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Demand for space in shopping centers and other types of retail buildings boosted 2013 to the best year for retail real estate in the Albuquerque metro area since the 2000s, according to the latest Retail Marketview report from commercial real estate services firm CBRE.

The vacancy rate for the broad retail market dropped from 11.5 percent at the end of 2012 to 11.1 percent at the end of last year, despite 2013 ending with the closing of a 84,000-square-foot Kmart store and another roughly 100,000 square feet going empty from seasonal store closings.

Strong space demand led the market to an annual net absorption of 378,330 square feet (of retail space), which is the highest since 2007, the CBRE report says. Construction completions exceeded 300,000 square feet, which is the highest since 2009.

For comparison, the average retail vacancy rate nationwide was 12 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to CBRE Econometric Advisors.

Locally, more than a third of last years gross retail activity was concentrated in the Uptown submarket off the Louisiana NE and Interstate 40 interchange. The free-standing 155,481-square-foot Target store opened in 2013, as did Gordmans and Dicks Sporting Goods stores at Coronado Mall.

While retail real estate is continuing to recover, it does not appear to be generating much in the way of jobs, according to state labor data. The metros retail employment sector gained 100 jobs year over year as of December but at 41,800 workers, retail employment was still 11 percent below the peak of 47,000 jobs in December 2007.

From a bricks-and-mortar perspective, the retail market is expected to continue to improve in 2014 as national retail chains expand their existing presence or enter the metro.

Redevelopments of older centers will house new anchor tenants and the activity level is expected to remain steady, creating downward pressures on vacancy rates, the CBRE report says.

Asking lease rates varied at the end of 2013 from $8.50 a square foot to $29.50 a square foot, depending on the type and quality of the retail property, CBRE reports. The range was tighter at both the low and high ends compared to the end of 2012.

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ABQ retail market did well in 2013

BANGOR, Maine A Bangor commercial real estate developer hopes to build a restaurant and retail space near Bangor Mall Cinemas 10.

Carol Epstein, a partner in ERG Realty, LLC, which owns the property including the theater and its surrounding land, said Tuesday that ERG wants to build a 2,200-square-foot restaurant space and a 6,000-square-foot retail building in an underused parking lot near the theater.

What businesses would move in remains to be seen.

Weve had a lot of interest, Epstein said in a phone interview. We havent even announced the project or done a lot of marketing on it yet.

She declined to say who the interested companies were.

The pair of buildings would be built between Stillwater Avenue and the movie theater, according to Epstein. The projected cost of the construction project wasnt immediately available, she said.

The area has seen a boom in growth in recent years, with new businesses from Buffalo Wild Wings and Hobby Lobby to Sweet Frog and Kobe hibachi grill popping up in nearby developments.

Theres a real strength in the retail market again, which we havent seen since before the Recession, Epstein said.

The ERG-proposed buildings would be built near Stillwater on an underused parking lot extension for the cinema.

In an ideal world, Epstein said, construction should begin in May and wrap up in October or November, making way for the tenants. Epstein Commercial Real Estate will be the brokerage for the new development.

See the original post:
More new retail, restaurant space proposed on Stillwater Avenue

Article updated: 2/19/2014 5:34 AM

Lisle has approved a letter of intent with Naperville-based Marquette Companies for the sale and development of the old village hall site at Main Street and Burlington Avenue in downtown. The property has been vacant since 2003.

Mark Black | Staff Photographer

More than a decade after Lisle demolished its old village hall, officials are hoping to sell the downtown property to a company that would construct a mix of apartments and retail space.

Village board members this week approved a "letter of intent" with Naperville-based Marquette Companies for the sale and development of the former village hall site at Main Street and Burlington Avenue. The village-owned property has been vacant since the previous municipal building was razed in 2003.

Lisle Mayor Joe Broda said the proposed development could help rejuvenate downtown.

"I want to see people downtown and I want to see businesses come to the downtown area," Broda said.

Village officials say the letter of intent isn't a binding agreement. Instead, it sets the parameters in which Marquette and Lisle will work to complete a formal redevelopment agreement.

