The Different Faces of New Urbanism

By Stan Sonenshine in Real Estate Development

8 years ago

8 years ago 0 0 2563

The Different Faces of New Urbanism If you read the newspaper or business journals, you would assume everyone wants to live in the heart of a big city, in a small apartment in a mixed-use development, located near a transit station and high-rise office building—you get the picture. While the desire for interaction and less car time are the driving forces behind this trend, it fails to address the desire of many for space, affordability and convenience to good dining, entertainment and employment—all attributes of the suburbs. Can these seemingly contradictory trends be satisfied? As discussed in my post “Atlanta’s Edge Cities Develop City Centers,” the answer is yes. Let’s explore some more. City = Cluster of Small Cities? When referring to a city like Atlanta, we can no longer look at it as one homogeneous political entity. Instead, Atlanta is a cluster of smaller cities and unincorporated neighborhoods with distinct

Mentoring Benefits? It Keeps You Relevant

By Stan Sonenshine in Mentoring

8 years ago

8 years ago 0 1 2646

We all know the older you get, the harder it is to adapt to the market. It’s not easy to change what you have learned for your whole career. But to continue to thrive, you absolutely must adapt and see your business as it has changed. As discussed in previous blogs, new technology plus the impact of Millennials has accelerated real estate industry changes. This creates new opportunities, but causes some existing properties to become obsolete and some previous practices to become unprofitable. Of course, there will always be industry constants. Deal fundamentals, you have to know. And you still need money; tenants still need to pay rent; and stable tenants are still desirable. What shifts is this: you have to apply these fundamentals to a different set of parameters. Enter the new recruit, The Bridge between past and present. How Does This Benefit You? Let’s be frank: some of

Mentoring 102: On-the-Job Mentoring

By Stan Sonenshine in Mentoring, Real Estate Investing

8 years ago

8 years ago 0 1 2911

Mentoring 102: On-the-Job Mentoring So, your mentee has landed her first commercial real estate position. She’s excited, engaged and ready to learn the ropes and land some deals. Despite her enthusiasm and drive, she feels overwhelmed and doesn’t know where to start. This is where you come in. In my last blog, “Why Mentoring Is Key to Future Success,” we discussed how a mentor assists with the initial career decision. As promised, this blog addresses how mentors can help young professionals start with necessary fundamentals. This is important because like golf, if your set-up is poor, a bad swing will follow. Fortunately, most real estate companies now use the team approach. Teams can consist of junior and senior members or of professionals with complimentary skill sets. This approach by its nature gives the novice both a focus and a mentor. For small companies, less team opportunities exist, so individual mentoring

Why Mentoring is Key to Future Success

By Stan Sonenshine in Mentoring, Real Estate Development

8 years ago

8 years ago 0 1 3808

Wondering how to make a marked investment in your industry’s future? Ensure young people have an interest in your business and give them early access to keys for success. It is my experience most college students interested in real estate want to be developers. After all, developers are the driving force for the industry. But few really understand what the development business entails, and they know little about other wonderful opportunities the real estate industry offers. Colleges are not fully preparing these aspiring real estate professionals for this industry. While many graduate with adequate subject knowledge, they’re unsure which discipline to pursue or for which niche they are best suited. Mentoring 101: Start with Coffee That’s where we—established industry players—need to step in and help out. Helping these young people start on the right foot can be as simple as meeting for coffee and asking the following questions: Why do

How Investors + Developers Pivot to Accommodate Shifting Retail Trends

By Stan Sonenshine in Real Estate Trends

8 years ago

8 years ago 0 0 3818

It’s a simple truth: The retail market and business changes more than any other property type. In “How Retail is Shifting: A Focus on Malls,” I delved into the changes happening to retail malls. Continuing that idea, let’s take a look at other trends impacting retail real estate and consider how developers and investors are pivoting to take advantage of these trends. Current Trends Impacting Retail Real Estate Bank + Drug Store consolidation and shift to online services High-Density Residential Development in urban + close-in suburban areas Cultural demand for broader Entertainment Experience + Personal Service Continued popularity of Dining Out + Prepared Foods Growth of unregulated services, such as Uber Growth of Amazon, including its new private-label brand initiative With these trends in mind, the retail industry’s developers, property owners and retailers must adjust their thinking. Here’s a few ways that’s happening: Ways Retail Industry Leaders Pivot Addition of

