Author: Amy Bush

Just before the summer hot weather comes in, investors in the Triangle were very hot for hotels in May.

Of the nearly $469 million in major commercial property sales recorded in the Triangle during the month of May, nearly half were in hotel acquisitions, according to a review of deed records in Wake, Durham and Orange counties.

The Triangle – on average – may have one or two hotel properties that trade each month, but in May the market had investors paying nearly $203 million for 12 high-profile properties.

(TBJ:6/9/15)

 

Glassdoor Team| May 19, 2015

Thinking about moving to a new city for a job? Turns out, all cities are not created equal forjobs.

That’s why Glassdoor is revealing its newest report on the 25 Best Cities for Jobs. These 25 cities stand out for having the highest Glassdoor Job Score*, determined by weighting three factors equally: how easy it is to get a job (hiring opportunity), how affordable it is to live there (cost of living), and how satisfied employees are working there (job satisfaction).

As part of this report, we include each city’s median pay for employees, median home value, job satisfaction rating, number of current job openings and population. Check out the results below:

25 Best Cities for Jobs

1. Raleigh, NC – Glassdoor Job Score: 4.1

• Number of Job Openings: 24,146
• Population: 1,242,974
• Median Base Salary: $50,950
• Median Home Value: $198,400
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3

2. Kansas City, MO – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.9

• Number of Job Openings: 28,786
• Population: 2,071,133
• Median Base Salary: $46,000
• Median Home Value: $138,500
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

3. Oklahoma City, OK – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.9

• Number of Job Openings: 16,759
• Population: 1,336,767
• Median Base Salary: $38,100
• Median Home Value: $129,400
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3

4. Austin, TX – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.9

• Number of Job Openings: 33,198
• Population: 1,943,299
• Median Base Salary: $50,000
• Median Home Value: $226,400
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3

5. Seattle, WA – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.9

• Number of Job Openings: 69,423
• Population: 3,671,478
• Median Base Salary: $70,000
• Median Home Value: $344,700
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3

6. Salt Lake City, UT – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.8

• Number of Job Openings: 17,970
• Population: 1,153,340
• Median Base Salary: $44,000
• Median Home Value: $224,000
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.4

7. San Jose, CA – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.7

• Number of Job Openings: 51,439
• Population: 1,952,872
• Median Base Salary: $99,000
• Median Home Value: $863,800
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.5

8. Louisville, KY – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.7

• Number of Job Openings: 16,295
• Population: 1,269,702
• Median Base Salary: $40,000
• Median Home Value: $131,100
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

9. San Antonio, TX – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.7

• Number of Job Openings: 29,980
• Population: 2,328,652
• Median Base Salary: $40,000
• Median Home Value: $147,600
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3

10. Washington, D.C. – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.7

• Number of Job Openings: 116,770
• Population: 6,033,737
• Median Base Salary: $61,000
• Median Home Value: $361,200
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.4

11. St. Louis, MO – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.7

• Number of Job Openings: 31,365
• Population: 2,806,207
• Median Base Salary: $45,000
• Median Home Value: $133,200
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.3

12. San Francisco, CA – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.7

• Number of Job Openings: 94,933
• Population: 4,594,060
• Median Base Salary: $70,000
• Median Home Value: $728,000
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.5

13. Columbus, OH – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.6

• Number of Job Openings: 25,242
• Population: 1,994,536
• Median Base Salary: $43,000
• Median Home Value: $146,700
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

14. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.6

• Number of Job Openings: 102,311
• Population: 6,954,330
• Median Base Salary: $50,000
• Median Home Value: $157,900
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

15. Boston, MA – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.6

• Number of Job Openings: 86,565
• Population: 4,732,161
• Median Base Salary: $56,000
• Median Home Value: $367,600
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.4

16. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.6

• Number of Job Openings: 48,231
• Population: 3,495,176
• Median Base Salary: $52,000
• Median Home Value: $210,300
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

17. Atlanta, GA – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.5

• Number of Job Openings: 69,642
• Population: 5,614,323
• Median Base Salary: $49,180
• Median Home Value: $155,200
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

