In the News—Week of January 17, 2022
National
Fourth-quarter investment sales in Manhattan exceed pre-pandemic level
Manhattan recorded 100 investment transactions totaling just over $6.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to a report by Avison Young; the highest dollar volume and most deals recorded in a single quarter since 2018. “Momentum in this sector is poised to continue as we anticipate a wave of 1031 capital to hit the market in the first half of 2022 that we haven’t experienced in close to a decade,” says James Nelson of Avison Young.
Energy & Efficiency
Recreational anglers welcome wind power to Gulf; shrimpers worried
Commercial shrimpers are worried that proposed wind turbines in the Gulf of Mexico might crowd them out of the best harvesting areas, NOLA.com reports. Recreational fishing groups just want to be able to fish near any turbine platforms, which offer haven for the kinds of fish popular among amateurs. The feedback came at a virtual workshop with federal regulators. Bureau of Energy and Ocean Management is considering allowing wind farms in the Gulf in coming years.
Texas
Houston retail sector predicted to bounce back to level from before pandemic
A Dallas-based real estate group is forecasting that high demand for restaurant space will help Houston’s commercial real estate market return to pre-pandemic levels of occupancy this year, Community Impact newspapers reports. The Weitzman group looked at the Houston market’s 163.1 million square feet in retail projects with multiple tenants. Weitzman expects construction in Houston to remain low despite some major projects.
Texas
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones accumulating land on tollway route
OK, so his football team can’t figure how to spike the ball and get off one last play to try to win a playoff game. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seems to be faring better in another area, The Dallas Morning News reports. Jones’ Blue Star Land bought an 88-acre tract west of Celina that’s near the route of the Dallas North Tollway extension. The property is next to a 107 acres Blue Star bought four years ago. Blue Star has been acquiring large pieces of land north of Dallas and is a big player in real estate in Collin County and in the municipalities of Frisco and Prosper. The Cowboys’ headquarters and practice facilities are in the $1.5 billion Star in Frisco development. Blue Star is developing a residential community and a mixed-sue project in Prosper.
Arizona
Michael Pollack sells off five of his Phoenix area shopping centers
Michael A. Pollack Real Estate Investments, which specializes in refurbishing and managing older shopping centers, has sold five Valley shopping centers for $32 million, AZ Big Media reports. All the sales were completed in the fourth quarter. Pollack had owned three of the properties since the 1990s. He said occupancy and values were the highest he’d seen in more than a decade, so he felt the time to sell was right. “This has been the best year we’ve seen in commercial real estate since 2006 and 2007,” Pollack says. “We sold these properties at precisely the best time in the market.” His portfolio still contains more than 3 million square feet.
Mexico
Supply-chain woes lead to boom along U.S.-Mexico border
With the supply chain for goods from Asia clogged up, companies are turning to near-shoring for manufacturing, and factories are springing up near the border between the United States and Mexico, Bloomberg reports via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The idea that keeping the supply chain shorter and thus stronger seems to have suddenly become popular with upper management. Border cities such as Juarez, Tijuana Reynosa, Matamoros and Piedras Negras are enjoying economic booms. “We have big ambitions and big plans for Mexico,” says Isaac Larian, CEO of MGA Entertainment, a California-based toymaker.
