This post first appeared in the February edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities.
CalPERS Licks Wounds, Eyes Real Estate Investments
(San Francisco Business Times)
CalPERS, California’s public workers’ pension fund, isn’t sitting idly by to licks its wounds. Fresh after confirmation that it would lose $500 million on a botched deal to develop Stuyvesant Town on Manhattan’s east side, CalPERS is on the prowl for opportunities in the battered housing market. In conjunction with seeking new opportunities, CalPERS chief investment officer Joe Dear said the massive fund is also looking unload losing bets. There should be options aplenty, CalPERS’ real estate portfolio sunk by 47% in the first nine months of 2009.
(Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/ciriostrendsfeb102)
Obama Ponies Up $2.25 Billion for High-Speed Train
(San Jose Mercury News)
As part of a nationwide $8 billion high-speed rail initiative, the White House is allocating more than $2 billion to support plans to connect Northern and Southern California with a high-speed train. The highly politicized project is being developed alongside the San Francisco Transbay Center, which also picked up some cash last week. The US Department of Transportation will provide a $171 million loan to speed up construction of a state of the art transport hub beneath what is now the city’s Greyhound Bus station. Proponents laud the plans as essential to promoting public transportation and controlling carbon emissions, while opponents lament what they believe is yet another round of government spending gone wild.
(Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/ciriostrendsfeb103)
Who Says Commercial Real Estate is Dead?
(San Francisco Business Journal)
Commercial Real Estate has been called the “next shoe to drop” …. For what seems like years now. But despite the abysmal fundamentals still facing most segments of the commercial market, opportunistic investors are starting to dip their toes in the water. Loja Real Estate LLC plunked down $44 million on a Dublin, CA shopping center anchored by Safeway grocery store that abuts a 390-unit apartment complex. The deal, the investment group’s first in the Bay Area, marks the launch of a series of investment funds aimed at well-priced commercial real estate opportunities, according to Tom Engberg, Loja’s CEO.
(Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/ciriostrendsfeb104)
Silicon Valley Unemployment Below California … Barely
(Silicon Valley Business Journal)
Unemployment in Silicon Valley ticked down to 11.5% last December, 0.4% below November’s tally of 11.9%. Overall California unemployment stands at a lofty 12.1%, almost 2.5% higher than the national figure of 9.7%. The broader Bay Area, however, is faring a bit better. Joblessness in the metro area stretching from San Francisco to Redwood came in at “just” 8.9%, down from 9.2% in November, but up almost 50% from this time a year ago.
(Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/ciriostrendsfeb101)