18. Memphis, TN – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.4

• Number of Job Openings: 14,776
• Population: 1,343,230
• Median Base Salary: $42,000
• Median Home Value: $107,000
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

19. Indianapolis, IN – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.3

• Number of Job Openings: 23,863
• Population: 1,971,274
• Median Base Salary: $44,000
• Median Home Value: $130,100
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

20. Chicago, IL – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.3

• Number of Job Openings: 124,633
• Population: 9,554,598
• Median Base Salary: $50,000
• Median Home Value: $186,900
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

21. Houston, TX – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.3

• Number of Job Openings: 74,442
• Population: 6,490,180
• Median Base Salary: $52,000
• Median Home Value: $157,900
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

22. Baltimore, MD – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.3

• Number of Job Openings: 45,558
• Population: 2,785,874
• Median Base Salary: $46,000
• Median Home Value: $244,100
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

23. Richmond, VA – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.2

• Number of Job Openings: 17,933
• Population: 1,260,029
• Median Base Salary: $45,000
• Median Home Value: $186,300
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

24. Pittsburgh, PA – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.1

• Number of Job Openings: 29,456
• Population: 2,355,968
• Median Base Salary: $43,000
• Median Home Value: $124,500
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.1

25. Nashville, TN – Glassdoor Job Score: 3.1

• Number of Job Openings: 27,850
• Population: 1,792,649
• Median Base Salary: $41,600
• Median Home Value: $176,700
• Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.2

 

The new owner and developer of Wade Office Park, Dominion Realty Partners, is proposing a 10-story office building at Wade Park that would be visible to the thousands of motorists who pass by every day on the Wade Avenue extension connecting the I-440 Beltline to I-40. A rezoning request filed with the city on May 11. The rezoning would allow for a building with up to 350,000 square feet in rentable office space and up to 150 feet in height, or 12 stories tall. The two existing Wade office buildings built in 2008 are nearly capacity. Construction of the third building, the 103,000-square-foot Wade III, is slated to finish in July. The building was 22 percent preleased at the end of first quarter.

TBJ: 5-15-15

Raleigh is No. 6 among cities with the strongest housing recoveries..

 

Using data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the National Association of Realtors, financial websiteS martAsset examined the 100 largest metro areas, both pre- and post-housing crisis, to determine which cities have bounced back the most. Charlotte is right behind Raleigh.

Top 10 cities

1. Nashville

2. San Francisco

3. Honolulu

4. San Jose

5. Columbus, Ohio

6. Raleigh

7. Charlotte

8. Philadelphia

9. New Orleans

10. Colorado Springs

TBJ 4/27/15

The owners of Crabtree Valley Mall are finalizing plans to add several new retail shops and a new parking deck ramp to the front of the mall property. The project will add five or six new retail spaces of about 2,000 square feet, all of which will be facing Glenwood Avenue, between the mall’s front entrance and Starbucks coffee shop on the east side and the Sears department store to the west.

The new parking deck ramp near Sears, also known as the “blue deck,” will add about 20 more parking spaces and help ease traffic flow.

The exterior work is expected to be completed before the holidays, and the finished spaces will be ready in February 2016.

TBJ 4/27/15

 

 

Real estate sources across Raleigh are saying that Allscripts Healthcare (Nasdaq: MDRX) is close to signing a big office lease deal to move all of its people and operations out of The Forum office park in north Raleigh to a higher profile, 18-story building at North Hills.Sources say the health care information technology company, which employs more than 1,260 people in Raleigh, has been considering either a deal to renew a contract for office space that it occupies in three buildings at The Forum or to relocate elsewhere in the Raleigh area.

Allscripts, which is based in Chicago, in 2013 restructured its lease for 304,622 square feet in the Forum II, Forum IV and Forum V buildings on Six Forks Road, according to Wake County records.

At North Hills, Kane Realty is already constructing an 18-story office tower – North Hills Tower Two – that will be completed in spring 2016 and have 300,000-square-feet of leasable office space, but real estate sources say that Allscripts is instead negotiating to have its own 18-story tower build on another site at North Hills.The North Hills master plan has three more office towers designated on the east side of Six Forks Road after Tower Two is completed.

