Urbanexus Update - Issue #68
Please scroll down for the weekly compilation of analysis, reporting, and opinion about real estate and community development. Some links may lead to items that are behind a paywall.
The US economy and real estate investment
Records are falling, but don't drop your guard
The U.S. broke its record for time without an economic recession Monday as it began the 121st consecutive month of gross domestic product (GDP) growth since the 2008 recession. The recovery, which began in July 2009, turned 10 years old Monday, marking the longest stretch of economic expansion in modern U.S. history. Real estate market participants have pulled back somewhat on recent pessimism, as improving stock market conditions and resilient underlying real estate fundamentals have given reason for moderate optimism. But that does not mean that we should defer planning for the next downturn
Free falling RV shipments signal recession?
May RV shipments fell by double digits. Year-to-date RV shipments are down 22% Y/Y. Free falling shipments could portend another recession.
A big hospitality refinancing — rebusinessonline.com
Ryman Hospitality receives $880 MM refinancing for Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center near Denver.
Mixed use development
Retail in an early Bay Area suburban mixed-use protect
Regency Centers Corp. (Nasdaq: REG) has acquired the retail component of The Pruneyard, a 27-acre mixed-use development in Silicon Valley that dates back to 1969. The Jacksonville, Fla.-based shopping center owner and developer purchased the property from a joint venture between Ellis Partners and investment funds managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC for $212.5 million (over $800/sq. ft.) Situated near San Jose, CA, off State Route 17, the Pruneyard’s 258,000-square-foot shopping center site was formerly a pear and prune orchard before the Brynteson family sold it in 1966.
Infrastructure efficency
Per Scott Beyer, the idea advanced by Strong Towns that most development in the USA is "insolvent" - that it doesn't pay for the infrastructure that it uses - is almost certainly wrong.
Housing
Income needed to buy a home in 50 U.S. metro areas — www.visualcapitalist.com The annual salary needed to buy a home in the U.S. ranges from $38k to $255k, depending on the metropolitan area you are looking in.
Seattle approves backyard cottages
The City Council voted unanimously to ease rules for backyard cottages after an epic process during which obstructionists abused state environmental laws to drag things out for four years, as pro-housing affordability forces built up steam and finally won out over the objections of a tiny minority of anti-housing activists.
Oregon legislature effectively ends single-family zoning A bill that seemed like it could be a casualty of a bitter partisan feud managed to squeak under the wire. With Governor Kate Brown's signature, single-family zoning will be prohibited throughout the state of Oregon.
What is holding builders back from offsite construction?
This question matters, particularly now, as McKinsey & Co., the firm behind one of the most widely used images in home building and development business presentations of the past 24-months or so--showing construction sadly lagging broad manufacturing industry sectors in measures of business productivity--is out with a new report , new data, and a fresh assertion that "modular construction's time may finally have come.
Digital marketing for apartments
As the multi-family market becomes more competitive, here are ten things owners may want to consider in the realm of digital marketing.
Places in the USA
Perspective on American suburbia. — www.city-journal.org
Urban intellectuals distaste for suburbia dates back to at least the 1950s and persists. New Urbanist gurus like Andrés Duany describe suburbanized cities, such as Phoenix, as places “where civic life has almost ceased to exist,” though he offers no real evidence to back up this assertion. Social critic James Howard Kunstler goes even further, suggesting that the “state-of-the-art mega-suburbs of recent decades have produced horrendous levels of alienation, anomie, anxiety, and depression.”
Stockton — www.newgeography.com
John Sanfillippo explores the good, bad and the ugly in an affordable California city. The municipality gained undesired fame in 2012 for being the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy.
Environment and resiliency
Seattle’s promising look at congestion pricing
A preliminary Seattle Congestion Pricing Study report gives an overview of how such programs work in other cities, and suggests how Seattle might take the next steps toward developing a program of its own. Some of the study’s findings will make you want to implement a plan immediately:
In every case, congestion pricing has reduced vehicle trips (by 10% to 44%), reduced CO2 emissions (by 2.5% to 22%), and lowered travel times (by 10% to 33%).
A carbon emission reduction toolkit for cities
Twelve ways cities can lead efforts to tackle climate change.