The Ground Floor

Moved to UrbanLand

Thank you for participating in The Ground Floor blog. While the archives will remain at this location, all future posts can be found on our new online magazine, Urban Land.

Beginning Wednesday, October 13, 2010, timely articles and interviews providing you coverage of many of the sessions of the Fall Meeting will be posted on the Fall Meeting section of the online magazine.

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ULI Online Community Insider: August 2010

Insider Information from ULI:
Connecting the Global Real Estate Community

• Connect With the Right Mix of Real Estate Leaders at the Fall Meeting

More Than 1,600 Already Registered!!!  
Register today for the 2010 ULI Fall Meeting and Urban Land Expo.  Leaders from every sector of the real estate industry come to this meeting because they know they will make connections with business partners and clients, and get the most up-to-date information on industry trends – all in one place. Click here to see who is coming and whom you need to meet.

Save up to $400 when you register by September 24!  Click here to register.

For more information, visit the Fall Meeting website:  http://www.ulifall.org

• What is happening with housing in the current economy?

Six leaders in residential real estate development discuss U.S. housing development trends: why smaller unit and lot sizes are becoming more common, which neighborhoods are holding value in the economic downturn, how demographic shifts are likely to influence the buyer and renter markets, how the public sector is working with the private sector to help keep planned developments alive, and how the recession has affected the movement toward incorporating sustainable design.  Click here to read the Urban Land magazine article.

Read more land use and development articles in the current issue by clicking here.

• Conservation Communities to Pick Up Momentum as Economy Recovers

ULI has released a new publication that highlights the beneficial impact of conservation development to preserving land and managing anticipated population growth in the coming decades.  Conservation Communities:  Creating Value with Nature, Open Space, and Agriculture, provides an anti-sprawl solution in many of the outlying “greenfield” areas that are far from urban cores.  According to author Edward T. McMahon, conservation development not only delivers an answer to the smart growth movement, but also has benefits for residents. "Conservation development can help communities preserve open space and protect rural character,” says McMahon.  “Most important, it can enhance property values, minimize infrastructure costs, and foster the development of graceful, environmentally responsible, and livable communities that appeal to today’s increasingly sophisticated consumer.”

Conservation Communities (ISBN 978-0-87420-132-1) is available at ULI’s online bookstore ($39.95 for members, $49.95 for nonmembers) and everywhere books are sold. To order a copy, visit our online bookstore.

• Upcoming Professional Development Workshops

ULI’s education program is a multifaceted endeavor, designed to improve the level of expertise of preprofessional and professional land use and development practitioners as well as assists in the formulation of real estate curricula and materials for professional education; and provides other education programs for the lay public.   See a full listing of our September workshops and webinar by clicking here. 

• Are you following ULI on our social media channels?  Check us out at:

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/UrbanLandInst
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YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ULITV

Monday's Numbers and Noteworthy News

Commercial Mortgage Alert mortgage spreads based upon a weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders conducted by Trepp, the analytics firm.

Asking Spreads over U.S. Treasury Bonds in Basis Points (10-year Commercial and Multifamily Mortgage Loans with 50% to 59% Loan-to-Value ratios)
	12/31	6/11	6/18	7/2	7/9
Office	342	235	217	240	222
Retail	326	225	213	229	216
Multifamily	318	209	201	211	204
Industrial	333	223	210	225	212
Average Asking Spread	330	223	210	226	214
10-Year Treasury	3.83%	3.20%	3.10%	3.05%	2.92%
Source: Trepp.

Indicated Spreads for Conventional Fixed and Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgages Courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman

