written by
Steve Gildred

Helpful Tips to Become a Skilled Networking Professional

When it comes to networking, commercial real estate is no different than any other industry; the better you take care of your network, the better your network takes care of you. While the brokerage side of the business may seem like an individual operation, you’re only as strong as your network and networking is a craft that requires patience and dedication to fully master. The following are just a few helpful tips and suggestions to help you become a premier networker in commercial real estate:

Play Your Cards Right

As a broker, you find yourself on the go often. Since you never know when you might stumble across your next client, it’s an absolute must to have your business card handy at all times. Just as important as handing out business cards, however, is taking them. A card given puts you on someone’s radar but a card taken gives you the power to initiate a relationship. To properly maximize your business card collection, it’s important to log every new entry into a database of contacts that can be tracked and monitored. Next, you must create a plan for when and how you intend to initiate contact. Last but not least, be mindful of timing; each new contact carries with it a limited window of opportunity, and business cards have a propensity to stack up on your desk if you’re not proactive with them.  

Invest in Your Network

The greatest gift you can give someone is your time and nobody is more keenly aware of this concept than a premier networker. Relationships are not born from the mere initiation of contact but by logging meaningful time and establishing a genuine connection. This may sound simple enough but it becomes infinitely more complex the larger your network grows. As a result, prioritizing relationships is critical as one only has so much time to offer and must be cautious about which relationships to allocate your time towards. The balance of maintaining old relationships while developing new ones is a careful song and dance that requires a strong sense of priorities and self-awareness. 

Establish Yourself in the Local Community

A great way to expand your professional network is by attending local networking organizations such as the Commercial Real Estate Alliance (CRA), Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), and National Association for Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP). These organizations typically meet monthly and will provide you with exposure to other local professionals and business owners. In order to maximize your affiliations and create a consistent presence within these organizations, it’s important to attend as many networking events as possible. This is especially true of your initial years as a new member of the organization.

Have Fun

Whether you’re exchanging business cards, cultivating close relationships, or mingling at networking events, remember to always have fun with it. At its core, networking is designed to be a uniquely rewarding experience and should be taken as such. The more people you can plug into your network that you genuinely enjoy, the more satisfying your experience will become. At some point, networking will stop feeling like work altogether as it eventually becomes second nature. And that’s when the real fun begins because, in the famous words of Mark Twain, if you can “find a job you enjoy doing, you will never have to work a day in your life”

To discuss networking strategy in more detail or if you would like more information about Intersection, please reach out to Steve Gildred at [email protected]

Autumn Valencia is the Marketing Coordinator at Intersection, providing strategic marketing expertise to support business objectives across company divisions. For general and marketing inquiries, please contact Autumn at [email protected] 

written by
Natalie Baylon

A Detailed look into general partner investing and navigating a deal through a pandemic

Throughout my years raising capital for our real estate investments, I have encountered a few investors who ask how they can be the General Partner instead of the Limited Partner in a deal. The first thing that would come to mind when I heard those questions is: Invest thousands of hours in learning a complex industry, and hundreds of thousands of dollars into people and technology, and you will be just getting started. Putting together a successful commercial real estate deal is not for the faint at heart or the inexperienced. It takes years of hard-work, talented people and you have to actually find the right deal in a very competitive market. That said, Ingenuity, Collaboration, and Stewardship are core values of our firm so we always tried to find a way to give our investors a taste of the General Partner “like” returns by targeting value add properties with higher return scenarios.

 

During the Pandemic, we were raising our second Fund and in March of this year (2020) we purchased an office property. Bad timing? Not really. We still love the deal and our basis, and in fact, feel very bullish about the long-term opportunity to generate a strong return for our investors. The structure in that deal, however, was a little different. We had a joint venture partner in that property, and our Fund was acting as the General Partner. All of the returns from the Joint Venture, including carried interests that we would be able to earn in excess of the property level returns, were set up to inure to the Fund. This structure effectively put all of the Fund investors in the role of General Partner. Normally, this scenario is structured a little differently with investors only earning a percentage of the carried interest. However, because we were using Fund equity as the General Partner capital, we felt that sending 100% of the carried interest to investors was the right thing to do. Considering the risk that the Pandemic has thrown into the market, we’re happy to have that structure in place and are optimistic that the returns will ultimately play out in a significantly positive way for our Fund.

