The Leader - September 2007 - (Page 10) real estate I N the NeWs blue-collar buildings Go Green to attract tenants First Industrial Realty Trust of Chicago is testing the waters to see if manufacturers and freight handlers will be as keen to lease space in environmentally friendly buildings as office tenants, reports the Puget Sound Business Journal. The developer is building its first green warehouse and distribution center in Lacey, Wash., featuring such amenities as recycled construction materials, energy-efficient lighting, a water-permeable concrete paving system that allows stormwater runoff to percolate into the ground, and light-colored, heat-reflective roofing material. Though greening the project will add $300,000 to the $50 million project, not counting the $25,000 it will take to complete the paperwork needed to achieve LEED certification, lower operating costs will allow the project’s developer to recoup the added costs in under two years. Will slower Growth and residential Woes disrupt commercial real estate’s performance? The U.S. residential real estate market and an overall slowing economy have not yet caused commercial real estate to suffer the same downturn as the housing market, reports Commercial Real Estate Investment. However, the 8.4 percent drop in existing home sales in March, the largest decline in 20 years, and sub-prime lending problems are bound to cause some type of reaction in the commercial real estate market. At the very least, the magazine predicts, a drop in new housing con- struction will lower the demand for land, and the resulting decline in land values will affect development and replacement costs in all property sectors. bank of america center’s sale could set houston record GE Pension Trust has agreed to purchase the Bank of America Center in downtown Houston for approximately $380 million, reports the Houston Chronicle. The purchase price could set a record for a downtown commercial property, topping 2005’s sale of 5 Houston Center. Local brokers note that the pending sale comes at a time New office tower for london Looking to develop the Watermark Place office building on the River Thames in London, Oxford Properties Group secured a 250-year ground lease from the UBS South East Recovery Fund. The 11-story project will contain approximately 530,000 sq. ft. (49,239 sq. m.) of space when it is completed during third-quarter 2009, reports the London Free Press. Oxford ranks as one of North America’s biggest commercial property investment firms, boasting a portfolio of nearly 40 million sq. ft. (3.7 million sq. m.) of retail, office, residential, hotel and industrial space. singapore proving an attractive port for property Investment Analysts and property professionals marvel at Singapore’s growing influence as a center for Asian real estate financing, reports the Financial Times. Ascendas has announced pricing for the first listing in Singapore of a fund investing in India’s commercial property market. A successful launch is a must, considering that booming construction activity in India and throughout Asia is driving property firms to raise more capital at a time when the financial centers of Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo are battling it out for supremacy. Also, a number of offshore REITs are poised to come Singapore’s way. Mapletree, for one, plans to launch one REIT in cooperation with the Lippo Group for retail space in Indonesia and another for Indian industrial real estate with a local partner. of sizzling buyer interest for office towers in the city’s downtown corridor. In the past 18 months, CB Richard Ellis notes that a whopping 75 percent of all Class A office buildings in downtown Houston have either changed hands or are in the process of being sold. th e le ade r 10 september / october 2007
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