February 1998

DEPARTMENTSANDCOLUMNS AT DEADUNE. ........................................................................................... .3 EDITORIAL ................................................................................................. 6 REAL ESTATE ............................................................................................. 7 CLOSE UP: GENE LEWIS......................................................................... 8 CORPORATE PROFILE: CITIZENS BUSINESS BANK ..................... 9 PEOPLE, PLACES AND EVENTS 10 MANAGING ...............................................................................................11 THE EMPLOYERS GROUP ................................................................... 13 CORNER ON THE MARKET..................................................................... 14 EXPORTJNG .............................................................................................. l5 LAW ............................................................................................................. l6 COMPUTERS/SOFTWARE.....................................................................17 LIST: TOP COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL CONTRACTORS .......... 28 LIST: RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE BUILDERS .................................... 42 LIST: ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING FIRJI.1S ............................ 44 MONTH IN REVIEW ............................................................................... 47 EXECUTIVE TIME OUT ......................................................................... 50 RESTAURANT REVIEW ......................................................................... 58 MEAD ON WINE...................................................................................... 59 CALENDAR............................................................................................... 65 NEWS AND FEATURES LOAN PROGRAM: REAL OR HYPE? ............................................. .3 PLAYING THE WATER GAME ....................................................3 RELOCATABLE BUSINESS BOOMING...................................... 3 OPTIVUS TO DEVELOP PROTON BEAM ................................. 5 ONTARIO: DESTINATION LOCATION .................................... 19 ONTARIO EXPANSION MOSTLY COMPLETE ...................... 21 RANCHO CUCAMONGA JOINS OCVA .................................... 29 DESERT HOSPITAL TO CHANGE NAME................................ 32 WHO\u27S WHO IN BANKING ......................................................... 35 FIRST COMMUNITY BANK TO EXPAND...............................41 VALLEY INDEPENDENT TO ACQIDRE BRANCH ................ 43 DRIVING THE SPEEDWAY IN A JAG .......................................48 I.E. REAL ESTATE RECOVERING ............................................ 51 SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL PAYS OFF ............................... 52 SELLING ON THE NET ................................................................ 54 OUTDOOR CHANNEL NEARLY SELF SUFFICIENT ............ 55 INTERNET IS INTERSCARY ...................................................... 5

Blended Value Investing: Innovations in Real Estate

In March 2006, The World Economic Forum published Blended Value Investing: Capital Opportunities for Social and Environmental Impact. That paper, written by Jed Emerson and Joshua Spitzer, presented and explored the notion that between market-rate financial investments and philanthropy lie investment opportunities that intentionally create both financial returns and environmental and social value. These investment instruments seek not simply to balance extra-financial value with financial value, to avoid doing harm, or to add token social responsibility to financial investing (as is true of many 'double bottom line' funds); rather they pursue a sustained blending of value creation -- in financial, environmental and other dimensions. That paper presented 12 case studies of funds and investment instruments in this blended value investing category with a focus on global economic and social value creation more than environmental value creation.In the autumn of 2006, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation funded a new exploration of blended value, this time focused more specifically on the area of environmental and conservation finance. Many innovations are advancing the field of environmental finance, many of these strategies have been well documented in a variety of articles, books and websites. Nevertheless, for many asset owners and managers, creating blended financial and environmental returns still remains a difficult goal to attain. These actors continue to ask questions regarding the types of investment option before them, the degree (if any) to which they carry a financial penalty, and the nature of the environmental value created (among other questions). Accordingly, this paper offers a broad overview of various real estate-based investment instruments and funds that are structured to generate financial returns while simultaneously advancing environmental value. The specific audience for this paper includes foundation executives seeking to move beyond traditional grantmaking, as well as high-net-worth individuals and other asset trustees working to understand options for pursuing full, blended value investments -- namely, those that create a defined level of economic value combined with environmental impact.This inquiry introduces frameworks for approaching blended value investments, and it raises a series of questions potential investors will probably ask. While the authors believe these investments will ultimately prove viable and efficient, this inquiry stops short of comparing these blended value investments to more traditional alternatives. In the absence of further data, the authors cannot assert that these investments are superior to traditional strategies. The inquiry's conclusion suggests future studies that might bring more data to the ongoing discussion

Retirement Security: Improved Guidance Could Help Account Owners Understand the Risks of Investing in Unconventional Assets

[Excerpt] Federal law places few restrictions on the types of investments allowable in tax-favored retirement accounts, such as IRAs or employer-sponsored 401(k) plans. Recent federal and state investigations and litigation have raised questions as to whether investing in unconventional assets may jeopardize the accounts’ tax-favored status, placing account owners’ retirement security at risk. GAO was asked to examine issues related to the potential risks and responsibilities associated with investments in unconventional assets. GAO examined: (1) what is known about the prevalence of accounts that invest in unconventional assets; (2) how these accounts are managed; and (3) what challenges are associated with administering these retirement accounts. GAO reviewed relevant federal laws, regulations, and guidance; analyzed data collected from the retirement industry; analyzed available industry documents; and reviewed 334 related consumer complaints collected from three federal agencies and two independent entities

