgets can also save time, effort and money. The first is the smart plug, which allows you to schedule when appliances are running. Second is the smart dimmer switch. Dimmer switches are nothing new, but if installed through the house they can allow a resident to dim them or turn them off on a schedule. Smart dimmers are able to detect motion to turn the lights off and on then you enter or leave the room. Even light bulbs have gotten smart. Smart LEDs can be set to dim or turn on and off when you leave the room.
