Downtown Dallas biggest development project the $450 million redo of the landmark First National Bank tower is headed toward completion later this year.

And the skyscraper has landed a high-profile tenant.

Since last year, developer Todd Interests has been working to restore the 52-story high-rise, which dates to 1965.

The iconic central business district building is being turned into a combination of office and retail space, apartments and a luxury hotel.

The ambitious project has been renamed The National.

Economic development group Downtown Dallas Inc. will be the first major tenant, taking space on three floors of the Elm Street building to house its headquarters and other operations.

We have been champions of this project, and it was a unique opportunity to put all of our operations under one roof, said Kourtny Garrett, president and CEO of Downtown Dallas Inc.

The organizations headquarters is now located in the Bank of America Plaza, and Downtown Dallas has other workers and operations housed in locations across the central business district.

Garrett said its office at The National will include a storefront on Pacific Avenue that will serve as an information center for downtown.

Its been one of our dreams to have that kind of a showcase space for downtown, she said.

Downtown Dallas, which has about 100 employees, will also have offices on the fourth and fifth floors of the building.

Developer Shawn Todd said Downtown Dallas has been one of the biggest proponents of the project, which stalled twice and faced foreclosure before Todd Interests took over the deal last May. We are excited to be able to have a facility that has the space to accommodate their needs, Todd said. There is no greater ambassador for our city than Downtown Dallas Inc.

Todd said the building will start opening in September and October.

There will be people living in this building in September, he said. The goal is to have the hotel open in the fall.

Its our goal to have everything completed by the end of the year.

The office tower, which sat vacant for more than a decade, will house a 219-room Thompson Hotel, 324 luxury apartment units, restaurants and retail, and offices.

Dallas Merriman Anderson Architects designed the renovations, and Andres Construction is the general contractor.

Todd Interests partnered with investor Moriah Real Estate to acquire the skyscraper after the previous developers couldnt obtain funding to continue the project.

The developers got $100 million in historic tax credits and $50 million in Dallas tax increment financing that made the huge renovation project viable.

Opened in 1965 as the home of First National Bank, the 1401 Elm St. tower was designed by noted Dallas architects George Dahl and Thomas Stanley.

The high-rise closed in 2010 when office occupancy in the building severely declined.

It has been the largest vacant building in North Texas and the last of the citys great skyscrapers to be repurposed.

This is the last vacant building of the 42 that existed 20 years ago, Garrett said.

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Downtown Dallas' $450 million First National Bank redo nears opening with new tenant - The Dallas Morning News

Theres certainly been no cease fire on the horizon in the office amenity war, but the condition of the overall space itself is also vitally important. Whether in the heart of the CBD or out in the suburbs, office users continue to show a proclivity for new or renovated spaces.

According to the latest Cawley Chicago data, compiling statistics for leases, sales and projects under construction in the Chicago metro, its clear that tenants continue to be drawn to high-end office spaces in the CBD. Cawley also compared the downtown Chicago office submarket with those in suburban Schaumburg and the eastern East-West Corridor to get an idea of how the markets perform in relation to one another.

Ubers 463,000 commitment at the Old Post Officebrokered by CBRE, with The Telos Group representing the building owner, 601W Cos.was the largest new lease of the year. The rideshare firm was one of the earliest tenants to sign into the 2.8-million-square-foot behemoth, which is undergoing an $800 million renovation.

The largest transaction, however, was Uniteds renewal of 816,300 feet at the Willis Tower, with plans for refurbishing their space in phases and the addition of a 30,000-square-foot cafeteria and amenity deck. JLL brokered that deal for United and The Telos Group represented the Blackstone Group, which is nearing the completion of a $500 million capital improvement program for the iconic building.

Heading into 2020, we continue to see solid market leasing fundamentals mainly in the Class A and higher-end Class B asset classes, said Rawly Lantz, principal at Cawley Chicago. These underlying fundaments are especially true within those buildings who have recent renovations and more modern updates.

In the past 12 months, there were 5 million square feet of new space delivered to the market. Chicagos office sector had a 12.3 percent vacancy rate in the fourth quarter, up slightly from the 12.0 percent vacancy rate in Q3 2019. Over the past year, according to Cawley Chicago figures, office rents in the metro inched up by 0.9 percent.

