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Greyfields Announces 50,000 SF Headquarters Lease at I-95 Princeton Corporate Center
March 3rd, 2009 Greyfields Investors LLC announced it has signed established IP communications technology company, Vantage Communications, as the lead tenant at I-95 Princeton Corporate Center. The 50,000 square foot building will serve as the company’s new North American Headquarters. Vantage expects to move about 150 of its workers to the property over the next three years. I-95 Princeton Corporate Center is located directly off of Interstate 95 at 370 Scotch Road in GF Princeton LLC, an affiliate of Greyfields Investors LLC ( Vantage Communications offers voice and data services that provide small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) with the same superior voice and data technology used by Fortune 500 companies, but at a fraction of the cost. Embodying an operational excellence model that remains unmatched by its competitors, Vantage Communications ensures each of its clients receive a customized solution that reduces costs and increases staff productivity to boost their overall competitive edge. The company is part of the Vantage Group of Companies. Major affiliates include Vantage Learning, Vantage Linguistics and McCann Associates. For more information on the Vantage Group of Companies, please visit http://www.vantage.com/. About Greyfields Investors Greyfields is a real estate private equity company that invests in, restructures and redevelops inefficient real estate assets for its own account and in partnership and collaboration with others. Greyfields and its principals also provide turnaround services, supplemental management, capital markets advice and execution and asset management across all types of commercial real estate in major markets throughout
Loans on Distressed Properties Become a Burden and an Opportunity
December 29th, 2008 Source: The New York Times By: Julie Satow When the New York developer Harry B. Macklowe acquired the Drake Hotel almost three years ago and began buying up surrounding properties, market specialists expected him to include the site in a mammoth luxury office development. After the downturn in credit markets, however, Mr. Macklowe defaulted on his loans, and bidders are now vying for the Park Avenue site at fire-sale prices. But the Drake site is not for sale directly. What is available is a $200 million mortgage for the swath of land, which covers a third of a city block between Park and Madison Avenues and 56th and 57th Streets. The buyer of this note will own a majority of the most senior piece of the debt, and so will most likely be paid back first should Mr. Macklowe have enough funds. If he defaults, the owner of the note will be in the best position to take ownership of the underlying property through a foreclosure. This deal highlights a shift in the commercial real estate market, away from brick-and-mortar properties and toward the buying and selling of debt. “We are expecting a flurry of deals like the Drake Hotel site, where it is the loan that is for sale, not the actual real estate,” said Robert L. Freedman, the executive chairman of Williams Real Estate, a New York firm. The company is now creating a distressed-property group to handle such transactions. During the real estate boom of recent years, developers increasingly used debt to finance their acquisitions. Now, with the market cooling, some of these borrowers are beginning to default. This is leaving lenders — including banks, private equity firms and hedge funds — in the position of owning the real estate. Read the rest of this entry »
A Wake-Up Call for Land Use
June 16th, 2008 Original Source: The Ground Floor This post was written for The Ground Floor by Trisha Riggs, the vice president of communications at the Urban Land Institute. Rising gas prices and demographic shifts have created a “wake-up call” for the land use industry that demand for more compact walkable development is going to come sooner rather than later. So said the experts at ULI’s recent Developing Master-Planned Communities conference. It seems clear from the panelists that the days of far-flung sprawl are coming to an end, as consumers grow weary of the cost of commuting; and as a rising number of echo boomers and empty-nester baby boomers seek convenience and proximity to work and recreation in their housing choices. With about 90 percent of development in America still segregated and car-dependent, a lot has to change to fill this demand. But the developers who make the quickest switch from the old ways to the new will be the ones that survive in the years ahead, panelists said. “You can either keep fight the change or ride the wave to success,” a panelist noted. He urged attendees to “think about their legacies,” noting that a legacy is not the development of “disposable” shopping centers or condos. “If you do it right, the communities you build will never stop evolving, leading to more opportunities for you and others.” How to meet this demand? Opportunities exist with shopping mall sites, suburban strips, grayfields and brownfields, older commercial sites and “heartless” suburban communities. “The long-term market realities are changing, consumer behavior is changing. We are at a turning point in how communities are developed,” observed one panelist. It all sounds very promising — change for the good of the built and natural environment. Bring it on!
