LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Fueled by luxury retailers and discount retailers such as dollar stores, the retail real estate sector is poised to experience increased leasing and improving fundamentals in the second half of 2012.

Thats the take of Hartman Simons, an Atlanta-based national commercial real estate law firm that represents both tenants and landlords in retail leases as well as developers in retail developments. The firms attorneys provided their analysis of the sector as the 2012 ICSC RECon convention got underway in Las Vegas. The convention runs from May 20 through May 23.

The amount of leasing activity were involved in is 10 times what it was a year ago, said Peter Hartman, a partner with the firm. Of course, its all relative. Its not yet close to where it was in 2006 or 07.

Retail real estate is certainly healthier and moving in the right direction, Hartman said. There have been fits and starts, but overall the entire sector from our perspective is greatly improved.

The return of some large and important retailers such as Target to new developments and the growth of discount retailers like Dollar General are two of the trends fueling the sectors increased development and leasing activity, according to Hartman. The firm has recently represented developers in the development of Target-anchored centers in the Southeast.

As for store performance, luxury and discount retailers are thriving, Hartman said. Its the mid-level space that seems to be pretty flat, he added.

Retail developers have grown selectively aggressive in pursuing new opportunities in part because financing has become easier to obtain, Hartman said. And those new opportunities usually incorporate residential and sometimes office uses, he said.

Hartman Simons is representing North American Properties in its development of Avalon, a $600 million, mixed-use project in suburban Atlanta.

About Hartman Simons

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Retail Real Estate Set for Rebound

Last Updated: May 21, 2012 04:12pm ET

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Trademark will work with Victory Park owners to reposition the CRE project's retail component.

DALLAS-Victory Park UST Joint Venture I LP has partnered with Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Co. to freshen up the retail component of the 75-acre, mixed-use Victory Park. VPUST owner Estein & Associates USA Ltd. tapped Trademark to plan and execute the repositioning and redevelopment of its retail holdings in the southern district of Victory Park, located at the edge of Dallas' CBD.

As part of the plan, Trademark will develop and implement a merchandising and leasing strategy for the ground floor retail space and undeveloped land along Victory Park Lane, and the ground floor retail space in The Cirque and One Victory Park. Trademark will also identify and attract key destination retail, restaurant and entertainment tenants to Victory Park that fit the leasing strategy.

Estein & Associates affiliates manage the German real estate investment fund that took over the stake of Victory Park developer Hillwood in 2009. Since becoming sole owner of VPUST and the Victory Park buildings in 2009, we have been working closely with key stakeholders including the City of Dallas, the local retail community, and our other tenants and operators in the district to plan the future of Victory Park and how best to move it forward, said Lance Fair, COO of Orlando, FL-based Estein & Associates and vice president of Victory Park in a press release.

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Victory Park Owner Partners with Trademark for Retail Reposition

By Kelvin Wong - 2012-05-21T16:01:00Z

Pedestrians walk past advertising billboards for watches and jewelry in Russell Street in the shopping district of Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, China.

Pedestrians walk past advertising billboards for watches and jewelry in Russell Street in the shopping district of Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, China. Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg

Wharf, which runs the 1 million-square-foot Times Square shopping mall opposite Soundwill Plaza, has gained 106 percent since early 2009.

Wharf, which runs the 1 million-square-foot Times Square shopping mall opposite Soundwill Plaza, has gained 106 percent since early 2009. Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg

The logo of a Hennes & Mauritz AB store is reflected on the hood of a vehicle on Queen's Road in Central district in Hong Kong, China.

The logo of a Hennes & Mauritz AB store is reflected on the hood of a vehicle on Queen's Road in Central district in Hong Kong, China. Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg

Rent from Soundwill Plaza -- whose ground-floor tenants include watch-sellers Omega and Tag Heuer, and crystal-ornament maker Swarovski, while on the upper floors are high-end spa salons and a yoga studio -- accounted for a quarter of the companys earnings in 2011, said Victor Chan.

Rent from Soundwill Plaza -- whose ground-floor tenants include watch-sellers Omega and Tag Heuer, and crystal-ornament maker Swarovski, while on the upper floors are high-end spa salons and a yoga studio -- accounted for a quarter of the companys earnings in 2011, said Victor Chan. Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg

Construction work takes place at Hysan Development Co.'s Hysan Place in the shopping district of Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, China. Hysan Development Co., the biggest landlord in Causeway Bay, has risen 168 percent in the period.

View original post here:
Gucci-Crazy Chinese Fuel Soaring Shop Rents in Hong Kong

New speculative retail construction has been virtually nonexistent in the market for the last five years.

