Finance

Key commercial real-estate deals and trends to watch: data centers are red hot, and studio space investment is booming

The pandemic threw the real-estate world into disarray, as people emptied out of offices, hotels, and malls and worked from their homes. That disruption has transformed how people and companies finance, operate, and occupy real estate. 

Some big firms like WarnerMedia have been rethinking office needs — and some commercial real-estate deals were put on ice as financing dries up. Coworking and flex-office firms are struggling under big rent obligations after years of rapid growth.

Still, some companies like IBM and Facebook have been pushing ahead with plans for big office spaces, showing that it may be too soon to call and end to the office. Apple has been in talks to grow a Manhattan office that it leased earlier this year. And Amazon Music has signed on for 40,000 square feet in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to use as production and recording space. 

A surge in e-commerce, meanwhile, is fueling demand for warehouse and cold storage space as companies look for new ways to reach customers. Life-sciences companies are fueling a big boom in demand for lab space. A surge in streaming content consumption and cloud data needs has made studio spaces and data centers red-hot real estate plays.

And with the pandemic increasing the amount of food delivery and hurting restaurants’ bottom lines, ghost kitchens see an opportunity to grow. 

Here’s the latest news on how real-estate markets are being upended, and how experts think these markets will play out in the long run. 

Here’s how Goldman Sachs, KKR, and Blackstone are pouring billions into data centers, a hot real-estate play that’s chasing a boom in cloud storage and streaming content

watching tv snack

Goldman said it would invest $500 million into data-center spaces around the globe.
iStock / Getty Images Plus


Advertising and PR giant Dentsu is the latest corporate tenant to cast off glitzy NYC offices as more companies rethink their footprints

jacki kelley dentsu ceo

Dentsu is seeking to sublease a glitzy new office space it leased late last year on Manhattan’s West Side.
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images


AT&T is putting WarnerMedia’s huge NYC headquarters under review and could decide to cut hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space

WarnerMedia Stankey

AT&T is conducting a strategic review of WarnerMedia’s 1.5 million-square-foot headquarters at 30 Hudson Yards, sources told Business Insider.
Getty Images


Studio space is a red-hot real estate play as demand for streaming content surges, and insiders say Brookfield could be the next big investor to pile in

lovecraft country hbo

Georgia has had success attracting tentpole films such as “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Black Widow” and big-budget shows such as HBO’s “Lovecraft Country.”
HBO


Booming demand for lab space is a rare bright spot for real-estate developers. But a steep learning curve means some ‘stupid money’ investors could get burned.

chemistry lab

Life science has accounted for 10% of leasing activity in the US by square footage since the coronavirus hit.
Hinterhaus Productions/Getty Images


IBM is hunting for a 500,000 square foot NYC office as tech tenants continue to double down on deeply-discounted workspaces

IBM

IBM released a request for proposals to the New York City real estate market in search of an office up to 500,000 square feet in size.
Andrei Stanescu/Getty Images


Remote work has shaken up energy costs for office landlords and employees. Here’s a look at why both are paying more and how one provider is working with corporates to offset workers’ higher electricity bills.

work from home kids interrupt Berlin, Germany - April 06: Symbol photo on the subject of home office. A woman sits at her desk at home and works. A child is playing next to her on April 06, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. During curfew and quarantine due to the coronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, many employees are forced to work from home. Parents are double burdened and have to look after their children additionally.

Even with workers at home, most office buildings can only shut down so much. At most, office buildings are using 25% less energy than usual.
Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images


Inside the rise of real-estate titan David Simon, the country’s top mall-owner facing a make-or-break moment with a $2 billion bet on troubled JCPenney

david simon profile 2x1

Simon Property Group CEO David Simon is trying to reinvent retail real estate.
Mireya Acierto/Getty Images; Samantha Lee/Business Insider


Facebook scored a $100 million break on its blockbuster NYC office deal, and it could mark the start of a wave of discounts as vacancies soar

Vornados Farley Building rendering

Here’s just how much Facebook is paying in rent at the Farley Building.
Vornado Realty Trust.


Giant mall owner Brookfield Properties is ditching its worst locations and redeveloping what’s left into ‘mini cities’ that blend shopping with residential space

brookfield place new york brookfield properties empty mall

The strategy is a continuation of Brookfield’s redevelopment of malls that were previously owned by GGP, which the firm acquired in 2018.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images


Hotel lenders are racing to dump risky loans as the hospitality industry nears a breaking point, with defaults stacking up and high-profile properties starting to shutter

empty times square

Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies, a New York-based specialty lender, is offering mortgages totaling $503 million that are connected to three hotel properties, the Manhattan at Times Square Hotel and two St. Regis hotels in Washington DC and Miami.
John Nacion/NurPhoto/Getty Images)

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