There are another 7,140,000 square feet of new office space now under construction, 36.3 percent of which was pre-leased as of Q4 2019. These projects include BMO Tower (co-developed by Riverside Investment & Development and Convexity Properties) and Bank of America Tower (co-developed by Riverside and the Howard Hughes Corporation). Combined, these developments will add over 3 million square feet along the Chicago River.

Development hasnt slowed down in Fulton Market, either. Shapack Partners and Focus are nearing completion of 167 N. Green Street, a 17-story, 645,000-square-foot ground-up project. 800 W. Fulton Street, a joint venture between Thor Equities and QuadReal, isnt slated to open until next spring, but Aspen Dental Management has committed to 197,000 of the buildings 480,490 square feet.

The two suburban submarkets that Cawley Chicago highlighted in their report, the eastern portion of the East-West corridor and Schaumburg, saw their absorption dip into the red last year, with -645,000 and -502,000 square feet of net absorption, respectively. Rents shrank slightly in the Schaumburg area by -0.3 percent, though the eastern East-West corridor managed to eke out positive rent growth of 1.5 percent in the 12 months ending in Q4 2019.

For building owners, there is a clearly a positive rental rate advantage for those suburban markets closer to interstate infrastructure, train system and the city. We continue to see small and large companies alike wanting and needing a suburban presence but looking for the amenities they might see within the downtown Chicago market, Lantz said. This is true both within their leased premises, within the building common areas and in nearby restaurant and retail developments.

The only commercial office building under construction in the East-West corridor is a 135,000-square-foot build-to-suit for the expanding Hub Group. However, Hines has approval to begin work on Oak Brook Commonsa mixed-use development on a former McDonalds office site in Oak Brookthat will include more than 200,000 square feet of office space in addition to retail, multifamily and hotel.

Antunovich Associates is collaborating with Hines to develop the master plan for Oak Brook Commons. The 17.5-acre project is betting that amenities inside and outside will be a draw to office tenants; the plan calls for 250 apartments, 104 condos, a 252-room hotel, three restaurants, retail and park space, in addition to office space.

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Downtown and in the suburbs, new office space continues to draw tenants - REjournals.com

Residents of south Fayette County, along with those from the Senoia area, will soon have another option for grocery shopping. The Senoia City Council on Feb. 17 approved a new shopping center at Ga. highways 85 and 16 that will be the location of a Publix grocery store and a number of additional retail stores.

Variances for four parcels totaling approximately 13 acres on the north corner of the intersection were approved by council members, with the shopping center wrapping around Marathon Gas and Isabel Mexican Grill located on the corner.

The shopping center will be accessed from both Hwy. 85 and Hwy. 16.

Site plans for the 10.33-acre grocery parcel included a 48,387 sq. ft. grocery store and approximately 14,700 sq. ft. of adjacent retail space for 10 retail store fronts.

Parking will accommodate more than 300 vehicles, the site plan noted.

Plans also included three outparcels, of approximately one acre each, fronting Hwy. 16.

There was no mention of anticipated construction or opening dates, said City Community Development Director Dina Rimi.

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Publix coming to Senoia's 85-16 intersection - The Citizen.com

Progressive CasualtyInsurance Companyhas signed a lease for 18,089 square feet of office space at The Offices at Victory Ridge, the first Class A speculative office development in Colorado Springs in over a decade.

Brad T. Bird with CBREsColorado Springs office and John Marold with CBREs Denver office represented the landlord, Mission Hill Capital.

Securing a commitment of this caliber pre-delivery is a major winfor the project and the market overall. The leasing of this space to a high-profile tenant provesthere is demand for new, quality product, stated Mr. Bird.

The Offices at Victory Ridge is located at 10855 Hidden Pool Heights, off Interstate 25 and Interquest Parkway in northColorado Springs, surrounded by retail and entertainment offerings. The property includes onefour-story office tower and two two-story buildings to the east and west of Icon Cinema, a luxurytheater brand that opened in November 2017 at Victory Ridge and is home to Colorados largestmovie screen. Victory Ridge is also the site of In-N-Out Burgers first Colorado retail locationand new distribution facility, currently under construction. In addition to its office space, thelarger complex is slated to include 221 townhomes, medical office space, at least one hotel andnumerous other restaurants and retailers.

Upon completion, The Offices at Victory Ridge will total 145,053 square feet of office and retail spacewith flexible suites ranging from 1,330 square feet to over 100,000 square feet of contiguous space. Designfeatures include dedicated garage parking, expansive windows with front range views, third andfourth floor balconies, and first floor patio spaces.

