News that Sears Holdings would close another 142 Sears and Kmart stores broke Monday following the company declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Once again, the national real estate market will have to explore options for millions of square feet of retail space. None of the remaining stores in Wichita are being closed. The last Wichita Kmart closed in the spring. A Sears department store remains open at Towne East, while Towne West has a Sears Hometown Store.  The Sears department store in Towne West closed about four years ago. Wichita also…

Green building is more than a residential concept – it has become standard in the commercial industry too. Along with automation, artificial intelligence, Smart technology, and robotics, green building technology is helping to meet the new needs in CRE following these three trends: #1: Building for Climate Disasters Did you know that last year the U.S. suffered some of the worst financial losses due to extreme climate events than at any other time in history? The result is a renewed focus, even among the dwindling number of climate deniers, on…

At first, co-working spaces made sense largely for startups and independents. Now everyone is using them. Turns out, it’s a cost saver even for established businesses. Unlike a traditional office lease, tenants don’t have to go through months and months of negotiations and paperwork processing for co-working space. They aren’t even responsible for providing electric, internet, and a lot of office equipment to their employees – that’s the office owner’s responsibility. With studies showing that workers are happier and more productive in co-working spaces – generally speaking – these types…

Social media has made receiving news from a variety of sources easier than ever! One of the most-used platforms by news sources worldwide is Twitter and Wichita is no exception. Below, in no particular order, are eight Twitter accounts that often cover news concerning local commercial real estate and a mix of other relevant topics. Bryan Horwath – @ICTBiz_BHorwath Bryan Horwath is the real estate reporter for the Wichita Business Journal so his Twitter feed is full of all the big CRE news across the Wichita MSA. He covers more…

WeWork started the concept but it has only grown and expanded from there. The co-working or flex space model which began in NYC is fast becoming the new Uber of commercial office space. With large corporations abandoning the traditional work model for more flex space, it is changing how landlords attract and retain tenants. Recently, landlords are discovering that they can use their building’s flex space as an amenity to attract tenants. Flex space isn’t just a coworking hub: it is bookable meeting space, conference rooms, event space, and multimedia…

It’s not as sexy as luxury multifamily, but student housing is nothing to sneeze at. Student housing is a “key recruiting tool for universities” and the number of enrollees is rising, especially on the West Coast. Take for instance UC Davis in California. There the vacancy rate for apartments near the university is 0.2%. Most students cannot afford the less than 1% supply of student housing anyway. Rushing in to meet the high demand coming from the student housing sector are traditional student housing investors but also many new developers…

The workforce has been undergoing enormous changes since the cloud and wireless technology took off. Mobile capabilities have given workers and employers much more freedom in how and where they can work. That has led to huge reductions in overhead costs to businesses and a happier, healthier workforce. At the same time, this mobile workforce has been moving away from traditional suburban work campuses into walkable, city-based corporate offices. Recently, experts have noticed a budding trend where the suburban work campus is getting an overhaul in order to attract talent…

Amazon’s growth into grocery is transforming industrial cold storage from a niche CRE market into a necessary link in grocery supply chains. According to the numbers, millennials will affect overall online grocery sales with some predicting that within seven years, 70% of people will buy their groceries online. A rising tide of new online grocers as well as traditional grocers is getting into same day delivery in order to meet that demand – increasing the need for more cold storage facilities. More than that, online and brick-and-mortar grocers are looking…