Posted on September 27, 2017

A recent article titled “Power of the Ports” in Real Estate Forum magazine highlights the challenges and opportunities faced by U.S. ports in the wake of e-commerce demand and the Panama Canal expansion. Investors are increasingly drawn to ports – economic forecasters predict $155 billion in capital project investments over the next 5 years creating 1.6 million jobs. In 2014, U.S. coastal ports generated $4.6 trillion for the economy, accounting for 26 percent of U.S. GDP.

The biggest investments will occur along the Gulf Coast due to the existence of energy processing plants and transfer facilities. Most growth has occurred around East Coast ports, which are benefiting from strong economies, product demand, population growth and interest from foreign exporters. Chinese shipping companies have found it more cost effective to dock in New Jersey than in West Coast ports, as the ships can then go on to ports in Europe and South America.

Experts doubt that trade restrictions will have a dramatic effect on U.S. ports. What is more concerning is the scarcity of remaining developable land surrounding high-activity ports. Builders are forced to locate on sites farther away from the port’s hub, thereby increasing the distance from customers and resulting in potentially higher costs for shippers and manufacturers.

Posted on September 26, 2017

After a hurricane, the cost to rebuild and repair can run into the hundreds of millions. Construction firms are taking action, investing in resilient buildings that can withstand flooding and power outages from future natural disasters.

“It’s entirely a builder or a property owner’s choice of whether they want to do extra work to prevent property damage or have the right insurance or not,” Simon Koster, a mechanical engineer and principal at JDS Development Group, told Science Friday. “Those are the choices that people are starting to make voluntarily.” After Hurricane Sandy hit New York City in 2012, Koster’s group decided to design a building, American Copper, resilient to hurricanes. The lobby is lined with stone that will not weaken with moisture, and the mechanical equipment, typically found in the basement, is located on the second floor above the flood line. Additionally, a park doubles as a bioswale and helps divert water from the building. Koster predicts building resilient architecture will become the “new normal” for cities and that it is no longer a question of if a storm will strike, but when. 

Posted on September 25, 2017

Lawmakers are focusing their attention on tax reform this month. The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing this week to collect testimony about business tax reform proposals. That follows a similar session last week to discuss individual reform.

For his part, House Speaker Paul Ryan promises to release details of a tax reform plan by September 25. “The outline will represent a consensus between the two tax-writing committees in Congress, the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, and the Trump administration,” Bloomberg reported.

President Donald Trump says the final tax measure should draw bipartisan support, and he’s met with leading Democrats including Sen. Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to discuss taxes and other issues. “More and more, we’re trying to work things out together,” Trump said during a meeting with moderates from both parties.

Posted on September 22, 2017

By: Brian Landes

Transportation infrastructure can have dramatic effects on the value of commercial real estate.

Transportation infrastructure entails a vast number of systems and facilities that people interact with daily but rarely think about. This infrastructure takes people to work, school and play; it conveys freight across the country and around the world. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the presence — or absence — of suitable infrastructure can have a dramatic effect on the value of the commercial real estate that surrounds it.

Posted on September 21, 2017

With 24/7 coverage of ongoing global events dominating the news cycle, it's easy to lose sight of what's happening with U.S. legislation critical to our industry.

Tax reform negotiations are imminent: House Speaker Paul Ryan has promised to release an outline of a tax reform plan the week of September 25, followed by negotiations between the House, Senate, and administration.

This is the first major tax reform in more than three decades, and the stakes for commercial real estate are high. We have been closely working with Congress to ensure legislative programs and incentives critical to our industry are carefully considered throughout the negotiation process, including:

Posted on September 21, 2017

Join REBIC to meet candidates for CMS Board of Education, Charlotte Mayor and City Council, and Mecklenburg, Iredell, and Cabarrus County Town Boards.

Thursday, October 19, 2017
11:30 am to 1:30 pm
SMS Catering Facility
1764 Norland Road, Charlotte

Tickets are $20 per person – all you can eat.

Posted on September 12, 2017

On Thursday, September 7, the United States Senate voted to pass a three-month extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The House of Representatives is expected to pass the legislation on Friday, September 8, 2017, and the President is expected to quickly sign the bill into law later in the day.

