The retail space in real estate market of Ahmedabad witnessed a slow year due to highest increase in mall vacancy among top eight cities in 2014. According to the latest report by Cushman & Wakefield, a global real estate consultancy, at the end of 2014, Ahmedabad's mall vacancy grew by 1.8 per cent to stand at 32.1 per cent, due to low preference for poor quality mall space.

The total eight cities including Delhi, Mumbai, NCR, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai, among others saw only 1.7 million square feet (msf) of fresh mall space being infused in the calendar year 2014.

Leading cities of India saw an addition of only 5 new malls of which Pune noted the influx of 2 malls adding upto 500,000 square feet (sq ft) of mall space. Hyderabad (500,000 sq ft), Bengaluru (310,000 sq ft) and Delhi-NCR (250,000 sq ft) witnessed an infusion of 1 mall each. Kolkata saw an addition of 120,000 sq ft to the city mall inventory.

In Ahmedabad, limited availability of quality mall space kept the transaction activity in Ahmedabad low. Increasing vacancy levels in a few poor quality malls on S.G. Highway led to city's overall mall vacancy increasing by 1.8 percentage points over the last one year and was noted at 32.1 per cent.

"There has been a period of low activities in the mall supply across the country as the developers are cautious of taking up retail projects which are high gestation and high investment as retailers still remain concerned on uptake and are therefore cautious with their expansion plans in India. Having said that, any new retail location that has appropriate catchment areas have witnessed good levels of activities," said Sanjay Dutt, Executive Managing Director, South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield.

The total supply that was estimated to enter the market in 2014 was approximately 12 msf of which less than 15 per cent came into existence amounting to indefinite deferment of approximately 25 malls across key cities of India. Maximum number of malls (9) were deferred in Delhi-NCR totalling to 6.7 msf of new mall space, which is 56 per cent of the total mall space deferred. Though Bengaluru, Pune and Kolkata witnessed some supply during this year, a large quantum has been deferred. Bengaluru lost out on 7 planned malls while 4 malls were deferred in Pune. Kolkata witnessed the deferment of 1 mall while Chennai and Hyderabad both witnessed the deferment of 2 malls each.

The delays have happened due to a variety of reasons, mostly from approval construction linked delays in Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Delhi-NCR. However, low demand has also led to the deferment of some malls in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Chennai.

However, leasing activities in the existing and new mall spaces remained stable with vacancy levels remaining similar to the previous year recording a very marginal drop in vacancy at 0.2 per cent. The average vacancy level stood at 14.3 per cent.

In Ahmedabad, despite rising vacancies, landlords kept the rentals for these malls steady during the last year.

Since higher preference for main-street format was noted in Ahmedabad, it did not witnessed any mall supply during 2014 and currently has just one under-construction mall.

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Ahmedabad records highest rise in mall vacancy in 2014

Correction: A Thursday Tulsa World story incorrectly stated the amount of money the Muscogee (Creek) Nation plans to contribute to a new development at RiverWalk Crossing in Jenks. The nation plans to contribute $11 million to the $22 million project. This story has been corrected.

JENKS The Muscogee (Creek) Nation announced a $22 million entertainment complex that will be built at the RiverWalk Crossing in Jenks.

The facility will offer high-tech golf, family-oriented games, restaurants, sports bar, party rooms and corporate space.

Principal Chief George Tiger said the tribe hoped to have the facility finished in 18 months. It will be built in an open space just north of the shopping centers movie theater.

There will be nothing like it within a 250-mile radius of Tulsa, Tiger said.

Tiger said the announcement is just the first of several to be made regarding RiverWalk Crossing, located along the west bank of the Arkansas River in Jenks.

The new development will be a partnership between the tribe and RW Restaurant Group, a new entity that was formed specifically for the venture. Of the $22 million cost, $11 million will be covered by the tribe and the rest covered by RW.

John Vollbrecht, a local investor and representative of RW, said the group was proud to work with the tribe.

Were honored to be partnered with them, and we believe this will be the start of a great revitalization of RiverWalk Crossing, he said.

Sean Kouplen, a local banker who is chairman of One Fire, the business arm of the Creek Nation, said the fate of the movie theater will be determined later.

