Editors’ Weekly News Roundup, Mar 13th – 17th

Housing development in California, or the lack thereof, dominated the past week’s best-read stories, with that theme accounting for three of the top five. Topping the rankings, though, was the latest example of a trend we’ve been hearing about in recent months: institutional commitment to niche sectors, such as industrial outdoor storage (IOS). 

The latest institution to venture the IOS arena is H.I.G. Capital, and its large-scale foray was detailed in H.I.G. Enters Industrial Outdoor Storage Sector with 55-Property Acquisition. Although the acquisition price of that 20-state portfolio wasn’t disclosed, it’s safe to assume that one of the attractions of the IOS sector is its low cost basis.  

The article spells out a couple more pluses for IOS investment: fragmented ownership and supply constraints. And speaking of niche sectors, Connect CRE’s sister publication Connect Money ran a story this past week on Newmark arranging a $500-milion joint venture targeting manufactured housing, RV resorts and campgrounds. 

Coming in right behind the H.I.G. story was California Sues Huntington Beach Over Housing Violations. Here, the housing violation in question is the City of Huntington Beach’s alleged failure to comply with state initiatives to increase the supply of low- to middle-income opportunities for homebuyers.  

Not to be outdone, Huntington Beach is counter-suing the state over these initiatives, claiming that the state has overreached. You’ll read about a different story of residential development in Orange County later in this weekly roundup. 

First, though, is the past week’s third most-read story, and yes, it’s about residential development in the Golden State, this time in the Bay Area. With the massive Bishop Ranch complex to its credit, Sunset Development Company is coming to the city of San Ramon and the former Chevron campus there.  

Bishop Ranch Developer Plans 2,000+ Homes at Chevron Campus has the details, which include Sunset Development’s plan for a mix of single-family and multifamily. Shovels won’t be going into the ground tomorrow, though, because the developer and the city have yet to agree on the redevelopment’s final form, and then there’s the matter of approvals—never a quick and easy process to go through. 

Up next is the week’s fourth most-read story overall, and the most-read thus far of Connect CRE’s coverage related to the turmoil in the banking sector. The day after Signature Bank was seized by regulators and put into FDIC receivership, a new entity announced that it was open for business.  

Our story on this announcement, Signature Bridge Bank Opens Its Doors Following Predecessor’s Shutdown, conveyed the essential information along with the reason that the fate of this particular lender was of interest to Connect CRE readers: Signature Bank has been among the New York region’s most active participants in commercial real estate finance. More on our coverage of the Signature and Silicon Valley Bank shutdowns, and the long-term implications, shortly. 

Before we get to that, here’s our fifth most-read story of the past week. It returns to Orange County, but with a very different outcome. The City of Irvine has accepted the state’s housing mandate and is working with Irvine Company to help fulfill it. Irvine Co. Proposes 4,500 Apartments at Six Irvine Sites tells about a proposal that would add more than 1,000 affordable units out of the 4,536 the developer has in mind. The plan needs to be approved by City Council, which is one reason that this story probably won’t be the last time we cover this proposal. 

Speaking of topics that aren’t limited to a single story, the back-to-back shutdowns of SVB and Signature—respectively the second and third largest bank failures in U.S. history—have yielded more than one article on Connect CRE. The day of the Signature shutdown—a Sunday—we posted a breaking news story that the Treasury Department would guarantee SVB and Signature customers access to their accounts. Within that story, we also reported that the Federal Reserve would create a new Bank Term Funding Program to offer lenders an additional source of liquidity. 

Ares Capital co-founder and CEO Michael Arougheti was Walker & Dunlop CEO Willy Walker’s guest on the most recent Walker Webcast, and Arougheti remarked that when he was booked for the webcast, he wondered how he’d fill the entire hour. By the time the webcast took place, though, Arougheti had plenty of insights to provide on the SVB collapse and its impact on the overall financial system. 

The latest edition of our Weekender mailing has Maureen Waters, a MetaProp partner, discussing what SVB’s failure means to the proptech sector. Waters called the bank’s collapse “an important wakeup call for investors and startups alike.”