Big boxes shrink their parking lots - 01/22/10 09:47 AM
This is not a new concept and many shopping centers and strip centers have been taking advantage of their surplus of parking lot area.  You can see the space at Radford Hills being developed for a Pizza Inn.  Even uses like ATM's and Water receptacles that take up a smaller footprint have been popping up for years.
You can expect to see more of this type of development by established businesses looking to raise cash with surplus property.
- Erik Johnson
Parking Spaces for Sale: No Carryout Allowed.
By Steve McLinden
Well, that may not be quite the way Home Depot … (1 comments)

A Fannie Mae for retail centers? - 01/22/10 09:41 AM
This could give a boost to retail development if this action were to pass. 
- Erik
A Fannie Mae for retail centers?
A federally chartered, privately funded loan guarantee program could help turn capital spigots back on for retail real estate, observers speculate. Such a program could mimic the apartment-financing program Fannie Mae ran successfully for 20 years.
"Whatever its shortcomings in the single-family mortgage business, Fannie Mae has developed a highly effective program," wrote George Gellman, chairman of The Benchmark Group of Cos., in a white paper for ICSC.
Fannie Mae works like this: A developer goes to a Fannie … (1 comments)

117 Foot Locker stores close - 01/22/10 09:34 AM
Retail fallout continues in 2010
- Erik Johnson
RETAILING TODAY
Foot Locker Inc. will close 117 stores this month, most of them Foot Locker and Lady Foot Locker units in the U.S. In all, the company, which operates 3,600 stores in 21 countries, will have shut 190 stores during the fiscal year ended Jan. 30.
… (0 comments)

STATE LAND PRICES, SALES FALL - 01/22/10 09:07 AM
STATE LAND PRICES, SALES FALL
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News) - Land prices fell 5 percent statewide last year for the first time since the early 1990s, according to data from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
The decline marked the end of an appreciation run that peeked in 2008, when the median price per acre was $2,359, 330 percent more than the median price in 1994.
Charles Gilliland, research economist with the Real Estate Center, estimates prices dropped to around $2,141 per acre last year and thinks prices will continue dropping in 2010.
"The sellers are anticipating a ‘V'-shaped … (0 comments)

BIG YEAR FOR BRAC CONSTRUCTION - 01/22/10 08:47 AM
With $390M available for BRAC construction contracts it is possilbe to see more cities in Texas receiving the jobs. 
- Erik
BIG YEAR FOR BRAC CONSTRUCTION
SAN ANTONIO (San Antonio Express-News) - The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission's (BRAC) Joint Program Management Office has awarded a $26.4 million contract to Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction for a 168,000-sf administration building at Fort Sam Houston.
This is the first major BRAC-related construction contract in 2010, but the management office plans to award 23 more contracts worth nearly $390 million this year. BRAC construction has brought $2 billion in construction contracts to San … (0 comments)

Obama takes on banks - 01/21/10 03:02 PM
Feds want to Control the banks the health care industry the auto industry... what's next?
- Erik
Stocks tumble as Obama takes on banks
By Jamie Chisholm, Global Markets Commentator.
Published: January 21 2010 08:24 | Last updated: January 21 2010 17:56
17:35 GMT. Stocks dropped sharply on Thursday as President Barack Obamasaid he intended to prevent deposit-taking banks from undertaking any proprietary trading.
The president said he wanted to end the mentality of "too big to fail" in financial markets. "If the banks want a fight, it's a fight I'm willing to have", he added.
The FTSE Global Banking index fell 2.3 … (0 comments)

Capital Market Recovery Will Take Time, but Could Start in 2010 - 01/21/10 02:05 PM
According to the forecast we should see some deals on CMBS.  With the banks cutting loose some of the distressed properties to clean up portfolios means that we should have some bargains for investors with plenty of upside for very good capitalization.
- Erik Johnson
Capital Market Recovery Will Take Time, but Could Start in 2010
Lenders Should (Finally) Begin Writing Off Their Distressed Assets, Allowing for Deployment of Sidelined Capital
The start of 2010 comes with fresh hopes in the realty capital markets, despite the continued impact of persistent recessionary burdens such as weak demand, falling values and constricted lending, … (0 comments)

TEXAS CLEAN ENERGY PROJECTS RECEIVE TAX CREDITS - 01/21/10 10:30 AM
Amarillo and San Angelo combined to receive $6.2M in Recovery Act Tax Credits based on their ability to create more jobs.
- Erik
TEXAS CLEAN ENERGY PROJECTS RECEIVE TAX CREDITS
WASHINGTON (U.S. Department of Energy) - President Obama has awarded $2.3 billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for 183 clean energy manufacturing projects across the United States, including eight in Texas.
Texas tax credits include:
$2.7 million for Alstom Inc. and Subsidiaries' Amarillo wind towers, $495,510 for Cooper Power Systems LLC's Nacogdoches smart grid, $1.4 million for Johnson Plate & Tower Fabrication Inc.'s Canutillo wind towers, $3.5 million for … (0 comments)