Property Type	Mid-Point of Fixed Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 5–10 Year Mortgages*
	1/6/10	4/30/10	5/26/10	6/9/10	6/23/10
Multifamily-Non-Agency	+360/300	+310/180	+325/200	+325/200	+325/190
Multifamily–Agency	+220	+185/160	+240/195	+240/190	+240/190
Regional Mall	+450/350	+340/260	+360/270	+360/250	+360/230
Strip/Power Center	+460/350	+380/270	+390/260	+390/260	+360/240
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+435/420	+310/250	+340/245	+340/245	+330/240
CBD Office	+435/330	+330/200	+360/250	+360/250	+340/240
Suburban Office	+465/355	+350/220	+370/260	+370/260	+360/250
Full-Service Hotel	+500/550	+450/350	+450/350	+450/350	+440/350
Limited-Service Hotel	+500/575	+470/400	+470/400	+470/400	+460/390
5-Year Treasury	2.60%	2.56%	2.06%	2.09%	2.06%
10-Year Treasury	3.85%	3.73%	3.23%	3.29%	3.12%
* A slash (/) indicates the rate for 5 years versus 10 years.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Property Type	Mid-Point of Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 3-5 Year Mortgages*
	1/6/10	4/30/10	5/26/10	6/9/10	6/23/10
Multifamily–Non-Agency	+300-400	+275-300	+275-300	+275-300	+275-300
Multifamily-Agency	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Regional Mall	+475/600	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350
Strip/Power Center	+450/650	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+400/500	+275-350	+275-350	+275-350	+275-350
CBD Office	+425	+275-400	+275-400	+275-350	+275-350
Suburban Office	+425	+325–425	+325–450	+325-375	+300-375
Full-Service Hotel	+600	+400–550	+400–550	+400-550	+400-550
Limited-Service Hotel	+750	+450–600	+450-600	+450-600	+450-600
1-Month LIBOR	0.23%	0.27%	0.35%	0.35%	0.35%
3-Month LIBOR	0.25%	0.33%	0.54%	0.54%	0.54%
* A dash (-) indicates a range.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Sign the Times? For as many who say that the capital markets crises is easing or ending or whatever, there is daily evidence that things are not quite that rosy as shoe after shoe continues to drop. This week’s shoes included the following:

We have decided to suspend our “Sign of the Times” snippets in favor of increased postings on ULI’s Capital Markets Update.

ULI’s Capital Markets Update is comprised of six modules: The Economy; Newsworthy News; Public/Private Equity Capital Markets; Public/Private Debt Capital Markets; Responsible Property Investment; and Market Rates, Terms, Conditions, and Statistics.

Comments? Suggestions? Please e-mail us at: blank@uli.org.

DJIA (1): -3.71%
S & P 500 (2): -4.50%
NASDAQ (3): -3.97%
Russell 2000 (4): -3.73%
MSCI U.S. REIT (5): +4.78%

(1) Dow Jones Industrial Average. (2) Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index. (3) NASD Composite Index.
(4) Small Capitalization segment of U.S. equity universe. (5) Morgan Stanley REIT Index.

U.S. Treasury Yields: (as of July 18, 2010)

3-month: 0.15%
6-month: 0.19%
2-Year: 0.58%
5-Year: 1.67%
10-Year: 2.92%

Monday's Numbers and Noteworthy News

Commercial Mortgage Alert mortgage spreads based upon a weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders conducted by Trepp, the analytics firm.

Asking Spreads over U.S. Treasury Bonds in Basis Points (10-year Commercial and Multifamily Mortgage Loans with 50% to 59% Loan-to-Value ratios)
	12/31	6/11	6/18	6/25	7/2
Office	342	235	217	228	240
Retail	326	225	213	222	229
Multifamily	318	209	201	209	211
Industrial	333	223	210	220	225
Average Asking Spread	330	223	210	220	226
10-Year Treasury	3.83%	3.20%	3.10%	2.98%	3.05%
Source: Trepp.

Indicated Spreads for Conventional Fixed and Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgages

Property Type	Mid-Point of Fixed Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 5–10 Year Mortgages*
	1/6/10	4/30/10	5/26/10	6/9/10	6/23/10
Multifamily-Non-Agency	+360/300	+310/180	+325/200	+325/200	+325/190
Multifamily–Agency	+220	+185/160	+240/195	+240/190	+240/190
Regional Mall	+450/350	+340/260	+360/270	+360/250	+360/230
Strip/Power Center	+460/350	+380/270	+390/260	+390/260	+360/240
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+435/420	+310/250	+340/245	+340/245	+330/240
CBD Office	+435/330	+330/200	+360/250	+360/250	+340/240
Suburban Office	+465/355	+350/220	+370/260	+370/260	+360/250
Full-Service Hotel	+500/550	+450/350	+450/350	+450/350	+440/350
Limited-Service Hotel	+500/575	+470/400	+470/400	+470/400	+460/390
5-Year Treasury	2.60%	2.56%	2.06%	2.09%	2.06%
10-Year Treasury	3.85%	3.73%	3.23%	3.29%	3.12%
* A slash (/) indicates the rate for 5 years versus 10 years.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Property Type	Mid-Point of Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 3-5 Year Mortgages*
	1/6/10	4/30/10	5/26/10	6/9/10	6/23/10
Multifamily–Non-Agency	+300-400	+275-300	+275-300	+275-300	+275-300
Multifamily-Agency	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Regional Mall	+475/600	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350
Strip/Power Center	+450/650	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+400/500	+275-350	+275-350	+275-350	+275-350
CBD Office	+425	+275-400	+275-400	+275-350	+275-350
Suburban Office	+425	+325–425	+325–450	+325-375	+300-375
Full-Service Hotel	+600	+400–550	+400–550	+400-550	+400-550
Limited-Service Hotel	+750	+450–600	+450-600	+450-600	+450-600
1-Month LIBOR	0.23%	0.27%	0.35%	0.35%	0.35%
3-Month LIBOR	0.25%	0.33%	0.54%	0.54%	0.54%
* A dash (-) indicates a range.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Sign the Times? For as many who say that the capital markets crises is easing or ending or whatever, there is daily evidence that things are not quite that rosy as shoe after shoe continues to drop. This week’s shoes included the following:

We have decided to suspend our “Sign of the Times” snippets in favor of increased postings on ULI’s Capital Markets Update which can be accessed via:

ULI’s Capital Markets Update is comprised of six modules: The Economy; Newsworthy News; Public/Private Equity Capital Markets; Public/Private Debt Capital Markets; Responsible Property Investment; and Market Rates, Terms, Conditions, and Statistics.

Comments? Suggestions? Please e-mail us at: blank@uli.org.

DJIA (1): -2.21%
S & P 500 (2): -3.33%
NASDAQ (3): -3.20%
Russell 2000 (4): -0.73%
MSCI U.S. REIT (5): +6.78%

(1) Dow Jones Industrial Average. (2) Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index. (3) NASD Composite Index.
(4) Small Capitalization segment of U.S. equity universe. (5) Morgan Stanley REIT Index.

U.S. Treasury Yields: (as of July 10, 2010)

3-month: 0.15%
6-month: 0.19%
2-Year: 0.62%
5-Year: 1.84%
10-Year: 3.05%

Monday's Numbers and Noteworthy News

Asking Spreads over U.S. Treasury Bonds in Basis Points (10-year Commercial and Multifamily Mortgage Loans with 50% to 59% Loan-to-Value ratios)
	5/28	6/4	6/11	6/18	6/4
Office	235	233	235	217	228
Retail	225	225	225	213	222
Multifamily	213	213	209	201	209
Industrial	223	223	223	210	220
Average Asking Spread	224	224	223	210	220
10-Year Treasury	3.83%	3.20%	3.22%	3.10%	2.98%
Source: Trepp.

Indicated Spreads for Conventional Fixed and Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgages

Property Type	Mid-Point of Fixed Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 5–10 Year Mortgages*
	1/16/10	4/30/10	5/26/10	6/9/10	6/23/10
Multifamily-Non-Agency	+360/300	+310/180	+325/200	+325/200	+325/190
Multifamily–Agency	+220	+185/160	+240/195	+240/190	+240/190
Regional Mall	+450/350	+340/260	+360/270	+360/250	+360/230
Strip/Power Center	+460/350	+380/270	+390/260	+390/260	+360/240
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+435/420	+310/250	+340/245	+340/245	+330/240
CBD Office	+435/330	+330/200	+360/250	+360/250	+340/240
Suburban Office	+465/355	+350/220	+370/260	+370/260	+360/250
Full-Service Hotel	+500/550	+450/350	+450/350	+450/350	+440/350
Limited-Service Hotel	+500/575	+470/400	+470/400	+470/400	+460/390
5-Year Treasury	2.60%	2.56%	2.06%	2.09%	2.06%
10-Year Treasury	3.85%	3.73%	3.23%	3.29%	3.12%
* A slash (/) indicates the rate for 5 years versus 10 years.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Property Type	Mid-Point of Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 3-5 Year Mortgages*
	1/6/10	4/30/10	5/26/10	6/9/10	6/23/10
Multifamily–Non-Agency	+300-400	+275-300	+275-300	+275-300	+275-300
Multifamily-Agency	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Regional Mall	+475/600	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350
Strip/Power Center	+450/650	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+400/500	+275-350	+275-350	+275-350	+275-350
CBD Office	+425	+275-400	+275-400	+275-350	+275-350
Suburban Office	+425	+325–425	+325–450	+325-375	+300-375
Full-Service Hotel	+600	+400–550	+400–550	+400-550	+400-550
Limited-Service Hotel	+750	+450–600	+450-600	+450-600	+450-600
1-Month LIBOR	0.23%	0.27%	0.35%	0.35%	0.35%
3-Month LIBOR	0.25%	0.33%	0.54%	0.54%	0.54%
* A dash (-) indicates a range.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Sign the Times? For as many who say that the capital markets crises is easing or ending or whatever, there is daily evidence that things are not quite that rosy as shoe after shoe continues to drop. This week’s shoes included the following:

We have decided to suspend our “Sign of the Times” snippets in favor of increased postings on ULI’s Capital Markets Update which can be accessed via:

ULI’s Capital Markets Update is comprised of six modules: The Economy; Newsworthy News; Public/Private Equity Capital Markets; Public/Private Debt Capital Markets; Responsible Property Investment; and Market Rates, Terms, Conditions, and Statistics.