Marquette, which is developing the Water Street District in downtown Naperville, became interested in the Lisle site because it's a downtown location near the train station.

"It (Lisle) has a charming downtown," said Jeff Prosapio, Marquette's director of development. "We think the development of this site will add to it, enhance it and help it grow to its natural vibrancy."

Read more here:
Developer has plans for vacant downtown Lisle site

Amber Alert canceled for Orange Co. girl Amber Alert canceled for Orange Co. girl

Updated: Wednesday, February 19 2014 1:03 PM EST2014-02-19 18:03:10 GMT

An AMBER alert has been issued for a girl in Orange County, Virginia. The Orange County Sheriff's Office says five-year-old Amiyah Monet Dallas was last seen at 15239 Mountain Track Rd. in Orange, Virginia.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office says five-year-old Amiyah Monet Dallas was last seen at 15239 Mountain Track Rd. in Orange, Virginia.

Updated: Tuesday, February 18 2014 5:56 PM EST2014-02-18 22:56:34 GMT

BLACKSBURG - Search warrants provide new details into the investigation of Virginia Tech student Samanata Shrestha's murder. According to the documents filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court,investigators searched a hotel room for items such as Mercedes keys, Shrestha's identification card and other belongings reported missing by Shrestha's roommate. The warrants also show Shrestha's last phone ping was traced back to Jessica Ewing's apartment, the woman charged with Shrestha's murder. Phon...

BLACKSBURG - Search warrants provide new details into the investigation of Virginia Tech student Samanata Shrestha's murder. According to the documents filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court,investigators searched a hotel room for items such as Mercedes keys, Shrestha's identification card and other belongings reported missing by Shrestha's roommate. The warrants also show Shrestha's last phone ping was traced back to Jessica Ewing's apartment, the woman charged with Shrestha's murder. Phon...

Updated: Wednesday, February 19 2014 1:55 PM EST2014-02-19 18:55:40 GMT

Carilion Clinic announced plans Wednesday for the old Ukrop's property in Roanoke. Carilion has been a growing part of southwest Virginia for more than a century. First starting because railroad workers

Updated: Wednesday, February 19 2014 11:11 AM EST2014-02-19 16:11:46 GMT

Here is the original post:
Roanoke City gives thumbs up for Carilion to purchase old Ukrop's site

Wednesday, February 19, 10:59 AM EST

By Karen Brune Mathis, Managing Editor

Developers intend to break ground by late summer.

East San Marco LLC, in care of managing partner Tom Fleming, is the property owner. Fleming is vice president of investments with Jacksonville-based Regency Centers Corp.

While project documents indicate a full project build-out by 2017, Regency Centers Corp. Vice President Paul Maxwell said in January construction could start this year for completion of the Publix by early 2015.

The structure of the deal has changed over the years and Jacksonville-based Whitehall Realty Partners LLC now is a major player.

John Carey, managing member of Whitehall Realty Partners, explained Tuesday that East San Marco is a joint venture between The St. Joe Co. and Regency Centers.Regency remains more active in the partnership because it will own the 44,000-square-foot retail component of the project, including a 30,000-square-foot Publix.

Carey said Regency originally was planning to own the retail and St Joe would develop and sell the condominiums.

As currently structured, Whitehall Realty Partners will buy all the land at closing and develop the entire project. Regency then will buy the retail component about a year after construction begins, when the stores are built and available for build-out, and begin tenant improvements for Publix and other retail tenants.

He said Whitehall will complete the residential component about 18 months after construction begins.

Read more from the original source:
East San Marco construction expected to begin by late summer

Investing $56 million for recently approved projects in Boston neighborhoods, the Boston Redevelopment Authority Board of Directors approved a new project in Allston that will be used for residential and commercial space.

Waypoint Companies Manager Ed Champy said the new housing units will be at 61-83 Braintree St. and are designed for young professionals who are looking to live in a modern building, but are not ready to pay the rent of a downtown Boston apartment.

We believe that the clientele would like to no longer be sharing a three-bedroom and would like to live in a well acquainted new building, he said Thats our target audience. Late 20s, early 30s, have their finances in order but at the same time, arent ready to move into downtown Boston and pay the rent that a downtown Boston facility would require.

