E-Commerce and Industrial Real Estate

I read a paper this week from CBRE’s Global Research and Consulting Group entitled The Impact of E-Commerce on Industrial and Retail Real Estate.  With the growing trend of retailers toward an E-commerce framework the paper discusses the impact on their distribution and warehouse facilities. The paper identifies five things that E-commerce tenants are consistently looking for when leasing these facilities:

1.       Increased Infrastructure such as conveyors and sorting systems.

2.       Heavy Power.

3.       Location within 24/7 zones.

4.       Higher clear height to accommodate higher racking.

5.       Abundance of land for parking and transport truck turning radius.

Because of these requirements, the E-Commerce Tenants are often choosing build-to-suit options rather than modification of older existing buildings. Siting Amazon as an example, they have announced 25 Million sq. ft. of build-to-suit plans for California, New Jersey and Texas. Understanding these new demands will help developers of Industrial buildings develop more suitable product for E-Commerce tenants.

To read the entire paper follow this link. The Impact of E-Commerce on Industrial and Retail Real Estate

Airport Trax Line Opens April 14th

The $350 million TRAX extension to the Salt Lake City International Airport opens on Sunday, April 14th and Utah continues to be recognized with the fastest growing light rail system in the country. The Utah Transit Authority is celebrating the opening of the Salt Lake Airport TRAX line on Saturday April 13th with music, food, and activities and will include a formal grand opening ceremony at 2PM at the North Temple Bridge station where TRAX and FrontRunner come together. The new TRAX and Streetcar lines have spurred investment in commercial real estate in Utah. Below is a graph from the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City outlining some of the commercial real estate activity occurring within 0.5 miles of the Sugarhouse Streetcar project.

WHO’S THE FOOL?

Did you take time from your day to play a prank on someone in your office this year for April Fool’s Day?  At IPG the fooler was the fool this year.  If you know Michael then you know he has been dealing with a stubborn kidney stone for the last month or so.  On Easter Sunday he went in for surgery to get the little bugger out once and for all!  He used the situation to tell his co-workers that the doctors suggested a “new” and “experimental” procedure that required they go into his brain through his eye socket to correct a signal telling the kidney to make stones!!

Would you believe, they actually fell for it? For the prank, Michael had to endure a couple punches to the arm and taking off that sticky bandage off of his head! (ouch)  As it turned out, everyone else got the last laugh.

While our team knows how to have fun, we take making our industrial real estate clients lives better as our first priority.  Let us know what challenges you are facing,  investing, selling or leasing industrial property. We will gladly share our recipe for incredible results, and perhaps a few laughs along the way!

Ivy Zelman Shares Optimism for the Housing Sector

I attended a guest lecture at the University of Utah last Friday where Ivy Zelman of Zelman & Associates was the featured speaker. Ivy was one of the few that correctly predicted in 2005 the housing bubble burst that would take place in 2008. In her presentation on Friday she shared some of the same optimism that she shared on a recent interview for CNBC where she said “I think we’re in Nirvana for housing,” pointing to a 30 year low in inventories in the United States, favorable mortgage financing, and rent inflation in the apartment sector. She believes that housing prices are poised to rise for the next four to six years. This is not only great news for the housing sector but will also be great news for Commercial Real Estate in Utah. 

Congratulations Michael! Industrial Broker of the Year

The second annual CCIM Business Excellence Awards was another huge success! The sold out crowd included all the Who’s Who of Utah commercial real estate. The Hall of Fame award went to Roger Boyer celebrating his lifetime achievements in the commercial real estate industry and we congratulate all of the finalists, recipients, and top performers in each of the major categories honored that evening.

We give a very special congratulation to our own Michael Jeppesen as the recipient of the Industrial Broker of the Year Award. Along with all of the industry leaders from the field of 100 judges in the Utah commercial real estate industry we thank you for your tireless efforts to promote ethics, community service, industry leadership, and business excellence!

Visit CCIM Website for a complete listing of CCIM Business Excellence Awards honorees.