Editors’ Weekly News Roundup April 14 – April 18
Some quick-serve restaurant franchises simply create more of a stir than others when they announce a new store opening. Chick-fil-A is one of those franchises, and a report that the brand will anchor a new development in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood became the most-read Connect CRE story of the past week.
Chick-fil-A to Open Second South Side Location reported that the home of seven different varieties of chicken sandwich will bring 100 new jobs to the neighborhood when it opens at the Pullman Gateway project near the Pullman National Historic Site. It’s the second Chick-fil-A on Chicago’s South Side and one of 15 slated to open in Chicagoland by 2027.
The past week’s second most-read story widened the geographic scope from a Chicago neighborhood to anywhere in the U.S. with a vibrant apartment market. Based on a monthly report of rent growth trends, Redfin: Tariffs Could Spur Apartment Rent Increases made the point that construction could slow further due to the high cost of imported building materials.
Moreover, Redfin economics research lead Chen Zhao said, “Tariffs could also drive up rents by increasing demand. People may opt to rent instead of buy homes because the turmoil around tariffs has fueled widespread economic uncertainty.”
Ranking third was another development-related story. Here, though, the forecast calls for more construction, not less. Demand for data center capacity will be a boon to owners of developable land, especially if they’re in a position to meet the centers’ infrastructure requirements.
“Data centers are in high demand and landowners are well-positioned to reap the benefits, especially if their property has access to power and access to a fiber network—the two primary traits that data center developers will want to confirm right out of the gate,” said Howard Berry, Principal, Director, Data Center Solutions at Avison Young, in Rising Data Center Demand Spells Bonanza for Landowners.
One of the world’s most prolific investors in commercial properties was in the news again this past week. We reported that core-plus funds affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate have agreed to acquire a 95% stake in an industrial portfolio developed by Crow Holdings.
Blackstone Pays $718M for Crow Holdings Industrial Portfolio reported that the bulk of the portfolio is located in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston metro areas. The acquisition is in keeping with the asset management giant’s ongoing belief in the industrial sector, as evinced by its $170-billion global portfolio of warehouse properties. The story was our fourth most-read of the past week.
Despite the current administration’s plans to downsize the federal government’s office footprint nationwide, the office sector remains a mainstay in Washington, DC. Our fifth most-read story last week, Newmark Named Leasing Agent for DC Office Tower informed readers that a team led by vice chairman Doug Mueller will provide agency representation for 25 Massachusetts Ave. owned by Norges Bank Investment Management.
Along with a program of improvements on the part of ownership, 25 Massachusetts also benefits long-term from its tenancy, which isn’t skewed toward federal agencies. The anchor tenant is Google with 100,000 square feet.