The 93,000 square foot project, which was approvedThursdayand developed by Waypoint Companies, will include 80 rental units, a 67 space underground garage, three community rooms and 2,277 square feet of commercial and retail space. A total of $17,000 will be spent on the construction of the mixed-use building, and 90-95 construction jobs will be created.

Weve made the commercial space very small and weve made the community space or the amenity space for the building larger than the retail space, said Champy. Activity is very important. We dont want the building to be sterile, and we dont want the environment to be sterile. We want people to meet each other and say hi. Activity creates that.

The developers also worked to create a common area in the front of the building that would promote a community-atmosphere, not only for the residents of the building, but for the entire neighborhood, he said.

With the construction of the three community rooms, Champy said he hopes to attract local artists and encourage them to use the building for recreational and residential purposes.

Were doing our best to engage the art community, and theyve responded quite well so we think our relationship will be excellent, he said. We are going to take the amenity space and allow the art community, as well as civic associations, to use the amenity space for their meetings or a gallery or a showing or something like that.

Several residents said the construction of the multi-use building in Allston would provide the neighborhood with an improved sense of community, especially for young professionals and college students.

Jeremy Fraga, 25, of Allston, said it is important for the BRA to invest money in improving Bostons neighborhoods, but there must also be a focus on keeping the cost of living low, especially for students and young professionals living in the city.

Read more here:
New apartment project approved in Allston

After nearly a decade of renovations, the South Carolina home where President Woodrow Wilson lived as a teenager is reopening to the public as a museum not only about the politician but also the Reconstruction Era.

The home where the 28th president of the United States moved at age 13 and spent his teenage years reopened Feb. 15.

Wilson's father taught at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Columbia and was minister at First Presbyterian Church, where Wilson's father, mother and sister are all buried.

The villa-style home built in 1871 is one of four historic sites for Wilson along with his birthplace in Stanton, Va.; a home in Augusta, Ga., where he grew up; and the Washington, D.C., home where he lived after his time as president. The South Carolina home is the state's only presidential site.

Saved from demolition in 1928 after residents protested, the historic home in downtown Columbia closed its doors and grounds to the public in 2005 when plaster fell from the ceiling in some of the downstairs rooms and water damage to the home's foundation became evident.

"Rather than just start pulling out artifacts from those rooms that were affected, we decided to go ahead and close the whole site," said John Sherrer, director of cultural resources at Historic Columbia, which maintains the property.

The $3.6 million project to restore the home, which is owned by Richland County, was funded through tax money and private donations. During the nearly decade-long closure, Historic Columbia spent that time doing a historic analysis, which determined details like the blueprint of the home when the Wilsons lived in it and what had been added and closed up in the decades since.

"The end result was a building that, structurally, looked like it did when the Wilsons called this home," Sherrer said. "If Tommy Wilson (Woodrow's nickname) and his family had showed up here in 2005, they'd be walking around going, 'What's that window doing there?' or 'How can we get from this room to that room?' ... Now what we have is a building that more genuinely reflects what they would have been accustomed to."

The home also now has a new roof, shutters and a wood foundation that needed to be replaced because of water damage. The project also included a revamp of the home's exterior paint scheme, which Sherrer says is now closer to what they would have been when Wilson lived there and is being replicated by preservationists working on other Columbia-area buildings from the same era. Once painted white and gray, now the home's outside is cast in more vibrant but still earthy tones, with tan and brown trim and deep blue-green shutters.

"It's exciting because this is a building that is important in its own right, but it's magnified when people use it as kind of a historic preservation laboratory, and in so doing, they can apply those thoughts to their own properties," he said.

Continued here:
Woodrow Wilson's Columbia Home Reopens to Public

Published on February 18, 2014

After nearly a decade of restoration, Columbia home where Woodrow Wilson lived reopens

COLUMBIA, S.C. - After nearly a decade of renovations, the South Carolina home where President Woodrow Wilson lived as a teenager is reopening to the public as a museum not only about the politician but also the Reconstruction Era.

The home where the 28th president of the United States moved at age 13 and spent his teenage years reopened Feb. 15.

