In the News—Week of September 21, 2026
Deal of the Week
Thomas Title & Escrow successfully closed a $4,565,000 commercial refinance for Love Chicken Farm 1 LLC, a Virginia limited liability company, highlighting continued investment in the commercial real estate market. The transaction was handled by Thomas Title & Escrow, LLC, led by Business Development Officer Justin Wine and Escrow Officer Paige Garcia. Financing was provided through Live Oak Banking Company, with Chris Rickert representing the lender. Legal counsel was provided by Harbin & Miller, LLC.
This successful closing reflects the strong collaboration, expertise, and attention to detail required to bring a significant commercial transaction smoothly to completion. Congratulations to Paige, Justin, and the entire Thomas Title team on another outstanding closing!
National
American shopping malls bounce back after years of closures, rising vacancies
American shopping malls are rebounding sharply, with values climbing 13% over the past year — outpacing every other commercial real estate sector, the New York Post reports. Figures from Green Street show the turnaround follows years of closures. Roughly 200 malls have shut since 2008, leaving about 900 nationwide. The rebound is being driven by strong consumer spending, few retailer bankruptcies and landlords replacing empty department stores with restaurants, entertainment venues and luxury tenants. Flagship properties like Mall of America, American Dream, the Galleria and King of Prussia are drawing tens of millions of visitors annually, while companies such as Simon Property Group and CBL Properties have seen their stocks surge. Even mid-tier properties are benefiting: CBL’s West County Center outside St. Louis, which struggled to refinance debt in 2022, has since filled vacant restaurant space and boosted tenant sales 13% since 2023.
National
NBA’s Steph Curry sells industrial building in San Franciso for $11M
Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry has sold a vacant industrial building at 600 20th St. in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood for $11 million to AI insurance startup Corgi, The Real Deal reports. The move ends the NBA guard’s plans to convert the property into a headquarters for his business ventures. Curry bought the 9,200-square-foot building for $8.5 million in 2024 but scrapped a proposed five-story development after his company Thirty Ink clashed with a local carpenters union over labor practices last year. The sale continues a broader retreat from Bay Area real estate for Curry and his wife, Ayesha, who also sold an Atherton estate for $29.1 million this year, a second Atherton property for $32.1 million in 2021, and a Four Seasons San Francisco condo in 2022.
National
Commercial real estate investors see increased competition for properties
Competition among commercial real estate investors is heating up, with bidding activity in June posting its biggest monthly gain in a year and July recording the second-highest number of unique bidders in five years, CNBC reports. The rebound is being fueled by looser credit conditions, as commercial mortgage-backed securities issuers, insurers, government agencies and debt funds return to the market after avoiding major distress in recent years, even as borrowing costs remain elevated. Retail and industrial properties are seeing the sharpest increases in investor interest — retail because owners are satisfied with current returns and reluctant to sell, and industrial due to sustained e-commerce growth and a manufacturing resurgence tied to reshoring. CBRE reported a 27% year-over-year jump in manufacturing leasing.
National
Historic bank building in downtown Grand Rapids to become boutique hotel
CWD Real Estate Investment is teaming up with hospitality group Vault Hotel to convert the historic Michigan Trust Building in Grand Rapids, Michigan, into a boutique hotel, Fox 17 TV reports. The 63-room inn will be called The Vault Hotel – Grand Rapids. The building was once a headquarters of President Gerald R. Ford and the site of a 1902 speech by Theodore Roosevelt. The rooms will range from 350 to 500 square feet and start at roughly $300 a night. Beyond lodging, the project will add wellness, dining and gathering spaces, including a speakeasy built into the building’s original two-story vault. Vault Hotel CEO Jen Julien says the timing aligns with Grand Rapids’ broader momentum, pointing to developments like a new amphitheater and the city’s sports teams. Construction is slated to start in 2027, with the hotel targeted to open before summer 2028.
Arizona
Mesa council gives the green light for $3 billion project near airport
The Mesa City Council voted unanimously to approve a development agreement for Legacy Park and Gateway Crossing, a roughly $3 billion project that city officials describe as the biggest private investment Mesa has ever seen, AZ Big Media reports. The mixed-use development would occupy about 200 acres east of Ellsworth Road between State Route 24 and Williams Field Road, near Mesa Gateway Airport, ASU’s Polytechnic campus and Arizona Athletic Grounds. Plans include 400,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and fitness space, a 600-room luxury resort, 3.8 million square feet of offices, more than 2,200 apartments, a boutique hotel, a 20-acre park and a pedestrian tunnel under Williams Field Road, with Gateway Crossing adding further shops, restaurants and hotels. Developers Vestar and Pacific Proving LLC would front the cost of qualifying public infrastructure and later be reimbursed from tax revenue the project generates. Groundbreaking is anticipated in early 2028, with the first phase scheduled to open in October 2029.
Arizona
Developer likens dealing with HOA, Scottsdale to ‘negotiating with Iran’
A dispute over Museum Square, a stalled Old Town Scottsdale project from Canada-based developer Robert J. Macdonald, has escalated into public acrimony, the East Valley Tribune reports. Macdonald complained in a memo to city planners that dealing with a neighboring condo association felt like “negotiating with Iran.” The fight stems from a lawsuit by the Gateway at Main Street HOA, which alleged that city officials misled its elderly board president into waiving a 60-foot height limit, opening the door to a 150-foot hotel planned as the development’s centerpiece. A Maricopa County judge threw out that suit in April and last month ordered the association to pay more than $136,000 in legal fees to one of Macdonald’s companies. Macdonald blames resident and attorney Terry Rogers for derailing a draft. Rogers says nothing in the covenants blocks the apartment building or parking garage portions of the project and that owners only want a court ruling on whether their property rights were properly terminated — a step they pursued with a Sept. 8 filing.
