Month: July 2020

Dr. Walter Okoroanyanwu, Angelo Bianco and Jim Carr Amid the coronavirus pandemic, wellness services at developments have expanded to include an array of medical amenities, and gone far beyond luxury residential projects. Crocker Partners, one of Florida’s biggest office landlords, even hired a doctor to fill a new role for the company: director of environmental…

A survey by professional services firm Accenture found that about 61% of bank executives don’t expect to call all employees back to the office, and more than 40% of those surveyed are also planning to reduce their real estate footprints accordingly. (iStock) While banks have begun the slow, careful process of returning employees to the…

Mortgage Bankers Association’s index tracking volume of mortgage applications to buy homes rose 2 percent in most recent survey. (iStock) As the summer heats up, so too is the demand for home loans.  An index tracking the volume of mortgage applications to buy homes increased 2 percent, seasonally adjusted, from the second week of July…

MeetElise CEO Minna Song (Linkedin) It’s rare that apartment seekers limit their searches to business hours. But a New York startup, backed by two of the country’s biggest landlords, has built an AI-powered leasing assistant available to field queries 24/7. MeetElise said Tuesday that it closed a $6.5 million Series A funding round led by…

Hippo CEO Assaf Wand (Getty) Home insurance startup Hippo is hoping to ride the coattails of rival Lemonade with an initial public offering next year. The Palo Alto, California-based startup said Tuesday it raised $150 million, valuing the company at $1.5 billion, Bloomberg reported. Dragoneer and Ribbit Capital participated in the round, alongside Felicis Ventures…

Gap Inc. CEO Sonia Syngal and Brookfield Property Partners CEO Brian Kingston Gap Inc. is firing back at landlord Brookfield Property Partners, a month after the latter sued the retailer for withholding rent. Five of Gap’s chains — Gap, Athleta, Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Janie & Jack — sued Brookfield affiliates, claiming that its…

Joe Biden (Getty, iStock) Joe Biden went after one of the real estate industry’s favorite tax benefits Tuesday when he proposed funding a child- and elderly-care spending platform by closing off a loophole used by property investors. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee proposed eliminating 1031 “like-kind” exchanges for investors with annual incomes greater than $400,000,…

(iStock) Mortgages in forbearance dropped to the lowest level in two months. Home loans in forbearance made up 7.8 percent of servicers’ portfolios for the week ending July 12, according to figures released Monday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. That’s down from 8.18 percent for the week ending July 5 and from 8.39 percent for…

Social Construct CEO Ben Huh, TRD’s Hiten Samtani and Social Construct co-founder Michael Yarne “Nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes,” goes the old chestnut. If you’re a real estate developer, you could add one more to that category: that your cost of building will keep going up. The primary reason…

Don Peebles Developer Don Peebles founded his eponymous firm in 1983. Since then, the Peebles Corporation has built out a portfolio that totals $6 billion and spans more than 7 million square feet in Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, North Carolina. Peebles has long been outspoken about…