How Retail is Shifting: A Focus on Malls

By Stan Sonenshine in Real Estate Trends

8 years ago

8 years ago 0 0 9493

A recent article in The Atlantic opened with this: “According to Ellen Dunham-Jones, an architect and professor at Georgia Tech, there are about 1,200 enclosed malls in the United States, and about one-third of them are dead or dying.” The good news shared in the article, however, is that 211 malls are being retrofitted to accommodate other uses—some being used as colleges, medical centers, churches and even parks. Re-imagining malls offers hope to what looks like a rather dim mall future. The prominence of e-commerce, the exit of department store anchors and the growing popularity of open-air, mixed-use developments all contribute to the demise of second-tier traditional malls. Department Store Dilemmas Department store chains, like Sears and JCPenney, are closing in second-tier malls and in secondary markets. The big-name retailers are experiencing diminishing store traffic as more people buy online. This is not necessarily bad for the retailer, but online

How Office Space is Changing

By Stan Sonenshine in Real Estate Trends

8 years ago

8 years ago 0 1 3726

No matter what business you are in, you snooze, you lose. Concepts, space, location—it’s all dynamic, always moving around. You must keep your finger on the pulse at all times because the market is always in flux. How Office Space Is Changing Office space design is changing rapidly. Here are some examples: Co-working concepts like Roam and WeWork accommodate small business needs. Start-up incubators help young entrepreneurs launch business ideas. Large companies opt for high-density, free-form office space. Office design and needs for law firms shift drastically. Proximity to transit and highway accessibility become more important. Traditional office layouts become obsolete; older office buildings are re-imagined. Going back to urbanist Richard Florida’s idea of the creative class discussed in an earlier blog, the idea to mingle different disciplines in the same space to create synergy is gaining traction. This trend and changes in technology have a profound impact on office

How Financial Markets Impact Property Values

By Stan Sonenshine in Real Estate Investing

8 years ago

8 years ago 1 1 3014

Until the early 1980’s, real estate values were dependent on what I call real estate fundamentals—location, product quality, supply and demand. As a rule, financing provided investors and developers inexpensive, long-term capital but had insignificant impact on property value. Therefore, they held properties for long periods of time and often made money by paying down debt and by appreciating property values. Developers and owners had banking relationships as well. All of these factors equaled stable markets (except when developers became aggressive and tilted the supply/demand balance). Those were the Good Ole’ Days. Now, financial markets have a greater impact on property values, and here’s why: A shift in how private interest buys, develops and finances properties occurred. The Internet has made real estate a global asset. Traditional financing is not as readily available. 1980’s: A Marked Shift The 1980’s forced a major shift in real estate development and investment. Due

How Public-Private Relationships in Real Estate Development Are Growing

By Stan Sonenshine in Real Estate Development

9 years ago

9 years ago 0 0 3004

My previous blog post considered why public-private relationships in real estate development are being more widely utilized and are creating more investment opportunities. Let’s continue that discussion… THE WHY Here’s a quick recap of why I think this is happening: Emergence of high density-mixed use product Growing project size Need for public financing (both for community impact developments and supporting infrastructure) While the public sector has become more involved in the actual developments, it also has offered financial incentives to private interest to encourage certain types of developments in certain places. I’ll call these THE WHAT Community improvement districts (CIDs) Tax allocation districts (TADs) Special public interest districts (SPIs) Opportunity Zones Bond financing Community Improvement Districts (CIDs) In Community Improvement Districts (CIDs), jurisdictions allow businesses in established districts to self-tax in order to make internal improvements. Often property owners pay a fee to participate in the district, and district members,

The PUBLIC-Private Relationship in Real Estate Development

By Stan Sonenshine in Real Estate Trends

9 years ago

9 years ago 0 0 3893

Zoning and Permitting. Eminent Domain. In the past, that was about the extent of local jurisdictions’ involvement in private development. But my how times have changed. THE WHY There are three main reasons the public involvement in public-private relationship is growing: (1) the emergence of high density-mixed use product; (2) project size; and (3) the need for public financing. Zoning Changes Traditionally, developers would buy the land or property and do whatever they wanted. Government or public involvement in the process was limited to zoning and variance permitting, and, in some cases, exercising its right of eminent domain and contribution to infrastructure. Historically, zoning districts were restricted to one type of use (i.e. office or industrial).There was very little mixed use product. With rare exception, zoning did not take into account putting all uses up in the same place and at the same time. If changes were required, public hearings

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The Different Faces of New Urbanism

Mentoring Benefits? It Keeps You Relevant

Mentoring 102: On-the-Job Mentoring

Why Mentoring is Key to Future Success

How Investors + Developers Pivot to Accommodate Shifting Retail Trends

How Retail is Shifting: A Focus on Malls

How Office Space is Changing

How Financial Markets Impact Property Values

How Public-Private Relationships in Real Estate Development Are Growing

The PUBLIC-Private Relationship in Real Estate Development

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