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Musings on commercial real estate transactions in Chicago and beyond
Recent Posts Tagged With 'leases'
Mid-Week Tidbits
Things have been crazy, so I've been remiss in not posting daily. I'll try to improve that. A few items from other blogs caught my eye this morning.One is the passage of a green building code in Cal...
And here go retail vacancy rates
This is before Steve & Barry's, but Crain's reports a hefty jump in vacancy rates in the second quarter. This is not developers bringing space on line, either. Some of the projects I wrote about...
Another retail chain in trouble? A line on Steve & Barry's and some thoughts on defensive leasing
Boy, they weren't kidding about retail woes. Now I am reading that Steve & Barry's, a cheap chic chain, is talking to Weil Gotschal and thinking about closing 1/3 of its stores as it decides on...
Downtown office vacancies are.....down???
You read that right, and by no small number either. Vacancies dropped by 0.6% in the last quarter and demand improved to boot.Now, before you get too excited, let's remember that portions of two big ...
Make sure you notice those notices
I always get a little concerned when my clients decide to send notices under contracts without consulting me. And, thanks to Peter Olson, here's why:Here's the recent case (Genesco v. 33 North LaSal...
Sorry, Ivanka
You're stunningly beautiful and very smart and obviously know our biz, but I don't think you don't know the territory.Crain's moved a story stating that, according to Trump, "some of Oak Street’s hi...
Contracts as Good as Gold
That's a title of an op-ed in yesterday's WSJ.Let me say from the outset that its author, Amity Shlaes, rocks. Her recent book, "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression," was superb....
Why do I take vacations anyway?
You end up working twice as hard when you get back.Some random Monday thoughts:Lisa Michelle Galley has some thoughtful comments on green lending in a post from yesterday. (P.S. -- Lisa, I agree with...
Chicago retail leasing down...what does it mean?
Eddie Baeb has a good story in this week's Crain's about demand for retail leasing going down by 22%, led by discount grocers and discount stores. As the story said:“Stores like Target, Wal-Mart an...
Wow - an honest assessment
It takes guts to say, "I don't know." As a lawyer I have to do that sometimes. Yes, the answer to a question is just not always in my head or at my fingertips and I may have to look in a book to mak...
Ground leases...oh joy, oh rapture
I've done a ground lease deal or two in my time. They are fun. But if you are buying a building subject to a ground lease you have to make sure you comply with the lease terms or you may have to fac...
What do you mean, the landlord can make me move?
Michael Mandel hits another home run, this time with an excellent analysis of the relocation clause typically found in leases and suggestions for tenants in negotiating the clause. This clause gives t...
Linens & Things finally pulls the Chapter 11 trigger
It was really a matter of when, not if, right? 20% of the stores are closing, they have DIP financing and may even be able to pay some creditors.Four stores are closing in Chicago: three in the north...
Bottom? What's a bottom?
Jordan Crouch asks whether we are near the bottom of the market and provides some support of that. And Michael Mandel weighs in with G&E's thoughts regarding leasing:Commercial real estate fundame...
Net, gross, modified, gross...huh?
Someone near and dear to me asked me to draft an office lease for some property that person owns. I received a hand written, one page term sheet with a base rent figure.What freaked me out until I rea...
Hey, hey -- some good, balanced journalism!
Robert Manor is now covering the commercial real estate beat for the Tribune. So far I have liked was he's been writing, but today's column might be his best yet. Why? Objectivity! Instead of gloo...
Where is the office leasing market going?
That's a good question. Some people are advising big tenants to lock in now while the going is good and the economy supposedly soft. Others are saying, especially here in Chicago, that a big glut wi...
Wall Street woes and dirt
A few months ago I suggested that law firms lock in leases in busy markets such as New York because, even with the credit crunch, rents were still going up. I had one exception to that advice: big la...
Chicago offices in 2008 -- enjoy the vacancy rates while you can
Marcus & Millichap predicts another decline in Class A downtown vacancies in 2008, and rising rents to boot. That's good news if you own a trophy building downtown, but not if you own Class B or ...
WSJ asks: are we on a retail real estate cliff?
There was a thought-provoking article in the Journal today about whether retail real estate is one the same cliff that residential real estate is. After all, Centro Properties teeters on the edge, Ta...
Talk about a test case!
I have to say one thing from the outset: having worked on exactly one Sharia-compliant real estate loan (almost ten years ago), I am by no means an expert on these type of deals. But they do fascinat...
I love the media....
The Los Angeles Times has a good story today about the current state of the California market. The main point? Sale prices are down and many sellers are holding right now rather than selling. The p...
Optimistic words from John Bucksbaum
Here's an interesting quote from the head honcho at GGP from this GlobeSt.com story:"Our new rents continue to increase as demand for quality remains high. We’ve completed new and renewal leases fo...
G&E: available sublease space up 5%
The WSJ, citing a study from Grubb and Ellis, reports that the amount of space on the sublease market increased by 4 million sf in the last quarter. Interestingly, rents are nonetheless continuing to...
42,904
Nice to be back from a brief vacation. Per today's New York Times, 42,904 is the number of layoffs estimated by Challenger, Gray & Christmas to have occurred this year at financial services firms...
Would you like fries with that loan?
I'm sure some people will ask: Why are you writing about the acquisition of a Burger King site that will be converted into a Fifth Third Bank in Old Town on a 20 year lease deal? Here's why.1. I fee...
Vacancies: city up, suburbs down
Not really a big surprise, as the 'burbs have sprawl and more inventory coming on line all the time. That is less so in the central business district of Chicago, at least until new buildings come on ...
Chicago office vacancies: we're (still) going down, down down
Seven quarters in a row, says CB Richard Ellis. It is nice to see this kind of absorption, as Chicago was in some ways more like Dallas than New York in terms of vacancies and rents. And Tom Corfman ...
Chicago's retail rents down -- 1%
Again, in my opinion this is bad news only for Chicken Littles. A one percent decline is not significant, although if it continued over several quarters that would be different. Vacancy rates remain...
Private clubs losing leases
If I lived in the city I would certainly belong to one so I had a place to hang my hat for lunch and dinner. (In Bourbonnais our only similar option is our local country club.) While not the equal o...