On the gravesite of a Foot Locker, the Aeronauts are descending. In January, Epic Games, maker of the Fortnite video game franchise, announced that it is acquiring a 980,000-square-foot mall in Cary, North Carolina, which it will refashion as its new headquarters by 2024. Goodbye to the racks of khakis. Hello to the coders dressed in, well, khakis. Epic, founded and run by its billionaire CEO Tim Sweeney is a fast-moving game maker that’s soaring on the coattails of Fortnite’s global domination and the success of its Unreal Engine, a platform for creating cutting-edge visuals. In 2018 it was valued at $15 billion, which leapt to $17.3 billion last summer. The company has more than 50 offices across the globe. Epic shelled out $95 million for the Cary Towne Center, which once housed a Bath & Body Works, Hot Topic and Talbots, and sits just eight minutes from its current HQ, which is four times smaller. Click to read more at www.forbes.com.

Cushman & Wakefield announced a strategic collaboration with Brailsford & Dunlavey (B&D). The arrangement will enhance the firms’ collective ability to provide end-to-end real estate services and expertise to colleges and universities, PK-14 schools, municipalities and professional sports and entertainment organizations across the U.S. “As educational institutions and other public sector entities face new challenges—including those brought on by the pandemic—it’s crucial that we partner with firms like Cushman & Wakefield that bring a world-wide perspective on best practices, to inform the guidance we provide to our clients in how both their facilities and operations can best serve their communities,” said Chris Dunlavey, president of B&D. “Our 27-year track record and reputation in these sectors, combined with Cushman & Wakefield’s broad platform of resources geographically and within various service lines, will enable us to provide enhanced service to our clients.” B&D’s experts will collaborate closely with Cushman & Wakefield’s education, public sector and sports & entertainment advisory groups, and the firm’s subsidiary C&W Services, to form joint project teams that will offer fully integrated services. These include development advisory, strategic planning, market analysis, site selection, property/facility management, valuation, energy & sustainability services, acquisition/disposition, leasing, financing solutions, project management and operational efficiency. “Both B&D and Cushman & Wakefield bring complementary strengths to the relationship that will benefit the firms’ existing and prospective clients. We round out B&D’s advisory experience and its impeccable research and decision-making platform with our ability to execute transactions locally and deliver services such as finance structuring, which are in high demand in the current environment,” said Peter Brohoski, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield’s Washington, D.C. market and head of the public sector advisory services group. “On the facilities services side, C&W Services aims to be a strategic partner to higher education clients by supporting student health and wellness, fostering service innovation and driving operational efficiencies,” said Brian Reyes, senior vice president of higher education for C&W Services. “This arrangement is a win-win for us and B&D because we’re able to bring the skillsets of both firms to maximize the value of each relationship.” B&D is a development advisory firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in Austin, Chicago and elsewhere.

Pricing Changes Vary by Property Type

Newport Beach, CA, February 4, 2021 — The Green Street Commercial Property Price Index increased 1.1% in January. The increase reflects higher valuations for lodging properties. Pricing in other property sectors was unchanged. The all-property index is now 7% below pre-Covid levels. “Pricing of properties where the top line is less affected by the pandemic are flat to higher versus a year ago. Property types heavily impacted by shutdowns—or where the ultimate impact from Covid is unknown—are seeing weaker pricing. The exact magnitude of price declines in these sectors, however, is unknown given little product is trading,” said Peter Rothemund, Managing Director at Green Street. “Most of the uncertainty surrounding real estate pricing should clear up over the next several months as the transaction market picks up, and when it does, we expect to see more upside surprises than the other way around.” Click to read more at www.greenstreet.com.

The pandemic revealed the data center industry’s resiliency and importance to the global economy. As of November 30th, data center REITs yielded 17.2 percent in returns. With millions of people working from home, attending online schooling, shopping online, and gaming, there was immediate demand for data center capacity. Stay tuned for our full report with local market statistics and fundamentals in Q1 2021.
JLL identified five key themes in the year-end of 2020:

1. Insatiable cloud demand across the globe In North America, cloud dominated demand in 2020 and will continue to expand in primary markets in 2021. Atlanta, Phoenix, and Chicago recorded large land purchases where new facilities will meet cloud demand.
2. Despite initial slowing and leasing backlogs amid the pandemic, enterprise colocation demand picked up in the second half of 2020
   While cloud demand thrived in 2020, enterprise level demand slowed as overall IT spend declined globally. According to Gartner, overall IT spend declined by 5.4 percent due to the pandemic’s impact on organizations’ budgets. However, re-entry and vaccination rollouts could lead to a strong rebound in 2021 as cloud migration keeps momentum.
3. M&A activity and operator investment remain robust
   Investment activity has grown on several fronts. It has increased on a speculative basis where cloud demand has been strongest, secondary markets where cloud demand has increased, and new international markets. Click to read more at www.www.us.jll.com.