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Fla. Real Estate Journal Kills Print Edition; Moves to Web-only Format

ATLANTA (June 25, 2010) - The issue of Florida Real Estate Journal pictured here instantly has become something of a collector's item. It's the final print edition of the weekly that covers commercial real estate in the Sunshine State.

Beginning next month, Florida Real Estate Journal converts to a web-only format, and the final print editions lead story states. In the article, Editor Robert Pitts says the move represents "an exciting change." Exciting, he says, because moving to an e-newspaper will enable FREJ to "deliver more value to the reader and help us better serve the commercial real estate industry."

This move is interesting because it flies in the face of the general consensus that niche publications such as real estate weeklies will fare better than general distribution papers. Daily papers are shrinking and fighting for survival due to declines in advertising and readership and high costs of distribution. Niche business publications seem better positioned to take advantage because their readers tend to be married to the product. And they typically use U.S. mail rather than people driving cars from driveway to driveway to deliver the paper.

FREJ's Pitts offers a succinct reason for what's happening to his papers (and others across the country).

"Print readership has been falling while electronic readership (of our website and e-newsletters) has been rising. We - like most businesses - have been scratching our heads and wondering how to adapt. But none of our efforts stemmed the tide.

"Now enter the recession - which turned a gradual decline in print advertising revenue into a freefall - and you finally have the economic impetus to complete the transition. By going web-only, we will save more than 30% on our overhead costs and become a better news provider in the process."

As a subscriber who paid in advance for a year of the print FREJ, I wonder whether that automatically makes me a "Premium Member" who access all the paper's content online. I assume and hope so.

While I'll miss getting the Florida Real Estate Journal twice a month in Wilbert News Strategies' P.O. Box, I'm glad it's sticking around, though. Our clients live being the that newspaper. (I still can call it a newspaper, right?)

Nation's Top Commercial Real Estate Reporters Say It's Best Beat in Business

ATLANTA (June 21, 2010) - So you want to be a commercial real estate reporter? Then listen now to what the experts say.

The beat is dynamic, interesting, ever changing and even fun, three of the country's top commercial real estate reporters said on a panel at the NAREE convention this month in Austin, Texas. More than that, because of the predicted commercial mortgage meltdown and resulting flood of foreclosures, it's the business beat of 2010.

"There's always stories in commercial real estate," said Dan Taub, who covers commercial real estate out of Los Angeles for Bloomberg. "There's always buildings being built, buildings going under. Commercial real estate people love to talk."

Steve Brown, who's covered real estate at the Dallas Morning News "since like the Hoover administration, fell into the beat. He agreed that CRE people love to talk "and they usually know what they're talking about."

Commercial real estate's swashbucklers and characters make the beat anything but boring, the panelists said. "The players usually want to talk," Brown said. "They're full of bulls--t, don't think they're not. But at least they'll talk."

Kris Hudson, who focuses on retail and hotel coverage at The Wall Street Journal, says commercial real estate affects anyone who shops, works and stays at hotels - in other words, everyone.

"It's important to think of commercial real estate as part of the mix," he says. "It's all interconnected."

At regional dailies across the country reporters who traditionally covered residential real estate are being asked to cover commercial as well - partly because of cutbacks designed to save money. This is what prompted NAREE to put together its "So You're New to the Beat" panel that attracted scores of conference attendees.

Shannon Behnken, who covers residential real estate at the Tampa Tribune, moderated the panel. She also has started to cover more commercial real estate. She's likely to enjoy doing it, according to Hudson's comments.

"It's actually kind of fun once you figure it out," Hudson says. "Real estate is of interest and of great influence in any community."

One key to success, Hudson says, is to cultivate sources at real estate brokerage firms and banks. "They love to talk about other brokers' deals." As someone who covered the beat for several years, I concur. That advice is spot on.

U.S. Office Market Headed for Record Vacancy?

By Tony Wilbert, Wilbert News Strategies

AUSTIN, Texas (June 4, 2010) - The. U.S. office market will bottom out by year end, but not before the national vacancy rate eclipses a 25-year record. That's what Bob Bach, senior economist at Grubb & Ellis told the National Association of Real Estate Editors journalism conference today.