AUSTIN OFFICE RENTAL RATES MOVE SLIGHTLY - 01/21/10 09:38 AM
The best and newest retail properties in Abilene are the only commercial real estate offerings that come near the Austin fourth quarter avg rental rates at $25.43 for their office space.  Abilene office space for full service facilities top out around $14 annually.
- Erik
AUSTIN OFFICE RENTAL RATES MOVE SLIGHTLY
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) - Oxford Commercial Inc. reports that office vacancy increases and price declines in Austin slowed marketwide in fourth quarter 2009.
Downtown had a slight rise in rental rates from the third quarter, increasing from $36.35 to $36.72 per sf.
South central was the only other area with … (0 comments)

TEXAS 'BURBS 2009'S MOST NOTABLE AREAS - 01/21/10 09:33 AM
Many parts of Texas in the southeast and north areas are still seeing growth in their residential absorption and household incomes.
- Erik
TEXAS 'BURBS 2009'S MOST NOTABLE AREAS
LITTLE ROCK (Gadberry Group) - Four Texas suburbs made the Gadberry Group's 2009 list of the country's nine most notable high-growth areas.
Houston suburb Atascocita was last year's second most notable suburb. Since 2000, the number of households there grew 108 percent, from 11,475 to 23,917. Average household income grew from $79,054 to $99,272, placing Atascocita third for income growth.
Katy occupies the number five position. The area is second for absolute household … (0 comments)

FDIC Receives Welcome News - Mulitple Bidders For Troubled Loan Portfolio - 01/21/10 09:31 AM
Good to watch for your bank to publish whether their deposit insurance is underfunded.  For 140 banks their was no warning.
- Erik
FDIC Receives Welcome News - Mulitple Bidders For Troubled Loan Portfolio
December 24th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under • by Christopher
The FDIC has received bids from over a dozen investors for a $1.1 billion dollar package of commercial real-estate loans that they acquired from various failed banks.
The portfolio consists of mostly nonperforming commercial property loans. Demand for these assets, at a discounted price, has grown intense. Investors have amassed billions of dollars to buy distressed loans and property … (1 comments)

Commercial real estate recovery not seen until 2011 - 01/21/10 09:24 AM
Fortunately Texas is not seeing the brunt of the decline.  We have managed to stay close to normal.  A direct result of not over-inflating pricing and having realistic expectations for resale and investment performace.
- Erik
Commercial real estate recovery not seen until 2011
By Tom Daykin of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Jan. 4, 2010
Land and Space
Journal Sentinel business reporter Tom Daykin blogs about commercial real estate and development
The commercial real estate industry, faced with filling empty offices and stores while the nation's unemployment rate hovers above 10%, won't begin its recovery until 2011, according to a forecast released Monday.
… (0 comments)

Shopping Center Receiverships and Foreclosures Usher In New Year - 01/21/10 09:13 AM
Shopping centers are not the only community with the repayment problems.  Industrial facilities that are under occupied are having their own trouble. - Erik
Shopping Center Receiverships and Foreclosures Usher In New Year Sasha M Pardy January 6, 2010 The retail real estate industry was jarred over the recent string of receivership and foreclosure news involving major shopping centers -- which was unsettling at a time when the industry was hoping for positive news on consumer spending during the recent holidays and a hopeful beginning to recovery in 2010. For insight on this issue, CoStar interviewed Greg Maloney, president and CEO of … (0 comments)

BIG BANKS REPAYING TARP FUNDS -- NOT SMALLER BANKS - 01/21/10 08:53 AM
I have heard similar stories that many banks have already paid back their loans.  Many banks may have not needed the bail out money to begin with.  I also heard that banks were forced to take the money from the government whether they needed it or not.  Control of the banks by the feds may or may not have been a motivating factor.
- Erik
Just as Bank of America, CitiBank and Wells Fargo get in position to pay back the U.S. Treasury for the investments they received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the Treasury has released a detailed … (0 comments)

Grubb & Ellis Co. ranked Austin the best - 01/21/10 08:43 AM
I was a little surprised that Houston did not rank higher than Austin.
- Erik
BEST PLACE TO INVEST? TEXAS, REPORT SHOWS
AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) - Grubb & Ellis Co. ranked Austin the best U.S. city for long-term investment in commercial real estate, while Houston placed sixth.
The California-based company expects commercial real estate to falter at a slower rate in 2010, bottoming out at the end of the year and beginning a slow recovery in 2011.
Grubb & Ellis forecasts the investment market to rebound slightly in 2010, with some assets entering the market. This uptick should prompt increased … (0 comments)

 
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Erik Johnson, CCIM

Abilene, TX

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Paul Johnson and Associates

Address: 4633 South 14th, Abilene, TX, 79605

Office Phone: (325) 698-5661 x 15

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