Commercial News for 5/16/12
WSJ.com: Commercial Real Estate
If Kids Can Play, Will Mom Shop?
In their bid to keep shoppers from deserting to the Internet, more malls are adding sprawling play spaces.
Builder Is Constructing REIT for Home Rentals
Beazer Homes has formed a REIT with KKR that will buy and then rent single-family homes, one of the largest and most talked-about asset classes in the real-estate business.
Pointed Spat Over World Trade Spire
One World Trade Center's owners are sparring with their architects over what goes on top?a dispute that could stop the structure being recognized as America's tallest.
Tax Terms Amended in Empire State Building IPO
The Malkin family that controls the Empire State Building has agreed to change the terms of the skyscraper's public offering, making the tax treatment less punitive to small investors.
Ohio REIT Heads Upscale
Associated Estates Realty Corp., which owns rental-apartment buildings in cities like Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, is pushing into the upscale Los Angeles market despite some investor concerns.
Plots & Ploys: Looks Don't Matter
Strange looks of a building apparently aren't enough to scare off big-name investors. That's the case with 100 Federal Street in Boston?the so-called "pregnant building" recently purchased by Boston Properties.
U.K. Pushes 'Social' Housing REIT Plan
Facing a dearth of new-home construction, the U.K. real-estate industry and government are looking at ways to encourage the formation of new real-estate investment trusts that would focus on subsidized housing.
