Atlanta
Commercial
Midtown’s tallest tower is nearing completion at Peachtree and 14th streets, with occupancy expected next year. The 41-story, 670,000-square-foot building being developed by Hines is already 65 percent pre-leased, and won honors from the U.S. Green Building Council for its environmentally sensitive design. The tallest office building in Atlanta is the 55-story, 1.3-million- square-foot Bank of America Plaza in Downtown, owned by Cousins Properties.
Residential/Commercial
With a new moniker, the area between Downtown and Midtown is in the midst of a transition to make it more appealing to residents and businesses. Real estate professionals are now calling the neighborhood SoNo, for south of North Avenue. Projects in the works there include a 130-unit condo complex on Peachtree Street by Urban Realty Partners, where one-bedroom and two-bedrooms will range from $190,000 to the mid-$400,000s, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Boston
Residential
Boston is more at risk for a home-price decline than any other major metropolitan area, according to a recent survey by PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. Within two years, there is 53.3 percent probability of weaker home prices in the Greater Boston area. The survey said nationally, there’s a 16.1 percent chance of a decline.
Commercial
The overall vacancy rate for the Boston central business district ticked up to 14.6 percent for the first quarter, up a tenth of a percentage point from the previous quarter, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield. Despite the increase, brokers say they are starting to see signs of life at the top end of the market, including deals such as Investors Bank and Trust’s 10-year, 350,000- square-foot renewal at John Hancock Tower last month, Globest.com reported.
Chicago
Residential
There were 6,298 condo units sold in Chicago in 2004 – nearly double the number sold in 2003 and speculators are playing a significant part in the market, according to Chicago-based Appraisal Research Counselors. Speculators have found ways to get around developers who generally say they won’t sell multiple units to one purchaser, instead buying units in the same building under different names. The rental market has been weakened because so many investor- owned properties are for rent, according to Realtor.org.
Las Vegas
Residential/Commercial
Plans are underway to expand Lake Las Vegas, where barren desert has been transformed over the last two decades into one of the area’s leading resorts. Located 20 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, the master planned community is slated to add more than 8,000 homes over the next decade, up from 1,000 currently, as well as three more hotels, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
Residential/Commercial
Steve Wynn, the casino entrepreneur credited with leading transformations of Las Vegas with his opening of the Mirage, Treasure Island and Bellagio, was scheduled last month to open Wynn Las Vegas, a new 2,700-room resort. Wynn, who hasn’t been a presence on the Strip since he closed the Desert Inn in 2000, said that his wife inspired many of the features of the $2.7 billion project and that the April 28 opening date was a tribute to her birthday, according to the Sun.
Los Angeles
Residential
The median price of a Southern California home was a record $425,000 in February, marking the 13th consecutive month of year-over-year gains of 20 percent or more, the Los Angeles Times reported. In Los Angeles County, the median price of new and existing houses and condominiums sold increased to $424,000 from $352,000 a year ago, according to Data- Quick Information Systems.
Residential
Lower-priced neighborhoods in Los Angeles County are appreciating in value faster than higher-end communities, according to DataQuick Information Systems. Between July and December, the median price slipped more than 11 percent in Beverly Hills and Pacific Palisades and by seven percent in Pasadena, but shot up 39.6 percent in Lincoln Heights, 30.6 percent in El Monte and 26.7 percent in Compton. Part of the reason more affluent neighborhoods are posting lower appreciation rates than in the past is because many sellers are setting lofty asking prices, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Miami
Residential/Commercial
In a continuation of a Miami trend, New York-based Morgan’s Hotel Group, owned by Ian Schrager, plans to convert the 325- unit Shore Club, which it has operated since 2002, into a hotel condo. Among the units, a three-level penthouse with a terrace that includes a private rooftop pool is expected to be priced at $20 million, according to Globest.com.
Philadelphia
Residential/Commercial
There is demand for condominiums in the Philadelphia suburbs, but newly built inventory in surrounding counties is tiny in relation to downtown, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. About 1,500 rental units have been built annually in Philadelphia and its suburbs over the last five years, according to Marcus & Millichap, and supply has been constrained in the suburbs because of lack of zoning and anti-growth policies, even though new units sell out fast.
San Francisco
Residential/Commercial
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said last month the city is set to approve a massive trio of mixed-use developments that aim to revitalize the Rincon Hill, Transbay Terminal, and Mid-Market areas. The plans call for 11,000 new residences.
Commercial
First quarter reports said that office vacancy rates in San Francisco are decreasing, rental rates are increasing and, for the seventh consecutive quarter, positive net absorption is continuing. Class A vacancy in the Central Business District posted the most significant drop during the first quarter of 2005, decreasing from 18 percent to 16.7 percent according to Cushman & Wakefield.
Seattle
Residential
King County home prices rose dramatically in March due to a supply-and-demand imbalance, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, the Seattle Times reported. The inventory of properties up for sale in the county that includes Seattle sank by about 33 percent from March 2004, as the median price surged 16 percent over the same time span.
Residential/Commercial
Plans were recently announced for downtown Seattle’s tallest residential tower, a 36- story condominium project near Pike Place Market on Second Avenue. The project by Minnesota-based Opus Northwest would be the first to take advantage of Seattle’s proposed new development guidelines allowing increased height and encouraging greater density in the downtown core, according to published reports.
Washington, D.C.
Commercial
Downtown Washington office buildings cost more last year than properties in Manhattan or Los Angeles on a per square foot basis, according to the National Association of Realtors. And foreign money preferred the 202 area code for its real estate investments over any other U.S. metropolitan center in 2003 and 2004. Hoping to get a payoff for their efforts, several local major real estate holders, such as Douglas Development and Westfield Realty, are reportedly considering selling their entire portfolios. The JBG Cos., a prominent Chevy Chase, Md. developer, has put 33 of its properties on the market to recapitalize four of its investment funds, according to the Washington Business Journal.
Residential
House prices throughout the Washington, D.C. area continued their relentless climb last year, with costs rising in every jurisdiction and the median sales price topping $300,000, according to a new analysis by the Washington Post. Alexandria remains the most expensive municipality, and also saw some of the sharpest price increases. The median home price rose 23.3 percent, to $499,500. In contrast, the five jurisdictions with median prices under $300,000 were all in Maryland. The District of Columbia showed the smallest increase, with the median price rising just 1.9 percent, to $316,000, partly because the study numbers didn’t include condos.