As we approached the structure of our last deal, we started to consider the concept in a more meaningful way for future deals. Our research returned that the GP Co-Investment structure seemed very appealing for us as we continued to build our investment practice. We had just built out a new strategy for acquiring logistics based industrial in markets west of Denver and realized that we could lever our personal capital more effectively if we brought in GP-Co Investors in multiple deals. They would have the opportunity to earn a 10% piece of our carried interest effectively allowing the individual investor to earn greater returns than our institutional limited partners when measured against project-level returns.

Sometimes unexpected situations create opportunity. Not only did we develop a new and exciting investment strategy, but we were also able to create an investment structure that helped us address the requests of those who wanted to be General Partner in some of our deals. The thousands of hours, and hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in people and technology, along with a little entrepreneurship, helped us put our private investors one step ahead. We’ll still do all of the heavy lifting of course and continue to focus on enriching the lives of those we serve (whether they be GP’s or LP’s)!

Autumn Valencia is the Marketing Coordinator at Intersection, providing strategic marketing expertise to support business objectives across company divisions. For general and marketing inquiries, please contact Autumn at [email protected] 

written by
Kyle Clark

Addressing Common Misconceptions on San Diego Ballot Measure E

Next month, San Diego voters will have the opportunity to weigh in on Measure E which, if approved, will eliminate the 30-foot height limit in the Midway Planning Area surrounding the Sports Arena. Over the past couple of months, we’ve heard loads of discussion about this measure and what effect it will have on our community. Aside from the traditional media sources, local internet discussion boards like NextDoor are alive with commentary and like most propositions, the information being shared ranges from “Interesting” to “You’ve Got to be Kidding?”. As a local specific to the measure’s zipcode, and commercial real estate agent with over 20 years of experience, I want to neutrally shed light on the common misconceptions surrounding measure-E and hopefully offer insight in contrast to local fearmongering

Misconception-This measure will expose all of our coastal areas to unlimited building heights, which will result in a landscape similar to Waikiki Beach offering no views available more than a block inland from the shore.

Fact- “This measure pertains Only to the zoned area within the Midway Community Planning District. It will not have any effect on the regulations affecting other properties in the Peninsula, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach or Bay Heights neighborhoods. The current 30 ft. limits will continue to apply in all these other areas”

Misconception-If this measure passes, developers will have no limit to how much they can build.

Fact- “While the 30-foot height limit will be removed, any new development will still need to obtain approval from the Midway Planning Group and the City of San Diego. The City Zoning ordinance incorporates a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) factor, which limits how much density can be placed on a particular property. If you want to build to a 200 foot height, the FAR will prohibit that. For instance, if the FAR is 3.0 and the land parcel is 10,000 square feet, the developer cannot legally build more than 30,000 square feet on the parcel (3.0 x 10,000 ft.). This FAR is the true limiting factor to how much can be constructed on a site, not the building height”

Given the over-cautious and FAR constraints, the developer cannot build any more on the land regardless of the height restriction. The key difference is the mass of what would be constructed. With a three-story limit, the builder would build three stories at 10,000 feet per floor, effectively covering 100% of the land parcel. If the height limit were removed, the builder could build a six-story structure that covered 50% of the land area. This would be preferable since we now have 5,000 feet of open, landscaped space.

The City has already designated Brookfield as the preferred developer for the Sports Arena site. We can assume that they will continue with their efforts to eventually redevelop this massive site. Surely, this will spur additional redevelopment on other properties in the area. So, what are the options? What would you like to see in our community in 10 years, with the assumption that any developer will see to maximize the utility of their land given the development constraints and regulations in-place?

The mantra we keep hearing over and over is our desire for open space and walkable communities with plenty of public-access to the various amenities. With the 30 ft. limitation in-place, the chances of this are slim since the builder will need to maximize the footprint while complying with the FAR regulations. Imagine a 30-foot wall of uninterrupted structures all along Sports Arena Blvd, with an intermittent break where the side streets intersect. You will not be able to see the new sports arena because of the wall’s obstruction. In contrast, imagine a series of taller structures offering the same square footage of space yet with greenbelts and walking/biking paths in between offering view corridors throughout.