Headquartered in Mayfield Village, Ohio, Progressive is a national insurance company and hasadditional office space located in North Colorado Springs.The new Progressive office space will be built out over the next several months with occupancytentatively scheduled for August 2020.

Photo courtesy of CBRE

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Progressive Insurance Joins The Offices at Victory Ridge - milehighcre.com

Construction has topped out at Caton Flats, a 14-story residential tower in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The structure is located at 800 Flatbush Avenue and will eventually support a community of 255 affordable housing units and revitalize the long-running Flatbush Caton Market with 16,000 square feet of new space for a Caribbean marketplace and an economic development incubator.

The strong alignment between the real estate, community, and construction entities involved in this project enabled us to meet this milestone well in advance of schedule, said Meredith Marshall, co-founder and managing partner of BRP Companies, the lead developer responsible for Caton Flats. This project is a true partnership between many community groups and local leaders connected in their commitment to serving Flatbush, and were excited to be watching this vision come to fruition in real time.

While the site is under construction, the Flatbush Caton Market continues to operate out of a temporary location at 2184 Clarendon Road in Flatbush. Upon completion, the market will reopen at its original location with upgraded amenities for its existing small business owners, expanded space for food vendors including a bar, caf, and shared commercial kitchen, as well as flex space for the community.

Additional components include 5,000 square feet of supplemental community space owned and operated by the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) and 10,000 square feet dedicated to local retail.

The project is designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning and developed in collaboration by BRP Companies, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Housing Development Corporation, and the CACCI.

The structure was expected to top out this spring, but achieved the milestone earlier this month. The entire project is expected to debut in 2021.

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Caton Flats Tops Out Ahead of Schedule at 800 Flatbush Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn - New York YIMBY

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) completes its third transaction of February by financing the construction of 1100 Eastern Avenue Apartments, 63 affordable apartments in Ward 7. DCHFA issued $13.9 million in tax exempt bonds and underwrote $9.8 million in low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) equity. "The Deanwood neighborhood is seeing a great deal of development and has become a sought after place to live, especially since being designated an Opportunity Zone. It is the Agency's goal to ensure that affordable housing remains a top priority amidst all of this development," stated Christopher E. Donald, Interim Executive Director, DCHFA.

The apartments at 1100 Eastern Avenue will consist of 11 efficiencies, 30 one-bedrooms, 2 two-bedrooms, 16 three-bedrooms and 4 four-bedrooms. Thirteen of those apartments will be reserved for residents earning 30 percent or less area median income (AMI), and the remaining 50 apartments will be reserved for those earning up to 50 percent AMI. Twenty percent of the units will be Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) accepting Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP) vouchers. Residents in the PSH apartments will have access to support services through Community Connections DC (CCDC), to include educational and vocational, psychiatric and behavioral, legal concerns, substance abuse and physical health and more.

The five-story $29.6 million building will feature 4,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, open-air courtyards, and a green roof. Additional amenities include an advanced security system with an intercom, video surveillance, key FOB access and on-site management. There will be a 16-space parking garage and 21 indoor bicycle storage units. All of the apartments will have new washers and dryers, refrigerators, garbage disposals, dishwashers and central air conditioning.

Additional funding for this project came in the form of an $11.4 million Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF) loan from the DC Department of Housing and Community Development. This is the Agency's third recent project in the Deanwood neighborhood, having financed the construction of the Strand Residences and Providence Place Apartments in August 2019.

Through its Multifamily Lending and Neighborhood Investment and Capital Markets divisions, DCHFA issues tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds to lower the developers' costs of acquiring, constructing and rehabilitating rental housing. The Agency offers private for-profit and non-profit developers low cost predevelopment, construction and permanent financing that supports the new construction, acquisition, and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing in the District.

The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency is an S&P A + rated issuer in its 40th year of serving Washington, D.C.'s residents. The Agency's mission is to advance the District of Columbia's housing priorities; the Agency invests in affordable housing and neighborhood development, which provides pathways for D.C. residents to transform their lives. We accomplish our mission by delivering the most efficient and effective sources of capital available in the market to finance rental housing and to create homeownership opportunities.

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DCHFA Finances Third Affordable Apartment Community of the Month in Ward 7's Deanwood - Benzinga

Construction of commercial buildings should continue at record levels in Auckland and Waikato over the next couple of years, although the outlook in other regions is more mixed.