Wilson's father taught at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Columbia and was minister at First Presbyterian Church, where Wilson's father, mother and sister are all buried.

The villa-style home built in 1871 is one of four historic sites for Wilson along with his birthplace in Stanton, Va.; a home in Augusta, Ga., where he grew up; and the Washington, D.C., home where he lived after his time as president. The South Carolina home is the state's only presidential site.

Saved from demolition in 1928 after residents protested, the historic home in downtown Columbia closed its doors and grounds to the public in 2005 when plaster fell from the ceiling in some of the downstairs rooms and water damage to the home's foundation became evident.

"Rather than just start pulling out artifacts from those rooms that were affected, we decided to go ahead and close the whole site," said John Sherrer, director of cultural resources at Historic Columbia, which maintains the property.

The $3.6 million project to restore the home, which is owned by Richland County, was funded through tax money and private donations. During the nearly decade-long closure, Historic Columbia spent that time doing a historic analysis, which determined details like the blueprint of the home when the Wilsons lived in it and what had been added and closed up in the decades since.

"The end result was a building that, structurally, looked like it did when the Wilsons called this home," Sherrer said. "If Tommy Wilson (Woodrow's nickname) and his family had showed up here in 2005, they'd be walking around going, 'What's that window doing there?' or 'How can we get from this room to that room?' ... Now what we have is a building that more genuinely reflects what they would have been accustomed to."

See the rest here:
After nearly a decade of restoration, Columbia home where Woodrow Wilson lived reopens

Beacon-News STaff February 18, 2014 6:56PM

Updated: February 19, 2014 11:15AM

The city of Aurora announces another round of funding for the Single Family Restoration Program.

The program provides homeowners with forgivable loans of up to $30,000 to remove additional apartment units created in structures which were originally built as single-family residences. This program may be eligible to address hundreds of older Aurora homes that were subdivided after World War II.

The program is an incentive that will subsidize 90 percent of costs specific to returning a subdivided house back to single-family usage. A maximum of three units are allowed for subsidy at a $10,000 maximum subsidy per unit.

Program funds can be used for engineering/architecture, building and planning fees and construction costs related to a unit reconversion project. Owners must currently live in one of the units, and homes that receive program benefits can never again be divided.

The city will take program applications through 5 p.m., March 28. Application packages are available on the city of Aurora website at: http://www.aurora-il.org.

An application package and supporting materials are required.

Original post:
Funding available for home restoration program

Parlier Unified will ask voters in the school district to approve a bond measure in June to pay for a locker-shower-weight room at the new high school gym. The $5.5-$6 million bond measure also would pay for the remodeling of existing cafeterias or construction of new ones at Brletic, Cesar Chavez and Martinez elementary schools.

It will take a 55 percent yes vote for the measure to pass, said Parlier Unified Superintendent Gerardo Alvarez.

Parlier Unified board members voted last week to put the bond measure on the ballot for the June 3, 2014 primary election. Board member Melissa Cano cast the only no vote.

She said in an interview after the board meeting on Feb. 11 that she believes the current school board mismanaged a previous bond that paid for the new Parlier High gym, and she believes the same thing could happen with a new bond.

Alvarez said in an interview that Cano had not requested information from him about the bond measure. All I know is that she voted no and didnt give an explanation for that decision at the meeting, Alvarez said.

Building the locker-shower-weight room with money from the proposed bond is about Parlier Unified keeping a promise to district voters, Alvarez said.

Those voters approved another bond measure 10 years ago to build a new high school gym that included the locker-shower-weight room, Alvarez said.

However, delays in building the gym resulted in cost increases, which the 10-year-old bond measure could not cover, Alvarez said.

He said the estimated cost of the locker-shower-weight room is $2-$2.5 million. State money for school buildings with safety or hazard problems might pay for half of the $2-$2.5 million, Alvarez said. State officials might feel the old showers are unusable, he explained.

Meanwhile, the cafeterias at the three elementary schools are outdated and busting at the seams, Alvarez said. Martinez Elementary, for example, schedules three 15-minute lunch periods to accommodate its students.

More here:
School board sets June bond vote