The passage of measure-E, will not open the floodgates and allow the developer to construct any more building area than they can under the current in-place regulations for permitted floor area. What it will do is allow for the development of taller buildings, which will then allow for the open space and amenities we all desire.

The pressure to come together for measure-E is heavy as this decision will have a multi-generational impact on Midway and the sports arena area.

If you have any interest in learning more about local market updates reach out to Kyle Clark at [email protected]

written by
Dan Leon & Anton Myskiw

Research shows a significant pipeline of industrial demand, can we THINK™ like supply chain managers to predict where it will go?

 

Our team hopes everybody is staying safe and healthy during these unprecedented times. 5 months ago, California and our office went into a state of lockdown. Businesses temporarily shut their doors, some fully closing in consequence. The state of the economy and real estate sector shifted overnight. The industry collectively held their breath in anticipation of what was to come.

Friday, March 18th, we were both new to the functionality of working-from-home. We sat on a Zoom call that morning discussing the market implications, whether it was derived from Peter Linneman’s Webinar or general market sentiment. The bottom-line from our discussion was that our firm needed to take a proactive approach to recent events and that a refresh in our investment strategy was necessary. Through significant macro & microeconomic research over the course of the next two weeks, we arrived at a high-level strategic concept of pursuing logistics-based industrial assets. Once we had a foundation, we needed to piece together support around this idea.

Two primary drivers reinforced our reflections: the rebirth of domestic production (offshoring to onshoring manufacturing) and the surge of e-commerce.

Over the past 2 years, retail e-commerce sales, as a percentage of total retail sales, have increased by 500 bps. The volume of those purchasing staple and discretionary items at the touch of a button has only increased from the onset of the virus, with many market experts believing in an irreversible shift from traditional brick-and-mortar sale. The previous, intertwined with the growing argument for domestic manufacturing, invokes the need for logistics-based assets in the near future. The fact that the opportunity cost margin of offshoring production of final goods is shrinking, due to on-going trade discussions/uncertainty & increasing labor costs overseas, supports the prior. Our vision encapsulates these market shifts, in our pursuit of suburban distribution centers (best utilized for same-day delivery), city-center distribution centers (1-2-day delivery), and manufacturing facilities.

As a result of this accelerated e-commerce adoption, the increased inventory levels required by retailers could generate square footage demand for logistics-based industrial equivalent to the total supply of industrial assets in the Inland Empire. Now that we have our rationale behind the investment, where does the demand go, and how do we intend to capture it? That’s where the proprietary THINK™  process came into play. Our team developed a quantitative site selection formula that incorporates the use of multivariable regression analysis to find markets that are best positioned to serve future logistics operations.

In effect, we had to understand what drives the logistics industry, where supply chains would thrive, and ultimately, we had to THINK™ like a supply chain manager.

If you have any interest in learning more about the acquisition & financial criterion within our 3rd offering, please reach out to the experts at Intersection.

written by
Natalie Baylon

COVID-19: Redefining Our Why

At Intersection, we play dual roles as Property Manager and Asset Manager for the portfolio of properties we manage. Our funds own four properties and we have a very important role as stewards for our investors. However, we also have an equally important role as service provider to our third-party clients. Whether an owner or a manager, COVID-19 has challenged us in ways we could not have imagined.

Back in February, when COVID-19 was peaking in China, we realized that we needed to be prepared for the eventuality that it would find its way to the United States. So, we began the process of evaluating and creating an emergency plan should our people need to work from home. Fortunately, we became a paperless company three-years ago, and have been supplying each of our employees with laptop computers since their onboarding. With this, Intersection was already equipped to make the transition from working in office to working remote. Three weeks from that initial discussion with COVID-19 cases multiplying rapidly, we offered our entire work force voluntary work from home status. Another week later, on March 19th, California mandated shelter in place and only essential businesses could remain open. Other than a core team of people, our entire work force was working remotely. Things can happen fast, but usually not this fast!

It is now April 13th, and we are in a different world from where we were in February. I joke that each day feels like a dog year because so much changes in 24 hours. Our team is working almost seamlessly from home, and our owned and managed properties are operating efficiently. The effort we put into our planning, technology, and in the quality of the people in our organization allowed us to adapt this incredible change.

