1. Portugal: Hotel Operator Plays Into Soccer Star’s Fame
Portugal-based Pestana Hotel Group marked its 50th anniversary last year and intends to stick with the formula that brought it to its current position as a global player with significant recent expansion amid a recovery in international travel.
Chief Development Officer José Roquette said the strategy includes operating only four- and five-star hotels, owning or leasing every property and maintaining a strong balance sheet. Its growing lifestyle brands include CR7, targeting younger travelers in a partnership with Portuguese soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo, whose uniform number is 7.
2. UK: CBRE Marks 250 Years in Business
CBRE is celebrating its 250-year anniversary in the United Kingdom, a history that began with a small but diversified business that’s quite unlike the international real estate giant it has become.
The company, now based in Dallas, debuted in 1773 when William Ellis established his business in London at 126 Fenchurch Street as an upholder (a form of upholsterer that might also make cabinets), appraiser and undertaker. His nephew, Richard Ellis, took over in 1809 and grew the company to become a major property services firm in the U.K. The firm’s position as a global powerhouse began to take shape in San Francisco in 1906.
3. Germany: Remote Work Triples Share of Unused Offices
On an average working day in Germany, 12.3% of all onsite office workplaces are underutilized, far higher than the 4.6% share in pre-pandemic 2019, amid the growing popularity of remote work, according to data from the Ifo economic research institute.
About a quarter of Germany’s office workers regularly work from home, researchers noted, and particularly high numbers of empty offices are found in industries such as information technology, advertising and market research, management consulting and pharmaceuticals. Some companies are converting empty offices into coworking spaces for more face-to-face interaction on days when people are present, with others reducing their space requirements for cost reasons.
4. France: Coliving Property Investment Gains Momentum
Absent from the radar just a few years ago, coliving is now catching the eye of real estate investors, attracting nearly €1 billion in Europe over the past year, though the category saw a slight decline in France during 2022.
Fueled by demographic and social trends, brokerage JLL reported coliving properties posted €963 million in direct investments across Europe last year, an increase of 70% from the prior year and amounting to about half the total European investment in the category between 2015 and 2022. “This sudden increase reflects a greater interest from investors in the wider residential sector,” said Julia Martin, head of student housing in JLL’s international capital markets division covering Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
5. Canada: Some American Retailers Get Frosty Reception
Nordstrom was added this year to the growing list of U.S.-based retailers failing to expand in Canada, a roster that also includes Target and Sears, but some real estate professionals say American businesses can adopt practices to avoid the same chilly reception north of the border.
Bradley Jones, senior vice president and head of Canadian leasing and operations for developer and investor Oxford Properties Group, said misunderstanding buyer preferences is probably the biggest reason behind some failures of U.S. chains to establish a permanent foothold in the country. “They underestimated in a big way the Canadian consumer and how we purchase goods, the research we do prior to making those purchases and the offerings that fit with our lifestyle,” Jones said.
6. US: Uber Follows Wave of Office Space Reductions
Ride-sharing giant Uber’s initially quiet attempts to shed a large part of its San Francisco office space have grown louder as the company officially lists nearly a third of its new corporate hub in the city’s Mission Bay neighborhood.
The move is one of the latest among U.S. firms looking to reduce their space as executives shift priorities in an uncertain economy, amid the rise of hybrid work patterns stemming from the pandemic. Uber is marketing for sublease all 286,548 square feet in one of four buildings it uses for its global headquarters, according to marketing materials shared with CoStar News.
This report was compiled from CoStar’s news publications in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany.