Commercial real estate news: office, retail, industrial and multifamily trends, adaptive reuse, leasing, and investment across U.S. markets.
U.S. construction starts fell to a $1.34 trillion annual rate in August, Dodge Construction Network reported Sept. 21, giving back most of July’s megaproject-driven jump. Data centers and power plants still dominated the largest groundbreakings.
Newmark said on Sept. 18 that it arranged Ares financing for Related Ross’s purchase of the 124-acre Boca Raton Innovation Campus, the former IBM research site where the first IBM PC was developed.
RREEF Property Trust’s board unanimously approved a plan of complete liquidation on Sept. 15, suspending share sales, redemptions and reinvestment, and will sell seven properties in five states.
Six months after its IPO, Janus Living amended its Bank of America-led credit agreement, raising the revolver from $500 million to $1.25 billion and retiring a $100 million term loan.
A BOMA International study released Sept. 16 puts the annual economic output of operating U.S. commercial buildings at $609.9 billion, supporting 3.9 million jobs. It also finds data centers made up nearly 46% of private office construction in 2025, up from under 5% a decade ago.
Harrison Street and The Michaels Organization will build and operate Presidio Terrace Apartments, a $230 million, 321-unit, 700-bed project on the University of San Diego campus, in what the university calls its first public-private partnership.
Associated Builders and Contractors said its Construction Backlog Indicator rose half a month to 8.5 months in August. Chief economist Anirban Basu said roughly one in six members is now under contract on a data center, the highest share on record.
NAHB’s analysis of federal survey data shows 1.37 million women worked in construction in 2025, the highest share since at least 2004 – concentrated in office roles, not the crafts where builders have 326,000 openings.
A Mortenson-McCownGordon joint venture will build the ballpark and JE Dunn will develop the surrounding 85 acres, moving the Royals’ $3 billion Crown Center project toward a 2027 groundbreaking.
SL Green said Sept. 14 that a new eight-year lease brought 245 Park Avenue to 100% leased and that its 2026 Manhattan office leasing has reached 1,760,649 square feet across 129 leases, signed 15.8% above prior escalated rents.
Realty Income and KKR said Sept. 14 they will form a euro-denominated joint venture holding net lease assets in Spain, Ireland, Poland and the Netherlands, with KKR taking 49% for β¬528 million and Realty Income keeping control and the management fee.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb announced separate settlements Sept. 14 with JBG Smith and Mid-America Apartments, which will pay $8.1 million and $1.2 million and stop using revenue management software built on competitors’ confidential data.
The commercial mortgage trade association has hired BMO Capital Markets’ head of CMBS to lead it from Sept. 30, ending an interim stretch after Lisa Pendergast’s decade in the job.
The Nasdaq-listed REIT sold 30 outpatient medical buildings for about $198 million, repaid $119 million of secured term loans and moved a step closer to a senior housing portfolio.
A 24-story Downtown Brooklyn tower finished in 2023 and never leased will become 239 rental apartments, financed by a $208 million first mortgage construction loan from Northwind Group.
Mayor Daniel Lurie broke ground Sept. 9 on FivePoint’s 270-acre Candlestick Point redevelopment, which is planned for 7,200 homes and a 2.8-million-square-foot innovation district in the Bayview.
The all-stock combination announced Sept. 9 creates a middle-market apartment REIT with 44,354 units across 163 communities in 17 states, an $8.1 billion enterprise value and roughly $24 million in expected annual synergies.
ConstructConnect and Oxford Economics raised their 2026 nonresidential building forecast to 8.7% growth, but nearly the entire $78 billion increase in commercial construction traces to data centers, while manufacturing falls 43% and residential starts drop 10.5%.
Multifamily buildings took an average of 18.9 months from permit to completion in 2025, 0.7 months faster than 2024 but nearly seven months longer than the 2013 low, according to NAHB’s analysis of Census Survey of Construction data.
AHR took ownership of six of eight Kensington Senior Living communities for about $572 million, pushing year-to-date investments past $2 billion, and named Public Storage’s Aric Chang chief financial officer a day later.
The Scion Group and funds managed by Ares Real Estate acquired four off-campus communities serving Texas State, Georgia and Tennessee from SCHENK+ affiliates, the pair’s second student housing portfolio together this year.
U.S. construction spending fell 0.5% in July to a $2.16 trillion annual rate, with residential work down 7.3% from a year ago while private office construction β the category that captures data centers β climbed 21.3%.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Hunt Midwest have formed a joint venture, Two-Point Development, to serve as master developer for mixed-use districts around the club’s new Kansas City, Kan., stadium and its future Olathe, Kan., headquarters.
Only 41% of apartments completed in the first quarter of 2026 were leased within three months, the seventh straight quarter below 50%, as the record delivery wave keeps pressure on lease-up.
NIC MAP’s updated Senior Housing Market Outlook says the industry needs more than $1 trillion in cumulative investment through 2050, with construction starts down about 67% since 2021 as the 80-plus population enters its steepest growth in U.S. history.
EQT Real Estate’s Industrial Value Fund V sold a 46-building warehouse portfolio across 10 Southeast markets to an LBA Realty affiliate, days after national industrial vacancy fell for the first time since 2022.
Nuveen closed on more than $1 billion for the fourth vintage of its C-PACE lending fund series, bringing total commitments to $3 billion as insurers treat the asset class as a standing allocation.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management raised its 2026 U.S. commercial real estate transaction volume forecast 12% to $635 billion, citing constrained supply and repriced assets as an attractive entry point.
Access Point Financial and TMGOC Ventures co-originated $120 million in bridge financing and preferred equity for Kailas Companies’ office-to-hotel conversion in downtown New Orleans.
The Bluffs, a two-building Class A campus in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, has completed a full repositioning with more than 57,000 square feet leased, including The Honest Company’s headquarters relocation.
Get expert insights, market updates, and new opportunities delivered to your inbox.