I’m Just Ask’n

Courtesy of wallpapersinhq.com

The age old question, If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”, came to me while sitting at the lightly attended breakfast with the newly elected, Madison progressive Senator Tammy Baldwin. The Senator was a guest of Forward Janesville (FJI) and the breakfast sponsored by AT&T.

Greasing the Skids

I made a point of walking through Janesville’s new incubator building at Forward Janesville’s Business After Five last week. Having cut my commercial real estate teeth in economic development for a few decades, I was really interested in seeing the outcome of the city’s efforts.

Like many in the private sector, I was a bit skeptical. Building a brand new building in order to encourage entrepreneurship seemed a bit incongruous and perhaps a contributor to that “paid for by the government” adage.

Beauty is as Beauty Does

Curb appeal. Most of us have sold a house in our life time and know full well the importance of appearance from street level. After all, a home purchase is largely an emotional one. So what about commercial real estate? How important is appearance in a decision process driven largely by bottom line considerations?

We’ve got good news and not so good news. Which do you want first?

Author Randyl Drummer at Costar in his article “Déjà vu All Over Again? CRE Whipsaws Up and Down in Face of Economic Uncertainty” delivers the good news first followed by disappointing outlooks from the private sector.

Our own experience kind of echoes the whipsaw reference you will see in Drummer’s story. We saw a strong first quarter with big announcements about future medical projects, the opening of the new St. Mary’s hospital at the tail end of 2011 and strong absorption of vacant industrial space. Then things went kind of quiet and now at the end of the 3^rd quarter we are seeing retail beginning to pick up a bit. One national chain has committed to Beloit and several are giving Janesville a hard look.

On the housing front, a check in with my colleague Randy Borman at Century 21 delivered some surprising good news to those of us who dwell in the commercial real estate orbit. Home sales are up along with values. Now that is good news!

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