May 25th - June 6th, 2013

New Lease Accounting Proposal Continues to Vex CRE Groups

5/29/2013, CoStar Group, Randyl Drummer The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) finally released a revised proposal to rules accounting for real estate and equipment leases.

The exposure draft, the latest revision to a proposal first released in 2010 that resulted in widespread complaints and dire predictions by CRE groups and other business interests about the effect of the changes on real estate markets and the economy, requests that public comments on the latest proposal be submitted by Sept. 13. The revised draft continues to require a lessee to recognize assets and liabilities as rights and obligations created by a lease, but it modifies the way of determining expense recognition and other reporting requirements introduced in the original draft. Real estate landlords and tenants will have to recognize rental income on their balance sheets on a straight-line basis, with costs recognized evenly over the term of the lease. Costs of leasing equipment or other items, by contrast, will be weighted more heavily in the early years of a lease.Click here for more...

'Smart Growth' Communities Generate More Tax Revenue than Conventional Suburbs
5/29/2013, Baltimore Business Journal, Marc Stiles Smart growth or transit-oriented developments generate 10 times more tax revenue per acre than conventional suburban development, according to a new analysis from Smart Growth America. By building dense, walkable communities - such as Metro Centre, which is under construction in Owings Mills - governments can save money upfront and in the long run, according to Smart Growth America, a national group that promotes smart growth. The cost savings come from building and operating infrastructure, such as water mains and streets lights, to serve more people in smaller, more compact areas. Over the years, cities have compared the costs and benefits of different development scenarios, and there's near universal agreement among these studies that smart growth benefits public finances, according to Smart Growth America. Click here for more...

Innovation Fuels Cities

5/31/2013, Urban Land Institute, Brett Widness While innovation is often associated with Silicon Valley's high-tech industry or New York City's financial giants, programs like Google Fiber and incubators are bringing growth to cities like Portland and Kansas City, according to panelists at the 2013 ULI Spring Meeting in San Diego. "We have to innovate because we have to solve problems," said Sly James, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. James said that the 2011 launch of Google Fiber-a fiber-optic network with speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second-helped change the perception of the region. Programs such as Startup Village offer 90 days of rent-free housing to companies wanting to start in or relocate to the area. Another program, Launch KC, pairs startups with companies that already have vacant office space. Click here for more...

Some Markets Appear Ripe Development; Some Not So

6/3/2013, CoStar Group

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Office

As the office recovery continues, developers are once again beginning to take a closer look at construction. Of course, analyzing individual market supply and demand trends to justify new development is important. One type of analysis that can provide additional insight is looking at the relationship between available large blocks of space (greater than 100,000 square feet) and largetenant occupancy among different markets.

Markets with a limited availability of large office blocks relative to demand could be ripe for development, as signing a large tenant is often the key to securing financing. Surprisingly, more secondary markets are starting to show up as candidates for this development strategy, including Columbus and Minneapolis, which have a dearth of large blocks of available space. Tech markets such as Denver, Austin, and San Jose also appear to be strong candidates for development, though these markets are already starting to experience an uptick in construction. Click here for more...

Surprise Factory Downturn Holds Back U.S. Growth: Economy

6/3/2013, Bloomberg, Shobhana Chandra Manufacturing (NAPMPMI) in the U.S. unexpectedly shrank in May at the fastest pace in four years, showing slowdowns in business and government spending are holding back the world's largest economy. Across-the-board federal budget cuts and overseas markets that are struggling to rebound will probably continue to curb manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy. At the same time, demand for automobiles, gains in residential construction and lean inventories may spark a pickup in orders and production in the second half of the year. One area of the economy that remains a bright spot is residential real-estate as sales climb and encourage more homebuilding projects. Click here for more...

Dodd-Frank? More Like Dud-Frank for Lots of Folks

6/4/2013, CNBC, Mark Koba The Dodd-Frank financial reform bill can't find much love these days. Three years after it was signed into law-and with only about 20 percent of its rules in place-critics and even supporters of the regulation say they find it flawed and convoluted. The committee altered a rule in Dodd-Frank that in essence prohibited the government from bailing out federally insured banks that engaged in swaps trading-customized trading of contracts between two parties in over-the-counter trading. Now, certain banks could get government bailout funds for such activity. Even those supporting regulations say Dodd-Frank will not keep "too big to fail" from happening again. Click here for more...

GSA Proposal to Help Agencies Shed Excess Properties

6/4/2013, Washington Business Journal, Daniel J. Sernovitz The General Services Administration is trying to help federal agencies shed excess properties by matching them with real estate brokerages in much the same way that the GSA lines up bulk purchasing for laptop computers or wireless service plans. Under the proposal, known as a blanket purchase agreement, the GSA would select one or several real estate firms to identify, research and market federal properties. Individual agencies will have the ability to reach out to selected contractors for a variety of services, including property management, space evaluation and sale offering. The idea goes to the heart of a memo issued by President Barack Obama in 2010 ordering federal

agencies to use less space and rid themselves of excess properties. It also ties into a "Freeze the Footprint" mandate issued by the Office of Management and Budget prohibiting agencies from expanding their space and requiring them to submit plans for how they will better manage their real estate. Click here for more...

Both Loners and Extroverts will be Productive in the 'Office of the Future'
6/4/2013, Business Insider, Vivian Giang With big companies like Apple and Google redesigning their headquarters, there's a lot of talk about office design. They're trying to find ways to have the introvert and the extrovert (and the CEO) all walk into an office and be totally at ease and in their comfort zones. For companies to get the most productivity out of their workers, they need to be able to provide a workplace design the promotes both focused and collaborative work, but most companies today are more focused on the more popular open-plan offices and forget that private spaces are also needed. To find the best office design, companies need to understand their end goal and what works best for their teams by thinking about the demographics of the majority of their staff, the culture implemented, whether collaboration or focus work is needed, and the power structure at their organizations. Click here for more... Click here to download a printable version

MacKenzie is committed to helping firms capture a competitive advantage through commercial real estate. We have a proven approach, a skilled, multi-disciplined team, and the in-depth local market knowledge necessary to succeed in Maryland's business environment. MacKenzie is a full-service commercial real estate company offering services in leasing and sales, construction, development, GIS and research, property management, and debt and equity placement. For more information, please contact: Meghan G. Roy 410.494.4846 Email Meghan Now