"The leasing markets continue to deteriorate, there's no question about it," Bach told NAREE members gathered at the Hilton Austin. "They'll bottom out by year end then gradually recover for three to four years before reaching equilibrium."

Bach said it's ironic office vacancy rates are increasing even as demand among investors for core class A office assets ramps up. 

The U.S. office market's vacancy rate jumped to 17.9 percent in the first quarter, a 50 basis point quarter-to-quarter increase. This steep increase surprised and chagrined Bach, who said the highest vacancy rate he's seen in 25 years of tracking it is 18 percent.

"We'll most certainly sail past that," Bach said. "It means there's probably still a lot of shadow space out there."

The economist's comments prompted moderater and NAREE Austin conference Chairman Ralph Bivins to make sure he heard Bach right that we're on the verge of breaking a record. Yes, it's true, Bach said.

And the country's worst office markets? Phoenix and Detroit, according to Bach.

NAREE Panel: No Quick Turnaround for CRE

By Tony Wilbert

 AUSTIN, Texas (June 2, 2010) - Despite encouraging signs, effects of the commercial real estate recession will reverberate for the next couple years. That's the key takeaway from a panel of CRE experts who spoke today at the National Association of Real Estate Editors' 44th Annual Journalism Conference.

NAREE board member and National Real Estate Investor Editor Matt Valley, left, moderated the panel. He opened it with a few encouraging stats about increased investment sales activity and bidding wars for well-located, solidly performing assets. He also noted that Steve Pumper of Transwestern had to miss the panel because he was working on a deal. "That's a good sign," Valley said.

The panel pretty much stayed away from the question raised in the panel's title: "Commercial Realty Trends: The Next Meltdown or Not?" That is until Jeff Collins, real estate reporter at the Orange County Register, asked if CRE is headed for a meltdown.

Probably not, panelists said, but the small signs of an upturn might be fleeting. Expect to commercial real estate to be flat at best for a while, they added.

"I don't see us going into a double-dip recession, but we won't be enjoying an uptick for a couple years at least," said David Steinwedell, managing partner of Austin-based Stoneforge Advisors LLC. A former Wells Real Estate Funds executive, Steinwedell said the current "pricing bubble" for well-performing, quality assets soon would flatten.

Panelist Jeff Friedman, co-CEO of Mesa West Capital of Los Angeles, told the audience a double-dip real estate recession is a possibility. "What we're doing is not taking the medicine we should be taking," he said. "We're prolonging and amortizing the pain."

For his part, panelist Mitch Siegler, senior managing director of Pathfinder Partners, said commercial real estate will be in "a digestive mode" for the next three or four years because supply is well ahead of demand.

AJC Names Michelle Shaw Interim CRE Reporter

By Tony Wilbert

AUSTIN, Texas (June 2, 2010) - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's national search for a new commercial real estate reporter has ended where it started, its own newsroom - at least for the time being.

 The paper that used to cover Dixie like the dew named residential real estate reporter Michelle Shaw interim commercial real estate reporter effective June 1. Shaw diligently has covered the impact of the mortgage crisis and resulting residential meltdown. Now she'll get to dive into the world of CMBS, cap rates and $100 TI allowances while also continuing to cover residential.

The move comes the same week as the National Association of Real Estate Editors holds its 44th Annual Real Estate Journalism Conference in Austin. While residential real estate has dominated this conference in the past, commercial real estate has emerged as the hot topic because of the anticipated meltdown this year. The Wall Street Journal's Lingling Wei reports today that the "worst is yet to come" on the CMBS front.

 So, Shaw will be extremely busy during this vital year for the CRE industry. She replaces Gertha Coffee, who left the beat this week to join the AJC's expanded education team. Coffee will be a general assignment education reporter.

AJC editors say Shaw will cover CRE on an interim basis. As a former AJC reporter, I know interim can last awhile. So, let's welcome Michelle and wish her success and scoops.