It has been too risky.

Developers by and large have shied away from breaking ground on new projects without confirmed tenants, especially when so many retail companies have dramatically slowed or even halted expansion plans.

Instead, national retailers and restaurants that have been expanding have done so in free-standing buildings specifically constructed to match others in their chains.

Think Dollar General and Cheddar's Casual Cafe.

Or, new local businesses have taken advantage of existing, immediately available, and often-discounted space at commercial plazas. There still seems to be plenty of available storefronts.

But Holladay Properties, of South Bend, has taken a leap of faith, so to speak.

It is among the first area developers to construct a completely speculative retail building in quite some time. The building is located immediately south of Heritage Square in Mishawaka.

Holladay doesn't have any signed leases for the 10,000-square-foot building that will expand the Martin's-anchored shopping center near Cleveland and Gumwood roads.

But that does not scare Holladay, or Garrison Investments of New York, the joint owner of the Mishawaka center. Holladay is responsible for leasing, property, construction and asset management.

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Market Basket:New building constructed before tenants are signed

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Development of the long-vacant two-acre property at the southeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue will begin this week with the groundbreaking of The Vermont, a 464-unit high-rise apartment complex with retail space and dedicated public open space along Wilshire Boulevard. The project is the largest residential development to be built in Los Angeles since the beginning of the latest real estate downturn.

The partnership of Jerome Snyder, Michael Wise and Lew Geyser comprises the backbone of the J.H. Snyder Development Company. Having long believed in this location and the project, they have persisted through the last two years of challenges and hurdles to entitle the project, assemble a nearly $200 million capital stack and now to pull their building permit and proceed to construction.

Given the economic challenges of the past several years, we are thrilled to begin construction on a mixed-use community of this scale and quality, said Jerry Snyder, Senior Partner at J.H. Snyder Company. This is a significant investment that will transform the long vacant two-acre dirt lot into the new heart of one of LAs most energetic neighborhoods. It feels great to move a significant, job-creating project forward at a time when new construction activity of this scale is rare.

Washington Capital Management, which manages investments for union pension funds in Washington State, is the lead equity investor in the $200 million project. Snyder, one of Southern Californias most prolific residential and retail builders, also infused equity into the project. At the end of 2011, JP Morgan closed on a construction loan and Bentall Kennedy closed on a mezzanine loan, clearing the way for the development team to break ground on the project.

We are excited to see The Vermont move forward, especially in light of the difficult lending environment we face today, said Kacy Keys, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at J.H. Snyder Company. It took a very complex financial structure, the ongoing support of Councilman Herb Wesson and the backing of our great partners Washington Capital Management, JP Morgan and Bentall Kennedy to make The Vermont a reality. Their willingness to be a part of The Vermont through the ups and downs of the past year speaks to the quality of this project and the confidence they all have in J.H. Snyder as a developer.

The development team plans to begin construction this week, with an estimated completion date in 2014. When complete, the LEED-certified project will be comprised of a mix of residential, retail and recreational uses. Features will include two high-rise towers surrounding a quarter-acre central courtyard; approximately 40,000 square feet for ground floor retailers including restaurants, a grocer, bank, dry cleaner and coffee house; as well as public underground parking. Residents of The Vermont will also have access to a full-service concierge, shared lounge-style workspace, a pool, high-end gym and spa exclusively for their use.

There is a strong and growing need for high-quality apartment homes and retail in the Mid-Wilshire area, and we hope to be able to meet some of that pent up demand with The Vermont, said Michael Wise, Senior Partner, J.H. Snyder Company. This project has been a long time coming, so we are excited to be moving to the next stage in the development process and to be that much closer to injecting new life into this already vibrant community.

The groundbreaking comes a year after the Los Angeles City Council and Community Redevelopment Committee voted unanimously to approve The Vermont, praising the project teams outstanding effort to incorporate the local community into the planning process and deliver a generous community benefits package.

The investment is expected to create more than 1,800 union construction jobs at a time when the industry is hurting. As part of the project build-out, J.H. Snyder Company will make a $1 million contribution to help fund a community center in the area and contribute efforts towards the creation of 96 affordable housing units elsewhere in Koreatown. The firm has partnered with Korean Churches for Community Development and AMCAL housing to begin identifying sites for affordable housing. The Vermont will also feature 77 non-reserved public parking spaces in the garage as well as 12,000 square feet of public open space along Wilshire Boulevard.