Originally posted here:
Creeks announce $22 million entertainment complex at Jenks' Riverwalk Crossing

Greensburg grew in 2014, with the number of new construction projects and new businesses rising significantly from 2013.

The city Planning Department presented its annual report to city council Monday, showing a positive year for the city.

Councilman Jonathan Vesely pointed to Seton Hill University's construction of a dance and visual arts center on West Otterman Street and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art's major renovation of its North Main Street building as the city's most significant construction projects in decades.

There were four cranes working on these new buildings for the first time in 30 years, Vesely said.

The Planning and Zoning Department collected a total of $213,070 in building permits, occupancy permits and related fees in 2014, up more than 31 percent from last year's total of $146,012.

According to the report, 24 businesses signed new leases for retail and office space downtown, while three businesses canceled existing leases.

A lot of that is trickle down from Seton Hill, said city Planning Director Barbara Ciampini.

The college's new developments and heightened downtown presence has spurred more businesses to want to set up shop in Greensburg, Ciampini said.

The Stack Hookah Lounge, which opened on West Otterman Street over the summer, is one example of a business that chose a location close to college facilities, Ciampini said.

Downtown Greensburg has changed a lot in the last five years or so, she said.

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Construction projects, businesses increased in Greensburg in 14

A retail rebound in Lawrence is well underway, according to an annual study that shows the vacancy rate among stores and shops in Lawrence has fallen well below the national average.

A new commercial real estate report by the Lawrence office of Colliers International found that the citys retail vacancy rate was 3.9 percent at the end of 2014, which is below the national average of about 6.5 percent and below the Kansas City area average of about 8.5 percent.

It is very tight, said Marilyn Bittenbender, a senior vice president with Colliers. The good news is a low vacancy rate shows your economy is doing well, but it also makes it more difficult to attract new companies because you have fewer properties to show them.

The 3.9 percent citywide vacancy rate was down from 4.4 percent in 2013 and 5.4 percent in 2012. The closely watched downtown retail vacancy rate is even lower at 2.7 percent. The downtown rate, however, is up slightly from 1.8 percent in 2013, mainly because of the recent relocation of Buffalo Wild Wings to South Iowa Street and the closing of M&M Office Supply, both of which have left large buildings empty. The report estimates there is about 35,000 square feet of vacant retail space in downtown.

East 23rd Street had the highest retail vacancy rate in the city at 11.5 percent. South Iowa Street had the largest amount of vacant square footage at about 80,000 square feet, but that accounted for only about a 3.8 percent vacancy rate.

The low vacancy rates will create for an interesting 2015, Bittenbender predicted. There has been interest in building a new retail development southeast of the Iowa Street and South Lawrence Trafficway interchange, but it has not yet won city approval. There also have been efforts to lure retailers to an undeveloped area around the Rock Chalk Park sports complex in northwest Lawrence.

I would think well see some additional construction or at least see some additional projects approved in 2015, Bittenbender said of the retail front.

The report also looked at office and industrial vacancy rates in the city.

The office vacancy rate ended the year at 9.6 percent, up from about 9.4 percent a year ago. It remains below the Kansas City and national averages, which are between 11 percent and 12 percent.

The industrial vacancy rate fell to 6.1 percent, down from 7.4 percent in 2014. That puts Lawrence on par with the average vacancy rate in Kansas City and slightly below the national rate of about 8 percent.

Link:
Lawrence tops Kansas City, nation in key retail property rate

Brit Store owner Andy Bradshaw moved the retail outlet that featured British goods to Surrey's Newton neighbourhood last year. Building owner David Sarraf has leased the space to Bosa Properties to use it as a sales centre for its 1000 Quayside Drive development.

image credit: Mario Bartel/NewsLeader file photo

A Downtown New Westminster storefront known for peddling steak and kidney pie, British biscuits and haggis will now be used to sell Quayside condos.

The space at 659 Columbia St., which used to house the popular British Store before it moved to Surreys Newton neighbourhood, has been leased to Bosa Properties, said building owner David Sarraf. It will serve as Bosas presentation centre for the 1000 Quayside Drive project.

Bosa plans to build towers of 28 and 23 storeys with 519 units in the parking lot adjacent to the Inn at the Quay.

Sarraf said the two-year lease will allow the market to develop.

