Real Estate Developers Ask for a Bailout

The WSJ and the Washington Post report that some of the country's biggest commercial property developers have sought out government assistance as debt comes due.

Although the numbers vary by source, roughly $530 billion in commercial mortgages will be coming due in the next three years, with $160 - $400 billion coming due in 2009. Delinquency rates have begun to rise as rent prices fall and vacancies rise for commercial properties; despite the rise, delinquency rates are still below historic levels (i.e the vast majority of these loans are performing).

The problem is these types of loans are underwritten for five, seven, or 10 years with a balloon payment due at maturity. At maturity the loan is typically refinanced by the property owner. But the credit markets are virtually frozen (in large part because hardly anyone is securitizing commercial mortgages) and little, if any credit is available for refinancing (except for loans being made by HUD, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac).

To address this problem, property owners are asking the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to include the commercial real estate industry in the $200 billion loan program to rescue the consumer debt market, money intended to help investors purchase securities backed by those assets. Property owners hope that including commercial real estate will encourage banks to refinance mortgages coming due because the banks could securitize the mortgages. Some property owners have gone one step further and asked the Treasury to set up a separate fund just for commercial real estate.

The Treasury and Federal Reserve have said they will consider including commercial real estate in the $200 billion loan program.

Unfortunately, including commercial real estate in this loan program may not be enough to save the industry if only $200 billion is available and $160-400 billion in loans are coming due in 2009. Even if the program includes enough money to cover commercial real estate, Lenders may not be able to underwrite the loans; they may not be able to accurately price the assets because of plummeting property values.

Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) Releases Online Safety Proposals

The Family Online Safety Institute ("FOSI") released its report Making Wise Choices Online in which it provides a survey of ongoing initiatives to ensure the safety of children using the Internet as well as four policy proposals for the coming Administration to consider. The release coincides with the Second Annual FOSI Conference, held today in Washington, D.C., themed "Safe At Any Speed: Rules, Tools & Public Policies to Keep Kids Safe Online."
Womble Carlyle is pleased to have sponsored the FOSI Conference and to have forged a friendship with this organization.

Click here to learn more about FOSI's Internet safety proposals.

Entrepreneur Removes Home From the Power Grid with the Help of LEDs

Eric Taub of the New York Times posted an interesting story this morning about Dean Kamen, the eccentric inventor of the Segway scooter. Mr. Kamen owns a small, three-acre island off the coast of Connecticut where he built his home, and he recently decided to take his entire island off the power grid--that is, produce his own electrical power (in this case through wind and solar).

To do that, Mr. Kamen had to dramatically reduce his power consumption. He accomplished that goal by using LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, to light his home's interior and exterior. Mr. Taub explains that an LED light fixture uses one-fifth to one-tenth of the power of a standard incandescent fixture. As a result of this change, Mr. Kamen was able to reduce energy consumption in the house by 70 percent. As an added benefit, the bulbs will not need to be changed for years.

The downside of this switch is cost. Although the price of LED fixtures are dropping, they are still significantly more expensive than an incandescent fixture. For that reason, it may be years before builders use this technology in spec homes and buildings.

Source: New York Times

Infrastructure Projects In the Obama Administration --- a Bright Spot In An Otherwise Gloomy Future

From the early days of his presidential campaign, President-Elect Obama has emphasized the importance, and priority, of rebuilding our nation's infrastructure. At first, this was not particularly tied to the goal of job creation, or at least that part of the equation was not stressed. But as the economic downturn spiraled out of control in the past months, rebuilding infrastructure became explicitly tied to creating a large number of new jobs.

State and local governments are very much on board with investing in infrastructure, and doing it quickly. At a meeting of the National Governors Association earlier this week in Philadelphia, the governors told Mr. Obama that over $130 billion worth of infrastructure projects have already won regulatory approval and just need funding to "get the shovels in the ground". Thousands of jobs could be created if these projects could get underway.

It seems that the specific types of projects mentioned most frequently are roads, bridges and schools. This is certainly good news for construction companies who are in the business of horizontal construction and manufacturers of road and bridge-building materials. It is also good news for the many construction companies who have long done business with local counties and school boards.

There are other kinds of infrastructure projects that also should be undertaken --- light rail and other forms of mass transit, wide-ranging installation of broadband, and other things that are badly overdue and will help move our country forward. To read more about President-Elect Obama's conversation with the governors about this subject, click here. (This blog entry was published by Karen Carey, a member of Womble Carlyle's construction law and real estate development practice group.)