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Steven Silverman Receives Top Realtor Award
Cutting Edge Mixed Use Urban Development Project Brokered By Tampa Commercial Real Estate – Meridian
April 2020. Tampa Commercial Real Estate was pleased to represent our client in the acquisition of a property for a forward-thinking mixed-use development. For its role in successfully completing this deal, the Florida Gulfcoast Commercial Association Realtors awarded the Overall Deal Of The Year to Steven Silverman. This project raises the bar for mixed-use development and self-storage in the USA. It presents new possibilities for mixed-use urban environments. In many US cities, self-storage has suffered increasing push back from both City Councils and the public in urban environments where self-storage is viewed as unattractive and a detriment to the neighborhood. At the same time, it is precisely the dense urban environments that are dominated by multi-family development that most need self-storage. In this development project, where self-storage is attractive and seamlessly blends into the surrounding mixed-use components, a self-storage element is achieved that is acceptable to communities, cities, and developers. This project enhances the concept of mixed-use and adds storage as an important community amenity that complements the traditional Retail, Office and Multi-family components of a Class A mixed-use development. The approved project will comprise, built to the same design standard: · A 5 story 140,000 sf Self Storage Facility with Retail on the first Floor · A 15 story, 305 unit apartment complex This was a complex transaction requiring knowledge of Retail, Industrial, Multi-Family, Zoning Regulations, and Future Land Use. In this transaction, we successfully represented our client in a competitive & strategic battle for one of the most desirable properties in Tampa. The property is located in the heart of the new Water Street development.
Creative Solutions For Landlords And Tenants. Lessons From The Corona Virus COVID-19 Coronavirus is affecting everything in its path. As commercial real estate brokers and property managers, we are receiving calls from tenants wanting to stop paying rent. At the same time, we are receiving calls from Landlords saying that tenants have the responsibility to keep paying. All of us in commercial real estate have faced confrontations in the past between Landlord and existing Tenants. However, the onslaught of the Coronavirus has given us all pause for thought. Never before have we been hit with so many competing demands at the same time. How do we find the balance? A tenant that is a fitness studio or a restaurant has been forced to close down during the crisis. The business owner feels a responsibility to pay their employees and they have to pay rent, loan interest, and other expenses. Yet they have no revenue coming in. They did nothing wrong that would have caused them to be in this predicament. Their employees look at it the same way. They did nothing wrong and feel that the business owner should still pay them even though they have been sent home from work. Of course, the rental equipment providers to the business have the same thoughts. The equipment that the business rents are still on the premises of the business and the business should pay the monthly rental fee. After all, the equipment rental company has done nothing wrong. Lunch Time Photos in Downtown Tampa – Two of Tampa’s busiest streets – the streets are empty Corona’s impact on downtown Tampa 1 – Florida Av at lunchtime
Covid-19 Reasons For Optimism For Commercial Real Estate Investors Right now, watching the Covid-19 curve climb exponentially the outlook for commercial real estate seems bleak. First and foremost it is a time to protect yourself and your family and there is so much information out there. We are all sick of it The video below is a little long-winded but it is the most practical and well-articulated information I have heard on the Coronavirus. So make a cup of coffee and sit down and listen. Better yet, sit your family down and get them to listen with you. It is important and Netflix will still be there tomorrow There are reasons to be optimistic that you will not contract Covid-19. Please take the time to listen to this. Click Link – Cornel University Overview After protecting our families and ourselves we have to step back and ask ourselves what are the implications for all of us in the world of commercial real estate? These are the early days and we will learn as we go along. I have been speaking with appraisers to get their thoughts. Up until a few weeks ago, the real estate market was increasing at a rate we had not seen since before 2008. Most people in the appraisal business had predicted a downturn, or correction looming before we had ever heard of Covid-19. They are telling me now that they believe that this event will trigger this correction. One Appraiser emailed me that once the dust settles, he believes that we will see a correction in values of between 15-35% – as we recover from the lost revenues of this pandemic. There was an excellent article in the New York Times on March 20th – for full article – Covid-19 and Commercial Real Estate The gist of the article is that there’s downward pressure on every aspect of every asset class. Assets can’t be valued when tens of millions of people around the world are locked in their homes and commerce has largely come to a halt, with no idea how long the crisis will last. Lack of consensus about the current or future value of assets is also threatening property sales, closing an exit door for investors and landlords. Investment activity could fall by 45 percent this year in the US, Already, large deals are collapsing or getting postponed. The even bigger question is what will come when the crisis recedes. For every kind of property – not to mention a wide range of human activity – there will likely be long-lasting changes, Investors in real estate make their money when they buy. There will likely be opportunities for acquisition as the Covid-19 situation gets worse before it gets better and before the world at large sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Listening to the Cornel video and understanding what to do has made me understand that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a time to be fearful. Investors in commercial real estate should be optimistic that investment opportunities may come their way and they should prepare themselves to take advantage of them For commercial real estate investors that are already fully invested in the market. It is time to hold on and develop strategies with tenants that will enable you to survive until the crisis subsides. Please see my blog post: Lessons For Landlords and Tenants From The Corona Virus Please stay safe and protect your families first
