Urbanexus Update - Issue #39
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.
The economy
The layoffs are much more than a routine course-adjustment by a company alert to market softening after a good run. Rather, it’s a wake-up call about the labor market implications of the “digitalization of everything.”
Major real estate transactions
Brookfield acquires Forest City Realty Trust
Forest City’s diversified real estate portfolio, now under Brookfield’s management, includes 6.3 million square feet of office space, 2.3 million square feet of life sciences assets, 2.2 million square feet of retail space, and 18,500 multifamily units. It also features five additional, large-scale development projects in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and the New York City metro area. The transaction was valued at $11 billion.
CBS to sell Television City for $750M
CBS has signed a definitive agreement for the sale of its landmark Television City property in Los Angeles. Hackman Capital Partners, a Los Angeles-based real estate developer, is purchasing the 25-acre property from the mass media company.
$575M financing for UC Davis student housing
The project will add approximately 3,300 beds to the university’s West Village. Financing involves a tax-exempt bond issue, the largest ever in the country for a single project, according to the developer.
Housing
According to Robert Shiller, the rise in housing prices since 2012 is the third highest national housing price rise in real terms since 1913. It is secon only to the explosive run-up in prices from February 1997 to October 2006, which led to the financial crisis of a decade ago.
Another tech firm seeks talent across the USA
Apple to build new campus in Austin and add jobs across the USA
Apple announced a major expansion of its operations in Austin, including an investment of $1 billion to build a new campus in North Austin. company also announced plans to establish new sites in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City and expand in cities across the United States including Pittsburgh, New York and Boulder, Colorado over the next three years, with the potential for additional expansion elsewhere in the US over time.