Comments? Suggestions? Please e-mail us at: blank@uli.org.

DJIA (1): -7.11%
S & P 500 (2): -8.30%
NASDAQ (3): -7.82%
Russell 2000 (4): -5.574%
MSCI U.S. REIT (5): +1.26%

(1) Dow Jones Industrial Average. (2) Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index. (3) NASD Composite Index.
(4) Small Capitalization segment of U.S. equity universe. (5) Morgan Stanley REIT Index.

U.S. Treasury Yields: (as of June 13, 2010)

3-month: 0.16%
6-month: 0.21%
2-Year: 0.62%
5-Year: 1.82%
10-Year: 2.98%

Redeveloping Tysons: The Mother of all Makeovers

This post was written for The Ground Floor by Robert Dunphy, Transportation Consultant, Emeritus Fellow, ULI.

The Fairfax County, Virginia, Board of Supervisors has approved a massive plan update for the redevelopment of Tysons Corner, (now known simply as Tysons) the largest and most successful (financially at least) business district outside downtown Washington.

Visualizing this transformation from a "sprawling, auto-dependent office park into vibrant, walkable city," takes quite a leap of faith, as participants in a walking tour last Saturday by the Coalition for Smarter Growth learned. All the pieces are there--great retail, Class A office buildings, excellent restaurants, cinemas, and even a smattering of residential. It is just almost impossible to get from one to another without getting in one’s car--the classic problem of traffic choked, pedestrian hostile "Edge Cities," which would include the Perimeter Area outside Atlanta, Kendall outside Miami, which is going through the same process a few years ahead, and Rockville Pike, just across the Potomac River from Tysons in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Making it work requires a compelling vision for what the place could become, as embodied in the plan, a commitment to implementation, and eventually the willing participation of private developers and land owners. The redevelopment will be staged around the four new Metro stations which will pass through Tysons in four years as part of a rail extension to Dulles.

The plan calls for 75 percent of new development to be located within walking distance of the stations. To succeed, however, the streets and sidewalks serving the new stations must be in place to make transit convenient, along with a supplemental transit system to extend Metro’s reach to areas farther away. In addition, ambitious transportation demand management and parking programs will be needed to keep the traffic in control.

The residential will come, and supporting retail will enhance the experience if they can get it right. The challenge is made greater by the fact that this place is commercially successful, so redevelopment requires a leap of faith also by the private sector that the future promise of higher returns is better than the current certainty of stable returns.

Monday's Numbers and Noteworthy News

Asking Spreads over U.S. Treasury Bonds in Basis Points (10-year Commercial and Multifamily Mortgage Loans with 50% to 59% Loan-to-Value ratios)
	12/31	5/7	5/14	5/21	5/28	6/4
Office	342	257	247	237	235	2333
Retail	326	244	244	229	225	225
Multifamily	318	230	230	217	213	211
Industrial	333	243	243	229	223	223
Average Asking Spread	330	244	244	228	224	223
10-Year Treasury	3.83%	3.43%	3.43%	3.29%	3.20%	3.22%
Source: Trepp.

Indicated Spreads for Conventional Fixed and Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgages

