2019 is coming to an end, and with it the 2010s. What a great year and decade it’s been for our team and company. This year we closed over 150 transactions with some incredible clients who pushed our team to greater heights. This was my 6th year writing this narrative. I am grateful to have … Continue reading Happy Holidays From Coppola-Cheney
I love to write this narrative each year. Annually, I get to comment on some of the coolest office spaces in the world and also highlight a couple clients we have completed transactions with in the past 12 months. First is a very cool tenant lounge that Cypress Properties and Oaktree built at Renaissance One. Next, … Continue reading World’s Most Beautiful Offices of 2019
Watching and learning outside our industry over the past decade, I have seen how Big Data is taking over. Well, it’s finally coming to Commercial Real Estate. How much? Below is a graphic from CB Insights showing the companies and areas they are working on for creating smart cities. Here are some thoughts from … Continue reading The Big-Data Deluge
The last time metro Phoenix office vacancy was 16.1% was in 2007. It took us 12 years to get back to the same vacancy. It was a long, tough road back, but we are finally there. However, this time around, there are some big differences comparing 2007 and 2019: 1-Average rents (not Class A rents which … Continue reading Phoenix Historical Office Statistics
After a quiet second quarter, the Greater Phoenix office market experienced a HUGE third quarter in terms of tenant activity. Over 1 million SF of net absorption (think job growth) was recorded in just a 90-day period, making 2019’s year-to-date net absorption 2.64 million SF – almost matching space absorbed in all of 2018, and … Continue reading 1-Minute Phoenix Metro Office Market Update: Q3 2019
In 2015, I said this was not a good investment. In 2018, I said, I couldn’t believe this was still going on. In April this year, I reiterated this was going to crash….and it finally has. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy I was right. What was my prediction? WeWork (now We Company) was not … Continue reading I Got One Right… and I am not happy about it
One of the best parts of being a Counselor of Real Estate (CRE) is the annual debate about what issues are driving real estate. Boy have they changed over the last 5 years. For 2019-2020, our organization has come up with a couple issues that you would have NEVER guessed would have been on the top … Continue reading 2019-20 Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate – My Annual Take
McKinsey did a pretty interesting study on creating a superior customer experience strategy. As you can imagine, it’s not just the actions of the front-line, customer-facing workers that adds the ‘customer first’ experience to a company, but the executives and strategy as well. The more a company invests in the interests of their employees, the … Continue reading #1 Item for a Superior Customer Experience Strategy
Sometimes I geek out over office space. Today’s narrative is one of those just for the interested. Here is a link to a survey conducted by the National Association of Industrial and Office Professionals (NAIOP). This 50-page deep dive into the topic asks real estate owners and professionals their thoughts on Co-working vs. Building Collaborative … Continue reading Ready for an office space deep dive?
Below is an interesting article from The New York Times about office landlords seeking a competitive edge in leasing space to tenants. Our primary market is Phoenix, so when I travel or read, I am always watching out for trends and changes in what owners are doing and what tenants are leasing. Here are … Continue reading Gaining a Competitive Edge in Office Buildings
It’s July in Phoenix and it is hot — both in temperature and in the office market. The office market remains hot but office net absorption (job growth) cooled off in the 2nd quarter, posting just 245,000 SF in Q2. Mid-year net absorption stands at 1.5 million SF and will likely hit 3 million SF … Continue reading 1-Minute Phoenix Metro Office Market Update: Q2 2019
I saw the below graph and article and it hit me: there are 5 generations now in the work force. How is anybody managing that? Then my commercial real estate mind immediately kicked in and thought: how are we designing space to accommodate the various needs of each cohort? The truth is, I’m sure we are….at … Continue reading 5 Generations in the Work Force
There has been a lot of talk about the middle class getting squeezed and the numbers below bear this out. Take a look at the graphs. What does this mean to the average worker? Rent, medical costs and tuition have increased more than income, shrinking savings. The median hourly wage in the U.S. … Continue reading The Shrinking Middle Class
I keep telling my team: right now is what the top of the market feels like. In the United States, one out of every seven people moving out of state moves to Arizona. The economy is hot. How long can it continue? Who knows, but NAIOP is forecasting another great year for the rest of … Continue reading The National Office Market continues to roll on