A few years ago, in the wake of the recession, the price of Gas fell one cent $2.00 per gal. I remember taking a photograph of the pylon sign because I did not believe that I would see this price again in my lifetime. It would be something to show my future grandchildren Yesterday, I took another photograph. Gas had fallen to $1.79/gal. and prices are cheaper elsewhere When the crown prince of Saudi Arabia gets a head cold the retail price instantaneously changes at my local gas station in Tampa, which is thousands of miles away. The price either goes up or goes down depending on how people interpret the situation and the mood of the prince. The price at the pump changes again after his doctor visits and gives the prince an aspirin. In the petroleum market and in the stock market the process is forward-looking and valuation changes are rapid. It is different for commercial real estate The value of your commercial property has never been higher. That seems like an absurdity. We are overwhelmed by the Covid-19 Virus and the entire country has shut down. How can this be? To understand why this can be true we have to look at the appraisal process and how we arrive at the value of a property? When trying to determine the market price of a piece of property, we cannot ask a Seller for his opinion because he will give a price that is too high. We cannot ask a Buyer because he will give you a price that is too low, because that is in his best interest. So. we ask an appraiser. Appraisers are arms-length and are highly trained to determine. It is true that there is always some art woven into the science of the appraisal process and different appraisers may arrive at a different value for the same property. However, the methodology is strictly regulated and has been tested by time. The system has been designed to use facts, not emotions to arrive at a property value. Buyers, Sellers, and Lenders rely on the appraisal process. The procedures that the Appraisers follow to determine property value are rigid and uniform. Appraisers are compelled to look at comparable properties and, after accounting for differences such as property condition, location, size, etc , the appraiser will impute value to the property they are appraising. When analyzing comparable properties, the appraiser looks at sales price, lease rates and earnings of similar properties that recently transacted. The process that Appraisers have developed is based on historical information Many Appraisers are still very busy today. There were a lot of deals in the pipeline before the COVID-19 pandemic and the lenders are, for the most part, honoring their loan commitments and Appraisers are providing strong valuations to the lenders. It does not matter that we are today in the midst of an epidemic. Appraisers have their hands tied. If they appraise a property in today’s market, they must use the established procedures of the Appraisal process to determine value. So when the Appraiser pulls up comparable properties today, he is reviewing properties that transacted recently, when we at the top of the real estate market. Appraisers are trapped by the system. They know that COVID-19 will have an effect on property values but the Appraisal process gives themy have no basis to discount property values at this point in time. It is an interesting situation, Buyers and Lenders who had initiated a deal before the COVID-19 crisis are moving forward.to closing. To some, it does not seem to make a huge difference but others privately express concern that they are moving towards closing, fearing that the market today is probably very different from the day that they committed to the deal. Many of them don’t have a choice. They can be sued for specific performance if they back out. The Sellers, on the other hand, are holding their breath and rejoicing. Recognizing the absurdity, some Appraisers are now putting disclaimers into their reports. They may say that the value is valid at the date of Appraisal only. Or they add a clause saying that the value herein is subject to change based on market conditions Real estate values are the story of supply and demand. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that Covid-19 will change the equilibrium, Uncertainty changes the demand. Intuitively, we know that prices have changed. I have already had buyers that had not inked the deal, back out. Some Buyers that had deals in progress are demanding a price concession, even if it means losing their deposit. At the same time, some sellers that I have spoken to are sticking to their sales prices saying that they have not seen values decline. They are right because history has not yet had time to reflect changes. Other Sellers, however, have taken their properties off the market. They will take a step back and wait for the market to recover. The crisis today is very different from 2008 which was basically a liquidity crisis. This time the government is promising that money will be available, so some market participants argue that the effect on property values will not be as dramatic. However, people die, people divorce, people move an some run out of money. Certain lenders may not restructure debt. Inevitably, some property owners will need to sell, even as demand decreases. Buyers are already assembling pools and building cash to take advantage of opportunities that may arise. As these transactions eventually get reflected in the historical Appraisal process, property values will start to decrease. Because the Appraisal process is historical and has a long tail, there will be a time lag in reflecting property values on the way down and again on the way up. No matter what an Appiraser or anybody else tells you, it is time for common sense.
