How the demise of big banks will impact property owners, and Washington State’s new hot city
Mar 13, 2015
Here are the news stories you might have missed this week:
National Real Estate Investor: Shifting bank branch strategies impact property owners, investors
Almost 100,000 physical banks exist in shopping centers across the U.S., making them an important tenant for retail developers. Yet as more and more people adopt online banking, the role of the national brick-and-mortar bank is changing. JP Morgan Chase recently announced its plans to close 300 branches over the next 20 months, and this is only expected to be the start of the physical banking decline. But not all is lost. Property owners and investors should shift their focus to financial institutions, smaller regional banks, or credit unions to offset the potential loss of a national bank. Read the whole story at NREIOnline.com.
Real Estate Weekly: Vanderbilt rezoning the start of something big
Grand Central Terminal might be a New York City icon, but it’s the neighborhood around the station that’s making quite a buzz in the real estate world. A new amendment to the city’s zoning code could allow for the redevelopment of the five-block area surrounding the transportation hub. If approved, the Vanderbilt Corridor Rezoning Text Amendment would encourage new commercial development on Vanderbilt Avenue along Grand Central. The biggest addition would be the construction of a residential tower called One Vanderbilt, and could completely reshape the area if given the green light. Learn about the proposed tower and zoning changes at REW-Online.com.
Seattle Times: Flurry of big deals in downtown Bellevue signals more growth ahead
Move over Seattle, Bellevue is coming on line as Washington’s next hot city. The metropolis set records last year with a number of massive real estate transactions, and developers are now planning to construct additional office, residential, and retail spaces throughout the city to make room for major corporations like New York Life Insurance, Expedia, and Puget Sound Energy. Bellevue is seen as a perfect live-work-play city, and the hub boasts the highest rents and tightest office market in the region. To learn more about the activity in Bellevue, go to SeattleTimes.com.
CoStar: Six key takeaways from multifamily lending data
Like many single family homeowners, multifamily borrowers are going back to the bank and refinancing their properties due to reduced interest rates and a new pool of available cash. A CoStar analysis found that 75 percent of multifamily loans securitized in mortgage-backed offerings last year were refinancing, and the market is expected to remain strong in 2015. Furthermore, interest rates were under 5 percent, while vacancy rates for refinanced properties sat around 5.4 percent. See more takeaways and analysis at CoStar.com.