This legislation ensures that the NFIP will not lapse on September 30, 2017, and will be extended until December 8, 2017.

Source: National Association of Realtors® (NAR)

Posted on September 11, 2017

A group calling itself the Coalition for Future Mobility – representing automakers, suppliers, smart transportation leaders and people with disabilities – is asking Congress to tell the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it’s time to change auto safety standards so they reflect the coming of self-driving cars. The measure has passed a House of Representatives committee.

“Unfortunately, the rulemaking process is not a short one, not a cheap one and is nothing short of labor intensive,” Elliot Katz, a partner at the law firm McGuireWoods, tells Bloomberg. “The basic problem here is one we’ve seen in a lot of industries: the technology moves a lot quicker than the regulation.” The coalition wants Congress to act as soon as possible.

Bloomberg reports that more than 30 current regulations seem to require a human driver be at the wheel. Such regulations could pose a problem for autonomous vehicles, which are being developed by both tech companies such as Google and carmakers such as Volvo and Ford.

Posted on September 8, 2017

Shoppers today have three main options when they’re looking to buy: Go to a brick-and-mortar store, shop online but pick up at a brick-and-mortar store, or purchase online and have the product delivered. In a report, “Bagged or Boxed,” JLL explains that “the way shoppers value time, touch and money drives on- or offline purchasing,” and predicts which businesses are well-positioned for future growth.

When it comes to physical stores, JLL writes that restaurants, off-price retailers, dollar stores and furniture stores should have the best opportunities to succeed. All provide either an experience or a price that online shopping can’t surpass.

JLL expects that several types of stores will maintain locations, but also step up their online presence. It points to grocery, apparel, sporting goods, and toy stores as examples of categories that are seeing a move toward more online shopping.

Posted on September 7, 2017

In its latest “U.S. Top Office Metros Snapshot,” Colliers reports that “fundamentals in the 10 major office markets in the U.S. largely remained solid during the second quarter.”

The report finds that vacancy rates were unchanged in three markets, increased in four markets, and declined in three others. “Rents held firm in six of the markets tracked in this report. At the same time, two key factors point to upward pressure on vacancy rates: tenant downsizing and new supply,” the report states.

Some details from the report include:

• “Three markets – Manhattan, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle – have office vacancy rates well under 10% and saw no increases in the second quarter.”
• In Houston, vacancy is back above 20 percent.
• “Concerns over the impact of new supply in San Francisco and Seattle are receding, but two markets – Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. – remain exposed to construction risk.”
• Boston and Dallas markets remain solid.

Posted on September 6, 2017

The future of tax reform remains unclear as Labor Day approaches. However, the White House is indicating it plans to step back and allow lawmakers to take the lead this fall. “The White House does not plan to release its own version of a tax reform plan and will instead leave that to the congressional leadership and the major tax-writing committees,” Politico reports, citing an administration source.

One issue that may be on the table is the current tax treatment of carried interest as capital gains.

During an event in Louisville with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hinted the administration might be open to preserving the current status of carried interest for certain activities that result in long-term capital investment and assets. “We will close the loophole for hedge funds in carried interest. What we are focused on is there are many other types of funds that do create jobs and we want to make sure we don’t discourage investment,” he said.

Posted on September 6, 2017

Early Voting Now Underway for Charlotte’s Primary Election! Early Voting is now underway in the City of Charlotte’s September 12th Primary Election, with nine convenient polling sites around town. Click here to find out where and when you can vote. To see which candidates support the priorities of the real estate industry, click here. Completed candidate questionnaires are posted on the REBIC website.

Posted on September 1, 2017

The following resource is from NAIOP's I.CON: Trends and Forecasts, June 8-9 in Long Beach, California. More than 600 of industrial's top leaders gathered to connect, learn and make deals at CRE's hottest industrial event.

• Inform Your Approach to Infill Markets
  Presentation | Audio recording

Click here to view all resources from I.CON

Posted on August 31, 2017

By: Renee Eshelman

What should landlords do when they discover that “nonbinding” really isn’t?