Filling up ‘Big (Empty) Boxes’
April 2nd, 2008 By: Angelia Davis, Staff Writer A forum in Greenville will help educate governmental employees, developers and retailers about state-sponsored incentives for reusing vacant big-box facilities and shopping centers. “Greyfields to Goldfields: Reusing Empty ‘Big Box’ Stores,” a program sponsored by the International Council of Shopping Centers, will be held April 15 at Larkin’s on the River. The forum will invite discussion on the Retail Facilities Revitalization Act, which state legislators approved in 2006 to “create a meaningful incentive for the renovation, improvements, and redevelopment of abandoned retail facility sites” in South Carolina. The law offers the option of a 25 percent credit against real property taxes or a 10 percent state income tax credit. “We want to talk about the legislation, we want to talk about the opportunity it presents, but we also want to hear from the audience about what maybe some of their challenges are in implementing the legislation,” said Cynthia Stewart, director of community relations for the ICSC. “Maybe we could help them find some solutions or perhaps it’s something that needs to be revisited, but we want to have that conversation.” Howard Duvall, executive director of the S.C. Municipal Association, said big-box vacancies are a hot topic with cities in every state. “They want to know what to do with the old abandoned buildings, be it a strip mall or empty retail space.” Duvall said empty retail spaces become a nuisance problem particularly with growth. That can happen when a large retailer comes in, starts off small and then builds a larger facility nearby, leaving behind a space of perhaps 40,000 square feet, he said. “Finding reuses for these is not easy,” he said. The ICSC forum, offered in partnership with the state Municipal Association and the International Economic Development Council, should “give the people who attend a good idea on how they can use the new Retail Facilities Revitalization Act to get these big boxes rehabbed and occupied again,” Duvall said. Stewart said some cities have a vibrant retail environment and that makes it easier for them to get their spaces filled than some other communities. Such may be the case for parts of the Upstate, which has seen a drop in big-box retail vacancy rates for single tenant and owner-occupied properties greater than 20,000 square feet. The vacancy rate for the Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson and Easley area was at 6.5 percent in fourth quarter 2007, down from 7.9 percent in fourth quarter 2006 and 10.1 percent in 2005, according to Grubb & Ellis/The Furman Co. “In the past few years, we’ve seen some of those big boxes we expected to have to be scrapped becoming viable options for potential tenants that are willing to work and be flexible with the site,” said Brian Reed, research manager for The Furman Co. Reed said retailers are not only moving into vacant big boxes, they’re rebranding them and making them fit their own retail. Among some of the best examples of this, he said, are the reuse of Lowe’s on Roper Mountain Road by the Jeff Lynch Appliance & TV Center and Peak Fitness’ use of the former Best Buy on Laurens Road. “That’s a trend we may see going forward. Once it works in one location, they know that because of the consistent branding of the other location of that original retailer, they’ll be able to make that work in another location without a lot of additional work,” Reed said. Retailers and developers occupying or filling empty spaces may be doing so without the benefit of the state’s offering of tax credits. North Charleston is among the areas in the state where the retail revitalization act has been utilized. The bill, which requires a local government’s approval, has not yet been used by Greenville County, said Bob Mihalic, county spokesman. Stewart said the legislation might not be widely known. And, she said, some public officials find the legislation’s square footage limitation “somewhat challenging.” “You may have an empty grocery store that doesn’t meet the threshold of the bill, but for a small community to have that empty box in their town is a big deal,” she said.
The Next Slum?
March 4th, 2008 Christopher B. Leinberger of the Atlantic Monthly reports that the future of suburban residential development appears ominous. The trends are reminiscent of those which produced the original “greyfields”, specifically, overbuilding of suburban malls and shopping centers, their subsequent decline, and the increasing importance of smart growth in urban planning and city living.
Shopping a Dead Mall Site
January 7th, 2008 Source: CommercialAppeal.com By Amos Maki (Contact) With Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s decision not to build a store at the old Mall of Memphis site dealing a severe setback to any hope of a retail revival there, the property’s owner, a division of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., is turning to industrial real estate developers.
Atlanta Regional Commission: Greyfield Redevelopment Toolkit
December 14th, 2007
Partnership Unveils 2008 Agenda to Address Greyfields
December 14th, 2007 The Greater Des Moines Partnership unveiled its 2008 state legislative agenda today at a luncheon event at the Hotel Fort Des Moines downtown. (Photos) The agenda was developed by the Partnership in conjunction with its 21 regional Affiliate organizations and Chambers of Commerce from Dallas, Polk and Warren Counties. It advocates for statewide economic development polices that enhance business competitiveness, nurture entrepreneurs, improve quality of life, help communities attract and retain employers and employees, and create new jobs. Download the full agenda here. Read the rest of this entry »
The Ultimate Fixer Upper
October 10th, 2007 Source: Globe Investor By: Lori McLeod There will be few mourners when a wrecking ball demolishes the aging Morningside Mall this month, and an emblem of Canadian suburbia is razed to make way for a new outdoor shopping centre. |
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