Editors’ Weekly News Roundup February 10 – February 14
The repurposing of former single-tenant corporate campuses has been in the headlines in recent years, and it happened again this past week. Former Boca Raton Office Depot Campus Slated for Redevelopment was the most read story across the Connect CRE platform.
Connect CRE has reported on redevelopment scenarios that have included turning a single-tenant campus into a multi-tenant one and office-to-residential conversion. Here, the plan put forth by PEBBEnterprises, BH Group and The Related Group calls for a mixed-use complex to be developed in four phases. Meanwhile, Office Depot will maintain a presence, leasing back a portion of its space.
Coming in second among the past week’s most-read stories was Tacoma Apartment Complex Sells for $41M.By any measure, the sale by Goodman Real Estate was a success: the selling price was more than twice what Goodman paid for the 25-building property a decade ago.
The 230-unit Altitude 104 multifamily complex was home territory for locally based Goodman. For the buyer, Los Angeles-based Oro Capital Advisors, the acquisition appears to have been its first in the Puget Sound area.
A regional debut of a different variety was the subject of our third most-read story last week. Guzman y Gomez (GYG), a Mexican casual and fast-food restaurant chain hailing from Australia, signed a lease for its first location within Chicago city limits.
Although the location in the city’s Bucktown neighborhood will be a first, the story’s headline—Australian Clean Fast Food Brand Plans Eight Chicagoland Locations—makes it clear that GYG is not a stranger to the region. The Chicago eatery will be its sixth location in the metro area, with two more planned to open in the suburbs later this year.
The past week’s fourth most-read story reported on the start of a new chapter for a familiar industry figure. Connect CRE readers learned via a breaking-news mailing, Cushman & Wakefield Taps Robert Thornburgh to Lead Southwest Region, that the veteran broker and longtime SIOR Global leader is taking on a direct supervisor role.
As regional president of the Southwest Region, which includes Southern California, Nevada, Phoenix, Colorado, Utah and Idaho, Thornburgh will oversee Cushman & Wakefield’s strategic growth of the Southwest. Specific functions he’ll be in charge of include client service delivery, talent development and recruiting, while developing strong partnerships across the firm’s service lines.
Thornburgh is based in LA, and the nation’s second-largest city was the setting for the past week’s fifth most-read story. A years-long effort to expand the city’s potential for residential development finally paid off with a 14-0 vote by the Los Angeles City Council to approve the Citywide Housing Incentive Program.
As reported in LA City Council Approves Citywide Rezoning Plan, the new ordinance will provide developers with incentives to build both market-rate and affordable units. It represents LA’s main strategy to meet state housing goals that require the city to find land for an additional 255,000 homes.
Although real estate is primarily a regional business, national policymaking can have significant regional impact. The new administration’s proposed tax regime is just such an area, and a story in the latest edition of Weekender unpacks the implications for real estate.