Urbanexus Update - Issue #37
Please scroll down for the weekly compilation of analysis, reporting and opinion about real estate and community development. Note that some links may lead to material that is behind a paywall.
Big real estate financing
Freddie Mac to refinance one-fifth of Brookfield's apartments in the USA
Private equity giant Brookfield has refinanced a portfolio of 24 multifamily properties through Freddie Mac, which will securitize the loans .The refinanced properties were all a part of Brookfield Asset Management's $2.5 billion acquisition of Associated Estates Realty Corp. in 2015, when it took control of approximately 13,000 units across 10 states. The mortgages refinanced 6,260 units, about 20 percent of Brookfield's U.S. holdings. Brookfield currently owns about 32,000 apartment units across the country.
Pricy real estate transaction
Hines sells Old Navy HQ for $342 MM
A real estate investment trust unit of Hines known as Hines Global REIT acquired the San Francisco property for $180 million in 2012 but now is selling the building for almost double its purchase price. The sale is part of a liquidation plan approved by the organization's board this year to capitalize on the strength of the market and high investor interest.
Retail malls
In 1950, Seattle's Northgate became the country’s first mall — www.seattletimes.com The Bon Marché anchored the $3 million shopping center, back when it had an uncovered ‘Miracle Mile.’
Housing
Housing's recovery since the Great Recession has remained largely in the discretionary income economic brackets. This is why, among 126 million households, and almost 80 million families, market players are still barely bringing a million new housing starts of all types online each year.
Land for 675 homes near Sarasota, FL
The developer of Lakewood Ranch has sold 278 acres for 9.85 million for a 675-home subdivision. Home builder DR Horton will construct the single-family homes. The Manatee County Commission approved the project in June.
Portland New Urbanist Joe Cortright argues that the reason why most Millennials, along with most people of almost all other categories, live in suburbs is that they are forced to do so by zoning rules that prohibit that densities that people prefer. But there is an alternate explanation that is true in places like Atlanta where developers are able to persuade cities to alter zoning if the market demands something different from existing zoning.
Changes to Seattle’s single-family zoning could improve housing picture
The single-family zones that make up about 75 percent of Seattle's residential land have accommodated just 5 percent of all new housing added in the city this decade, according to a November 2018 Seattle Planning Commission report.
Smallest & largest average apartment sizes in the USA The folks at RENTCafé consulted a bunch of real estate data and have revealed the average apartment size in most large US cities.
Airbnb getting into design and construction
Last year, Airbnb announced its own Backyard division, which gave many observers in housing the sense that it too planned to enter the ADU business to add to the addressable universe of hosts it has in its $38 billion empire. Fast Company's Mark Wilson reports that Airbnb has no intention of limiting its investment in design and construction to ADUs.
Technology
Indoor mapping company Point Inside lands $3.5 million to expand sales
The company’s platform creates interactive maps of a variety of venues, including malls, warehouses, hospitals, arenas, corporate campuses and airports. Real estate executives, for example, can analyze data from 1,250 mall maps to see how well a potential store location in a given mall would perform based on its proximity to competitors, parking, or entrances.
Prefab tiny houses installed into old dilapidated homes In 2016, People's Architecture Office (PAO) designed a novel modular home that could be built within a day using just a hex key called the Plugin House. The firm is still developing the design and recently installed two new models of the Plugin House into dilapidated old houses in a Chinese village.