Posts by: Paul Rosta

Capital Ideas

First Potomac Realty Trust

Though 11 Dupont Circle commanded a more-than-respectable $89 million when it traded in September, it was far from the biggest or most expensive property to change hands this year in Washington, D.C. A number of other office properties in the capital have commanded several times as much. Whatever it appeared to lack in size, however, […]

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Tech’s Top Towns

Hot spots to watch

As many developers, investors and brokers are discovering, “technology” is no monolithic industry. The tech sector translates into multiple business specialties and magnets, as dozens of cities stake their claim to the technology boom – with far-reaching impacts on commercial real estate. Along with its highest-profile component, consumer electronics, the age of technology encompasses companies […]

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Millennial Myths

How do they eat, shop?

The 77 million Americans that constitute the Millennial generation are attracting plenty of attention. A generation that already wields hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of buying power, these young adults represent a huge rental and employment base, as well as a strong and growing contributor to the retail sector. Thus, developers, investors, advisers and […]

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Keeping Up with E-Commerce

Impact on Retail Real Estate

As online sales continue to rise, the signs of the Internet’s impact on retail real estate are hard to According to projections by Forrester Research, cross-channel retail sales—including those influenced by online information but completed in stores—will hit $1.8 trillion by 2017, up from $1.2 trillion in 2012. Projections of new-store openings hold more subtle […]

business woman standing with her staff at conference

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Millennial Managers

Choice, not Chance

As Baby Boomers by the thousands prepare to retire, training their successors is taking on fresh urgency. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a growing number of people are making real estate management a career of choice rather than chance. Nevertheless, some experts contend that the profession must further step up both recruitment and mentoring. All too […]

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Mind Reading

What Corporate Tenants Want

A growing number of corporate tenants today are thinking of their real estate as more than just a place to house their employees. Instead, they’re treating it like an asset. That is borne out in a recent study of office occupiers by CoreNet Global. In all, 68 percent of respondents reported having a workplace strategy […]

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Rx for MOBs

Strong Property Managers

As the population continues to age and more medical office buildings come online in response, demand for management services is expanding. But this is not your typical commercial property management. Owners, operators and managers must be able to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. “The healthcare landscape is changing all the time, technology is changing […]

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Project: Diversity

Focus on professional development

At a time when commercial real estate faces fierce competition for the best and brightest, forward-thinking companies understand that diversity is vital to their success. “They need smart, talented people, because this industry isn’t getting younger; it’s getting older,” argues Gregg McCort, executive director of Project REAP, a real estate training program for minority professionals. […]

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Managing Roles

Property & Asset Management

Industry trends are changing the dynamics between the asset and property manager. As the owner’s representative, the asset manager still has the final say in the property’s strategy, while the property manager is on the front lines for tenant relations, accounting, maintenance and other daily tasks. But the asset manager’s workload has expanded since the […]

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Really Recycling?

Assessing results

Whether municipally mandated, LEED encouraged or for altruistic reasons, commercial property owners and managers are taking steps to encourage recycling. It can be challenging. Ultimately, it falls to the tenant and the cleaning crew—and in the case of retail properties, the general public—to comply with the program. But some creative efforts are producing results. Office […]

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Customer Satisfaction

For commercial real estate

Keeping tabs on customer satisfaction at an office building, retail center or apartment community is a never-ending task. Almost any encounter with a tenant or resident presents an opportunity to find out where the room for improvement exists. And there is no substitute for face-to-face contact when it comes to finding out what is on […]

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Against the Odds

Lessons from Hurricane Sandy

During Hurricane Sandy, a 14-foot storm surge from the Hudson River triggered flooding that took offline 29.8 million out of 85.2 million square feet in one of the nation’s biggest office submarkets, according to a Cushman & Wakefield Inc. survey. While the majority of that space was expected to be back online at the beginning […]

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Cost Controls

Operating commercial buildings

With the cost of operating commercial buildings growing ever harder to control, owners and managers will likely start taking a new look at contracts this year for the first time in quite awhile. While trends in operating costs will probably continue to vary widely by both location and property type, they nonetheless will see an […]

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The New A-Team

Extreme property management

These days, a capable property manager must carry an extra-large toolbox. An ambassador for the building with an increasing number of responsibilities, they must have an ability to negotiate a lease with a tenant, analyze a profit-and-loss statement, bid and execute a service contract with a vendor, solve problems of every description and lead a […]

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Training Property Managers

The latest education approaches

As property managers are increasingly asked to behave like asset managers, their training is taking a unique turn. Third-party management firms and management departments within investment firms alike are coming up with more comprehensive and sophisticated approaches to upgrade their teams’ abilities. One particularly innovative effort is a training facility created by Cooper Square Realty […]