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J.H. Snyder Company Breaks Ground on The Vermont, a $200 Million Mixed-Use Destination in Mid-Wilshire District

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds (CJUF) and McCaffery Interests (McCaffery) closed on a senior loan from Prime Finance to fund the repositioning of the retail component of the Roosevelt Collection, a transit-oriented mixed-use project in Chicagos South Loop submarket.

The CJUF and McCaffery team is in the process of transforming the propertys 400,000 square-foot retail component into a vibrant shopping destination. Demolition of the interior shop space is already complete and construction has begun on a new public plaza that will include green landscaped areas, water features and childrens play areas. The improvements are scheduled for completion by the end of the summer, by which time CJUF and McCaffery are aiming to have the project 65% leased to an impressive roster of retailers.

CJUF and McCaffery partnered in June 2011 to acquire the Roosevelt Collection and soon after announced plans to enhance the property.

The Roosevelt Collection fits squarely with CJUFs investing goals to create value in dense urban communities, said CJUF Managing Partner Bobby Turner. We are following through on our promise to reposition the property to better serve this vibrant neighborhood.

The South Loop has emerged as a most desired retail location in Chicago, second only to North Michigan Avenue, commented Dan McCaffery, Chairman and CEO of McCaffery Interests. Along with its strong and fast-growing residential base, we will deliver a family oriented retail and dining destination for the community.

We are excited to work with Prime Finance as our lender on Roosevelt Collection. Our improvements to the property are well underway, and it is shaping up to be one of the premier retail and residential venues in all of Chicago, said CJUF Managing Director Rich Holly.

In addition to the retail component, the property is also comprised of 342 residential units that are more than 90% occupied, a 1,500-stall parking garage and land for a public park. The CJUF and McCaffery development team has also secured approvals to construct another residential tower on site.

We are thrilled to be involved in a project with such strong sponsorship, said Prime Finance Principal Jon Brayshaw. CJUF and McCaffery Interests are uniquely qualified to execute the vision for Roosevelt Collection, as each firm has a history of development in the Chicago region and a strong track record of revitalizing communities and projects, he added.

About Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds

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Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds and McCaffery Interests Close Senior Loan with Prime Finance for the Roosevelt Collection ...

After 11 years of grueling talks, a $93.9 million payment yesterday finally clinched a deal between the Port Authority and Westfield Group for control of the World Trade Centers retail space.

Global shopping mall developer Westfield wired the Port Authority a check, sources told The Post the first installment of $612.5 million Westfield will pay the PA for a 50 percent, joint-venture stake in the sites eventual 460,000 square feet of retail.

Although a tentative agreement was struck last year and the PA board approved it in February, like many other concrete-sounding deals at the WTC, it had no teeth until now.

Remember, the PA board also approved Vornados office tower over the bus terminal years ago. Have you noticed an office building over the bus terminal? an insider cracked.

Westfield will lend its skills in developing, leasing and operating an initial 365,000 square feet inside under-construction 4 WTC, the WTC Transportation Hub, above-ground along Church and Dey Streets and inside 3 WTC in the planning stage.

It will also include 90,000 square feet more when 2 WTC is developed in the future.

Westfield, whose US operations are led by co-CEO Peter S. Lowy, had, three years ago when the office towers seemed stalled, proposed to develop free-standing shopping malls that could support towers on top of them later an initiative that went nowhere.

scuozzo@nypost.com

See the original post here:
Westfield inks WTC retail deal

by Joe Marusak / The Charlotte Observer

WCNC.com

Posted on May 18, 2012 at 4:11 PM

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- The long-planned $2 billion Langtree at the Lake mixed-use community on Lake Norman will immediately begin construction of its first 300 luxury apartments and 47,000 square feet of retail space, Ohio developer R.L. West Properties announced Friday.

The announcement came after R.L. Wests Langtree Development Co. secured $41 million in financing to start the project at Interstate 77 Exit 31 in southern Iredell County.

Barry Rigby, vice president of development for R.L. West and Langtree Development, said the company closed on the financing through M&T Bank, using a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program that insures mortgage loans for multi-family rental housing construction. Focustar Capital Group, based in Charlotte and Wilmington, arranged the financing.

Langtree at the Lake was originally envisioned to incorporate high-end lakefront condominiums surrounded by mid-rise office towers, Carl Duvel of Focustar Capital said. A major bank had committed to finance the project when the 2008 global financial meltdown forced the bank to withdraw, he said.

Focustar Capital was introduced to the project in November 2008 and was retained as financial advisors in March 2009, when its proposal to restructure the project from a for sale community to a for rent community was accepted, Focustar said in a news release Friday.

