Have we tested the bottom for retail cap rates?  Average cap rates remain relatively unchanged over the last few quarters indicating that we may have found the bottom and the current new norm… for now.  Click the image above or HERE for the full report.

Kimco Realty Corp. said May 16 that it acquired a majority of its joint venture partner’s ownership interest in a Seattle-area shopping center.

Kimco previously held a 50% ownership interest in the property, the Marketplace at Factoria in Bellevue, Wash (formerly the “Factoria Mall”). The acquisition of the 510,000-square-foot center was based on a gross value of $130.8 million.

The property is 94.3% occupied and anchored by retailers including Wal-Mart, Target, Nordstrom Rack, T.J.Maxx, Petco, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Old Navy, Rite Aid and Safeway.  (SNL Financial)

Well Commercial mortgages fared betteer through the credit curnch and the recession than ANY other class of loan held by banks and trifts in the U.S., according to a Mortgage Banksers Association analysis of FDIC data.  banks and thrifts chared off some $212 billion of single-family mortgages, $205 billion of credit-card laons, $95 billion of commercial and industrial loans (operating business loans), $85 billion of construction loans and $72 billion of other types of loans from 2007 – 2012.  By contrast, those same lenders only charged off about $41 billion worth of commercial mortgages during that same time period!

OLYMPIA – Taxes collected from all retail sales grew by 5 percent in Washington last year, the biggest jump from one year to the next since the recession began in 2008.

Figures released Thursday by the state Department of Revenue showed that taxes from retail sales, which make up nearly half of the $109 billion collected for all sales taxes, rose about 5.3 percent. Mike Gowrylow, a department spokesman, said the drop in consumer-driven retail sales tax revenue bottomed out in 2011 and showed increases in all quarters of 2012. But “it’s not like a big boom,” he added.

Total sales taxes collected are still well below the nearly $119 billion collected in 2007.

Sales taxes collected for other parts of the economy showed higher gains, with a 6.3 percent increase for taxes on food and accommodations, 7.6 percent increase on construction and 11.6 percent increases on motor vehicles and parts. The department tracks those sectors separately.  (Spokesman Review) READ MORE…

In a victory for online retailers, the U.S. Senate has passed The Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 by a vote of 69 to 27. Currently, states can only require retailers to collect sales tax if they have a physical presence in that state. The act would grant states where the shopper lives the authority to collect online sales taxes, no matter where the retailers are located, at the time of the transaction. The Marketplace Fairness Act’s goal is to place online retailers, like eBay and Amazon that do not collect sales taxes except in states where they have distribution centers, on the same level as brick-and-mortar stores.

Businesses with less than $1 million in online sales would be exempt from the act. The main advocate against the online sales tax, eBay, wants to exempt businesses with up to $10 million in sales.

Click here to read about what must happen in order for The Marketplace Fairness Act to become a law.

Bass Pro Shops, America’s most popular outdoor store, will locate its very first store in the Pacific Northwest in Tacoma, Washington just off of I-5 and 72nd Street—on Hosmer Street in the former Lowes Home Improvement store.   The new 170,000 square-foot Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, which will include the much-acclaimed Uncle Buck’s Fishbowl and Grill, is scheduled to open in the early summer of 2014.

For most people, the Interbay neighborhood is nothing more than a heavily travelled transition area between downtown and Ballard.

But it is also home to many businesses, mostly industrial. The city is working on zoning plans to keep industrial businesses in the area and encourage the development of other commercial buildings.

The city’s Department of Planning and Development this week released a series of preliminary zoning and land use recommendations for the three-mile corridor along Elliott Avenue West and 15th Avenue West. There will be a community meeting at 7 p.m. tonight at the Q Cafe, 3223 15th Ave. W. to discuss the plans. The recommendations come after more than six months of work, but it remains early in the process.

The city wants to retain the industrial zones throughout much of the neighborhood, specifically on the west side of 15th. The city wants to change zoning on 44 parcels from heavy manufacturing industrial facilities to lighter uses such as retail. Structures could be as large as 75,000 square feet for retail, service and entertainment purposes, with no restrictions on office sizes and a 65-foot height limit under the proposed changes. The current zoning allows for office and retail buildings of 25,000 square feet.  (DJC) SEE THE PROPOSED CHANGES HERE…

The recession brought to a near-standstill all but one segment of shopping-center development in the past few years: the outlet mall.

While developers shelved  plans for new full-price shopping centers amid a sharp downturn in U.S. discretionary spending, some stepped up the pace of construction of stores catering to bargain hunters.

Locally, Seattle Premium Outlets on the Tulalip Tribes Reservation soon will unveil a 100,000-square-foot expansion with more than a dozen new stores, including American Eagle Outfitters, Armani Exchange, Clarins, Diane von Furstenberg, Forever 21, MaxStudio and The North Face.

The expansion will give the 8-year-old  shopping center half a million square feet and up to 125 stores starting in June. Current tenants  Coach, Columbia Sportswear, DKNY, Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Bahama also will move to larger space in the new buildings off    Interstate 5, near Marysville.  (SeattleTimes) READ MORE…

U.S. legislation to let states require online retailers to collect sales tax is gaining support among Republicans and Democrats, but backers haven’t yet come up with a vehicle to make the change law, according to The Economist. “Advocates believe that the best hope may lie in comprehensive tax reform,” the magazine notes. “Buried in a slew of more sweeping
changes, a heavier touch on e-commerce might go unnoticed.  (Economist) READ MORE…

Report By: CBRE Global Research & Consulting

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Seasoned e-commerce tenants are opting for build-to-suit (BTS) developments that can provide increased infrastructure, heavy power, higher clear heights, an abundance of land and are located in 24/7 zones.
• Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers have positioned stores to be service-oriented, focused on sales of non-commoditized products, aligned with omni-channel strategies and are targeting urban high street submarkets in order to compete in the digital age.
• Markets near UPS and FedEx hubs are most likely to attract major distribution centers to service e-commerce sales.
• Same day delivery models are a growing trend in ecommerce distribution and improve the prospects for urban infill development.

VIEW THE REPORT HERE