To finish the year off, I thought we would take a look back at the coolest office spaces across the world for 2015 as well as a few really special transactions that we have been fortunate to work on ourselves. This year we had the opportunity to work with great companies who built awesome spaces. Be sure to scroll … Continue reading The World’s Coolest Offices
Happy Holidays! At The Coppola-Cheney Group, we have a culture of traveling the United States and the world. This year, 2015, was no exception. Below is our annual holiday card with photos we took of some of the coolest places on Earth. The slide show is just over a minute long, so take a look. We hope adventure is on … Continue reading Take a Minute to Travel the World
Robots are changing the world. We know that. Below are two articles that will update you on how the job market is changing with the advent of robots. First is an article that talks about five white collar jobs where robots are already replacing humans. How about: Lawyers—Software is here doing the job of attorneys who did document review. Try 1.5 million documents analyzed … Continue reading White Collar Jobs Going to Robots
Sometimes the perfect holiday gift comes without warning. Today is your lucky day! This week, my fourth book, Chasing Excellence, Real Life Stories form the Streets is available on Amazon. It’s the perfect stocking stuffer for friends and family. You can get it by clicking here. On a serious note, I am so honored to share this book that I’ve written with our … Continue reading Chasing Excellence
One of the reasons Arizona has been a net in-migration state since its inception is because of our affordability. One key component of affordability is being able to buy a reasonably priced house. Click here to see my earlier perspective on the housing market. Arizona Residents can buy a house substantially below California and cheaper than most surrounding markets (The question is … Continue reading More Housing and Job Market Updates
Job growth has muddled along nationwide. Housing has been even slower. But there are bright spots and Arizona is in the mix. Below are two different graphics, one on job creation and the other on the healthiest housing markets. I will be sending a specific Metro Phoenix housing narrative in the next week or two, but for now take … Continue reading Metropolitan Phoenix Housing Market at a Glance
Fifty-one weeks a year this narrative is informational, commercial real estate focused and, we think, the best in our field. Not this week. Once again we bring you Jason Gay’s Rules for Thanksgiving touch football. Yay! For me: –#5–A bit of pregame stretching. Puts down the box of blueberry muffins, stands up. Ok that’s good … Continue reading 33 more rules for your family’s Thanksgiving touch football game
When I first got into commercial real estate, the Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) had just been created. It didn’t have any case history or track record. With that in mind, I thought I would do a quick review to make sure the LLC is still the right structure for most real estate investments. Turns out, it still is for the … Continue reading Is an LLC the Right Choice for my Commercial Real Estate Investment?
Below is a infographic on the Post China 16 (PC 16) that fascinated me. I know that China’s maturation has jumpstarted manufacturing growth in other countries. What I didn’t realize is the sheer number of countries affected. See below to grasp the number and diversity. These countries include: –All of Indonesia –Cambodia and Vietnam … Continue reading Post China 16
2015 is shaping up to be a lot like 2014 for the Metro Phoenix Office market: i.e. the continuation of the long, steady, climb out of the Great Recession. Below is a link to our 3rd Quarter Phoenix Office Market Report and here is a brief summary: The overall market had a great … Continue reading Q3 2015 Phoenix Market Office Report
Over the past couple years, I have spent quite a bit of time thinking, researching and writing about Commercial Real Estate Tech companies (don’t worry, I will not do another five day series this January. Ha). Why? The second graph below says it all. Here are some highlights from the article: –NYC and Silicon … Continue reading The Rise of Real Estate Tech
“Appraisal” is one topic that we spend very little time talking about, until you need to refinance or you are acquiring a new asset. Below is a great summary article about appraisals. Read it now, or store it away for when you need to recall what is important. I have highlighted some key areas that have … Continue reading 10 Things to Know About Commercial Real Estate Appraisal
As an office broker, I am not usually asked about supply chain activities. Our industrial brokers, however, live it every day. There is a huge disruption happening in the supply chain. Below is some detailed (and slightly over my head) information on 10 ways big data (analyzing over 52 different sources) is disrupting the supply … Continue reading Ten Ways Big Data Is Revolutionizing Supply Chain Management
Apartment development and rents have been the talk of this cycle’s development. I found a couple different examples of apartment comparisons: First, a look at which states offer the most square footage across the US. In Detroit you can rent an 818 SF place for the same price you get for a 285 SF place in San Francisco. I heard a few stories … Continue reading What DOES $1,500 buy you? – Very Different Apartment Comparisons Across the US and Around the World
Okay, now things are getting creepy. Or I am just getting old fast. Below are the coming trends on wearable technology and now implantable technology and how it is changing the office worker. How about: –No more fobs to get into your office –No need to take your gym membership card to the gym –Swipe … Continue reading Implantable Technology for Your Employees?