He believes once tenants move into the new Anvil Centre office building and other construction projects are completed there will be more demand for retail Downtown. But until then he has someone occupying the storefront.

It worked out for me perfectly, said Sarraf. Bosa are very good people to work with.

Sarraf said hell get some of the benefit of enhancements Bosa is doing to the ex-Brit Store space. The lease doesnt include the second floor office space. Sarraf plans to eventually restore that part of the building, including redoing the facade to expose some historically significant windows.

David Sarraf owns many historical properties along Columbia Street that he renovates. Mario Bartel/NewsLeader file

More here:
Store space goes from Brit to Bosa

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -

Residents expressed outrage Wednesday over a mega-development project that is under construction on Watson Island.

They are upset over the impact it will have on traffic along the MacArthur Causeway.

"I have over 220 emails that have been sent to me in the last few days -- everyone in opposition to this," Gerald Posner told commissioners.

City leaders agreed that the project could make it more difficult for people to get to Miami Beach.

"It is wrong for our community, our businesses and our residents," Mayor Philip Levine said.

The Flagstone Island Gardens project will include two hotel towers and more than 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Construction crews have already shored up a seawall where a marina will be built.

The project has experienced several delays over the years, with the developer making changes to the project.

"They have a right to move things around," Cesar Garcia-Pons, deputy director of the Miami Planning & Zoning Department, said.

The mayor and commissioners agreed to spend more than $200,000 for a traffic study that could have zero impact on the development. The project was initially signed off by the city of Miami and sits on property that voters approved for development years ago.

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Miami Beach residents angry about Watson Island mega-development project

The Coventry Telegraph can reveal more details on plans for a new 20million student accommodation and retail development in Coventry.

The new building - which will include around 300 student bedrooms, retail space and restaurants - looks set to be built at the entrance to Far Gosford Street.

Complex Development Projects (CDP), working in partnership with Coventry City Council, have signed up student housing provider Unite Group for the major scheme.

If given planning approval, work is set to start later this year - with the new accommodation expected to open in time for the 2017/2018 academic year.

The project will be the largest investment to date for the Far Gosford Street Partnership, which has been working on the regeneration of the area for almost ten years, and will be the final project in the street.

Ian Harrabin, managing director of CDP, said: The development of site one will fill in the huge gap left by the construction of Sky Blue Way and reconnects the street with the university and city centre.

It has always been part of the masterplan to have a major development on this gateway site which will encourage people to walk up the street and boost trade.

We had originally hoped to secure a hotel, but despite marketing to operators for a number of years, we hadnt managed to secure any interest.

The bones of the current proposal with Unite were agreed when we were out at MIPIM (a property trade show in France) last year and we have been working on the detail with them for the past nine months.

What has resulted is a great scheme of four joined buildings which make the transition between the large buildings of the university and the small scale of the historic street.

Link:
Details revealed on new 20m student flats and retail development for Coventry city centre

The main construction work is right in the beginning stages, and will see the former brewing area transformed into offices, a cheese production area, and a cheese packaging area. This is a bigger undertaking than it first appears, requiring the installation of drop-down ceilings and other safeguards that will allow the cheese to be produced in a clean environment. Cheese is, after all, the product of an intricate dance between bacteria, enzymes, and sometimes even mold, and the goal is to maximize the critters that make cheese delicious while keeping out any foreign bodies that could contaminate the process. Because of the care that goes into insuring a clean production space, Walker doesn't plan to move his production to the new space for at least two months.

Walker has moved one element of the cheese-making process to the new space: aging. The last time I was in what is now the Kent Walker Artisan Cheese Cave, it was ice cold and filled with six packs and kegs. Now, the temperature is kept at a steady 55 degrees, with just the right touch of humidity needed to allow the wheels of cheese to develop their characteristic flavors over time. There's an earthy, deep aroma hanging in the air between the cheese racks think of it as the rich aroma of science at work. Some of the cheeses that Walker produces only spend a short time in the cave before being sold, but one rack holds what Walker calls his "reserve," and it contains cheeses that have been hanging out for quite awhile, multiple years in some cases. Aging develops and matures the flavor of the cheese, and the loss of moisture from each wheel changes the texture, which means that two wheels of cheese from the same batch will have significant tastes differences with the only added ingredient being time.

