More than 800 business leaders, public officials, students and community activists gathered in Philadelphia on March 12 for the third annual PA/NJ Sustainability Symposium, presented by the Delaware Valley Green Building Council (DVGBC) and hosted by Temple University. NREI is pleased to present a video of the conference here.

For the millions of Americans who lost their homes in a foreclosure or short sale during the recession, things are starting to look up. In addition to receiving a piece of the $3.6 billion settlement that banks are distributing to borrowers who were wrongfully foreclosed on, some homeowners are now becoming “boomerang buyers” and re-entering the market after a foreclosure or short sale.Neal Katz, a mortgage agent at All Western Mortgage in Las Vegas, says he fields calls from a number of people wondering how long they have to wait before qualifying for another mortgage. “The biggest hurdle is time,” he says. “Time is the only thing that makes things better.”

While Vornado Realty Trust has proved quite successful in disposing of its retail properties, the REIT continues to see negative impact from its investments in non-traditional assets, in particular its stakes in struggling chains J.C. Penney and Toys ‘R’ Us. Last April, Vornado Chairman Steven Roth announced the firm would simplify its property portfolio by selling off enclosed regional malls, non-strategic and non-core strip centers and its share of Toys ‘R’ Us. At the time, Vornado’s retail assets included 137 centers totaling 24.5 million sq. ft.

The year appears to be opening with a strong outlook among lenders, suggesting that those seeking to finance net lease transactions will have ample options for making deals happen. CMBS lenders are reentering the market, according to observers, after a year or so of a cooler approach to unrated triple net lease properties. They’re now expanding their parameters to include more triple net properties.

After store opening plans reached a five-year high in January, retailers have pulled back on expansion plans for the next two years, according to the March 2013: National Retailer Demand Monthlyreport put together by RBC Capital Markets. In a slight adjustment, in February, planned store openings fell 0.6 percent from year-end 2012, to 81,467. Most of the scrapped new stores included supermarkets and specialty retail.

In most states, it is the landlord’s responsibility to see that repairs are made within a reasonable time. But have you had tenants offer to make their own repairs? At first, it might seem like a reasonable idea. Your handy tenant offers to paint, repair the dishwasher or replace broken glass in your rental unit. In exchange, you offer a rent reduction. You experience fewer repair hassles and out-of-pocket expenses, and he or she saves some money. Everyone’s happy and nothing could go wrong, right?

CHICAGO—Walgreens today opened its doors to its newest flagship store in the city, located within the Noel State Bank building at the northwest corner of North and Damen avenues in Chicago’s Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhood. The bank building, constructed in 1919, was designed in a neo-classical style. The property has housed several different banks over the decades, the last being Midwest Bank, which closed several years ago.

MINNEAPOLIS—Village Green, based in Farmington Hills, Mich., has gained about $82 million in loans and incentives through U.S Bank for the redevelopment of the Soo Line Building office tower here into 254 apartments. The locally based bank is providing a $40 million construction loan, a more than $19 million bridge loan, and a $23 million federal and state Historic Tax Credit commitment through its St. Louis-based community development subsidiary U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corp.

DAYTON—Plainview, N.Y.-based Dunkirk Realty has purchased Dayton’s Kettering Tower located at 40 N. Main St. Dunkirk Realty will acquire the property with investment partners under Tower Partners LLC. A family-owned commercial real estate firm owned by Albert Macanian and his sons, Dunkirk Realty’s Kettering Tower purchase is the company’s first foray into Ohio.

Jacobson Warehouse Company is relocating and expanding its St. Louis, consumer good third-party logistics operation at Northside Distribution Center where it will occupy 402,000 sq. ft. of space. The landlord, J.B. Management, based out of Sacramento, was represented by Jones Lang LaSalle’s Terry Sievert and Dave Branding. John J. Sheahan, Jr., a principal of NAI DESCO in St. Louis, and Joe Lauinger, a broker with Mohr Partners’ Dallas office, represented the tenant.