Most of the time we hear how important China is becoming; how the reemergence of Russia is going to affect the US; and of course all the dramatic stories of the meltdowns of Greece and now Puerto Rico. I always try to wrap my head around how these developments will play out in my backyard … Continue reading Wrap Your Head Around These Companies vs. Other Countries
A good client of ours called last week as he was preparing for a company-wide meeting to talk about their office lease. It was an initial meeting to go over their future office needs and figure out if they would be renewing or relocating. He asked for a list of some questions they should be … Continue reading 10 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Choosing an Office Space
Across the country, the hottest markets have been those with a tech/startup employment driver. Other growth markets were locations with oil, but those are now mostly gone. Dead. This cycle, most markets are growing based on their ability to attract tech companies and startups. In Arizona, for the first time ever, this has been a large part of our net … Continue reading Landlords Are Trying Not to Rent to Startups
We were proud to represent Lincoln Property Company, in bringing new tenant, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, to the newly remodeled Biltmore Commerce Center at 3200 E. Camelback Road in Phoenix.
Congratulations to Regus on their new office location in the beautiful Desert Ridge Corporate Center I at 20860 N. Tatum Boulevard in Phoenix.
We are very proud to have represented The Plaza Companies/Holualoa in bringing its first tenant, Booker Software, Inc., to SkySong 4, The ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center’s next phase at 1355 N. Scottsdale Road. SkySong 4 will deliver in Q3 2016.
You won’t believe what is happening underground in Kansas City. SubTropolis has been around since 1964, but I just found out about it thanks to Ann McCartney with Lighthouse Commercial Finance. Check out all the companies that have space in this underground industrial park. The entire thing is an excavated mine the size of 140 … Continue reading SubTropolis: The Massive Business Complex Buried Under Kansas City
The tech market is hot. The Commercial Real Estate tech market is frothy. The reasons behind why there is so much interest in real estate right now are summarized nicely in my green highlights below. The market is gigantic. I know I bored a few of you with my five-day-in-a-row slog of all the real estate start up … Continue reading The Impending Opportunity In Real Estate Technology
While there are some crazy numbers on the below graph (52,000 brokers at CBRE), I found the information pretty interesting. There is a huge market consolidation occurring in the commercial real estate brokerage sector. We see this continuing as firms try to keep pace with global market coverage and try to be all things to all clients. Since … Continue reading 2015 Top Brokerage Firms
Last week, I talked about world realities. This week, the statistics on the US population, which are staggering. –1 in 7 Americans live in one of three cities (New York, Chicago, and LA). –If you look at the top 10 largest cities, almost one in three people live in these. –America has become urban – … Continue reading Part Two on Population — USA
Today and next week, I am going to spend a little time on population and share some interesting realities. Below is a link to a very cool interactive map from Brookings. To get more detailed information on the cities that interest you, click on the individual cities. Here are a few world realities: –300 places … Continue reading Population Realities — A Two-Part Series. Today–The World
It’s no surprise that square feet per office employee is declining. The open office concept is changing the world and the biggest user of office space in this cycle is…..Tech companies. But this trend has been coming for a long time; see the graph below. In addition to the SF per employee graph there are … Continue reading Trends in Square Feet per Office Employee
Like the national office market, the Metro Phoenix Office Market is rebounding at a gradual pace. Last week Craig sent out a good update on the national office market from The Wall Street Journal. (Click here for his narrative in case you missed it) Today I’m sending you an update on the progress we’re seeing in Phoenix. The WSJ article mentions … Continue reading Market Insight: Q2 2015 Phoenix Office Report
I just got a peek at our Q2, 2015 Metro Phoenix office numbers and once again we are mirroring the national office market. It’s a methodical and frustratingly-slow recovery. Andrew will highlight Phoenix in the next few weeks, but today I am focusing on the National office market. Below is a nice Wall Street Journal update on the national … Continue reading Office Market Is on a Slow Roll
Real Estate as the fourth asset class is finally becoming a reality. Why is this important? Well, the amount of capital that has and will flow into our industry is astonishing. Billions of dollars, an additional $500 billion to be exact. This money will make our market more liquid, provide for stability in markets and will change the way properties … Continue reading 4th Asset Class: Real Estate
We were grateful to represent Plaza Companies in bringing new tenant, Groupon, Inc., to their state of the art SkySong I located at 1475 N. Scottsdale Road.
