NEW YORK CITY—It might be summer, but June was still coming up Gray.
That's because Jonathan Gray, global head of real estate for the Blackstone Group, led all stories this month with the firm's take on the economic climate. Speaking at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, the executive shared his thoughts on everything from the hospitality industry to how Blackstone was able to survive and thrive during the economic downturn.
“We wrote a check for $800 million to buy debt at a discount during the crisis because we saw what happened after 9/11 and we knew that there would be a rebound,” Gray says in the story.
On the outlook for the second half of 2014, Gray sees positive signs for commercial real estate: “I think there'll be even better performance than expected in the second half of the year because, in almost every market, demand is outpacing supply for hotels.”
He goes on to discuss how the lack of distressed properties is effecting CRE, and describes in detail Blackstone's process behind acquiring Hilton. To read the story, "Jonathan Gray Sees the Future," click here.
We met with another expert for our second top story of June, this time our own Net Lease Insider Jonathan Hipp, and his read on a sub-5 cap rate for a Tyson's Corner, VA, CVS. As Hipp sees it, "Buyers are willing to pay aggressive cap rates for buildings they plan to own long term."
And owning long term makes sense, as the CVS is the only drugstore to serve Tyson Corner's "117,000 daytime workers and 20,000 full-time residents," as well as "6-million-square feet of retail and 27 million square feet of office," as the story reports.
To read the full details on the deal, "CVS Trade Posts New Cap Rate Low," click here.
Economic concerns were at play on the third most viewed story for the month. In "Debt on Large CMBS Loans Raises Red Flag," GlobeSt.com looked at a recent Fitch Ratings report voicing concern over the debt class. As the story reports, "The ratings agency is concerned that ratings of 'BBB−sf' through 'Bsf' on a substantial number of 2014 large loan transactions are not warranted given the significant amount of debt at those ratings."
To read the full analysis, click here.
Did we say we were done with Blackstone? Recently public Hilton was the co-headliner for our fourth most read story: "Hilton, Marriott Look to New Concepts for Growth." We looked at the new direction of Hilton's new Curio brand and Marriott plans for 200 more luxury and lifestyle properties. To read, click here.
But what about apartments, you ask? "Even as 'new supply is flooding the market,' occupancy has reached levels not seen since Axiometrics began tracking data on a monthly basis, says the firm's Stephanie McCleskey." That was one of the key points for our fifth most-read story: "Apartment Occupancy Hits Six-Year Peak." To read the full article, click here.
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Geoffery Metz
Geoffery Metz is the content manager for ALM's GlobeSt.com, Credit Union Times and Treasury & Risk. Before joining ALM, he spent several years overseeing the newsroom at the financial wire service Business Wire, with special focus on multimedia presentation for the web.
