CPE’s March 2021 Must-Reads

Catch up with our most important stories, interviews, rankings and analyses from last month.

In March, we continued to look at the pandemic’s impact on the commercial real estate industry to understand what’s ahead. Fordham University Real Estate Institute’s Hugh Kelly argued that current conditions demand unconventional thinking about what’s next for the economy and the real estate sector.

We set down with author Dror Poleg to talk about the future of office space and demand in a post-COVID-19 environment. And Yardi Matrix’s Paul Fiorilla noted that the newly enacted $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package should provide a short-term boost to the most impacted segments of the industry, while also signaling a new wave of federal policies in the making. Later in the month, Fiorilla wrote about the implications of the unprecedented $5.3 trillion in stimulus packages for commercial real estate.

In the context of a global computer chip shortage, Intel unveiled plans for two new factories in Chandler, Ariz., in a $20 billion investment meant to expand its semiconductor manufacturing capacity. This came shortly after news came out that Taiwanese semiconductor producer TSMC’s similar facilities, also in the Phoenix area, are expected to be three times bigger than initially announced, with the first phase alone adding up to 3.8 million square feet.

Meanwhile, Google is boosting its Manhattan presence, with plans to invest more than $250 million in the state this year as part of its larger, $7 billion nationwide push. Cologix has acquired a land parcel where it is set to develop a new 250,000-square-foot data center in a move that will increase its capacity by 40 megawatts.

The industrial sector has also benefited from the increased demand for e-commerce, and developers continued to take notice. Duke Realty broke ground on two build-to-suit developments for two national retailers in the Chicago area totaling more than 1.8 million square feet. In the Inland Empire, Black Creek Group is also planning to develop two industrial projects—Etiwanda Commerce Center and Riverside Logistics Center. And in Texas, Amazon announced plans for its first fulfillment center in Amarillo, in a $100 million investment. On a national level, some 350 million square feet of industrial space is now underway.

Here are CPE’s must-reads for last month:

Dodge Reports Spike in Construction Planning

The Dodge Momentum Index rose to its highest level in three years.

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Stonemont, Cerberus Form $1B Industrial JV

The partners are assembling a portfolio of truck terminals, outdoor storage facilities and other mission-critical assets.

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What You Need to Know About Taxation, Valuation in 2021

Experts from FTI Consulting share insights on potential tax changes and the impact of the health crisis on property values in the latest episode of our quarterly podcast series.

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What IBM Can Teach the Industry About Diversity

A panel of executives from IBM and Shell Oil kicked off CoreNet Global’s first annual Global Corporate Real Estate Week.

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Office Occupancy Inches Up Across US, Kastle Finds

The firm’s latest report shows that occupancy rose in more than half the cities surveyed.

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Resilience: A Blueprint for Cities’ Future

“The story of cities is the story of crises”, said Lord Norman Foster during his keynote at the 2021 ULI Virtual Europe Conference.

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Foreign Investment Update: Where Capital Will Travel in 2021

Singapore and South Korea boosted their year-over-year investments in U.S. real estate by 48 percent in 2020 and are expected to remain active this year.

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Pay for Corporate Real Estate Professionals on the Rise

The 2020 results mark the largest year-over-year increase in the history of CoreNet Global’s compensation survey.

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WeWork Merger Highlights Real Estate SPAC Surge

The flexible office giant aims to go public using an increasingly popular maneuver in the property and proptech industry.

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Ramping Up Warehouse Safety

Industrial owners and operators are sharpening their focus on health and comfort for workers amid pandemic concerns.

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