The story does not end there. In the past few weeks the real work has begun as we deal with several tenants whose businesses have been literally shut down. How can you pay the mortgage and operating expenses when your property depends on rent from businesses that have been forced to close? Even though we were getting our jobs done each day, we had to figure out ways to help our clients and investors maintain  the value of their investments.

We were equally concerned about our own business. Intersection is a small business and a crisis like this one would certainly impact us as well. As such, we closely monitored stimulus activities instituted by the Federal Government. The $2.3 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security act (CARES) includes $349 billion in forgivable loans for small businesses to support payroll, rent and cover certain utility expenses. This is the Payroll Protection Provision (PPP) of the act that is focused upon supporting small businesses. This program would be a key element of our company’s plan to retain people and address major corporate expenses over the next few months.

However, the process of applying for PPP was not simple.  I am so grateful that we have the systems and team to compile the information needed for our lender as we prepared our application.  Through our own application for PPP, we realized that less sophisticated tenants could find the application process challenging. We learned that it is also important to have a banking relationship that has the ability to do SBA loans in order to participate. Many of our tenants who have been shut down did not have these banking relationships nor the resources to get the help they needed. Our unique insight as a small business inspired the empathy to help. Furthermore, we knew our experience could make a difference.

Our team mobilized quickly and put together a COVID-19 Tenant Resource Guide which lists all resources available to our small business tenants (Disaster Relief Direct from the SBA in addition to CARES PPP and other local resources). The two-page package is both simple and useful, and our efforts have not ended there. We have dedicated a team to become experts on CARES PPP and have built a proprietary list of banking relationships that are ready to help.  Although April has been a tough month, we have actually collected more rent than expected. But with so many of our tenants closed for business, we know that May is going to be our most difficult month.  Our CARES team has already put a number of our tenants in touch with SBA lenders and hopefully many of them will get inexpensive, forgivable financing to keep their businesses alive while paying rent, and retaining valuable employees.

It is really difficult to understand what the world will look like when we start to get back to work and social gatherings are allowed again. We can’t control when that will happen, but we can control what we do each day to enhance the lives of those we serve. COVID-19 and the social distancing measures taken to defeat it will never be forgotten. At Intersection, we will remember this point in time when being a small business was a competitive advantage. Our passion for the small businesses that make up our portfolio runs deep and the impact of our values as we support our tenants will be a proud moment in our company’s history. When it is all over and we are in our new normal, our values won’t have changed and the measures we have taken will be remembered. Hopefully, the relationships we care so very much about will be even stronger.

Stay healthy.

written by
Emily Bane

Intersection Completes 1031 Exchange for Long-Term NNN Lease

Intersection represented South Lind Square, LLC in the 1031 exchange which resulted in the purchase of the Safeway at La Toscana Village in Tucson, Arizona for $10,750,000. Intersection Managing Director Mark Hoekstra and Senior Director Rob Kerr represented the buyer, Greg Cortese of The Royston Group represented the seller. 

The 46,798 square-foot retail property is located at 7110 N. Oracle Road, Tucson, AZ 85704. The retail center is situated in a densely populated, affluent and developing area of Tucson. The Safeway building is one of 14 that comprise La Toscana Village, which is anchored by national retail tenants, and located at a heavily trafficked intersection at N. Oracle Road and W. Ina Road. 

Originally built in 1992 and renovated in 2014, 7110 N. Oracle Road is 100% occupied by Safeway in a 20-year NNN lease with options and regular base rent increases.

The property was part of the buyer’s upleg for their 1031 exchange, acquired at a 5.2% cap rate. The lease was corporately guaranteed by Albertsons Companies. Financing for the transaction was provided by 40/86 Mortgage Capital with the assistance of Charlie Robinson of NorthMarq.

Intersection was approached by the buyer to identify 1031 exchange opportunities that would provide both a high-quality and safe investment for the family that met their long-term goals, requirements, and criteria. 

“The process involved the thorough evaluation of numerous properties of all types across a diverse range of desired geographic locations nationwide,” said Kerr. “In the end we were able to identify a number of great options that met requirements, and the client settled on this excellent Safeway investment in Tucson.”

Emily Bane is the Marketing Coordinator at Intersection, providing strategic marketing expertise to support business objectives across company divisions. Contact Emily at 619-819-8725 or [email protected]

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