Payment Protection Program (PPP) – Certain Banks Are Using The Cares Act To Protect themselves, Not Their Customers Up until a few weeks ago, I was a humble commercial real estate broker, end of story. How I long for that simpler life. Now I have morphed into a counselor spending time trying to help clients navigate the real estate related issues brought on by the COVID-19 shutdown. Under the CARES Act, a small business employer (a business with fewer than 500 employees) can receive forgivable or low-interest loans of up to $10 million. The purpose is to provide cash-flow assistance to employers who maintain their payrolls during the COVID-19 crisis. This program is known as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The government and lenders are promoting the PPP (Payroll Protection Program) as a wonderful solution for small businesses. The interest rate on the PPP loans is low and if the proceeds are used for qualified purposes such as payroll or utilities the loans will be forgiven. The guidance given to small businesses is that it is a simple process and that they should submit the PPP application through the bank with whom they have a relationship. April 3rd was the opening date to submit applications I went with a client to Bank of America on April 3rd so they could submit their PPP application. This client has been a loyal customer of Bank of America for 35 five years and they have always maintained strong deposits in the bank. There can be no question about the long-standing banking relationship. Bank of America refused to even look at the application, saying that the applicant did not meet the BOA criteria for the PPP loan because the applicant company did not owe Bank of America any money. The applicant business has been run in a fiscally responsible manner and at present does not have any loans or credit cards with Bank of America. For that reason, the applicant company did not qualify for relief through the PPP program at Bank Of America. I was shocked and my client was outraged. They are a small business and were only applying for $20,000 in order to cover payroll expenses. All the propaganda about The Bank of America taking care of existing clients is nonsense. The PPP loan program is designed to assist employers in maintaining eligible payroll costs within the “covered period.” The “covered period” runs from February 15 through June 30, 2020. The critical part is that the loans are made on a “first come, first served” basis, per guidelines issued by the Small Business Administration (SBA.) The Banks are the gatekeepers and certain banks such as Bank Of America are only processing PPP loans for customers who owe Bank Of America money. Other clients are barred from crossing the threshold My interpretation is that there is a simple reason for this code of conduct. The bank does not want defaults on its loan portfolio. In selecting only customers with a loan relationship, Bank Of America is protecting its interests. By processing only PFP loans for these selected customers, the bank is more secure that it will continue to receive loan payments from clients who have existing loans. I do not believe that this policy (i.e. requiring a loan relationship with the bank) is mandated by the SBA. I do believe that Bank of America has taken it upon themselves to select applications from certain clients in order to protect Bank Of America. By the time Bank of America has submitted all the self-serving PPP loan applications to the SBA, the funds allocated for the PPP loan program will have been depleted Now I get it. Certain banks are using PPP process to protect the banks, not small businesses. The manner in which the program is being administered by certain lenders is neither honest nor fair. Countless small businesses will be shut out completely and they will not be able to keep their employees employed. Relationships are a two-way street. Bank of America and other banks who are operating in a similar fashion will pay a price down the road when their clients leave. This has a long tail. How wide-spread is this? I suspect that this manner of processing t he PPP applications is occurring at some larger banks. I am not sure if the smaller banks and community banks are operating in the same way. My gut feeling is that the smaller banks will take much better care of their customers. I can only speak factually about my experience with one bank. If I am wrong in my assessment, and it turns out that it is mandatory for all banks to service only their clients with loan relationships then I apologize for this entire article and I stand corrected. If I am correct, then the system is broken and is being abused. People should know about it. There may be other alternatives. I want to share whatever I can learn with my clients and my fellow brokers. I would love to hear from anybody who has been working with banks what their experience has been. Also, I would love to hear from lenders directly, as to how they are administering the PPP loan application process. .Kindly comment below
