Category: Ray’s Buzz

O’Connor & Associates January: Oil & The Office Market

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Speaker: Bruce Rutherford, International Director JLL

Takeaway: Houston office market will suffer extereme weakness in those submarkets depending on the Energy Sector. The Energy Corridor, Greenspoint, Westchase, & The Woodlands. less pain in the CBD, but still some, and some in the Galleria. Oil prices should be in the $60-62 per range by end of 2016, but will have to stabilize for a period of many months before any new hiring by oil companies. Mergers & acquisitions and bankruptcies will continue to throw sub-lease spcae into an already glutted market in these submarkets.

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History & a future: Welcome to Van Alstyne

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BY BRANDI SMITH
info@rednews.com

The tale goes that Collin McKinney was given the pen he used to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence. At 70, he was the oldest member of the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos. McKinney’s true pioneer story started long before the convention, but it ends right where ours begins: in Van Alstyne, Texas.

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Ray talks to Mike Hill

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BY RAY HANKAMER
rhankamer@gmail.com

RN:  Mike, you and I have known each other a long time, going back to your days with a large international firm.  How long were you there, how did you operate your commercial real estate business specialty there, and why did you eventually leave to go on your own?

Yes, Ray, you and I HAVE known each other for a long time and I wanted to say I do appreciate being included among your other outstanding individuals’ interviews in our real estate community…

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CCIM Retail Luncheon

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BY RAY HANKAMER
rhankamer@gmail.com

Speakers: Jason Baker – Baker Katz; Alan Hassenflu-Fidelis; Jeff Read-Read King

Takeaway: Houston is having unparalleled population growth and there is pent-up demand for more retail, which is enjoying its best times ever.

  •  Since retail developments are usually 75% land and 25% building, land prices have a huge impact on viability of a retail project
  • Now that multi-family development is slowing, escalation of land prices should slow as well, benefitting retail growth
  • Many retailers who pushed the limits on how big a box they could build are now coming into smaller markets with smaller boxes…they are ‘compressing’
  • The big three grocers-Kroger, H.E.B., and WalMart-are in a battle for market share, and between them they control about 75% of Houston’s grocery business
  • There will be some smaller specialty grocers falling by the wayside
  • Despite oil price worries, retailers are very profitable at the moment
  • Our great infrastructure here and our business-friendly climate and lack of zoning are big plusses for developers
  • We are seeing huge movement of medical services into retail centers, and they can pay some of the highest rents
  • There is no comparison to the Oil Depression of the ‘80s with regard to Houston’s economy, which remains strong
  • Online shopping accounts for perhaps 6 or 7% of retail sales, project in three years to perhaps reach 9%…still relatively small and little threat to ‘brick and mortar’ locations
  • Some online retailers are actually building their first brick and mortar stores, while brick and mortar retailers are ramping up their online operations

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