Land: No Longer a Four Letter Word

    Land is no longer a “four letter word” in the world of real estate lingo. Ever since the last economic tailspin holding land (or maybe worse: lending on land) was a painful endeavor. In the Naples market, where I concentrate much of my time and efforts, there is a very significant lack of…

Southwest Florida Office Market Improves in 2013

The office market, particularly the higher quality Class A office market, in Southwest Florida finally started to come alive in 2013 with a net absorption of 142,595 square feet in Southwest Florida. Collier County was the outright leader of the tri-county area, taking a commanding 85% of that total. The lesser quality Class B and…

Vanishing Retail

The evolution of retail and retailers is inevitable. As consumer’s tastes change and technology continues to force change, the revolving door of retailer names keeps rotating. Those changes have never been so rapid as they are right now. Remember the days when every shopping center included the likes of video store, travel agent, or a…

“Class A”… Hard to define, but I know it when I see it.

When marketing a property, real estate agents will often use shorthand phrases to indicate the general characteristics of their properties. When discussing retail properties, for instance, the phrase  “power center” might pop up; even though there can be a large degree of variation within the power center category, you will at least get a general…

2014 Commercial Real Estate Forecast

As we leave a strong commercial real estate climate of 2013 behind us, 2014 should be even stronger so long as we remain free of any major geo-events that may throw us off the course of continued prosperity. We were fortunate that 2013 was relatively devoid of any derailments, although the ineptness of Washington in…

Gross vs. Net Leases

Lease Basics 101 Written by Darren McCorkle One of the most important aspects of commercial real estate for anyone looking to lease space to understand is the difference between “Gross” and “Net” Leases. At its most fundamental, Gross and Net Lease structures deal with the apportionment of responsibility for the taxes and insurance,  maintenance, utilities,…

Wealth Migration to Florida

Written by Darren McCorkle and Johnny Le The large migration of America’s population base from the northern half of the country down to sunnier climes – from the Rustbelt to the Sunbelt – is a well-known phenomenon, with Florida being one of the biggest beneficiaries of this trend. In the decade between 2000 and 2010…