We are very proud to have represented The Valley of the Sun United Way in the sale of their property at 1515 E. Osborn Road in Phoenix for $3.15 million.
We were proud to represent our long-term client, Furst Properties, LLC, in bringing new tenant, Farmers Insurance Exchange, to their beautiful Pinnacle in Kierland I at 14624 N. Scottsdale Road.
We were thankful to represent our long-term client, AEGON, in the sale of their Arrowhead Business Center, a 3-building complex at 7025-7075 W. Bell Road in Glendale for over $1.6 million.
As competition for hiring millennials continues to increase, companies are trying to lure them by moving into the city to offer urban living as a perk. Is this a long term trend? For me, I think it is something that may continue for the next 5-10 years. But I believe that millennials will ultimately start … Continue reading Tech Firms Moving to the City
Below is an article on the most amazing use for warehouses—an indoor farm. This farm is 100 times more productive than traditional farms. Even if you have no interest in the topic, take a minute to scroll down and look at the photos. Here are some amazing facts: –25,000 SF of space –Produces 10,000 heads … Continue reading World’s Largest Indoor Farm
A recent Gallup study shows that 70% of Americans are negative about their job. That woke me up. A full 20% are actively disengaged and are trying to work against their company. The goal of this narrative is not leadership or coaching, but rather bringing office space users topics of interest. We spend all our time, every day making sure our tenants … Continue reading 70% of Americans Negative About Their Jobs?
Buying an island is a very cool thought. Who would not want that? The island in Hawaii that Larry Ellison now owns 97% of is no ordinary tiny island. Quite the opposite, it is 90,000 acres. Just throw in $300 million, buy an airline to service the place and you could have something cool. Think it sounds like paradise? Not so fast. The island has … Continue reading Larry Ellison Bought an Island in Hawaii
For the past 30 years we have been analyzing operating expenses for the tenants we represent. It’s vital for tenants to understand how operating expenses work because this is a huge potential long term and expensive hidden cost. Here are a few items to watch out for in a tenant lease: –Not getting a grossed … Continue reading Operating Expenses? Yes! And It’s Important.
As you know, I make my living in the office space market. However, I still like to keep up with trends outside of the industry and how they will eventually affect office space. Below is an article about the megatrend now taking place in robotics and what amazing changes are occurring. One of the reasons job recovery has been slower … Continue reading The Rise of Robotics
Congratulations to Americredit Financial Services on their continued stay in Chandler Forum at 1975 S. Price Rd.
Congratulations to Rural Metro Operating Company on their continued stay at 9165 E. Del Camino in Scottsdale at Pima Center.
We were proud to represent Regent Properties in bringing a new tenant, Stratman Law Firm, PLC, to the beautiful Desert Ridge Corporate Center I at 20860 N. Tatum Blvd. in Phoenix.
OK, so I am not sure if this is pure genius or complete BS. Then again, I know nothing about anthropological research. Below is a short article that discusses the cultural norm of approximately seven people being the ideal group size. Your teams should be seven (plus or minus two), and your office space groups should be the same. Why? –The team can … Continue reading Nesting in Office Space Design
The first 15 years in brokerage, I occasionally took assignments as a real estate expert in litigation. I stopped for a number of reasons, but primarily because I could not figure out how to be great at brokerage and be great as a real estate expert in litigation. I know only a small portion of the readers will … Continue reading Hiring a RE Expert for Litigation
Below is a great snapshot of Arizona and where we are with our economy. In addition, I’ve added a couple extra tidbits that are not in the below infographic: –Arizona still lags in job creation. We are not quite back to 100 percent of our jobs lost (even though we have regained 314,000). This is the first … Continue reading Snapshot of Arizona Economy
Last year, we sent an article to a select few Landlord clients that we work with who own buildings. That email was one of the most opened narratives we have ever sent. The topic?—Parking lot security. I didn’t see that coming. Inspired by that email, below are two cool articles about what is going on in the modern … Continue reading The Changing Face/Space of Parking: Impact on Commercial Real Estate
Today, I want to share with you a company that has a wonderful idea. If they can get this commercialized, it would revolutionize parking lots and roads. Imagine solar panels as surfaces in parking lots, roads and even highways. This is a short article with just some highlights. I would love to see the day where an abundance of our … Continue reading Coolest Technology that Could Affect Commercial Real Estate
For the past couple years, we have been tracking the proposed law change that will reclassify the way businesses account for their commercial leases. Since 1977, a company’s office lease has been treated as an operating expense. Businesses may soon be forced to record it on their balance sheet under new accounting rules. If this new … Continue reading A Timeline of Lease Accounting
We were grateful to represent Furst Properties, LLC in bringing a new tenant, Aviation West Charters, to The Pinnacle in Perimeter Center at 17851 N. 85th St. in Scottsdale.