Property Type	Mid-Point of Fixed Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 5–10 Year Mortgages*
	1/16/10	4/16/10	4/30/10	5/26/10	6/9/10
Multifamily-Non-Agency	+360/300	+320/200	+310/180	+325/200	+325/200
Multifamily–Agency	+220	+185/160	+185/160	+240/195	+240/190
Regional Mall	+450/350	+340/260	+340/260	+360/270	+360/250
Strip/Power Center	+460/350	+400/290	+380/270	+390/260	+390/260
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+435/420	+380/280	+310/250	+340/245	+340/245
CBD Office	+435/330	+340/210	+330/200	+360/250	+360/250
Suburban Office	+465/355	+400/290	+350/220	+370/260	+370/260
Full-Service Hotel	+500/550	+450/400	+450/350	+450/350	+450/350
Limited-Service Hotel	+500/575	+500/440	+470/400	+470/400	+470/400
5-Year Treasury	2.60%	2.60%	2.56%	2.06%	2.09%
10-Year Treasury	3.85%	3.88%	3.73%	3.23%	3.29%
* A slash (/) indicates the rate for 5 years versus 10 years.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Property Type	Mid-Point of Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 3-5 Year Mortgages*
	1/6/10	4/16/10	4/30/10	5/26/10	6/9/10
Multifamily–Non-Agency	+300-400	+300-325	+275-300	+275-300	+275-300
Multifamily-Agency	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Regional Mall	+475/600	+325–375	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350
Strip/Power Center	+450/650	+325–375	+300-350	+300-350	+300-350
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+400/500	+305-375	+275-350	+275-350	+275-350
CBD Office	+425	+300–400	+275-400	+275-400	+275-350
Suburban Office	+425	+325–450	+325–425	+325–450	+325-375
Full-Service Hotel	+600	+400–550	+400–550	+400–550	+400-550
Limited-Service Hotel	+750	+500–700	+450–600	+450-600	+450-600
1-Month LIBOR	0.23%	0.25%	0.27%	0.35%	0.35%
3-Month LIBOR	0.25%	0.30%	0.33%	0.54%	0.54%
* A dash (-) indicates a range.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Sign the Times? For as many who say that the capital markets crises is easing or ending or whatever, there is daily evidence that things are not quite that rosy as shoe after shoe continues to drop. This week’s shoes included the following:

We have decided to suspend our “Sign of the Times” snippets in favor of increased postings on ULI’s Capital Markets Update which can be accessed via:

ULI’s Capital Markets Update is comprised of six modules: The Economy; Newsworthy News; Public/Private Equity Capital Markets; Public/Private Debt Capital Markets; Responsible Property Investment; and Market Rates, Terms, Conditions, and Statistics.

Comments? Suggestions? Please e-mail us at: blank@uli.org.

DJIA (1): -2.08%
S & P 500 (2): -2.11%
NASDAQ (3): -1.13%
Russell 2000 (4): -3.78%
MSCI U.S. REIT (5): +11.00%

(1) Dow Jones Industrial Average. (2) Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index. (3) NASD Composite Index.
(4) Small Capitalization segment of U.S. equity universe. (5) Morgan Stanley REIT Index.

U.S. Treasury Yields: (as of June 13, 2010)

3-month: 0.07%
6-month: 0.15%
2-Year: 0.73%
5-Year: 2.03%
10-Year: 3.23%

Monday's Numbers and Noteworthy News

Commercial Mortgage Alert mortgage spreads based upon a weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders conducted by Trepp, the analytics firm.

Asking Spreads over U.S. Treasury Bonds in Basis Points (10-year Commercial and Multifamily Mortgage Loans with 50% to 59% Loan-to-Value ratios)
	4/16	4/23	4/30	5/7	5/14	5/21
Office	263	264	251	257	247	237
Retail	253	153	253	244	244	229
Multifamily	240	239	228	230	230	217
Industrial	253	251	240	243	243	229
Average Asking Spread	252	252	240	244	244	228
10-Year Treasury				3.43%	3.24%	3.29%
Source: Trepp.

Indicated Spreads for Conventional Fixed and Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgages

Property Type	Mid-Point of Fixed Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 5–10 Year Mortgages*
	2/25/10	3/18/10	3/31/10	4/16/10	4/30/10
Multifamily-Non-Agency	+288	+325/250	+330/230	+320/200	+310/180
Multifamily–Agency	+210	+210	+195	+185/160	+185/160
Regional Mall	+355	+410/300	+390/280	+340/280	+340/260
Strip/Power Center	+370	+420/320	+400/290	+400/290	+380/270
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+348	+395/300	+380/280	+380/280	+310/250
CBD Office	+350	+400/300	+360/220	+340/210	+330/200
Suburban Office	+355	+420/310	+420/310	+400/290	+350/220
Full-Service Hotel	+450	+475	+450/400	+450/400	+450/350
Limited-Service Hotel	+513	+500	+500/440	+500/440	+470/400
5-Year Treasury	2.42%	2.39%	2.55%	2.60%	2.56%
10-Year Treasury	3.68%	3.67%	3.85%	3.88%	3.73%
* A slash (/) indicates the rate for 5 years versus 10 years.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Property Type	Mid-Point of Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 3-5 Year Mortgages*
	2/25/10	3/18/10	3/31/10	4/16/10	4/30/10
Multifamily–Non-Agency	+288	+300–375	+300–325	+300–325	+275-300
Multifamily-Agency	+210	NA	NA	NA	NA
Regional Mall	+355	+325–375	+325–375	+325–375	+300-350
Strip/Power Center	+370	+375–450	+325–375	+325–375	+300-350
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+348	+350–400	+305–375	+305–375	+275-350
CBD Office	+350	+300–400	+300–400	+300–400	+275-400
Suburban Office	+355	+325–450	+325–450	+325–450	+325-425
Full-Service Hotel	+450	+400–550	+400–500	+400–550	+400-550
Limited-Service Hotel	+513	+500–700	+500–700	+500–700	+450-600
1-Month LIBOR	2.42%	0.24%	0.25%	0.25%	0.27%
3-Month LIBOR	3.68%	0.26%	0.28%	0.30%	0.33%
* A dash (-) indicates a range.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Sign the Times? For as many who say that the capital markets crises is easing or ending or whatever, there is daily evidence that things are not quite that rosy as shoe after shoe continues to drop. This week’s shoes included the following:

