Cushman & Wakefield’s stock traded at a 6 percent premium over its IPO price after the company debuted on the stock exchange, reports MarketWatch. Gadget retailer Brookstone has filed for bankruptcy and will close all of its mall stores,
according to CNBC. These are among today’s must reads from around the commercial real estate industry.
- Cushman & Wakefield Stock Opens Nearly 6% Above IPO Price “Cushman & Wakefield PLC's stock CWK opened 5.9% above its initial public offering price, as the real estate services company raised at least $765 million. The first trade was at $18 at 10:18 a.m. ET for 3.5 million shares, before paring some gains be up 5.3%. The IPO pricing late Wednesday values the company at about $3.1 billion.” (MarketWatch)
- Sears Franchise Owners Get Caught in Retailer’s Woes “Chad Irving opened his Sears carpet-cleaning and garage-door-repair franchises in 2014, hoping to one day make it a family business. He knew the retailer’s stores weren’t doing well, but he wasn’t concerned. He had grown up with the Sears name and used to shop there with his father. ‘Their initial numbers looked good.’” (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)
- Brookstone Files for Bankruptcy, with Plans to Shutter More Than 100 Stores in Malls “Brookstone announced its plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and hopes to find a buyer for certain parts of the chain, which is known for selling unique gifts and tech gadgets at its stores. The company said in a press release Thursday it's already started the process of shuttering its remaining 101 mall stores across the U.S. Brookstone cast blame on a ‘continued deterioration of traditional mall traffic.’” (CNBC)
- Selling Real Estate Floated as Possible Solution for Capital Senior Living “Capital Senior Living’s only salvation may be in its owned real estate, according to analysts from Stephens and Stifel. On Tuesday, the Dallas-based senior housing provider reported “disappointing” financial results for the second quarter of 2018, as well as a drop in occupancy for consolidated and same communities to 85.5%. Currently, Capital Senior Living leadership ‘is fighting an uphill battle to stabilize occupancy, contain costs and regain investor confidence,’ according to a July 31 note from Stifel analysts.” (Senior Housing News)
- Wayfair to Open its First Brick & Mortar Store “Wayfair, the largest online furniture retailer in the U.S. with $6 billion in annual revenues, is following in the steps of numerous other e-tailers in opening its first brick and mortar store. The site of the store is in Florence, KY outside of Cincinnati, according to Furniture Today. The 20,000-square-foot outlet store will be given its own space within a 260,000-square-foot distribution center being constructed to handle Wayfair’s growing online business.” (Retail Wire)
- Pick Your Position: Here Are the Best Neighborhoods for Real Estate Investing If You Want Income or If You Want Growth “Are you a real estate investor looking for strong price growth and great cash flow? Good luck with that. It’s a truism among real estate professionals that properties can be one or the other, but not both. In the world of single-family rentals, or houses that investors buy in order to lease out, metro areas in the middle of the country will likely offer dependable rental streams but none of the runaway price appreciation seen in coastal areas like Seattle.” (MarketWatch)
- Apple Premiers Plans for a Store and Event Space in Historic Downtown L.A. Theater “The Tower Theatre was the place in 1927 where Angelenos first heard the wonder of “talkie” movies when it hosted the premiere of ‘The Jazz Singer,’ starring Al Jolson. Now, the aging former movie palace in the Broadway Theater District will host a more modern “wonder” — an Apple store the tech giant says will be one of the world’s most prominent. It may also serve as a declaration that Apple intends to compete as a major Hollywood content creator.” (Los Angeles Times)
- U.S. Commercial Real Estate Lending Remains Robust in 2018 “According to a new report by global real estate consultant CBRE, the U.S. commercial real estate lending market remains robust in 2018, despite financial market volatility and heightened trade tensions. The CBRE Lending Momentum Index, which tracks the pace of U.S. commercial loan closings, kept pace with the previous quarter. Lending volume closed in Q2 2018 at a value of 202, relatively unchanged from 203 in Q1 2018. Compared to a year ago, June lending volume was down by 10.6%.” (World Property Journal)
- Here Are the People Rehabbing the South Side and South Suburbs “For the past few years, a wave of rehabs has been sweeping through Chicago, revitalizing thousands of homes, many of them formerly distressed properties on the South Side and in the south suburbs. This week, Crain's spoke to several of the rehabbers to find out why they do it. Bonita Harrison has completed an estimated 60 rehabs, 25 of them single-family home and the rest, multi-flats.” (Crain’s Chicago Business)
- JPMorgan Chase Expands Commercial Real Estate Treasury Services Team “JPMorgan Chase has built a specialized team of treasury professionals to provide real estate property owners, operators, developers and investors with cash management and payment solutions that are designed to meet their specific industry needs. The newly created Commercial Real Estate Treasury Services (CRE TS) team, led by Winston Fant, continues to expand with key new leadership roles. Ed Dagnino, Steve Johnson and Dave Thomas are dedicated to delivering customized treasury solutions to commercial real estate clients, including payables, receivables and liquidity management, to help reduce costs and risks while increasing efficiencies.” (Payments Journal)
