- Room for Improvement? New Hotelier Tests an Algorithmic Pricing System “While hotel operators typically organize their pricing around room inventory, the new hotelier, Life House, is experimenting with a pricing system that uses an algorithm to set a different room rate and tailor promotions for each guest based on a variety of personal information. Here’s how the system works: After booking for the first time at a standard rate, Life House customers are asked to fill out an extensive questionnaire that covers personal information from how often they travel and visit the hotel bar to how many followers they have on Instagram.” (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)
- Here’s Why the ‘Retail Apocalypse’ Won’t Happen “It might seem obvious to some, but stores still need to exist in retail because shoppers value being able to see and touch an item before they purchase it, one Wall Street firm is telling its clients. As more consumers turn to their laptops and smartphones to buy things online, some people have started to write off stores in malls and shopping centers. But UBS is saying the “death of stores” narrative is far from true. In fact, it’s predicting sales that take place in bricks-and-mortar stores still have room to grow.” (CNBC)
- Three Reasons Real Estate Pros Should Get Smart About Investing in Educational Institutions “Plant a tree in a vacant space, and you may slowly watch the surrounding lot blossom with life. The same can be said when constructing real estate projects that benefit underserved communities in towns and cities across the globe. While new construction is part of a thriving community, so too are educational institutions for the professional and economic development of each local community. Providing the resources and space for growing educational needs, from skilled labor to intellectual job roles, is imperative.” (Forbes)
- ‘Dead Skunk’ Stench Out of Marijuana Farms Outrages Californians “When Californians voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2016, there were debates about driving under the influence and keeping it away from children. But lawmakers did not anticipate the uproar that would be generated by the funk of millions of flowering cannabis plants. As a result of the stench, residents in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, are suing to ban cannabis operations from their neighborhoods. Mendocino County, farther north, recently created zones banning cannabis cultivation — the sheriff’s deputy there says the stink is the No. 1 complaint.” (The New York Times)
- Better Watch Out: Season of Christmas-Themed Pop-Up Bars Is Upon Us “I should acknowledge that as the product of a family that doesn’t celebrate Christmas, I’ve always viewed this seasonal ramp-up from a somewhat bemused yet anthropological perspective. And it was with this lens that I recently found myself seated at a back table at Pacific Cocktail Haven, near Union Square, sipping a $15 Christmas Carol Barrel that had been served by a bartender in a red onesie, listening to the Waitresses’ “Christmas Wrapping,” surrounded by enough floor-to-ceiling holiday tchotchkes — twinkling lights, candy canes, bows, Santas, presents and other merry paraphernalia — to give the Grinch a heart attack.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Bentall Kennedy, GreenOak Real Estate Announce $940M Merger “Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak Real Estate have agreed to a merger in which the combined entity will be called Bentall GreenOak and is valued at $940 million. Bentall GreenOak will be majority-owned by Sun Life Financial and will operate under Sun Life Investment Management, the alternative asset management arm of Sun Life. Sun Life Financial will contribute its interest in Bentall Kennedy and pay GreenOak shareholders $146 million in cash in exchange for a 56% interest in the combined Bentall GreenOak entity, with GreenOak shareholders holding the remaining interest.” (GlobeSt.com)
- Dallas’ Highland Capital Just Bought Huge Former EDS HQ “One of Plano's biggest business campuses has quietly changed hands. The 1.6 million-square-foot former Electronic Data Systems office complex has been purchased by Dallas' Highland Capital, deed records show. Opened in 1992, the sprawling office complex is located just east of the Dallas North Tollway on Legacy Drive. The property - owned since 2008 by Hewlett Packard and most recently DXC Technology - has been up for sale since this summer. The huge office development was expected to bring close to $125 million at sale.” (Dallas Morning News)
- Whole Foods Headquarters Will Anchor New Colony Square Building “Where Colony Square’s old atrium shops once welcomed Midtown workers on lunch breaks, a six-story building is set to rise with perks meant to appeal to today’s office dweller: 11-foot ceilings, big windows, and the buzz of restaurants and retailers at the base. The plans for Building 300, as the Colony Square component at Peachtree and 15th streets will be called, have scored Whole Foods Markets’s regional office headquarters as an anchor tenant, officials with developer North American Properties announced today.” (Curbed Atlanta)
- Rounding Up the Predictions for Houston’s Commercial Real Estate Market in 2019 “More attention to the human factor in building use and design. A blurring of functions between some market segments. Yet more demand for connectivity, walkability and integrated systems. Amenities proliferation and rampant e-commerce. Throw in the wild card of wiggy oil prices and you have some of what's predicted for Houston’s 2019 real estate market, based on a series of year-end real estate outlook presentations, industry panels and an informal poll of participants. There's momentum, they said. And there are challenges.” (Forbes)
- Twenty Lake Holdings Purchases Foreclosed Office Assets in VA “Twenty Lake Holdings has acquired WillowWood III and IV, two Class A office buildings in Fairfax, Va. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. sold the assets out of foreclosure after Liberty Property Trust defaulted on a $70 million loan in March 2016, Yardi Matrix data shows. Each property spreads throughout five floors and they total a combined 276,245 square feet. Amenities include surface and structured parking, landscaped plaza with a fountain and outdoor seating.” (Commercial Property Executive)
0 comments
Hide comments