Sean Dreznin, Commercial Investment Real Estate Agent

Even as some sectors of the US economy see a return to growth, woes in commercial real estate are deepening, raising fears that the fragile recovery could falter.

Unlike the US home market, which has shown signs of rebounding, recovery is elusive in commercial real estate, a sector which includes apartments, offices and industrial and retail properties.

The Moody's commercial property index fell 3.0 percent in October, and remains 32.8 percent down from a year earlier and 40.3 percent lower than two years ago. "Although prices have declined steadily over the past year, the rate of decline has slowed in recent months after falling by about 8.0 percent in both April and May," Moody's said.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, loans for commercial and multifamily property activity fell 54 percent in the third quarter from a year ago. Loan originations were off 12 percent from the second quarter.

San Francisco Federal Reserve president Janet Yellen said the prospects for the industry are "worrisome."

"Commercial property didn't turn down until well after housing did," she said. "The sector's problems appear to stem in large part from the effects of the recession and the credit crunch, rather than the type of building boom and lax underwriting standards that tripped up housing."

The market for commercial mortgage-backed securities, Yellen said, "remains deeply distressed and issuance is meager despite support from the Fed."

A survey by the consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute suggests the market may continue to slide into 2010. The survey respondents predict that commercial real estate vacancies will continue to increase and rents will decrease across all property sectors before the market hits bottom in 2010.

It projects value declines of 40 percent to 50 percent off 2007 market peaks, setting up the potential for big bargains.

For full article, click here ----> http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091115/ts_afp/financeeconomyuspropertycommercial

Siesta Beach stretches from a site named Point of Rocks, just below the middle point of Siesta Key, north to the Siesta Village region. It might be considered Siesta Key's premier claim to fame. Siesta Key's Siesta Beach has accumulated numerous awards in recognition of its soft, clean, pure-white sand. Consistently, it is rated among the top ten beaches of Florida, the U.S., and the world. Harvard University's geology department found the sand of Siesta Beach was 99% pure quartz.

Unlike most beaches that are composed of crushed shells, rocks or lava, this sand is pure white and finer in texture than most refined sugar. The sand has been described as "dazzling" and it is stated that it never feels hot. Siesta Key's remarkable sand and the azure, warm water of its beaches are a great attraction for tourists and local beachgoers alike who come to experience the sand and the water.

Point of Rocks is a shallow formation of limestone rock that extends into the Gulf of Mexico from the middle of the western shore of Siesta Key. This very distinctive site, geologically unusual for Southwest Florida, provides habitat to a wide variety of fish and is, perhaps, the only good snorkeling beach on the west coast of Florida. For centuries, Point of Rocks has been a landmark for mariners and "legend" has it as the starting point for maps to burial places of treasures plundered by pirates.

Siesta Beach is one of the largest beaches in the area, but its 40 acres (160,000 m²) of land might not have become the wide and deep expanse of public-accessible beachfront they are today. According to a local Siesta Key publication, The Pelican, one Otis A. Kiesow could be credited with single-handedly making certain that this beachfront---then, as always coveted by real estate developers and builders---would not later become filled with homes, condos and hotels, as are much of the rest of the Gulf of Mexico's beachfronts. According to the Pelican and Mr. Kiesow, who died in January 2001, he had traveled to the Capitol in Tallahassee to ensure that the beach, in fact, was being set aside into perpetuity for the people of Sarasota: His discovery and impression from this visit was that it was not. He was told to go home and not to worry . . . that everything had been ‘taken care of'. Mr. Kiesow would then personally collect the needed signatures for a referendum that voters would later approve.

Today, the site is wide and white with mainly a pavilion and gift shop as man-made counterpoints to nature. Siesta Beach, like Crescent Beach that extends south from it and Siesta Village, boasts white sand of a similarly fine, powdery white quality; Crescent Beach public access, however, comprises a relatively narrow strip of beachfront when compared to Siesta Beach's. Turtle Beach, farther south still and nearing the southern end of the key, is a fairly large beach featuring a small mangrove-surrounded tidal lagoon; Turtle Beach, is noted for its abundance of seashells, as opposed to the sugary white sand to be found in other portions of the Siesta Key Gulf shoreline.