Over the years, I have leased space to several executive suite operators. These “tenants” lease a large amount of space, then re-lease it to small tenants sharing conference rooms, administration services, etc. During the last recession, most of them closed down leaving a specialized kind of operator – small, local and personal. Regus is the only international company that made it through … Continue reading WeWork: Now a $5 Billion Co-Working Startup
Dynamic Architecture is designing a whole new way to build buildings AND each floor moves independently while rotating. Pretty cool, huh? Here are some highlights: 1—Each floor rotates 360 degrees, independently or in a concerted manner. Much like the fancy restaurant at the top of a building we have all been to, but in these buildings every floor rotates. … Continue reading Buildings That Move???
While we represent office tenants and landlords each and every day, we are always looking to give our clients basic, simple advice. Below is an article that does this for creating functional office space. When we work with our tenant clients, we focus on the basics like: 1—Determine how much space the company will need (I … Continue reading Functional Office Space Basics
Leave it to The Economist to call squeezing office space “pressed suits.” Not only is office space becoming more open, it is becoming less personal. Mobile workers and the fact that 50% of all workers are not in the office at any given time, have led to no personal desk environments. In many offices, you show up and get assigned a desk … Continue reading Pressed Suits in Your Office?
Every now and then I see a cool graphic that I need to share. Below is one I pulled from National Geographic on commuting and how much time is spent per year in rush hour all over the world. My home of Phoenix is pretty low, but if you live in London, Stuttgart, Paris or Los Angeles—sorry. … Continue reading Commuter Science
We were grateful to represent Lincoln Property Company and Oaktree Capital Management in their sale of Camelback Square at 6991 E. Camelback Road for over $41 million ($238/SF).
We were proud to represent The Plaza Companies/Holualoa in bringing a new tenant, IO Data Centers, LLC, to SkySong I located at 1475 N. Scottsdale Road.
Once a year I send out the coolest office spaces in the world. Below is the 2014 version. Take a look at some really off the wall, crazy and cool spaces. The article is so big, we had to put just a few of the photos below, but a link to the entire article is just a click away highlighted … Continue reading World’s Coolest Offices 2014
We were fortunate to represent Chamberlain Enterprises and Greenwood & McKenzie in their sale of Papago Arroyo, a multi-building complex in Tempe, which sold for over $40 million ($146/SF).
We were grateful to represent Furst Properties, LLC in helping retain a valued client, First American Title Insurance Co. to their beautiful Pinnacle in Kierland I located at 14624 N. Scottsdale Road.
World migration is not a typical topic on my mind. However, the immigration from Mexico to the US is. You see, I was raised in a city less than 20 miles from the Mexican border. My parents still live in Sierra Vista, ground zero for the illegal immigrant movement and the border patrol. So immigration is a topic … Continue reading Where Everyone in the World is Migrating – in One Gorgeous Chart
We are thankful to have represented The Plaza Companies/Holualoa in helping their tenant, Theranos, expand their space at the beautiful SkySong 3 in Scottsdale.
Once a year, I like to take a break from my weekly narrative to do two things: First, I like to look back and see how we did in 2014 as a team. Below is our year by the numbers. It was a fine year. I am grateful for our clients and proud of the work we … Continue reading The Coppola-Cheney Group: A Look Back at a Solid 2014
I have been working a lot over the past few months. Sitting, typing, meeting. Sound familiar? Below is a cool infographic on what happens when we sit all the time. The results are not very good. So I have highlighted in yellow some ways to offset all the sitting. Doing some cat/cow yoga postures in the office is always fashionable, right? On … Continue reading What Happens When You Sit All Day?
