What’s In Store for 2024?
2024 is well underway. It has been a rollercoaster already and we do not see the volatility slowing down with potential interest rate cuts (maybe?) sometime later this year, and of course the presidential election. The A.I. boom helped tech stocks to blast off at the beginning of the new year…They have cooled a bit since then, but not entirely fallen off a cliff.
All these elements combined create a lot of anxiety for real estate investors, including us. We are dipping our toes back into the investment pool, but not diving in. There are especially few catalysts to make investing in ground-up real estate development attractive at the moment. A correction will need to take place or a major shift in interest rate policy, to initiate a strong Buy signal for real estate developers in 2024.
That being said, I am hearing about people doing smaller investor type deals along the periphery in retail, cannabis, and contractor garages. All of these deal types are not our speciality, but we have recently invested in retail and hospitality deals to stay active and because we believe there is a reasonable amount of upside, say hitting a single or double.
Our joint venture team recently received an offer on a property we were permitting for 180,000 SF North of Boston. That project was moving through permitting until late 2022 when we decided to pause. The buyer is an owner-user that needs yard space for their business. No firm agreement is in-place.
Another deal we have been involved with includes the 735 Broadway project in Malden & Melrose, MA. On that project we have strong interest from prospective leases for the 95,000 SF of space. If those deals get inked soon, they should open for business later in 2024.
So some deal activity has picked up early this year, but nothing in terms of major development opportunities has arisen. We continue to look for opportunities to provide fee-development services and to partner with family offices and institutions on development opportunities. Feel free to reach out to us if you would like to explore a new opportunity.
