Power Reads: 5 Interesting Articles That Will Help You This Week

Each week, I select a few articles that rise above the fray and hopefully help you on your journey in leadership and the CRE world. They pull from one of four "corners": corporate real estate, technology, management science and anything positive. Each day we can become a better version of ourselves.

1. 300 Months

I was about to turn 28 years old and I was in a hurry to get home. I jumped in my car and pointed north towards our small town. I had to tell my Karen the good news.

After talking to 13 different commercial real estate firms over a series of months, I’d gotten an offer from the only one I REALLY wanted to join: Cushman & Wakefield. I was elated and bursting with pride.

Karen and I had dinner in our very small house in a suburb of Atlanta. She didn’t know my news, but I was positively giddy, so she knew something was up.

2. Atlanta's Tallest Tower in a Decade, Future Home of Google, Marks City's Tech Transformation

Selig Development has reached a construction milestone for the tallest office tower built in Atlanta since the Great Recession, a site where Google plans major operations. It's also notable for the city, symbolizing Atlanta's emergence as a technology center.

Construction workers topped out — or placed the final beam on — the office tower's external structure at the $530 million 1105 West Peachtree mixed-use project that includes a 64-unit luxury condominium building known as 40 West 12th and the Epicurean Atlanta hotel. The 31-story office tower stands at 434 feet tall, according to a spokeswoman for Selig, part of Selig Enterprises.

Selig started construction on 1105 West Peachtree at the beginning of 2019, a year before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the United States. At the time, demand for office space in midtown Atlanta was surging because the district’s proximity to the Georgia Institute of Technology, cultural amenities and transit accessibility made it the top choice for technology firms in Atlanta and large companies setting up major operations and innovation centers in the city.

3. Bank Economists See Brighter Days Ahead

While the American Bankers Association’s Economic Advisory Committee expects the economy to decelerate in this quarter, it says there are brighter days ahead.

The committee predicts that the US economy will grow at about 4% over the four quarters of 2021, which will be the most robust growth in nearly two decades.

As mass vaccinations across the nation bring many consumers back to stores, restaurants, movie theaters and travel, the committee members agree that the economic outlook will brighten considerably.

Additionally, the committee expects $900 billion of additional federal support to bolster the recovery. The new Congress could provide another shot in the arm for the economy with another stimulus package.

4. Atlanta Fed chief sees economic rebound with vaccine in summer

Just as the coronavirus took only a short time to ransack the economy, rapid distribution of vaccines could spark the start of a strong recovery by summer, according to the president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank.

But don’t expect a rush by the Fed to lift interest rates any time soon.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Raphael Bostic said uncertainty is restraining businesses now. But the attitudes of companies and consumers alike are being shaped by the pandemic, so as effective vaccines are distributed, spending will pick up, he predicted.

“I think the economy will respond pretty strongly, and we’ll see a strong rebound,” Bostic said. “Right now, my team and I, our models project that will start more robustly in the summertime.”

5. The Metrics You Should Be Watching in 2021

When the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes its monthly jobs numbers, the world takes notice. Markets move and politicians tweet. But for commercial real estate professionals, K.C. Conway, chief economist for CCIM Institute, thinks there are more insightful indicators that, taken together, would provide a better understanding of what’s ahead for the CRE industry.

First, he suggests focusing on two forward-looking employment reports that precede the monthly BLS jobs report: ADP’s National Employment Report and Challenger, Gray & Christmas’s monthly job cuts report. ADP foretells what is happening with private employers, whereas the Challenger, Gray & Christmas numbers provide insight as to where the size of the workforce of private employers is headed ― and the subsequent demand for CRE space. “CRE rents and occupancy rates rise and fall on what happens with employment,” notes Conway.

But those aren’t the only places industry professionals should be looking for information on what promises to be a turbulent 2021. Conway suggests following transportation metrics such as airline passenger counts from the Transportation Security Administration and rail traffic from the American Association of Railroads. As goes the business traveler and intermodal rail traffic, so goes the travel and leisure industry and supply chain, an area that impacts consumers, retailers, manufacturers, and logistics infrastructure alike.

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!

Ken Ashley