In the News—Week of July 10, 2023
Deal of the Week
Through its Scottsdale-based attorneys, an Arizona investment group initiated a non-judicial foreclosure on its $4.5 million loan that was secured by a cannabis-related property in Camp Verde, Arizona. The Thomas Title escrow team closed and insured the purchase and subject loan in July 2020. In 2023, Thomas Title issued the Trustee Sale Guarantee in connection with the foreclosure. The title and escrow professionals at Thomas Title have extensive experience in default and distressed transactions. For any litigations or foreclosure guarantees or loan modifications, or any transactions that involve the cannabis industry, contact Chadwick Campbell, Underwriting Counsel, in our Scottsdale office.
National
Electronics industry, government stimulus create factory-building boom
Led by the electronics industry, factory construction almost doubled in the United States in the past year, Bloomberg reports. Construction in the electronics industry has almost quadrupled since the beginning of 2022. The Chips and Science Act signed last year, which offers grants and tax credits for semiconductor manufacturing in the United States, has played a “critical part” in the surge, U.S. Treasury officials say. And the boom is unique to the United States; other advanced economies have not enjoyed similar upticks.
National
Student housing market remains robust in wake of CRE downturn
This hasn’t been the best of times for commercial real estate. But one sector has proven immune to overbuilding and high interest rates and the increase of employees who work from home. Student housing property is still going strong, S&P Global Market Intelligence reports. Figures form CBRE show student housing property sales reached $22.9 billion in 2022, a record. There is still strong demand and a limited supply.
National
Former Mets pitching star joins Newmark as a managing director
Former Mets pitching ace Matt Harvey, who officially left the sport in May, is now with the commercial real estate firm Newmark, the New York Post reports. Harvey, a managing director, will initially develop new client relationships while he undergoes a “crash course” on commercial real estate. “I’ve always been interested in the many different aspects of real estate,” Harvey says. “By joining an incredibly successful firm such as Newmark, I will be able to learn and grow from some of the best in the industry.”
National
$1B NY state spent on solar panel factory has not paid off for taxpayers
A factory that Elon Musk pitched as the largest solar panel factory in the Western Hemisphere has cost the state of New York nearly $959 million since 2014 and has been a big loser for the state, the New York Post reports. The “Tesla Gigafactory 2” in Buffalo was supposed to create a manufacturing hub as suppliers lined up to be near this cutting-edge facility. So far, the accompanying development consists of a Tim Horton’s. Musk’s company pays $1 rent per year. The deal was struck under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “It was a bad deal,” says state Sen. Sean Ryan, who represents Buffalo and like Cuomo is a Democrat. “A cautionary tale is you can’t give governors too much power to get on the phone with egotistical billionaires.”
Arizona
Arizona outpaces the nation in build-to-rent single family homes
With 2,011 built-to-rent homes planned or under construction per million residents statewide, Arizona is No.1 in the United States in built-to-rent home construction, Axios reports. Nationwide, the average is 345, according to the National Rental Home Council. Figures from Rent Cafe show 6,000 of the 8,200 built-to-rent houses in the Valley hit the market in the past five years. The boom in the Valley began in 2016 when builders decided what they could offer a segment of the market that wanted to live in a single-family home but couldn’t afford to buy a house or did not want to commit to buying one.
Arizona
A 270-acre industrial mixed-use development gets OK from Mesa
The Mesa City Council has given its unanimous approval to a 270-acre industrial mixed-use development project near the Loop 202 freeway, AZ Big Media reports. Shopoff Realty Investments’ project, called The Block on Elliot, will be built on a former dairy farm that Shopoff bought less than a year ago. The developer needed a zoning change, a development agreement, and for the City of Mesa to annex the property. “The Block on Elliot was designed to attract high-profile users who have moved into the area at increasing rates, and we anticipate this development becoming the premier manufacturing, technology and employment center for the City of Mesa,” CEO William Shopoff says.
