One trend that emerged this year was the rediscovery of the special purpose acquisition company, sometimes called a blank check company. So far, 178 SPACs have launched this year, according to SPACInsider, compared with 59 last year and 46 the year before. There are many factors driving SPACs' newfound popularity—factors that are appealing to the commercial real estate industry as well. In recent months a handful of CRE SPAC offerings have come to the market, the latest being Tishman Speyer's $300 million SPAC, which closes today. 

To get into why and which CRE companies are tapping into this model, a brief explanation of what they are may be in order for some. SPACs allow companies to go public by bypassing the traditional IPO process. They are publicly-traded shell companies that are formed to pursue deals in the private sector by raising capital in an IPO and then searching out acquisition targets. The acquired companies then use the SPAC to sell shares to the public.

There are many reasons why companies are pursuing SPACs right now. They come with less risk for private firms to go public. The sponsors can access attractively-priced capital. SPAC combinations take on average 6 to 8 months to complete once a merger agreement has been reached, according to GigCapital, significantly shortening the time-to-market for target companies. They also are able to take advantage of price differences between private and public markets, writes John M. Mason of New Finance for Seeking Alpha.