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It is the hottest investment source in South Florida real estate development. It can create thousands of local jobs, and pump millions of dollars into our economy. It has helped build “cultural bridges” with foreign investors, and assisted them in becoming U.S. citizens. But it has also been used as a vehicle for fraud, criticized for allowing rich foreign investors to jump the line for citizenship, and manipulated to benefit wealthy urban areas.

We describe, of course, the EB-5 visa program: a process that allows foreigners to invest in local businesses that employ American workers in (supposedly) economically depressed areas, in return for a short and smooth path to U.S. citizenship for these investors and their families. Congress will decide whether or not to allow the EB-5 program (in its current form) to expire at the end of this month, and while it has many supporters, there is also a serious call for reform to tighten some loopholes. How has the program impacted South Florida, and what does its future hold?

Read the full article in The Real Deal SFL

Startups raising money from investors helps determine demand for commercial real estate in a given market, and as companies raise larger amounts of money, those venture capital deals have led to “significant leasing activity as decision makers look to lock up space to accommodate continued and anticipated expansion”.

Case studies such as Varsity Tutors, the Clayton-based online tutoring startup that raised $57 million from investors in November 2015 or LockerDome, which at the end of 2014 had raised $10 million, started talking about upgrading their office space almost immediately after their deals closed.

Read the full article in Bizjournals

After slow first quarter, office lease activity in Miami-Dade picks up according to a new report from a commercial brokerage firm.

The Q2 2016 Office Insight report said that office leasing has increased from the first quarter, but that the market is still “subdued” compared to previous cycles. Historically, the second quarters of 2011 through 2015 averaged 12.5 percent more deal activity and 70 percent more square footage leased, according to the report.

The second quarter of this year saw 200 leases signed, averaging 2,000 square feet each, up from 150 leases of the same size in the first quarter.

Miami’s Central Business District and Miami Beach saw greater demand than supply during the second quarter, unlike the rest of Miami-Dade’s office markets. Vacancy in the CBD, a market with nearly 15 million square feet of office space in downtown Miami and Brickell, was at 18.2 percent, up from 17.1 percent last quarter. Aventura, with about 1 million square feet of office space, had the lowest vacancy rate at 4 percent.

To learn more about this information, please click here to read The Real Deal‘s full article

Increasingly, green design is cropping up as a concern to both tenants and owners in commercial real estate. Our general attitudes are placing more emphasis on environmental concerns and smart, sustainable design in all sectors. Happily, concern for the planet lines up nicely, in this case, with concern for the bottom line. Sustainable practices are good business.

With everyone taking an interest in ways to conserve energy and create a more “green” society, CRE developers are taking note. Investors and tenants are aware that sustainable practices can significantly improve performance in many areas. According to John Friedman of the Huffington Post sustainability benefits the companies that make it a priority in 6 ways:

#1: “License to operate” – community goodwill can translate to a cooperative attitude.
#2: Access to investment capital – sustainability means better marketability
#3: Cost reduction/avoidance – preventive maintenance saves money in the long run.
#4: Market opportunity/advantage – a more positive perception from others is likely.
#5: Employee engagement – productivity and retention are improved; aesthetics are enhanced.
#6: Ability to seize the high ground in innovation – lead the way in development of green practices and products.

To learn more about this topic, please click here to read Realconnex full article

According to experts, U.S. investors may want to consider keeping their money at home in multi-family real estate projects. “Buying real estate is better done on a direct basis,” said Eric Jones, chief investment officer of an important Real Estate firm. “Public REITs are too correlated to the public market and interest rates in particular.

Jones said higher income suburban locations in major metropolitan areas will outperform urban core for apartment investment. In his view, new supply in urban core areas with slowing growth coupled with investors currently paying too low of cap rate is a recipe to lose money, even in multi-family apartments.

He prefers to focus on regions with above-average growth in prime renter demographics and regional economies with strong economic vitality. Jones said his favorite locations right now include North Miami Beach, Orlando, Dallas and Denver.

Read more in The Street