In case you missed it: Aug. 22
Aug 22, 2012
We’re starting a new series on the IRR Blog, called “In case you missed it.” We’ll gather some of the news articles that we’ve been paying attention to and that we think will be of interest to you, our readers, as well.
So whether you’ve been busy at work or relaxing at the beach this past week, here are some of the stories we’ve been following:
WSJ: “Developers Duel Over Malls in Missouri”
Outlet malls are one of the areas of commercial real estate that are seeing new construction. In Missouri, Simon Property Group Inc. and Taubman Centers Inc. are both taking advantage of this trend, building rival outlet malls. But the region might not be able to support both, so the construction has become a race for dominance of the market.
GlobeSt.com: “Sears Spinoff is Latest Attempt at Turnaround”
Big box stores have been struggling and one solution might be to spin off the larger stores into smaller specialty stores. Sears has done just that with its Hometown hardware division, which it spun off into its own entity.
Oregon Live: “‘Underwater,’ as in mortgages, added to Merriam-Webster dictionary”
Merriam-Webster routinely updates its dictionary to reflect language currently in use. Given the housing troubles of the past four years, perhaps it’s not surprising that a new definition of “underwater” was added: “having, relating to, or being a mortgage loan for which more is owed than the property securing the loan is worth.”
What stories caught your attention recently? Share them in a comment below.