If Allscripts does decide relocate, it would be another blow for the businesses around The Forum office park on Six Forks Road in north Raleigh. Across the street at the Colonnade office park, anchor tenant Salix Pharmaceuticals in early April announced it would lay off 258 workers in North Carolina primarily at its corporate headquarters at Colonnade, following its merger with Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRS).

TBJ: 4/27/2015

 

Jacob Traverse, Technology Development Director for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, says the bioenergy market has the ability to create jobs.

Bioenergy is field of technology that derives energy from biological sources.

Speaking during a panel discussion at N.C. State University’s State Energy Conference, Traverse said the state is particularly well-positioned in the bioenergy market because of the role agriculture plays in the state’s economy. Add to that the boom North Carolina has seen in life sciences, and Traverse says the state has the potential to take on California and Massachusetts as hubs in that space.

(TBJ 4/22/2015)

 

 

New Census Bureau Population Estimates Reveal Metro Areas and Counties that Propelled Growth in Florida and the Nation

The Villages, Fla., Nation’s Fastest-Growing Metro Area for Second Year in a Row

Florida was home to the nation’s fastest growing metro area from 2013 to 2014, according to new U.S. Census Bureau metropolitan statistical area, micropolitan statistical area and county population estimates released today.

The Villages, located to the west of the Orlando metro area, grew by 5.4 percent between July 1, 2013, and July 1, 2014, to reach a population of about 114,000. State population estimates released in December revealed that Florida had become the nation’s third most populous state. Today’s estimates show Florida’s growth to reach this milestone was propelled by numerous metro areas and counties within the state.

 

Metro areas

• The Carolinas were home to four of the nation’s 20 fastest-growing metro areas between 2013 and 2014: Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, S.C.-N.C. (second); Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, S.C. (13th); Raleigh, N.C. (15th); and Charleston-North Charleston, S.C. (17th).
• The nation’s metro areas contained about 272.7 million people in 2014, an increase of about 2.4 million from 2013.
• Bismarck, N.D., was the fastest-growing metro area outside of the South or West between 2013 and 2014 (22nd overall).
• Overall, 298 of the 381 metro areas in the United States gained population between 2013 and 2014.
• There were 53 metro areas with 2014 populations of 1 million or more. New York was the nation’s largest metro area in 2014, with about 20.1 million people.
• The Tucson, Ariz., metro area surpassed the 1 million population threshold between 2013 and 2014.

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-56.html

Five Triangle organizations ranked in the top 125 on Forbes’ list of “America’s Best Employers.”

Sixteen North Carolina companies were ranked in the top 500..

#30 Quintiles

#31 SAS

#50 UNC Health Care

#95 UNC-Chapel Hill

#125 N.C. State University

#210 ABB

Many of us have heard RTP referred to as the “Silicon Valley of the East”. A recent report by Selfstorage.com seems to confirm RTP’s position in the tech world.   Raleigh has been ranked as the number one “hot spot” outside of Silicon Valley and San Francisco for tech startups and workers.

“The report evaluates several factors that contribute to startup growth and attract tech workers: Local innovation, access to capital, access to educated workers, strength of the local tech startup scene and local tech wages compared to other parts of the country. The first four factors are considered positive, while the last is considered a negative for employers.”

Why is this good for the area? There are several reasons. First and foremost the tech industry brings in young professionals who prefer the live, work and play environment. Raleigh and surrounding areas have seen tremendous growth in new apartments that are bordered by modern relevant businesses to accommodate the new millennial worker. If we take a look at the recent apartment acquisitions and rent increases in the Triangle as well as take stock of all the mixed use developments that have been built and are still sprouting up all over Wake County this hypothesis is verified.

Many start-up businesses are born from the tech industry this combined with the peripheral businesses that support the millennials all are positive variables for those selling and leasing commercial real estate. It is also an affirmative factor for real estate investors.

Top 12 tech hot spots:

1. Raleigh, 2. Austin, 3. Denver, 4. Salt Lake City, 5. San Diego, 6. New Orleans, 7. Los Angeles, 8. Las Vegas, 9. Seattle. 10. Kansas City, 11. Miami, 12. Portland (Oregon)

(Source: TBJ 3/12/15)