Editors’ Weekly News Roundup February 17 – February 21
There’s a first time for everything, and the past week’s top story was just such a first-timer. Although the most-read stories on Connect CRE typically originate in our daily news coverage, this top-ranked report appeared in the Presidents Day weekend edition of our recently launched digest, CRE After Hours.
It appeared to be a matter of time before the DOGE-advised downsizing of the federal government reached the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Employees Face Staffing Reductions of 50% provided a high-level view of the layoffs coming to a department with which many in commercial real estate have direct or indirect dealings on a regular basis.
Newly sworn-in Housing Secretary Scott Turner was quoted in the story as saying that HUD would have its own DOGE task force to scrutinize the department’s spending. As the story was being prepared, the expectation was that the Federal Housing Administration, the nation’s largest mortgage insurer, would be less affected. Subsequently, though, Bloomberg News reported that FHA would see staffing reduced to 40%, although the agency denied that there were plans for layoffs of that magnitude.
The week’s second most-read story also involved housing and government, albeit on a municipal level. A public-private partnership between the City of Chicago and Evergreen Real Estate Group has led to the completion of Encuento Square, which we reported asChicago Housing Authority to Open $68M Apartments.
The 89-unit complex at 3759 W. Cortland St. and 1844 N. Ridgeway Ave. includes affordable units for families and individuals with incomes at or below 60% of the Chicago Area Median Income. Evergreen funded the development with a combination of city and state funds along with private mortgage debt.
A theme that has been sounded frequently in Connect CRE coverage within the past few years is M&A, and the past week’s third most-read story was another example. In Barings to Acquire Artemis Real Estate Partners, our readers learned that Charlotte-based Barings will add the Artemis team and $11 billion of assets under management to its holdings.
For Barings, which pursues a variety of finance strategies, the Artemis deal amplifies one of those strategies. “We view real estate equity investing as a key pillar of growth within our long-term strategy and believe this acquisition will meaningfully enhance our capabilities,” said Mike Freno, chairman & CEO of Barings.
The past week’s fourth most-read story circled back to the doings at the White House and, like the most-read story, originated outside of our daily coverage. A Weekender story titled Trump Administration Tax Changes and Potential Real Estate Effectssounded out Deloitte’s Tim Coy for insights into what the current year may bring.
Among other things, 2025 will see key provisions of the tax code expire at year’s end. That’s likely to drive the passage of major tax legislation this year.
In fifth place for the past week was KKR Closes Opportunistic Real Estate Credit Fund North of $850M. The private equity giant will use the fund to pursue investments across both loans and securities in the U.S. and western Europe.
“We believe it is a great time to invest in real estate credit,” said Matt Salem, partner and head of real estate credit at KKR. “The asset class offers attractive absolute and relative returns, underpinned by the opportunity to lend on high-quality, well-located assets at conservative leverage levels on reset property values.”