The Urban Land Institute is a thoughtful group of committed real estate practitioners who are global in their membership and thoughts. They have recently produced their emerging trends for 2015. You can click here for the complete document. Below I have included a few pages of Chapter 1 for a quick review, the entire document is lengthy. Here are my personal highlights—most of … Continue reading Top 10 Emerging Trends in Real Estate for 2015
We are thankful to have represented Regent Properties in helping bring a new tenant, The Travelers Indemnity Company, to Desert Ridge Corporate Center this fall.
Congratulations to Van Cott & Talamante, PLLC on their new home beginning in April at the beautiful CopperPoint Tower located at 3030 N. 3rd Street, Suite 790, in Phoenix.
In my final narrative for the week, I thought I would end with the company that I believe has made the most impact on our business: CoStar. Before CoStar, all companies had to do their own property research. This was time consuming and expensive. When I first started in the industry, each quarter, every broker in our firm had to … Continue reading Day 5: The One Commercial Real Estate Tech Company that Changed Our World
Hope you are finding this week’s series interesting. We are in the homestretch. Below are six additional companies to review. Zillow is probably the only household name among them. Enjoy. Craig 602.954.3762 ccoppola@leearizona.com Company Name: http://www.gethightower.com/ Upper Management: Brandon Weber, CEO Donald DeSantis, CDO Niall Smart, CTO Business Strategy: Hightower’s strategy is two-fold: One, to sell software to owners who … Continue reading Day 4: Tech Companies Trying to Eliminate/Assist Commercial Brokerage
Over the next two days, we will review 12 different technology companies that are in the commercial real estate space. Before I look at the companies that are trying to take business from commercial brokerage companies, a little background is necessary. I want to break the commercial brokerage industry down into two key segments: leasing and investment sales. … Continue reading Day 3: Tech Companies Trying to Eliminate/Assist Commercial Brokerage-First Six
We were grateful to represent Furst Properties, LLC in helping bring a new tenant, Guardian Mortgage Company, Inc., to their beautiful Kierland Office Park located at 6929 E. Greenway Parkway in Scottsdale.
Day Two of our Five-Day Series–In the early 2000’s, before the dot com bubble burst, hundreds of millions of dollars were invested and lost by startup companies trying to turn the commercial brokerage process into an automated endeavor. The theory was, and still is, that real estate brokerage can be automated like the travel agent business and … Continue reading Day 2: Why Tech Has Stayed Out of Brokerage for So Long and A Case Study of a Company Trying to Change It
I spent the last six months reviewing technology companies that are trying to disrupt the commercial brokerage industry in various ways. Over the next five consecutive days, I am going to share with you a number of these companies, what they are trying to do, who has invested in them and, of course, my take on their … Continue reading A Special 5-Day Series on Technology Companies Trying to Replace Commercial Brokerage–Day 1
We were grateful to represent AEGON Realty Advisors, LLC in the sale of their property, Transamerica Research Center located at 7855 S. River Parkway in the ASU Research Park in Tempe.
A lot can happen in a year. Our fourth quarter 2014 Phoenix Office Market Report came out last week and it looks noticeably different than our Q4 2013 report. Below is a link to the report and here’s a brief summary: The metropolitan Phoenix office market absorbed 620,000 net square feet (SF) in Q4 to push … Continue reading In The Know: Phoenix Office Report Q4 2014
I have spent almost 100,000 hours of my life committed to leasing commercial office space. After completing 3,500 commercial lease transactions and 30 years in the business, I decided to write the follow up to my first book How to Win in Commercial Real Estate Investing and have now written a book on commercial office space leasing. The … Continue reading My Third Book is Now Available: The Art of Commercial Real Estate Leasing
When density meets demand, creativity pops up. What the??? New York is planning to create a whole neighborhood for 65,000 people OVER an active rail yard. See below for some cool renderings and a moving graphic that is worth watching. To summarize: –They will build 300 concrete and steel caissons that will be inserted 40-80 feet into the ground. –Then … Continue reading A Floating Neighborhood for NYC
Today, I want to have a discussion about competition. Peter Thiel’s, founder of PayPal, article below got me thinking about basic lessons I learned in college 30 years ago and have experienced every single day since. The commercial brokerage business is brutal. Eighty percent of people who come into our business are gone within five years. Those of us … Continue reading Competition Is for Losers