According to Statistics NZ, consents were issued for a record $682 million of new commercial buildings in Aucklandlast year, excluding the costs of land and other non-construction costs,and that comes after three very strong years in which commercial consents were well above $500 million a year.

The demand for warehouse space was one of themain drivers of that growth, with consents issued for a record 383,564 square metres of new storage buildings in Auckland last year, with a record value of $384 million.

Demand for accommodation in the hospitality sector was also a major factor, with consents issued for 85,434 square metres of new commercial accommodation space suchas motels and hotels, which was a 21 year record.

New factory space consented dropped back from 143,675 square metres in 2018 to 105,014 square metres last year, but remained substantially above the levels consented between 2009 and 2017.

Consents for new office space more than doubled to 93,470 square metres last year, compared to 43,461 square metres in 2018, but remained below the levels of 2014-2017 when more than 100,000 square metres a new office space a year was consented.

Retail went against the trend with a sharp decline in the amount of new retail space consented in Auckland last year,droppingback from the record 256,612square metres consented in 2018 to 107,572square metres last year.

However much the retail space consented last year was probably of higher value, with the average value of retail consents issued last year coming at $3496 per square metre. This was an all time high andmore than double the 2018 average of $1634 per square metre.

The Waikato is also experiencing a commercial construction boom, with a record $127.1 million of new commercial buildings consented in the region last year, more than double the $60.7 million consented in 2018.

That growth was mainly driven by big increases in consents for factories of $134.5 million (up 37% compared to 2018), offices $67.8 million (+78%) and retail space $59.3 million (+161%).

So tower cranes, concrete trucks and traffic cones are likes to remain features of the landscapes in Auckland and Hamilton for some time.

However drivers and pedestrians may get a bit of relief from construction activity in other centres.

In the Bay of Plenty the value of consents for new commercial space plunged dramatically,from $113 million in 2018 to $57 million in 2019, which was its lowest level in five years.

And commercial construction in the Wellington Region can be a bitlike its weather - changeable.

Last year consents for $57.2 million of construction work for new commercial spacewere issued in Wellington, up from $39.2 million in 2018 but the second lowest level since 2013, and less than a third of the value of the commercial consents issued in Wellington 2016.

In Otago the outlook for commercial construction is basically flat, with $54.5 million of commercial consents issued last year, up just 2.2% compared to 2018.

Not surprisingly the big downward move in consents issued for new commercial space last year was in Canterbury, where theirtotal value was $128 million last year, down 49% compared to 2018 anddown million last year and down 80% since the 2014 peak of $636 million.

That puts Canterbury within a hair's breadth of being overtaken by Waikato for having the second highest level of new commercial consents issued in the country.

Acrossthe entire country the value of consentsissued fornew commercial space was $1.211 billionlast year, down just a smidgen from the $1.243 billion issued in 2018. Thatmeans the overall contribution to theeconomy from commercial construction is likely to stay around existing levels for at least the next year or two, although it's likely to be increasingly concentrated in the upper North Island.

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A boom in commercial construction in Auckland and Waikato is compensating for the wind down of construction activity in Christchurch - Interest.co.nz

Wallethub ranked 62 American cities based on safety, quality of life, economy, affordability and education and health. Here are the top 10. 10Best

The Great Recession took its toll on Washington County, with unemployment above 10% when the decade started in 2010 and the fast-paced growth of the 2000s slowed to a virtual standstill.

But the decade ended with a bang. The growth returned, long-dormant development projects were revived and now, as the 2020s begin, economic forecasts see nothing but steady growth on the horizon.

A new report from real estate company NAI Excel outlines the changes different economic sectors haveseen since 2010, and the picture is clear the 2010s may have started slowly, but the once they got going, they haven't looked back.

Vacancy rates for leasable commercial and industrial areas, along with multi-family housing units, fell to below 5% in much of the city by the middle part of the decade as the economy sped back up. Then, in more recent years, the demand for more space drove an onslaught of new construction.

Many new construction projects were completed or started in the last few years of the decade, and even moreprojects are on the horizon.

Construction crews finish paving around Joule Plaza Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020.(Photo: Chris Caldwell / The Spectrum & Daily News)

In the last twoyears, Washington County has added 552 multifamily housing units, reviving a segment of the housing mix that had been nearly nonexistent in the first part of the decade.

In 2016 and 2017, some student housing was added. But before 2018, there was almost no construction of multifamily housing in the county.