We have decided to suspend our “Sign of the Times” snippets in favor of increased postings on ULI’s Capital Markets Update which can be accessed via:

ULI’s Capital Markets Update is comprised of six modules: The Economy; Newsworthy News; Public/Private Equity Capital Markets; Public/Private Debt Capital Markets; Responsible Property Investment; and Market Rates, Terms, Conditions, and Statistics.

Comments? Suggestions? Please e-mail us at: blank@uli.org.

DJIA (1): -2.79%
S & P 500 (2): -2.30%
NASDAQ (3): -0.53%
Russell 2000 (4): +4.34%
MSCI U.S. REIT (5): +9.80%

(1) Dow Jones Industrial Average. (2) Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index. (3) NASD Composite Index.
(4) Small Capitalization segment of U.S. equity universe. (5) Morgan Stanley REIT Index.

U.S. Treasury Yields: (as of May 29, 2010)

3-month: 0.16%
6-month: 0.22%
2-Year: 0.77%
5-Year: 2.09%
10-Year: 3.29%

ULI Online Community Insider -- May 2010

Insider Information from ULI: Connecting the Global Real Estate Community

• Protect Federal Facilities, But Don’t Ignore Economic Development and Livability
  As Congress acts to protect federal facilities against terrorism, it should avoid over-reactive measures that could affect the quality of life in the greater community, and instead focus on an approach that enhances economic development opportunities and community livability. This was the message delivered in testimony May 20 by ULI Executive Vice President Maureen McAvey.
  Read Maureen’s congressional testimony
  Read the press release 

• Learn About the New Financing Marketplace by Registering for ULI’s Real Estate Finance Course June 7-10.
  Find out from one of the country’s leading lenders how construction lenders look at new deals today.  See how a permanent lender with money sources scattered around the country underwrites a new loan application. Listen to a leading structured financing expert discuss how to obtain that extra financing—be it debt or additional equity—needed to make your deal a success.
  For more information and to register
  More information on ULI’s Real Estate School 2010 

• Helping Develop the Global Capital of Clean Technology
  An advisory services panel from ULI spent last week evaluating the Cleantech Corridor (CTC) in Los Angeles in order to provide recommendations and alternatives for redevelopment. Their goal was to provide answers to the questions surrounding the redevelopment of an old industrial site east of downtown.  The initiative is part of the Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s long term vision of transforming the site into the world’s top clean technology manufacturing corridor. The Mayor expects the corridor to encourage the development and attraction of business and green collar jobs, putting Los Angeles at the forefront of the clean technology revolution.
  See the archived webcast of last week’s public presentation of the panels recommendations 
  
  
• Viewing Water Infrastructure Through The Lens of Sustainable Growth
  More and more urban areas throughout the United States—in both dry and rainy locales—are facing growing pressures on their water infrastructure systems, necessitating both greater investments for overhaul and a change in development patterns that are more conducive to conservation, according to Infrastructure 2010: An Investment Imperative, a new publication released last month by ULI and Ernst & Young. Infrastructure 2010 is the fourth of an annual overview series that analyzes the infrastructure needs and compares the infrastructure policies of the United States with other countries.
  Read more on the report and to download a free copy.
  
