In the News—Week of February 7, 2022
National
Largely unoccupied office space still fetches a good price in Manhattan
The workers haven’t come back to Manhattan and the prices in the most expensive real estate market haven’t come down, the New York Post reports. Despite all the doom and gloom about the office market, there are signs of long-term health. Firms that lease large amounts of space want to keep or add more. Two examples: Law firm Fried Frank at One New York Plaza downtown and Madison Square Garden Entertainment at 2 Penn Plaza in Midtown re-signed for more than 400,000 square feet each. Other such businesses as insurance company Chubb Group at 550 Madison Ave. have signed big leases. Companies still are pushing for their workers to come back.
Energy & Efficiency
Plenty of opportunity to make elevators more efficient
Elevators can be an overlooked drain on a building’s energy efficiency, Facilities Net reports. Elevators consume about 3% to 7% of a building’s energy. Tracking energy use, replacing worn or defective parts, modernizing the system and upgrading lighting and buttons can make a substantial difference.
Texas
Boxer Property focuses on older buildings and co-working spaces
For 30 years, Houston-based Boxer Property has focused on older office buildings, buying low, getting the properties up to speed and signing up small businesses looking to move in quickly, the Houston Chronicle reports. Boxer has a portfolio of 14 million square feet of office space nationwide. Now the company is adding a new wrinkle — coworking spaces. Though it began its brand, dubbed Workstyle, back in 2013, the concept has taken off in the past year. Boxer has developed 110,000-square feet in Houston and other major markets and has plans to add more 300,000 square feet in 2022.
Texas
Dallas-Fort Worth ranks third in build- to-rent homes
Built-for-rent homes are catching on throughout the United States, and the Dallas area is among the leaders, the Lakewood/ East Dallas Advocate reports. Figures from Rent Cafe show the Dallas-Fort Worth area is No. 3 nationally, trailing only Phoenix and Columbus, Ohio. “There is a misconception that the majority of renters are millennials when, in reality, you have everyone — including college students, empty nesters, families with kids, pet owners and those wanting to downsize,” commercial real estate lender Walker & Dunlop’s Shannon Hersker says.
Arizona
Lee & Associates chooses veteran Mark Bramlett as principal of Phoenix office
Mark Bramlett, who has more than 25 years of commercial real estate experience, has been hired principal in Lee & Associates’ Phoenix office, Shopping Center Business reports. Bramlett has represented such retail tenants as Dayton Hudson, Home Depot and Kroger and such developers as DMB Associates and Kimco. “Mark Bramlett combines a superior understanding of the Arizona market combined with his strategic thinking ability, to formulate a total real estate landscape for his retail customer base,” Lee & Associates managing principal Fred Darche says. “He is incredibly knowledgeable about future competitive changes, as well as the ever-changing growth and traffic patterns in and around Metro Phoenix and throughout Arizona.”
Mexico
Residents will soon see new version of ‘Lost City’
The Tacubaya area of Mexico City, with structures largely made of sheet metal, has been known as the “Lost City” for more than 100 years. After 185 apartment units are completed in a $110-million housing program, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum is renaming the area “Tacubaya Sur, City of Well-Being,” Mexico Business News reports. The project is 98% completed. She campaigned on improving conditions in the area. “(People) created stories around the concept of the Lost City, calling it a hotspot of crime. Previous local administrations wanted to remove its inhabitants and gentrify the area,” she said.
