Clinton library a commercial boon for downtown Little Rock
Little Rock residents once viewed Bill Clinton’s presidential library with the same mixed emotions that have long surrounded its favorite son, but the daring design is now an established tourist attraction that’s led to the commercial revitalization of the area. The $165 million Clinton Presidential Center drew about 500,000 visitors last year. The complex in the state capital includes a park, a replica of the Clinton-era Oval Office and a repository of presidential documents. The library, built on an industrial stretch along the riverfront, now dominates an area that’s become a major draw for visitors, according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal. The boost to the area goes beyond tourist attractions, with projects such as the $27.5 million headquarters of Heifer International, an organization that addresses world hunger issues, as well as residential development and several renovated hotels as a result of the library.
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Atlanta
Commercial
Downtown construction has doubled over the last year, and now 3.3 million square feet of office space is in the works in central Atlanta. That will swell the rolls of Class A space in the city, which now has only seven large buildings with premium commercial space. Market observers say it’s the most office construction in the area since 2001, but believe the pace will soon slow due to rising construction costs and questions about long-term demand, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.
Commercial
Atlanta is preparing itself for the surge of hotels it will have in the next few years. By 2010, there will be at least 38 new hotels with 3,831 rooms. This surge of hotels is part of the rebounding market since September 11, when the city’s hospitality market went flat, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported. According to PKF Consulting, Atlanta has about 53 hotels in the planning or development stages that could bring more than 7,100 rooms to the city. Critics say developers are planning new projects based on the high occupancy rates in the current hotel market but not considering long-term factors.
Boston
Residential
Nearly 700 incoming residential units for two projects in South Boston and Allston were recently approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. will build the larger of the two projects in South Boston. The development will consist of 585 units, 76 of which are affordable housing, on a 243,000-square-foot site. In Allston, another 100 units will take the place of a former garage building. Leggat McCall Properties of Boston is developing the six-story building in the residential neighborhood, reported GlobeSt.com.
Commercial
One of the area’s largest universities plans to expand by at least 1 million square feet. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge plans to add an apartment complex as well as three academic buildings. The $750 million expansion adds technologically advanced facilities for students and faculty and addresses the school’s housing shortage, the Boston Globe reported. MIT spent $175 million last year on a science building and $300 million on its Frank Gehry-designed Stata Center for computer science and artificial intelligence studies in 2004.
Chicago
Commercial
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley killed the city’s big-box ordinance last month. The measure, passed this summer by the City Council, sought to regulate the wages of workers in retail stores over 90,000 square feet. Daley, who vetoed the ordinance, received support the second time around from the City Council, when it struck down the plan to force giant retailers to pay higher wages and benefits. Daley said the ordinance would impede retail growth and retailers would open up outside the city just beyond the reach of urban residents. Retail brokers say that when the measure was initially voted in, retail development in Chicago slowed down, Commercial Property News reported.
Commercial
Chicago’s hotel market is heating up so quickly that investors are able to flip properties in less than a year. Prime properties are being held for less time as investors pay more per room, the Chicago Tribune reported. The city saw $1.45 billion in deals through August, according to research firm Real Capital Analytics.
Las Vegas
Residential
High demand for apartments in Las Vegas is driving rents up. The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that the average rent in residential neighborhoods increased almost 2 percent in the second quarter and more than 5 percent in the past year. In surrounding areas, Henderson had the highest average rent at $945 a month with 96.3 percent occupancy, followed by North Las Vegas at $905 a month with 95.7 percent occupancy. Brokers say the rental market is benefiting from lack of inventory as well as the slow single-family home sales market.
Commercial
The supply of construction labor in Las Vegas is so tight that some developments are being postponed. Construction was responsible for 113,500 jobs this July, reported the Las Vegas Business Press. As a result of the building boom, it has become the second-largest industry in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Strip has experienced much of the growth spurt. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, $14.7 billion in resort expansions are planned for 2009. Some developers say the demand for expansions is there, but labor resources are tied up for the next three to four years.
Los Angeles
Residential
The number of home sales in Los Angeles continues to drop. Although 9,193 homes sold in Los Angeles County in August, it was more than a 20 percent drop from the same time last year. Market observers say it was the ninth consecutive month of decreasing year-over-year sales, but some experts predict the plunge will stop by mid-2007, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
New Orleans
Residential
The biggest multifamily deal in Louisiana history closed in late August when the Esplanade at City Park changed hands. Business partners Kenneth Heller and Howard Stone sold the 550,000-square-foot property for $46 million. The seven-story, 443-unit property, which is around 30 years old, is more than 97 percent occupied, reported Commercial Property News.
Phoenix
Commercial
A number of proposed full-service hotels are being readied for development at the intersection of the Santan Freeway and Price Road in the suburb of Chandler. If they are built, more than 1,000 units will alter the landscape at the busy intersection, reported the Arizona Business Gazette. A Renaissance ClubSport, a Marriott brand hotel, is already under construction. Construction is also nearing for a high-rise Embassy Suites and a Homewood Suites. Investment advisers say the cluster of hotels would boost Chandler’s status in metro Phoenix as well as increase tourism and business activity.
Residential
Phoenix’s once-stellar housing market is still shining — just not as brightly. Homes are spending more time on the market since interest rates began rising. The median home price slipped since the first quarter, and residential building permit numbers fell about 35 percent since the beginning of 2006, the Arizona Republic reported. Brokers say new arrivals to the city are increasingly gravitating toward rentals because of high prices.
San Francisco
Residential
Homeowners in San Francisco will see insurance rates fall this year. One of the largest insurance carriers in the state, State Farm, announced plans to cut home insurance rates by 10 percent for 1.2 million policy holders. According to critics, rising insurance rates in the past year played a role in slowing the San Francisco Bay Area housing market. The Oakland Tribune reported a number of insurance carriers would follow, further lowering homeowner rates.
Washington, D.C.
Residential
Strong job growth should cushion any housing market dip in Northern Virginia, experts say. In the last year alone, 73,400 new jobs were created in the District of Columbia area, which has the lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. at 3.3 percent, the Falls Church News-Press reported. Most of those fresh jobs were created in Northern Virginia, fueling a steady demand for housing.