Corporate real estate management in the retail sector: a study of the relationship between the management of the corporate real estate and corporate performance

Retail organisations have often been cited as being at the forefront of corporate real estate management. This research found that the retail sector can be characterised by diversity both in terms of the degree to which organisations are vertically integrated and in terms of the range of modes of retailing they engage in. This in turn led to highly diverse real estate portfolios. Given this diversity it may be surprising that the over riding strategy which the vast majority of sample firms adopted was focused on supporting the core retail activity. However the way in which they implement this strategy, again reflected the diversity in the sector. In terms of the future, the senior real estate managers were focusing on the medium term particularly looking at the way change would impact their functional strategy. This study provides a snap-shot of current practice and contributes to the debate however it also recognised that there is a need to answer the more fundamental questions

The Graaskamp Legacy

James A. Graaskamp\u27s perspective on classroom education and his alternative research paradigm pioneered or greatly enhanced several real estate principles that are more relevant today than during his life. These principles are summarized and presented in 5 sections: A Different Brand of Research, The Development Feasibility, How Appraisers Value, Who\u27s Watching the Chicken Coop, and Teaching an Ethical Vision

Stabilizing Neighborhoods Impacted by Concentrated Foreclosures: Scattered-Site Rental Housing Challenges and Opportunities

The negative impacts of concentrated foreclosures have been destabilizing communities across the country. Community development corporations (CDCs) and other nonprofits that are active in these neighborhoods face falling property values, decreased lending activity and other consequences that are complicating their efforts at community revitalization through acquisition, rehabilitation and resale of vacant and foreclosed housing stock. Given the current crisis in the housing and credit markets, community development corporations aiming for neighborhood stabilization may wish to acquire foreclosed single-family properties and operate them as scattered-site rental units instead. This study presents the challenges that nonprofits pursuing such a plan are likely to face. It discusses the main management, financing and political issues associated with developing and operating scattered-site rental housing while providing a foundation upon which CDCs considering such activities can evaluate their capacity and willingness to meet the challenges. The paper explores how local market conditions, internal organizational capacity and the current policy environment affect nonprofit efforts to acquire, rehabilitate and rent foreclosed properties. The study includes operational and advocacy recommendations for improving the context in which scattered-site rental housing can be managed. The paper also considers the unique difficulties of the current situation and concludes that comprehensive revitalization efforts that emphasize cross-sectoral partnerships and enjoy strong local government support are most likely to exert a positive impact on a community

Crisis' Heritage Management - New Business Opportunities Out of the Financial Collapse

This paper intends to present the opportunities emerging for the national economy, out of the financial crisis. In particular the management of those, which arise from the commercial real estate owned property sector, defined by the author as crisis heritage management. On one hand, as real estate property prices are subject of wide fluctuations, the longer possession of such assets can seriously impact the financial condition of the already shattered financial institutions, but on the on other - with the help of professional and proactive management, and the right kind of attitude by all the stakeholders, the heritage left out of the financial collapse, can not only help stabilize the system - bringing liquidity into it, but can also support its healthy corporate governance in the long-term. The properties themselves (business buildings, warehouses, retail-and-office spaces), being an object of optimization of maintenance costs, re-engineering, intensive marketing, as a result of the crisis, can serve as a solid base for number of new and profitable business and investment opportunities, described in the article, as a proof of the healing effect of the financial crisis and the second chance it gives.Comment: Presented at the 2013 Sofia Business School Master Classes in Global Risks Managemen

Real Estate Equity Investments and the Institutional Lender: Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

We consider a setup in which the channel from Alice to Bob is less noisy than the channel from Eve to Bob. We show that there exist encoding and decoding which accomplish error correction and authentication simultaneously; that is, Bob is able to correctly decode a message coming from Alice and reject a message coming from Eve with high probability. The system does not require any secret key shared between Alice and Bob, provides information theoretic security, and can safely be composed with other protocols in an arbitrary context

A Strategic Household Purchase: Consumer House Buying Behavior

The aim of this study is to examine consumer house-buying behavior from the consumers’ perspective. In view of the existing literature exploring consumer decision making, the purpose of this research was threefold: (a) to propose a conceptual model of consumer decision making within the frame of consumer behavior; (b) to gain knowledge of factors impacting this process from the empirical standpoint with the focus on prefabricated house purchases; and (c) to offer implications for beneficial purchases of prefabricated houses. The results of our in-depth interviews with recent owners and potential buyers of a custom-made prefabricated house suggest that cognitive and rational factors do not offer sufficient explanation of consumer behavior in the case of a high-involvement product such as a house. In addition to the idiosyncratic characteristics of the customer, his/her personal situation and environmental factors, the role of feelings, experience, subconscious factors, needs and goals should to be taken into account to better understand this kind of decision making.consumer decision-making, strategic purchase, prefabricated house, qualitative research