As luck would have it, Walker was holding a cheese-tasting over the weekend in support of the debut of Sixes and Sevens and Earl Grey ESB fromMoody Brews(which Scott previewed here, and which were spectacular). It was fun to see Walker working the crowd, explaining the method behind his cheese-making madness and educating the public (including yours truly) about just what it takes to turn milk into cheese. On the menu were three of Walker's creations: theGoat Gouda, a creamy cheese with just a touch of wildness to it that I found brought a nice touch of complexity to the style; a sharp and tangy Leicester that is certain to appeal to fans of cheddar cheese everywhere, and a deliciously nutty take on asiago that Walker has dubbed "Roccina," which is, naturally, Italian for "Little Rock." What always impresses me is that these cheeses start off as the same stuff (milk) and are transformed into vastly different flavors by a combination of the cheese-maker's skill and some time. It's all chemistry and biology of course, but I'm not convinced there isn't witchcraft involved somewhere.

Walker is still unsure of when he will be able to open the tasting room (despite reports in other media outlets listing dates), because although there aren't any major renovations that need to happen to the space, balancing the building of an entirely new production area coupled with operating a retail space is a burden he's unsure he wants to shoulder at this time. One major change planned for the taproom: the area behind the bar where Diamond Bear's tap lines ran is to be replaced by a large window that will allow visitors to see the racks of aging cheese in the cheese cave without danger of contamination. That alone provides a unique aspect to the tasting room that should appeal to fans of homegrown foodstuffs everywhere.

I've eaten a good deal of Kent Walker cheese over the past couple of years, and I think he's improved and refined his technique considerably over the past year. That's not to say that Walker's cheese was ever bad it certainly wasn't but the cheese I had at the Moody Brews tasting was beyond good, it was excellent. Soon, we'll have a space where we can go grab a glass of beer and enjoy that ancient and magical process by which fresh milk turns into something far better: pungent, creamy, and always delicious cheese.

More:
Kent Walker Artisan Cheese moves into new space

The construction brought on by Kingland Systems' renovation of Campustown and an entirely new building on the corner of Welch Avenue and Lincoln Way is well underway.

The entire 2013 year was spent working with the city and various student groups on Kinglands project. Now, completion is the goal.

The outcome of the project is a combination from the students, from the community, the Campustown Action Association and the city. The outcome is its a good mixture of office and retail space, said Todd Rognes, president of Kingland Systems.

The third floor will consist of Kingland Systems offices.

It will add a lot of excess space for the growth of our business as we add more full time employees and as we expand our data center, Rognes said.

The second floor will consist of administrative offices for Iowa State, including the Iowa State Daily. Two-thirds of the ground floor will be a CVS and the remaining third will consist of retail suites.

Delays on the project were caused by weather. However, Kingland is still expecting the building to be in use by this fall.

They have been working in campus town for about 10 years now, said Kim Hanna, the director of Campustown Action Association. They are just as much a part of campustown as any other business.

During the beginning of development, Hanna admits there was a small amount of concern from the community about the new additions. However, Kingland reached out multiple times to take in suggestions from the community in order to provide the most useful services.

They have been amazing to work with, Hanna said. They have really bent over backwards to take suggestions from the community. They changed their entire layout even.

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Community speaks, Kingland Systems answers

RALEIGH The beginning of 2015 brings more construction to Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. The street revitalization continues with more than a dozen projects, including more housing and retail space.

The North Carolina State red color that fills Hillsborough Street is slowly turning orange, as construction barrels and signs dominate the sides.

"There's constant construction and changing the area around...which it's hard sometimes because there's traffic, said BlueTique Cheap Chic manager Molly Bergeson.

Bergesons business is barricaded behind a chunk of construction, but she said the change is good.

"We're just looking forward to seeing how things change and being a part of that, she said.

Hillsborough Streets website shows more than a dozen projects taking place.

One of the projects is Stanhope Residential, near Concord Street. The project is led by developer John Kane.

"Stanhope Residential is 822 beds and about 30,000 feet of retail on the lower level, so it should really kind of bookend transform to Hillsborough Street, he said.

Another project taking place is Aloft Hotel, which is being built across from the NCSU Memorial Bell Tower.

"We think between those two you'll start to see fill in along the way that need to be redeveloped, said Kane.

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Construction Continues Along Hillsborough Street