Would You Live in an Abandoned Mental Hospital?

condo conversion to the extreme? so, would you live here?

Would You Live in an Abandoned Mental Hospital? | Sustainability | Fast Company

Timed perfectly with the release of Shutter Island, Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture plans to turn one of Sweden's old, ugly mental hospitals into a sustainable apartment complex. Dubbed Parkour, it offers a sense of community to residents. [...more...]

Commercial real estate tries a head fake - Feb. 4, 2010

"Extend & Pretend" seems to be a good title...can it hold water long-term?

At the encouragement of industry regulators, banks have extended the terms of many of their commercial real estate loans, hoping that property values or occupancy levels will improve before long.

"There is an element of 'extend and pretend' going on," said Tanya Azarchs, credit analyst and managing director for Standard & Poor's. "It is in their [banks'] interest to do that." [...more...]

Retail Tenants Appeal for Rent Relief

Re-negotiations...the wave of the present...

Requests for rent concessions soared in late 2008 and during the first four months of 2009, says Casey. Currently, about 5% of the company's tenants, 100 out of 2,000, receive some form of rent relief. The number of requests for help is higher than the amount granted, however. An estimated 10% to 15% of the REIT's tenants seek relief, the executive says. [...more...]