  
• New Book from APA, ULI Answers How Municipal Planners Can Create Attractive and Livable Communities
  ULI and the American Planning Association (APA) Planner’s Press have released Envisioning Better Communities, a new book specifically addressing how municipalities can carry out planning and development while preserving a community’s attractiveness and unique character. Author Randall Arendt provides side-by-side comparisons of similar places and kinds of buildings, showing how clear cut and realistic decisions by municipalities can improve a community’s quality of life and individual charm while meeting the community’s own values and goals. He argues how local residents and officials can work together to best identify shared priorities in creating communities that are economically successful while maintaining the community’s environmental and aesthetic sense.
  For more information on the book
  Check out more great titles at the ULI Bookstore 
  
  
• Are you following ULI on our social media channels?  Check us out at:
  Twitter:  http://twitter.com/UrbanLandInst
  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/UrbanLandInstitute
  LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/urban-land-institute
  YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ULITV

Monday's Numbers and Noteworthy News

Commercial Mortgage Alert mortgage spreads based upon a weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders conducted by Trepp, the analytics firm.

Asking Spreads over U.S. Treasury Bonds in Basis Points (10-year Commercial and Multifamily Mortgage Loans with 50% to 59% Loan-to-Value ratios)
	4/9	4/16	4/23	4/30	5/7	5/14
Office	295	263	264	251	257	247
Retail	291	253	153	253	244	244
Multifamily	250	240	239	228	230	230
Industrial	286	253	251	240	243	243
Average Asking Spread	281	252	252	240	244	244
10-Year Treasury				3.65%	3.43%	3.24%
Source: Trepp.

Indicated Spreads for Conventional Fixed and Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgages

Property Type	Mid-Point of Fixed Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 5–10 Year Mortgages*
	2/25/10	3/18/10	3/31/10	4/16/10	4/30/10
Multifamily-Non-Agency	+288	+325/250	+330/230	+320/200	+310/180
Multifamily–Agency	+210	+210	+195	+185/160	+185/160
Regional Mall	+355	+410/300	+390/280	+340/280	+340/260
Strip/Power Center	+370	+420/320	+400/290	+400/290	+380/270
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+348	+395/300	+380/280	+380/280	+310/250
CBD Office	+350	+400/300	+360/220	+340/210	+330/200
Suburban Office	+355	+420/310	+420/310	+400/290	+350/220
Full-Service Hotel	+450	+475	+450/400	+450/400	+450/350
Limited-Service Hotel	+513	+500	+500/440	+500/440	+470/400
5-Year Treasury	2.42%	2.39%	2.55%	2.60%	2.56%
10-Year Treasury	3.68%	3.67%	3.85%	3.88%	3.73%
* A slash (/) indicates the rate for 5 years versus 10 years.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Property Type	Mid-Point of Floating-Rate Commercial Mortgage Spreads For 3-5 Year Mortgages*
	2/25/10	3/18/10	3/31/10	4/16/10	4/30/10
Multifamily–Non-Agency	+288	+300–375	+300–325	+300–325	+275-300
Multifamily-Agency	+210	NA	NA	NA	NA
Regional Mall	+355	+325–375	+325–375	+325–375	+300-350
Strip/Power Center	+370	+375–450	+325–375	+325–375	+300-350
Multi-Tenant Industrial	+348	+350–400	+305–375	+305–375	+275-350
CBD Office	+350	+300–400	+300–400	+300–400	+275-400
Suburban Office	+355	+325–450	+325–450	+325–450	+325-425
Full-Service Hotel	+450	+400–550	+400–500	+400–550	+400-550
Limited-Service Hotel	+513	+500–700	+500–700	+500–700	+450-600
1-Month LIBOR	2.42%	0.24%	0.25%	0.25%	0.27%
3-Month LIBOR	3.68%	0.26%	0.28%	0.30%	0.33%
* A dash (-) indicates a range.
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Sign the Times? For as many who say that the capital markets crises is easing or ending or whatever, there is daily evidence that things are not quite that rosy as shoe after shoe continues to drop. This week’s shoes included the following:

We have decided to suspend our “Sign of the Times” snippets in favor of increased postings on ULI’s Capital Markets Update which can be accessed via:

ULI’s Capital Markets Update is comprised of six modules: The Economy; Newsworthy News; Public/Private Equity Capital Markets; Public/Private Debt Capital Markets; Responsible Property Investment; and Market Rates, Terms, Conditions, and Statistics.

Comments? Suggestions? Please e-mail us at: blank@uli.org.