Vacancy rates hit a low point in 2016 at less than 1%. However, 2018 and 2019 brought more multifamily projects to the area, and the vacancy rate has climbed slightly since then, measuring at3.2% at the end of 2019.

Bigger, faster: Report pegs Southern Utah for 7 million sq ft of new development in 2020s

Still, despite the newly completed projects, like Grayhawk and Retreat at Sky Mountain,asking rent is on the rise. Asking rent for a two-bedroom hovered around $648 for apartments at the beginning of the decade. Now the average asking price is over $1,000.

Discussions around "attainable housing" St. George and Washington Countys rebranding of affordable housing has been ongoing, and some housing projects slated in Washington County will be considered "attainable" for some lower-income workers, a segment of the community that has been largely starved of living spaces they could find affordable.

Construction crews work on Splash City in Middleton Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020.(Photo: Chris Caldwell / The Spectrum & Daily News)

Southern Utah's retail markets have taken a hit due to online shopping much like the rest of the country. Retail meccas like Red Cliffs Mall and K-mart complex on Bluff Street have seen major renovations and changes in recent years.

Yet, despite the tumultuous decade for retail, around 1.1 million square feet of retail space was added to the county since 2010. Projects like Red Rock Commons, Smiths, Harmons and Lins added significantly to the retail market.

Asking lease rates for retail space is up to $17.50 per square foot, rising from $12.72 in 2010. Vacancy rates declined 3.5 percentage pointsover the last 10 years, with the current rates at 4.3%.

The NAI report states that as major retailers are slow to expand, concepts around retail shopping are evolving. Already, big construction projects like Commerce Pointe and retail in Washington Fields are under construction. The report projects retail growth along the Southern Corridor and near exits 2, 13 and 16 off of I-15 in the next 10 years.

In Iron County, vacancy rates for retail space hovered around 6-8% throughout the decade. However, at the end of 2019, rates dipped to 2.2%. Lease rates for Iron County also didnt see much significant changeover the decade, with asking lease rates around $13.00 per square foot.

Construction crews work near Washington Parkway Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020.(Photo: Chris Caldwell / The Spectrum & Daily News)

Vacancy rates and asking rent prices for office space in Washington County have beenon the rise in recent years. However, the decade started with a peak in vacancy rates at 16.7%, dropping to its low in 2017, but on an upward turn now at 4.4%.

Asking lease rates have steadily increased from around $4 a square foot in 2010 to almost $14 in 2019.

The move and expansion of the Intermountain Hospital campus to River Road had the biggest impact on the office market. The old campus located off of 400 East, has made the medical office vacancy rate almost 16%.

The number of square feet of office space added this past decade was tepid, according to the report. And even though traditional office space construction was down, the construction of emergency care, assisted living, education, government and other special-use facilities are significant, the report states.

Iron Countys asking lease rates rose to an average of about $12.00 per square rate. At the same time, vacancy rates fell most of the decade, and are now around 2.2% for office space.

From 2010 to 2016, just three hotels were added to Washington and Iron counties. That changed dramatically over the last two years, though,with1,800 rooms addedas part of21 total projects.

The report states hotel operators are finding occupancy rates and revenue per available room are falling, despite the past few years of record highs.

The number of hotels built in Washington and Iron counties have had spurts of growth over the last 50 years. However, between 2017 and 2019, numbers reached their all-time highs.

Construction crews work near River Road Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020.(Photo: Chris Caldwell / The Spectrum & Daily News)

Around 2.3 million square feet of industrial space was added over the last decade and more than 15% of it was completed in 2019. Eleven industrial projects were completed in 2019 alone, the biggest one being phase one of the Paparazzi facility, and phase two, which is under construction, will be more than double the size of the first one.

The average asking lease rates have almost doubled since 2010, with prices at $8.60 per square foot for buildings under 20,000 square feet and $6.60 for larger buildings. As asking lease rates have skyrocketed, vacancy rates have dropped from 14% to 5%, with the low point in 2017 at 2%. Vacancy rates for spaces smaller than 20,000 square feet are at 1.3%, with new, larger facilities driving up the rate.

Around 353,000 square feet of industrial space was added in 2019, bringing the total, county-wide, to over 10.4 million square feet.

Following a similar pattern as Washington, Iron County saw average industrial lease rates fall during the first few years of the decade and are now on an upward climb. The county started or completed six industrial or storage projects last year. However, there is still very limited availability for industrial space in the county now though, with vacancy rates less than 1%.

