Welcome to the official blog of Block Real Estate Services, LLC (BRES). BRES seeks to offer insight and news concerning commercial real estate, financial investments, construction and development of the 212 communities we serve locally and nationally.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Not Everything is Peaches in Georgia: Challenges and Success of BRES Atlanta

Although we have been purposefully quiet for the past nine months, the 1.4 million SF Block Atlanta portfolio came under the management of BRES Atlanta in the summer of 2011 and we took off. With budget season coming on for the 19 building portfolio, a load of planning and learning the portfolio was a warp speed experience to be able to meet the budget deadlines and offer up accurate and timely work product. Well, as you can see, we did survive and we did pull it off—but that is why you have not heard a lot out of us here in the Peach State.

The BRES Atlanta management team consists of 
  • Bert S. Calvert, Managing Director, Atlanta Operations
  • Renee Harrison, Property Administrator
Our engineering team consists of
  • Michael Granberry, Building Services Engineer 
  • John “JD” Duncan, Maintenance Engineer
Our combined years of experience will tell you more about our ages than we care to disclose but suffice it to say, we all thoroughly enjoy what we do since we have been doing it for so many years.  

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Concerns For Office Properties Rise As Leases Roll Over To Reduced Rates

Despite forecasts of decreasing vacancies and increasing rental rates in 2012, there are still major concerns for owners of office properties. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, authors Craig Karmin and Eliot Brown cite that the national delinquency rate of securitized office loans increased 1.4 points from 7.4% last June to 9.0% in December. This is familiar news to real estate professionals in Kansas City who recently witnessed owner Hertz Investment Group default on their $21.5M note for Commerce Tower in Downtown Kansas City. Karmin and Brown explain this trend by saying that due to the typical 5 year office lease, leases signed at peak rates in 2007 are now rolling over with tenants signing at drastically reduced rates.