- The Best and Worst States to Retire “With more and more retirees responsible for their own financial security, choosing the right destination once you've stopped working can make or break any lazy-day fantasies. To that end, WalletHub compared the retirement-friendliness of all 50 states using criteria such as cost of living, crime rate, tax-friendliness on pensions and Social Security income, number of health-care facilities, access to public transportation as well as the weather and proximity to golf courses and museums — this is retirement after all.” (CNBC)
- The Last Place on Earth Where Everyone Still Loves Kmart “The Kmart store in Guam is located 6,000 miles west of California in the Pacific Ocean, well past the easy reach of Target, Wal-Mart or Amazon Prime. The store, open 24 hours a day, also seems beyond the reach of time itself. Inside, it feels more like 1980, when Kmart ruled the big-box retail market.” (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)
- Macy’s Inc. Real Estate Sales Will Continue in 2018 “Earlier this month, Macy's reported a tentative turnaround in sales trends for the November-December holiday shopping period. As a result, the struggling department store giant modestly raised its full-year earnings per share guidance. Macy's now expects to post adjusted EPS of $3.11-$3.21 -- including a $0.05 benefit from federal tax reform -- up from $2.91-$3.16 previously. Despite the improving sales trends, many analysts expect Macy's to face continued earnings pressure in 2018. The average 2018 EPS estimate -- which probably ignores the recently implemented tax reform law -- is just $2.86.” (Madison.com)
- A Slowdown Is in Store for the Self-Storage Business “The party is coming to an end in the self-storage business. For most of the current economic expansion, the sector has been beating all other major commercial property types in earnings growth and stock performance. Real-estate investment trusts like Life Storage Inc., Extra Space Storage Inc. and Public Storage have been able to push through stratospheric rent increases thanks partly to the scant supply of new development.” (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)
- New ‘Retailer Preference Index” Puts Trader Joe’s, Costco and Amazon at the Top “Trader Joe’s, Costco and Amazon top a new measurement that’s designed to link consumer preference with a retailer’s financial performance. The Retailer Preference Index (RPI) was unveiled today in New York at the NRF 2018 Show by Chicago-based customer data science company Dunnhumby. The RPI study surveyed 11,000 U.S. households and analyzed consumer emotional sentiment for 59 food retailers, and then combined the survey data with the retailers’ financial performance to create each retailer’s preference index.” (Progressive Grocer)
- Pacific Park Gets Much Needed Boost from Ownership Overhaul “The restructured joint venture to fully develop Brooklyn’s Pacific Park appears to be an overdue breakthrough for the much-heralded but slow-moving $5 billion project — and it doesn’t come a minute too soon. Only five of 15 planned buildings on 22 acres east of the Atlantic-Flatbush avenues juncture have gone up since the project was first announced in 2005 — and much of the site remains a windswept tangle of rubble and exposed rail tracks.” (New York Post)
- Related Makes Bid for CRE Lender Ladder Capital “A subsidiary of New York developer and investor the Related Cos. made a cash bid this past weekend to acquire commercial real estate lender Ladder Capital Corp. Related Fund Management LLC is proposing to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Ladder for $15 per share through a two-step tender offer and merger process, subject to certain conditions. Ladder Capital said it intends to promptly and carefully review the proposal.” (CoStar News)
- The New Whole Foods Adopts One of Old Grocery’s Most Condemned Practices “Among the many criticisms leveled against grocery stores that rely on slotting allowances and other supplier fees to operate their businesses is that these charges result in higher prices to consumers and a degree of sameness — a sort of dumbing down of merchandising creativity — across locations. That’s what makes a recent Washington Post article, which suggests Whole Foods is moving to a similar system to operate its business, a head scratcher.” (Forbes)
- Urban Suburbia: More Businesses Are Catering to the Tastes of the Suburbanites Relocating Here in Droves “The spread of Target (there are 12 in the city) is one example. The first store in Brooklyn opened in 2002, and there are now five in the borough, including two that opened last year. Target’s sprawl is part of a broader trend in which chain retailers with roots in suburban shopping centers have grown by 35% in the city in the past decade. The fastest-growing restaurant locally for the past 10 years has been Dunkin’ Donuts, which has replaced the many independent deli, diner and café operators who succumbed to ever-rising rents.” (Crain’s New York Business)
- Behind the Complicated Financing of One Vanderbilt “In the first quarter of 2018, Robert Schiffer, a managing director at SL Green Realty, will do something he’s never done before: fly to China to raise EB-5 financing — more than $200 million, to be exact. If it’s successful, the trip will mark the final leg in the New York real estate giant’s two-year effort to fund its 1,401-foot-tall Midtown office tower One Vanderbilt, which is scheduled for completion in 2020.” (The Real Deal)
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