In the News—Week of November 7, 2022
Deal of the Week
An Arizona-based real estate investment firm recently sold a build-for-rent community in Peoria, Arizona with 120 units for $54 million to another Arizona-based corporation. Sheila Hunter, Vice President and Senior Commercial Escrow Officer and her team, in the Scottsdale office, had the opportunity to close this transaction.
National
Buyers line up to buy Chicago hotels in financial distress
Still reeling from the pandemic, many hotels in Chicago are struggling, making them a target for acquisition, The Real Deal reports. Among the hotels being snatched up is the 1,645-room Palmer House Hilton. The venerable Palmer House is the second largest hotel in the Windy City. It became available after Thor Equities defaulted on a $333 million mortgage. More auctions will be held before the end of 2022, The Real Deal reports
Energy & Efficiency
German energy company to take down wind farm, expand coal mine
A German energy company is shutting down a wind farm to expand a coal mine, the Washington Examiner reports. RWE admits it’s not a good look for the company, “We realize this comes across as paradoxical,” RWE spokesman Guido Steffen said in a statement. “But that is as matters stand.” The move has drawn criticism from climate activists. RWE had previously said it would stop coal production by 2030.
Texas
Former ConocoPhillips campus to be converted into mixed-use hub
Houston-based Midway has announced plans for redeveloping ConocoPhillips’ former office campus in the Energy Corridor, the Houston Chronicle reports. The nearly 1.3-million-square-foot campus will be turned into a mixed-use hub filled with restaurants, lakes and a boutique hotel. The plans also call for apartments, a 100,000-square-foot fitness facility and 650,000 square feet of office space. “This was a corporate headquarters for a large fossil fuel company, and I want to take this property back to a sustainable model showing how you can develop and redevelop for the next generation,” Brad Freels, Midway’s CEO, tells the paper.
Texas
Dallas-Fort Worth market for cold storage facilities is getting stronger
ParkHub, a Dallas-based company that specializes in technology for parking management, has entered into a deal to buy Smarking, which also offers parking technology, The Dallas Morning News reports. The California company was founded in 2014 and serves more than 2,500 locations. “We both always had an aligned vision for how the future state of parking works,” George Baker, ParkHub’s founder, tells the newspaper. The terms of the deal were not made public.
Arizona
Gannett puts Deer Valley printing plant up for sale, seeks lease-back
Gannett Co., the parent company of The Arizona Republic newspaper, has put its Phoenix printing facility up for sale, azcentral.com, the paper’s website, reports. The company is asking for $47.7 million and a lease-back agreement for the 300,000-square-foot plant, which is located in the Deer Valley area. The plant also prints USA Today, The Desert Sun from Palm Springs, The New York Times, Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, and Arizona Daily Sun from Flagstaff. Gannett did a similar deal on the Republic’s downtown headquarters.
Mexico
Demand for industrial space in Guadalajara is intense
Since the pandemic began, Guadalajara has experienced rapid growth in demand for its industrial space, Mexico Business News reports. Guadalajara has about a 1.5% vacancy rate for Class A industrial — not enough to meet short-term demand. E-commerce is driving the demand, primarily business-to-consumer sales to the local market. Guadalajara is the third most important industrial city in the country behind Mexico City and Monterrey.
