Sprint parent SoftBank partners on new cell site venture | CyrusOne makes $100M equity investment in GDS Holdings | Goldman Sachs: Pensions may favor fixed-income assets under new accounting rules
October 19, 2017
The daily source on REITs and real estate investment
Sprint owner SoftBank is making moves in the wireless gear market through a partnership with Australia's Lendlease Group to put up or operate about 8,000 cell sites, including rooftop transmitters. The wireless carrier intends to move its tower leases to the joint venture, and the new company will seek to provide services to other carriers.
Under a strategic partnership with Chinese data center developer and operator GDS Holdings, CyrusOne is making a $100 million equity investment in the company, securing an 8% stake. The announcement was a "surprising strategic shift," according to KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Jordan Sadler, who added, "We view the investment and the Chinese market as a potentially significant opportunity, though the risk associated with an investment in GDS remains less clear."
Occupancy rates at senior housing properties were stable in the third quarter, despite a high level of new construction. NAREIT economist Calvin Schnure discusses how the rise of the modern retirement community, including those operated by healthcare REITs, is attracting more "young seniors" and boosting demand.
Walmart is in the midst of striking a deal to give Lord & Taylor dedicated selling space on the retail giant's e-commerce site, a source said. The deal is part of a bigger possible plan to create a mall-like space online that could eventually include other retailers such as Bonobos and Jet.com, the source said.
Prologis' development and redevelopment activities are aimed at getting as close to affluent customers as possible in order to deliver their ecommerce orders, says CEO Hamid Moghadam. It's about finding the right piece of land in the middle of a densely populated area and building a facility that works for ecommerce customers, he says.
Manhattan saw its retail marketing leasing fall by almost 25% in the third quarter to 506,000 square feet. Times Square remains the most desirable location for new leases, according to CBRE.
Some retail property owners are thinking about transitioning their properties into industrial assets, according to Dennis Duffy, director with BDO Consulting. There is a strong case for this as the need for industrial space will continue to be strong, and there is a particularly strong demand for close-in logistics centers.
Google is planning to transform its pop-up demo experiences into physical stores selling products. It will begin selling its smartphones and smart home speakers in New York City and Los Angeles this week.
Amazon has leased the top six floors of the Macy's flagship in downtown Seattle, where its 312,000 square feet will be big enough to house around 1,500 staffers. Macy's will continue to operate its store, which today takes up the ground floor and basement of the building.
The Treasury Department is proposing a rollback to rules that require managers of collateralized loan obligations to retain some of these investments as a way to control risk-taking. The Treasury's goal is to encourage the flow of capital and lower the cost of doing business for CLO sponsors.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has published an update to its May 2016 guidelines for non-standard accounting metrics, covering a range of topics from presentation to such specific items as funds from operations. The SEC released its original guidance more than a year ago when it felt that the unaudited numbers were confusing shareholders.