Lexi Peery is the environment, politics and development reporter for The Spectrum & Daily News, a USA TODAY Network newsroom based in southern Utah. You can reach her at lpeery@thespectrum.com and follow her on Twitter @LexiFP.

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Prices keep rising as new construction continues across Southern Utah - The Spectrum

By: Michael Young 8:00 am on February 2, 2020

Construction has reached street level at 148 East 78th Street, a 205-foot-tall residential projectat the corner of East 78th Street and Lexington Avenueon Manhattans Upper East Side. Progress has been swift sinceYIMBY last stopped by the sitein mid-September, when work on the foundations was just beginning. Now a large array of steel rebar await the imminent concrete pour for the ground-floor slab. Designed by Ismael Leyva Architectsand developed byMidwood Management Corp., theproperty will yield 26 residences averaging 2,600 square feet apiece.

Photos show therectangular corner plot teeming with workers.

148 East 78th Street, photo by Michael Young

148 East 78th Street, photo by Michael Young

The building features a classically inspired design that harkens back to the New York of the early 20th century. With its large stone paneling, brick walls, thick ornamental cornices, dark metal railings, and stone balustrades, the structure will blend seamlessly into the architectural fabric of the Upper East Side.

The project will contain 68,293 square feet of residential space and 3,739 square feet of ground-floor retail area.The address is just one block to the north of the 77th Street subway station, serviced by the 6 train, and less than ten minutes to the east of Central Park across Fifth Avenue.

148 East 78th Street is stated for completion in spring 2021.

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Construction Hits Street Level at 148 East 78th Street on the Upper East Side - New York YIMBY

With a crumpled neighborhood map in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, a retail broker in the early aughts could woo tenants to a property without much fanfare.

We used to drive around in the car with a paper map withdots on it that showed our existing stores, competition and the major anchors in the market,JLL Managing Director ofRetail Real Estate Rob Franks recalls.

For Franks and other retail brokers, those simple days are long gone, replaced byanew technology-centered era. Tenant expectations have shifted, brokers have to have more specific data while also knowing a broader range of information, there are fewer appealing new-build spaces to offer clients, and the retail industry is being fundamentally reinvented.

What ouroccupier clients are asking us for ... today are light years different from what it was in the last cycle, back in 2006, 2007, 2008, CBRE Retail Managing Director for the South-Central DivisionDaniel Taylorsaid.What our clients are asking us for is to have more of an advisory role, almost take on a consulting role for them.

Adding to thisslippery slope is a declining new product pipeline, leaving brokers with fewer options to showcase.

The amount of retail space delivered in the U.S. reacheda peak of 222.4M SF in 2006 and then plummeted thereafter, hitting51M SF in 2019, according to CoStar data.

The precipitous decline in retail construction is not linked to demand or overall weakness in the market.Retail construction in Dallas-Fort Worthdropped by about half to1.8M SF in 2019, down from 3.5M SF in 2018, according toWeitzman. ButDFW and Texas as a whole continue to growinpopulation, and DFW'sretail occupancy ratereached a40-year high of 93%last year, Weitzmanreported.

What's really changing the rate of retail constructionis the type of fear that creeps into markets when they evolve quickly and face an onslaught ofstore closures on the traditional retail side,Cushman & Wakefield Capital Markets Group Director Chris Harden said.

In just the past few years,brokers have watched once stable, creditworthy tenants like Sears, Pier 1 Imports, Toys R Us and Payless Shoes struggle and close their stores.

Brokersthen have to find replacements for these units in a market where even the concept of apreferredcreditworthy tenant willing to sign a long-term lease is dying alongside these massive brands. At the same time, store closures create vacancies that put downward pressure on rents as construction costs rise, Harden said.

Thistransformation is chilling to developers and investors who are now less likely to dish out dollars tobuildnewer large product, according to Harden.

The developers that I talk to ... if they have plans for a power center, they have just shelved it, Harden said of the DFW market.It is not economically viable to build a new shopping center when the anchor tenants are not willing to pay if they don't have to ... the rents required for the developer to make a return.

Courtesy of CBRE

CBRE's Daniel Taylor with Elizabeth Herman, Kathrine Gillis and Jack Gosnell.

Technology To The Rescue

So where does this leave today's retail broker?