Langtrees original partners included local developers Rick Howard and his son, Brad, and local lawyer David Parker, chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party.

The closing on the Langtree financing is the largest of its kind in North Carolina, Focustar Capital and Langtree Development announced.

See the original post:
Huge Lake Norman development wins financing

A new report has provided evidence to back up what brokers have been saying: it is harder for stores to find retail space in the prominent shopping corridors, with rents jumping as much as 75 percent on Fifth Avenue from 42nd to 49th streets since just one year ago.

Ground floor asking rents have reached an average of $900 per square foot up 75 percent from last spring on the key Midtown stretch of Fifth Avenue, according to the Real Estate Board of New Yorks Spring 2012 Retail Report.

The advisory group attributed this growth in asking rents both to the lack of space on Upper Fifth Avenue, causing a trickle-down effect, and the high degree of pedestrian traffic everywhere along the avenue including crosstown walkers from Grand Central Terminal.

Average asking rents on Upper Fifth Avenue between 50th and 59th Streets have edged up 22 percent to $2,750 per square foot for ground spaces since last spring.

In other locations:

* Despite increases in all the prime East Side corridors, average asking rents for all space on the East Side declined 13 percent since a year ago. This is partly due to a falling off of aggressive bank leasing and the ongoing Second Ave. subway construction.

* Rents are down 13 percent in Times Square but they still average $1,400 a square foot and there are only two availabilities.

* West Village rents are down 7 percent although asking rents are still averaging $452 a square foot.

* SoHo and Herald Square are once again getting squeezed with rents up 11 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

* Average asking rents for ground floor space on Madison Avenue between 57th and 72nd streets increased 31 percent to $1,203 a square foot.

Continued here:
Fifth Avenue retail rents up 75% over past year: report

The Port of San Diego went public yesterday with a draft Environmental Impact Report on a proposed expansion of the San Diego Convention Center and the neighboring Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel.

The convention center project, if completed, would add about 220,000 square feet of exhibit hall space, 101,000 square feet of meeting rooms, 78,000 square feet of ballroom area, and up to 42,500 square feet of visitor-serving retail space. Upgrades to the Hilton would add a new hotel tower with up to 500 guest rooms, plus a 10,000 square foot spa, 2,500 square feet of retail, and about 55,000 square feet of additional meeting space. Additional components include a five acre public rooftop space above the convention center expansion, relocation of the existing Water Transportation Center, and necessary infrastructure improvements.

Included in the report were a host of issues brought forward by the public during a comment period that ran through January. Of four concerns regarding the impact on neighborhood aesthetics and visual quality, all were dismissed, with the reports authors ICF International finding that no mitigation would be needed.

Implementation of the Proposed Project would not substantially degrade the existing visual character or quality of the site and its surroundings, the report says, also stating that there would be no glare created from the new buildings that would harm water views and that there would be no impact on Pacific Highway, designated a state scenic road.

In order to control air quality and dust during construction, a number of fixes are suggested, including implementing a policy that delivery trucks that would be waiting for a period more than three minutes shut off their engines rather than idle, and that the site be watered down twice daily, with any dirt tracked out from trucks entering or leaving the site to be removed within 30 minutes. For longer term pollution impacts, the study suggests altering the Regional Air Quality Plan growth projections to simply allow for more pollution than is currently permitted.

Another issue raised through the public input process is impact on native bird species. During construction, the report suggests creating barriers between construction and nesting habitats, but debates whether the removal of trees used by birds for nesting is consequential when interpreting the language of pertinent law.

Under the [Migratory Bird Treaty Act], take means only to kill; directly harm; or destroy individuals, eggs, or nests; or to otherwise cause failure of an ongoing nesting effort, the report reads, making the argument that proposed mitigation efforts would be sufficient despite the removal of mature trees from the site. Further efforts are proposed to limit the number of birds harmed from collisions with reflective surfaces that may be incorporated into the design of the new buildings, such as stepped back building design, protruding balconies, recessed windows, and mullioned glazing systems.

With regard to other natural features including sea life and plant life on and near the site, the report concludes that contribution to cumulative biological resources impacts would be less than cumulatively considerable.

It is also suggested by the studys authors that a qualified archaeologist and paleontologist be employed to monitor excavation of the site both before it begins and throughout the digging process to identify items of significance worth preserving, as were discovered when construction was taking place on the Hiltons parking garage, which led to the designation of the land as a significant historical site.

Should any fossils or artifacts from early native society be discovered during the course of excavation, construction could stop or be diverted for a period in order to allow for the qualified removal of such items.

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