- Amazon Reportedly Plans to Launch New Grocery Chain “Amazon plans to launch a chain of grocery stores across the US later this year, according to a Friday report. The as-yet-unnamed chain will be distinct from Amazon’s upscale Whole Foods Market brand, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Prices are expected to be lower, and product lines wider than those carried by organic-obsessed Whole Foods.” (New York Post)
- Nursing Homes Are Closing Across Rural America, Scattering Residents “Harold Labrensz spent much of his 89-year life farming and ranching the rolling Dakota plains along the Missouri River. His family figured he would die there, too. But late last year, the nursing home in Mobridge, S.D., that cared for Mr. Labrensz announced that it was shutting down after a rocky history of corporate buyouts, unpaid bills and financial ruin. It had become one of the many nursing homes across the country that have gone out of business in recent years as beds go empty, money troubles mount and more Americans seek to age in their own homes.” (The New York Times)
- REITs Take On New Shine Amid Fed’s Softened View on Rates “The Federal Reserve’s dovish tilt this year has been a boon for real-estate shares that were pressured by a threat of higher interest rates. Rising rates punished shares of real-estate investment trusts in two ways: They cut into home sales and reduced the relative appeal of the sector’s hefty dividend payments. But as the Fed has shifted its tone this year, saying it will be patient with future rate increases, investors have been scooping up REIT shares because of their large dividends, strong earnings growth and cheap valuations.” (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)
- U.S. Construction Spending Drops 0.6% in December “Construction spending fell a sharp 0.6% in December, according to a report long delayed by the partial government shutdown earlier this year. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.3% increase. Despite the decline at year end, construction spending rose 4.1% in 2018 compared to 2017, the U.S. Census bureau said Monday.” (MarketWatch)
- Amazon’s Hard Bargain Extends Far Beyond New York “When Texas officials pushed Amazon to pay nearly $270 million in back sales taxes in 2010, Amazon responded by closing its only warehouse in the state and scrapping expansion plans there. Two years later, the officials agreed to waive the past taxes in exchange for Amazon opening new warehouses. A similar scene played out in South Carolina, where officials decided in 2011 to deny Amazon a sales tax break. After threatening to stop hiring in the state, the company got the tax exemption by promising to hire more people.” (The New York Times)
- As More Millennials Are Becoming Homeowners, Seniors Are Becoming Renters “High home prices aren’t stopping more Americans from becoming homeowners. But seniors are bucking that trend. The homeownership rate nationwide was 64.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s up from 64.4% in the third quarter and 64% a year earlier, making this the eighth straight quarter in which the homeownership rate increased. The rate is now at its highest level since 2014.” (MarketWatch)
- Total Investment in Proptech Companies Dropped 23 Percent in 2018 “Despite a growing number of startups and investor confidence at an all-time high, the total money being pumped into real estate tech companies dropped last year, a report by data and event platform CREtech found. A total of $9.6 billion was invested into real estate companies in 2018, which was a 23 percent dip from the $12.6 billion raised the year before, according to the report. Proptech experts blamed the sluggish numbers on a changing market with investors more sophisticated, the uncertainty over the national economic climate and a crowded field of private equity funds.” (Commercial Observer)
- Direct Energy Leases 106 KSF in Houston for New HQ “Direct Energy LP has signed a 105,578-square-foot office lease at Brookfield Properties’ 2 Houston Center, a Class A office building in downtown Houston. The North American retailer of energy and energy services will move its corporate headquarters here in 2021, where it will take space on the sixth and seventh floors, as well as space on P1. ‘Houston enjoys a diversified economy and offers an attractive business climate that continues to attract new companies to downtown, such as Direct Energy,’ Travis Overall, Brookfield Properties’ executive vice president & head of the Texas Region, told Commercial Property Executive.” (Commercial Property Executive)
- Gap to Acquire Gymboree’s Janie and Jack Line, Children’s Place to Buy Gymboree Brand “Children's clothing retailer Gymboree Group Inc. is selling its brand to The Children's Place and its Janie and Jack clothing line to Gap Inc. The Children's Place will pay $76 million for the rights to Gymboree and Crazy 8 brand, and assume a contract with Zeavion Holding Co., which acquired Gymboree's Play & Music business in 2016, according to a bankruptcy court document filed Saturday. A rival of Gymboree, The Children's Place has 988 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.” (USA Today)
- High-End Apartment Renters Surging in DF-W and U.S. “Almost a dozen new Dallas-area apartment projects on the way are aimed at high-income renters. These high-rise buildings fetch rents many times what the standard local apartment goes for. More than 4,000 of these super-luxury apartments are just opening or on the way in North Texas. It's a good thing then that high-income renters are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. housing market, according to a new report by Apartment List.” (Dallas Morning News)
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