DJIA (1): -2.25%
S & P 500 (2): -2.46%
NASDAQ (3): -1.77%
Russell 2000 (4): +3.82%
MSCI U.S. REIT (5): +7.45%

(1) Dow Jones Industrial Average. (2) Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index. (3) NASD Composite Index.
(4) Small Capitalization segment of U.S. equity universe. (5) Morgan Stanley REIT Index.

U.S. Treasury Yields: (as of May 22, 2010)

3-month: 0.15%
6-month: 0.21%
2-Year: 0.76%
5-Year: 2.102%
10-Year: 3.24%

Raising Equity Capital in a Challenging Market

This post was written for The Ground Floor by Steven Ott, Crosland Professor of Real Estate at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina.

How can developers and commercial property owners/operators map viable strategies for raising equity for their firm and their firm's projects in today’s real estate market? A recent ULI workshop—"Equity Capital for Commercial Real Estate: Understanding and Navigating the Public and Private Options" held May 11th and 12th in Charlotte, North Carolina—addressed numerous issues and options, including the following:

• The Primary Private Options for Recapitalization in Today's Market: Private REITs; Fund Sponsorships; Programmatic Joint Ventures; Mergers with Investors; Corporate/Portfolio Recapitalizations.
• Finding the Right Fit: What Private Options Best Match Different Owner/Operator Types?
• Becoming a REIT: Costs, Benefits, Challenges, Pitfalls, Opportunities and Constraints.

One of the key concepts that was emphasized in the workshop was the option of converting to a REIT structure. The following highlights some of the major takeaways provided by the speakers who addressed the public equity market:

• REIT capital issuance continues to be healthy into 2010, with over $15 billion raised so far this year. REITs have raised over $65 billion in capital since 2009 to repair balance sheets and acquire funds for opportunistic investments. While many capital raises have been dilutive to existing shareholders, substantial positive REIT returns over the past few months have overcome this effect.
• REIT cost of capital at present is less expensive than private capital and this is reflected in the run-up of REIT shares over the last few months. REIT implied cap rates are now under 7 percent at 6.90 percent.
• The current low cost of capital for REITs has contributed to an IPO wave. The IPO wave is also being driven by the need to provide currency for acquisitions, avoid recourse obligations, and gain better access to bank lending.
• For those firms considering going public, public REIT investors are looking for the following company attributes:
• • Existing portfolios of stabilized assets;
  • Quality markets;
  • Geographic expertise/presence;
  • Limited asset types;
  • Niche strategies;
  • Attractive track records;
  • Solid corporate governance;
  • Quality CEOs and CFOs; and
  • Viable growth strategies.

• The public market prefers companies that have at least $500 million dollars of assets and up, although growth and niche strategies can be attractive at smaller levels of assets. Firms can be combined to create the critical mass necessary to go public.
• For companies that decide to give up their independence as a private company and turn themselves over to shareholders, permanent public capital gives strategic alternatives unavailable to private companies. However, taking a private company public is time consuming and expensive.
• Historically, REITs perform like stocks over the short term, but perform like real estate over the long term.

Speakers also addressed issues and opportunities for raising new capital in the private equity market:

• For most private developer owners/operators of commercial real estate, their first foray into raising private institutional equity capital is likely to be through a programmatic joint venture.
• Most deals that attract institutional capital require at least $50 million of equity or more, but some equity providers are willing to take on smaller deals in the $10 million range and up.
• For deals of less than $10 million, internal funds, country club money, and debt will remain as the primary sources of capital.
• Institutional equity capital is looking for company attributes similar to public investor:
• • Existing portfolios of stabilized assets, but they will consider value add and opportunistic plays;
  • Quality markets;
  • Geographic expertise/presence;
  • Limited asset types;
  • Niche strategies;
  • Attractive track records
• The cost to raise private equity generally ranges from 2-9% of the capital raised, with 2-4% as the common range. There are economies of scale, so smaller deals cost more. Fees on deals that meet the characteristics listed in the previous bullet point will be less than those that don’t.
• Generally, institutional private equity wants the sponsor to have at least 5-10%, and often times more, of their capital at risk in each deal. However, the amount depends on the financial strength of the sponsor, with more required from those with better balance sheets.
• Few commingled funds are being successfully completed at present and these often require $300 million plus to have any chance at success.
• Private equity is becoming more interested in entity level investments as a way to gain access to a company’s assets and growth opportunities.
• New development is currently shunned by the market, with no near-term end in sight. Assets are selling at below replacement cost, making development a losing proposition.

While times are tough for the real estate market and for raising equity capital, firms with solid track records and a good story to tell are finding ready and willing capital, especially as the economy recovers and the capital markets continue to mend.