When I wrote How to Win in Commercial Real Estate Investing, I spent all my words on the process of investing. Not the psychology of the business. Below is a great (and short) article on the 4 P’s of being a successful investor. I would recommend that everyone think about these words before they jump … Continue reading Being A Successful Real Estate Investor
The entire world is being disrupted. Readers of this narrative know this. Here is the latest disruption: vertical warehouses with four stories. Why are these taking off? –Consumer demand for instantaneous delivery has caused the industry to take a hard look at the “last mile” and seek new ways to speed up delivery. … Continue reading Vertical Warehousing
We all know we have to do our homework when analyzing any business opportunity. Doing due diligence from every side and perspective will help protect your interests (and money). Below are some reminders and a priority list for conducting your due diligence to limit your risks and hopefully ensure your ROI: – Financials first, all … Continue reading Analyzing Business Opportunities
The Metro Phoenix Office market continued its trend of positive net absorption this quarter in a BIG way. Fresh off a year of posting 2.8 million SF of net absorption (job growth) in all of 2018, Metro Phoenix hit 1.1 million SF in just the first quarter 2019, sending vacancy down to 16.9% from 17.57%. … Continue reading 1-Minute Phoenix Metro Office Market Update: Q1 2019
For those who have followed my narrative for a while now, you might recall that WeWork and the overall rise of Coworking office space has been on my radar for the past few years (Click here to read “Rise of Collaborative Workspace” and here to read “WeWork now a $5 billion co-working startup”). The market … Continue reading Building Collaborative Areas vs. Coworking Space
One of the most daunting tasks our national clients face is to quantify the key metrics for making decisions for their office locations. I review no less than 30 different reports a year on this topic and the items people track are, well…daunting. Demographics, traffic patterns, access to amenities, cost of labor, office space costs, … Continue reading Affordability
Chinese company, Tencent, just finished its global headquarters. In previous narratives, I have discussed US-based tech companies’ cool new headquarters (Click here to read my narrative on Apple’s HQ). This week, I have included two different articles about the same building. What is different? Technology. In China, the government allows some technology that is not … Continue reading Chinese Company Headquarters WAY different than U.S.
We are constantly asked by owners and prospective owners to value buildings. As brokers, we can prepare BOV’S (Broker Opinion of Values). This is our opinion of a specific property’s market value if put on the market for sale. Full valuation for Lenders and partners to benefit all parties is called an Appraisal. Below … Continue reading The Commercial Real Estate Appraisal Process
This narrative typically talks about office space leases, trends and all things commercial real estate. Today, I wanted to talk about how we have thrived over 35 years in an incredibly tough business. It’s pretty simple — we build deep meaningful relationships with our clients. How do we do this? We have a … Continue reading Relationships- Deep and Meaningful
It’s time for us to look back at the Metro Phoenix Office Market for 2018. Readers of this narrative know that I am an office broker who works every day representing tenants and landlords as they navigate real estate nuances and opportunities. I (along with my incredible team) am based in Phoenix but work around the country … Continue reading 1-Minute Phoenix Metro Office Market Update: Q4 2018
Some of you may know that I was drafted out of college and played professional baseball for the Minnesota Twins organization before I got into Commercial Real Estate. If you play baseball, you learn statistics. As sportswriter Arthur Daley said: “A baseball fan has the digestive apparatus of a billy goat. He can, and does, devour any set of … Continue reading What do Baseball and Commercial Real Estate Have in Common?
I’m adding to my narrative two weeks ago (click here to read) on the effects of open office plans. Today is not about the science but rather the complaining and emotional impact on employees after moving to open office space. I’m not taking a side, rather just piling on more information from two weeks ago. Workers … Continue reading Piling On
In my ongoing effort to explore both sides of the open office vs. traditional office debate, here are some thoughts based on science. The Journal of Environmental Psychology jumped into the fray and came out with a huge study (40k+ workers and over 300 companies). What did they find out? — Closed offices outperformed open … Continue reading Open Plans Kill Productivity