Brokers are now expected to revitalize old retail space, innovate new concepts for empty big-box retailslotsand deal with client demands that run a whole newgamut.

While retail brokersin the past offered general knowledge about square footage, neighborhood demographics and location, todays tenant and landlordexpects brokers to understand everything from e-commercestrategies to supply-chain distribution and neighborhood spending patterns, Taylor said.

Taylorrecalls about 15 years agowhen he would jump into hiscarwith a nationalretail client, and his research teamwould be in theback seat looking at thesite and using whatever data was available to estimate a property's potential sales.

It was a lot of art, he said.

Now competitive data is considered increasingly important to helpretailers around the globe stay afloat.

Technology has changed dramatically, Franks said.

Thesetech tools are no longer optional. The process of predicting consumer traffic at ashopping center has becomemore specific. For example, retail brokers can pull customer cellphone data.

We can look at different information from that data to say what's their education level? What are their spending habits? Taylor said.

I look at where we are now, and we have entire tour books on an iPad with an interactive map that can immediately pull up aerials that are showingall of [a client's] competition at an intersection and all of the major traffic generators, Franks said. We have traffic counts there,and we have demographics that are pulled immediately.

Brokers also use tech tools like Placer thatare embedded intocellphone apps, Harden said. Thesetools track cellphone usage in specificareas, allowing brokers toaccess data thatcreates a more direct correlation between where traffic is heading in aretailarea and a store'sprojected sales based on the traffic.

Landlord reps, on the other hand, have to besocial media savvy,Harden added.

He said it is important to recognize what retailers in a shopping center or potential tenants are good at driving traffic to their own locations via social media channels.If they drive traffic to one location, it creates a spillover effect that helpsother tenantsand the landlord.

Courtesy of Rob Franks/JLL

JLL Managing Director Rob Franks

Diverse Asset Types And Knowledge Sets

Today'ssuccessful retail broker is also one who understands every CRE asset type.

This is particularly true as e-commerce merges with theindustrial sector and retail development becomes more dependent on mixed-use development.

About 90%of new retail construction inDFW and Houstonis tied to themixed-use category,Harden said.

You have to be more knowledgeable of other property types if you are going to be in that genre of mixed-use," hesaid.

This is particularly true with many North Texas cities using retail possibilities as a benchmark for determiningwhether they will approve construction of apartments inside mixed-use developments, hesaid.

The idea behind this is the broker is responsible for marrying the right retail tenantto a certain office building or multifamily product inside these cohesive neighborhoods.

As stand-alone retail projects become more difficult to pencil in financially, mixed-use development is one way investors and developers can justify the build-out of new retail.

National trends also show more shoppers prefer the mixed-use concept today. About 78% of adults in the U.S. have said they would consider living in a mixed-use development, JLL reported in its Q22019 Retail Development Profile. Developers have responded by building more of this multifamily/retail/entertainment mixed-use product.

And to keep upwith howretailers engage with last-mile delivery hubs in the e-commercechannel, Harden recommends partnering up with industrial brokers or learning moreabout their product types.

I think there is a lot more crossover with the other product types than there ever has been before, so I think it'sprobably going to create some need for more collaboration with other product type specialists.

Finding A New Client Mix

Today'sbroker also is behind the eight ball iftheyarent finding new types oftenants to backfill traditional retail spaces while diversifying their overall clientbase.

In the last three years, we have done more medical deals in retail spaces than I have ever done previously in my career, Frankssaid. Additionally, we have done more speciality retail uses in traditional retail space than we ever have done before.

The alternative uses Franks has deployed at traditional stores include everything from online retail to entertainment with an esports component.

The trend of adding entertainment hubs or wellness centers also is growing nationwide.

Retail spaces assigned to non-retail or restaurant tenants increased from 19.2% in 2012 to 24.5% in 2018, according to JLL's Q22019 Retail Construction Outlook report. U.S. shoppers also grew their number ofvisits to fitness and wellness centers by 47%.

The food and beverage, entertainment and medical categories also saw shopper visits grow by 42%, 39% and 35%, respectively, according tothe same JLL report.

Unless brokers continue tofindnew long-term traffic-driving concepts to replace spaces left empty by traditional retailers,the next decade could prove difficultfor brokers.

Im always looking for new ways to innovate with retail, and I think if you are not, you are most certainly falling behind because it is going to continue to change and evolve, Franks said.

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The Life Of A Retail Broker Is Never Going To Be The Same Again - Bisnow