NATIONAL NEWS
- Watch out Walmart and Target…Amazon Prime Day is coming. Amazon is mixing it up this year by offering $10 in online credit for Prime Day if you spend a minimum of $10 at Whole Foods. Prime Day is slated for July 15 & 16th. Over 100 million products were purchased last year on Prime Day. Keep an eye out for other retailer offerings as they try to keep pace with Amazon.
- Retail is booming in Dallas Fort Worth. According to a report by CBRE, construction related to retail in DFW rose 18% for the quarter with 2.6M SF of retail space under development. Mixed-use development combining retail and multifamily are helping drive construction.
- Seniors facing a shortage of housing options. According to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care, there will be 14.4m middle-income seniors by 2029 and 56% of them will not be able to afford private-pay senior housing. Developers are trying to solve the puzzle on how to decrease costs, but still, offer a plethora of amenities and programs. There’s certainly an opportunity in the mid-market for senior housing.
- Marriott hidden fees under fire. D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine filed a lawsuit against the Marriott on Tuesday alleging misleading and deceptive pricing practices. The claim states that Marriott is charging fees beyond its advertised price as high as $95 per night. The fees (include ‘resort fees, destination fees, and amenity fees) are often combined with taxes to make it look like a government fee rather than an additional hotel charge.
MULTIFAMILY NEWS
- Just stack it. To meet the rising demand of parking in Los Angeles, multi-family developers are getting creative with stacking systems. Developers in LA are required to create a parking spot for each bedroom that is built. A stacking system in one particular project was able to fit 132 cars in a 9K SF footprint.
- Everything is bigger in Texas. The Independent in Austin, Texas stands as the tallest building at 685 feet. This 58-story 363-unit condominium located downtown is now open for business. The Independent ‘provides homeowners with more than 20,000 square feet of onsite amenities including a dog park/lounge, children’s playroom/playground, pool, fitness/yoga, club room, sky lounge, spa area, guest suites, theater, business center with conference rooms, as well as immediate connectivity to Shoal Creek and the trail system.’
- Record deal in West Los Angeles. Developer Coffee Tree Vacaville purchased a triple-lot multifamily site for $9.4m or $613 per square foot. The property includes three apartment buildings on 15k SF of land.
- Sonder hits $1b valuation. Sonder rents furnished apartments from one day to two years with the amenities of a hotel. The Airbnb competitor just raised $225m and continues to expand on its 8,500 spaces across the world. A $400m revenue run rate is expected by the end of 2019.
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