Gone are the days of handshakes and scribbled-napkin deals. Today, most commercial real estate transactions are memorialized with a letter of intent (LOI) to outline the main agreed-upon deal points for a proposed transaction. Although signed by each party, LOIs are typically stated to be “nonbinding” and therefore not legally enforceable, merely an agreement to agree.

The nonbinding nature of LOIs can be both a blessing and a curse. Busy landlords considering a new lease might review the main points of the deal that affect their bottom line — lease term, rental rate, tenant improvements, etc. — and, finding that everything seems correct, might consider themselves finished. Why not skim over or altogether avoid reviewing the rest? The details can be worked out in the lease; there seems to be no need to put themselves to sleep reviewing the fine points now. Why spend the time and expense of legal review? What harm can these provisions really do? The answer: quite a bit!

Click here to read more.

Posted on August 30, 2017

By: Dr. Joshua Harris

Current Forecast: Third Quarter 2017 Report

The NAIOP Industrial Space Demand Forecast is based on a predictive model that forecasts demand for industrial space at the national level on a quarterly basis for eight consecutive quarters.

Posted on August 29, 2017

The law of supply and demand hasn’t been repealed, and that’s causing commercial real estate construction prices to jump, especially in the mid-Atlantic, Texas and Louisiana.

The problem is there aren’t enough skilled laborers for all of the new construction builders would like to do. The scale of the problem increases for larger projects, which require more skill and teamwork. “There aren’t enough companies with the workforce required for such complex projects,” Perryman Construction CEO Angelo Perryman tells Forbes.

The article adds that: “Multifamily buildings from eight to 24 stories tall have increased in construction cost by $23.40 per SF from 2013 to 2016, according to a Fannie Mae study, and they are forecast to jump another $15 per SF in 2017.”

Posted on August 28, 2017

The office market absorbed 8.8 million square feet of space in the second quarter, according to a report from JLL. More than half of that growth came from two markets: Seattle-Bellevue and Dallas.

“There were 11.7 million square feet of new deliveries in Q2, which helped push vacancy up to 14.8 percent,” according to JLL’s latest outlook. “Even as demand stabilizes, asking rents for new product have risen 3.2 percent over the year and by 4.9 percent for CBD Class A space.”

“Moving into the second half of 2017 and into 2018, we expect the wave of new supply to deliver over the next six quarters will markedly alter the office landscape, increasing competition among landlords for tenants and stabilizing rents in the process,” the report states.

Posted on August 25, 2017

Written by Cinda Kelley

Employers in Plainfield, Indiana, are helping fund connector bus service that brings employees to local industrial parks.

It's been more than 25 years since the central Indiana town of Plainfield embraced the transportation, warehouse and distribution industries with an aggressive, innovative business attraction effort. The town’s work paid off handsomely, and Plainfield is now one of North America’s key logistics hubs, with more than 40 million square feet of facilities at the end of 2016.

Posted on August 24, 2017

Written by Brielle Scott

You’ve heard of sailing a ship with a “skeleton crew,” but what about no crew at all?

The ghost ships from tall tales of pirates and buried treasure are no longer the stuff of fiction: A Norwegian company is developing a fully autonomous container ship that will eventually troll the high seas with no crew aboard.

Posted on August 23, 2017

In a press conference last Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced his latest executive order, which addressed infrastructure permitting. Though the event ultimately devolved into a controversial discussion about the tragic events in Charlottesville, the order offers some insight into the administration’s strategy on infrastructure policy.

The executive order, entitled “Establishing Discipline and Accountability in the Environmental Review and Permitting Process for Infrastructure,” is aimed at expediting permitting for infrastructure projects. It broadly tasks federal agencies with proposing ways to reduce average permitting time from the current average of seven years down to two years, and assigns an agency to each future project, placing them in charge of navigating the bureaucratic process.  To demonstrate its inherent complexity, Trump unveiled a six-foot long graphic depicting the permitting process at the press conference.

Trump has often spoken of a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, though none has materialized as of yet. His budget request proposed a mix of $200 billion in tax credits and direct funds, but it remains unclear whether this could spur enough private investment to reach $1 trillion. To complicate things further, the president recently announced that he would scrap plans to create an infrastructure advisory panel, which would have allowed the private sector to share input.