Being Gutsy Is Bringing Some Glory

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
October 9, 2012, 8:12 p.m. ET
Being Gutsy Is Bringing Some Glory
Smaller Firms That Bought Commercial Property During Downturn See Profits

By ELIOT BROWN

The expected sale of a hulking, brick office tower in Midtown Manhattan is on track to net its seller the largest dollar profit to date on any single property that was purchased during the financial downturn.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443294904578046812154313132.html

Economics, George Bernard Shaw

If all the economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.

- George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

Natural Gas Liquid Prices Pressuring Midstream Profits

03 Oct 2012 12:25 PM
Natural Gas Liquid Prices Pressuring Midstream Profits

Fitch Ratings-New York-03 October 2012: With supply continuing to outstrip demand, low prices on natural gas liquids (NGLs) are weighing on midstream processors' profitability. Fitch Ratings believes slowing NGL demand and lingering price weakness is likely to pressure profitability throughout the balance of 2012 and into 2013.

Moving On Up: Why Valley Start-ups Are Relocating to San Francisco

http://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/why-san-francisco-is-so-start-up-friendly.html

Moving On Up: Why Valley Start-ups Are Relocating to San Francisco
BY Eric Markowitz

Starting up? Don't head for the Valley. A culture shift is well under way, and San Francisco has become the new destination for Millennial entrepreneurs.

THEN AND NOW: The Warfield Theater brought vibrancy to Market Street in the 1920s, then witnessed the neighborhood's decay before a recent resurgence, no small thanks to the start-up boom.

Worldwide Plaza Bids Coming in Slightly Below George Comfort’s Lofty Targets

Worldwide Plaza Bids Coming in Slightly Below George Comfort’s Lofty Targets
By Daniel Geiger 10/01/12 6:04pm

Bids for Worldwide Plaza are coming in below the sky-high projections sellers George Comfort & Sons and RCG Longview had hoped for when the partners (finally) put the nearly two million-square-foot office tower on the market in recent weeks.

http://commercialobserver.com/2012/10/worldwide-plaza-bids-coming-in-slightly-below-george-comforts-lofty-targets/

Finance·Money, Gordon Gekko, Wall Street

Greed is good.

- Gordon Gekko, Wall Street(1987)

CRE Losses Moderating for U.S. Financial Institutions

27 Sep 2012 4:08 PM
CRE Losses Moderating for U.S. Financial Institutions

Fitch Ratings-Chicago-27 September 2012: Four years after U.S. financial institutions' commercial real estate (CRE) loan portfolios began to come under extreme pressure during the credit crisis, moderate improvements in CRE loan loss performance are supporting steady but slow asset quality recovery for most U.S. financial institutions rated by Fitch. The trend is positive and reflects a view that the recovery in CRE will not be as financially painful as Fitch had previously expected, although the return to normalized levels of performance and growth may be more prolonged.

Happiness, Ernest Hemingway

Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

- Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), “The Garden of Eden” Ch. 11

Special Report: How Romney energy czar fuels business with politics

Special Report: How Romney energy czar fuels business with politics

By David Sheppard and Joshua Schneyer and Alexander Cohen
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON | Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:00 pm EDT

(Reuters) - It's a cornerstone policy in Mitt Romney's bid for the White House: build the Keystone XL Pipeline. The controversial $7.6 billion conduit would pump a river of crude from Canada down to Texas refineries.

President Barack Obama has postponed until next year a decision on whether to approve the line, as environmentalists decry its route across ecologically sensitive areas. Romney says it will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and promote energy independence. In April, he told fellow Republican Party leaders: "I will build that pipeline if I have to do it myself."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/21/us-hamm-romney-profile-idUSBRE88J12L20120921

American Real Estate Investors Seek Opportunities in European Debt Crisis

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American Real Estate Investors Seek Opportunities in European Debt Crisis

By TERRY PRISTIN
Published: September 18, 2012

While the world is anxiously watching to see how the European debt crisis will unfold, many real estate investors in the United States are eagerly seeking opportunities to reap profits from the Continent’s distress.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/realestate/commercial/american-real-estate-investors-seek-opportunities-in-europes-debt-crisis.html