- Foreign Real Estate Developers Hit U.S. Shores “Foreign investors, no longer content paying top price for U.S. trophy properties, are increasingly getting in on the ground floor of development projects they hope will become the next Rockefeller Center or Chrysler Building.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- Credit Rater S&P to be Banned for a Year From Biggest Part of Commercial Bond Market “The deal, which the person said may be announced as soon as tomorrow, is the agency’s toughest action yet in an industry blamed for fueling the 2008 financial crisis by assigning inflated grades to risky mortgage debt.” (Bloomberg)
- Canyon Trimming Bets on Mortgage Bonds After Making $7 Billion “Canyon Partners is paring its bullish investments in the mortgage-bond market after the hedge fund made about $7 billion in the past decade capitalizing on opportunities leading up to and following the financial crisis.” (Bloomberg)
- S&P to Cleave Real Estate Firms from Financial Sector “Public beer and tobacco companies will continue to be listed as consumer staples, but real estate companies are getting their own place on the charts.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- Can the 114th Congress Make a Difference? “Commercial, industrial and residential real estate are more than bellwether sectors of the economy—they are major drivers of growth, employment and prosperity in the United States. The U.S. real estate industry generates $4.6 trillion dollars in revenues per year and employs 17.6 million Americans, according to The Real Estate Roundtable. So, to twist a recent advertising slogan, what happens in the real estate industry doesn’t stay in the real estate industry.” (Commercial Observer)
- Senate Authorizes Tenant Star Program at EPA “The Senate voted 94-5 to authorized the US Environmental Protection Agency to create a voluntary ‘Tenant Star’ program. This program is meant to encourage landlord and tenant teams to design, construct and operate leased spaces that achieve high levels of energy performance.” (GlobeSt.)
- The EB-5 Visa Program: A Popular Real Estate Program’s Reauthorization is Uncertain “The results of the Government Accountability Office audit will impact the debate on the future viability of the Program and its reauthorization. Also, there have been calls by some in Congress to make the Program permanent. As we approach September, any uncertainty surrounding extension of the Program, coupled with a strengthening US Dollar, may prove to be a disincentive to foreign investors, frustrating EB-5 financing opportunities for real estate developers.” (Real Estate Legal Update)
- Will New Development Marketing Costs Skyrocket in 2015? “Developers haven’t faced such stiff competition since 2007, and some in the real estate industry expect to see a return to the lavish marketing and one-upmanship of the boom years. Others, however, say that today’s battle is won in pre-development. Rather than expanding marketing budgets, they say that developers are devoting more dollars to building superior product.” (The Real Deal)
- Shareholders Face Quandary in Battle for Family Dollar “Family Dollar, the company that makes its name on saving its customers money, might leave about half a billion dollars on the table. The crux is the Federal Trade Commission, which is poised to block a tie-up of Dollar General and Family Dollar on antitrust grounds but appears willing to allow the Dollar Tree deal to proceed with minimal conditions.” (The New York Times)
- J.C. Penney Brings Back its Catalog “A half-decade after killing off its hefty catalog to focus on the Web, J.C. Penney Co. is bringing it back, armed with data showing that many of its online sales came from shoppers inspired by what they saw in print.” (MarketWatch)
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