LANDMARK RESCUED Tony Troppe renovating historic Kaiser

Building for use as cafe, offices across from Canal Park

By Betty Lin-Fisher Beacon Journal staff writer

Photo credits (Ed Suba Jr./Akron Beacon Journal)

A downtown Akron building whose last owner lost it to foreclosure after a failed attempt to sell it on eBay is getting new life under the eye of historic building renovator Tony Troppe. Plans call for the Kaiser Building, across from Canal Park on South Main Street, to have a cafe or store in two slots on the first floor, offices on the second floor and a mix of offices and loft apartments on the third floor.

''I did not like that vacancy across the street from the ballpark,'' said Troppe, who has renovated several historical buildings in downtown Akron. ''I felt for some time that a building of that stature should be brought back.'' Troppe said he wants to create ''a positive node of knowledge workers,'' referring to downtown workers and students who soon will be living at the 22 Exchange Place project a few hundred feet away. He believes they will be looking for places to hang out, eat and work.

The building, believed to have been built in 1877, formerly housed a German-American Family Club and had a grand ballroom on the third floor with 18-foot-high ceilings.

Troppe envisions a world-cafe type of eatery on part of the main floor, with coffee, beer, food and live music. He also wants to create an outdoor eating area on a brick patio to the side or possibly a drive-through window. Troppe said he is in discussions with potential tenants and might run the cafe on his own, similar to Mocha Maiden on Maiden Lane off East Market Street.

Troppe, with private investors under the name Kaiser Hall Revival Group, bought the building from the mortgage lender after a sheriff's sale for $365,000, according to public records. They have financed the project through Portage Community Bank.

The building's previous owner, Jeremy Caudill and his company, JJC Investors Inc., had purchased it in 2005 for $650,000. But Caudill was unable to renovate the building or sell it, including an unsuccessful listing on eBay, before losing it to foreclosure for delinquent taxes and back payments to the lender.

The building, at 323 and 325 S. Main St., needed a lot of internal demolition, Troppe said. Crews began in March, and Troppe hopes to have the first floor done and open for business by fall. FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE <-----

#1-Chrysler plans to close 14 dealerships in Cleveland-Akron market

Northeast Ohio stands to lose 14 Chrysler dealerships from Elyria to Wadsworth, according to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing this morning by Chrysler LLC.

Dealerships targeted for closing include five Spitzer dealerships in Akron, Lakewood, Mayfield Heights, Parma and Sheffield Lake; three Ganley dealerships in Cleveland, Middleburg Heights and Wickliffe; and two Axelrod dealerships — Axelrod Chrysler in Parma and Axelrod-Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep Inc. in Wadsworth.

Also on the closing list are Abraham-Chrysler-Jeep in Elyria, Crestmont Chrysler Jeep in Beachwood, Great Northern Dodge in North Olmsted and Medina World Cars in Medina.

As the automaker’s bankruptcy unfolds, expect dealers to combat the closings.

Alan Spitzer, chairman and CEO of Spitzer Management Inc., could not be reached this morning and did not return a call. Nick Abraham, owner of Abraham-Chrysler-Jeep, also did not return a call.

#2-Forest City Enterprises reveals big job cuts in posting fourth-quarter loss

Forest City Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: FCEA, FCEB) has reported sizable net losses for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Jan. 31, while also revealing that it reduced its nationwide work force by nearly 500 full-time positions during the fiscal year as part of a cost-cutting drive to increase its liquidity.

The real estate giant said its net loss in the latest fourth quarter totaled $45.1 million, or 44 cents a share, and compares to a year-earlier profit of $12.6 million, or 12 cents a share. Revenue in the quarter fell 20%, to $323 million from $404.4 million.

#3-Shiloh Industries to close Medina County plant, eliminating 111 jobs

Shiloh Industries Inc. will shutter permanently its Liverpool Manufacturing Plant this summer, putting 111 employees at the Medina County operation out of work, according to a company filing with the state of Ohio.

Valley City-based Shiloh on Monday notified the state, via a required Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filing, that it will close the plant. The company in March told the state that it was laying off 83 workers from its Medina Blanking Division, although those layoffs were termed “temporary.”

Shiloh, which primarily supplies U.S. domestic automakers and their vendors, has been hit hard by declining auto sales.

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Articles above written by Stan Bullard, Dan Shingler