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Real estate veteran gets back into sales: Andrew Banister joins CB Richard Ellis team in red-hot market

In the past five years, local real estate veteran Andrew J. Banister has changed jobs four times. With the most recent switch, Banister is right back where he started-with the investment sales team at the local office of CB Richard Ellis. Banister, 55, on Aug. 29 began his first official day working with John Merrill and Gary Woodworth, who in recent years have engineered sales of some of the city’s most prominent office buildings at record-high prices. It’s a familiar…

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Stadium neighbors see rising property values: Investors, entrepreneurs eye southwest side of downtown 70

The south end of downtown may not qualify as the hottest real estate market in town, but since plans for a new stadium were unveiled in January, the largely industrial area surrounding it has definitely heated up. Plans call for the stadium to be built on a two-square-block site bordered by Capitol Avenue, and South, Missouri and McCarty streets, now mostly occupied by surface parking. In the area surrounding that parcel, real estate sources report rising land prices and increased…

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EYE ON THE PIE: How home buyers step off a cliff

Why does Indiana have such high bankruptcy and mortgage foreclosure rates? No one knows. Many say the economy in Indiana has been responsible for our troubles, but other states have been hit as hard and not had the same bankruptcy and foreclosure problems. Perhaps we are a state of dreamers, people who want to own a home but do not understand the obligations we assume. Our dreams are encouraged by the federal government, which allows mortgage interest and property tax…

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Pension fund opens coffers: $506M could be boon for venture capitalists

The Public Employees’ Retirement Fund, Indiana’s largest pension system, is preparing to unleash half a billion dollars into venture capital, real estate and other privateequity investments. And the fund’s managers aim to put the bulk of it to work inside state lines. Hoosier venture capitalists are salivating at the prospect. T h a t ‘s t h e equivalent of nearly seven BioCrossroads Indiana Future Funds. “If there are excellent opportunities to invest in Indiana, we ought to be looking…

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Real estate investment trusts buck slump predictions: REITs outperforming major stock market indexes so far this year; Simon, Duke and Kite doing well locally

For the second quarter, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts Composite Index posted a return of 13.52 percent, boosting its year-to-date return to 4.9 percent. For the quarter, that’s more than three times any of the other equity indicators, the highest of which, the Russell 2000, posted a 4.32-percent return. The Russell 2000 also has the second-highest year-todate returns at 5 percent. Real estate investment trusts are due for a downturn, according to many stock analysts, but they’ve…

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Rental Finders business ready to sell franchises: Service acts as middleman for tenants, landlords

Linking landlords with tenants from an office buffered by a coin laundry and a pet shop may seem like an unusual career choice for someone who once aspired to be a lawyer or doctor. But for Vasilios Maniatis, the decision to become a broker in the residential rental business has led to a concept he thinks has the potential to become a national franchise. The 38-year-old Chicago native arrived from Salt Lake City, where he opened his first Rental Finders…

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Special Report: Buying blind: Lack of oversight leaves state in dark on real estate deals The state of Indiana knows how much it’s spending to lease property statewide -nearly $40 million a year. But it doesn’t know if that’s too much.

The state of Indiana knows how much it’s spending to lease property statewide -nearly $40 million a year. But it doesn’t know if that’s too much. State contracts for third-party real estate services give government officials few safeguards to ensure they’re paying a fair price for office, laboratory and storage space outside of state-owned buildings, those in the industry say. And state administrators have no control over seven-figure commissions paid to two Indianapolis real estate brokers in the past decade,…

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Space crunch prompts Indiana to seek help with real estate leasing duties:

Between the Statehouse, the Indiana Government Center and the State Library building, the state of Indiana owns 1.1 million square feet of real estate in downtown Indianapolis. Still, that’s not enough room to house all state government’s agencies and functions-which is why Indiana spends nearly $17 million each year to lease space elsewhere in Marion County. Some agencies, including the departments of education and health, house nearly all their office workers in privately owned buildings near the Statehouse. Other departments…

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Halakar thinks small, deals big: Real estate services firm quickly finds its niche

Unlike the 500-pound hammerhead shark mounted on a wall in Todd Maurer’s office, Halakar Real Estate intends to remain a small fish in the large pond of commercial real estate brokerages. But the company launched by Maurer, 34, and Ralph Balber, 36, is already making a splash despite its brief, twoyear existence. While Halakar has carved out a niche in the downtown Class B office space market, it also commands enough respect to broker larger deals. Halakar and Indianapolis-based Colliers…

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Sourwine planning to sweeten its local office offerings: Second-generation real estate firm has two new buildings in the works that could nearly double its holdings

When Jim Sourwine was 4 years old, he would sit outside the closed door to his father’s home office and play with his toy cars. Barred from entering the adult-only world, sounds of paper shuffling and adding machine clacking piqued his interest in his family’s real estate business. “I wanted in,” Sourwine recalls. By the time he was old enough to file and wash windows for the firm, his father had moved Sourwine Real Estate Services out of his home…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Why like-kind exchanges don’t make sense for everyone

Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code allows you to defer federal taxes by swapping real property for like-kind property. For years, tax advisors have been recommending a 1031 strategy whenever real estate developers and owners are ready to harvest their gains. Today, with real estate valuations at record highs and capital gains tax rates at record lows, there is a good chance a 1031 exchange strategy could defer taxes but lose profits. You may be better off to recognize…

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VIEWPOINT: Signs of economic recovery all around us

After weathering some difficult times over the last few years, there are encouraging signs that central Indiana has turned the corner on its road to economic recovery. The Indianapolis metro area added 22,000 jobs in the year ending in March-a 2.4-percent increase-and in May, the Indiana unemployment rate dipped below the national average for the first time since December. All signs point to continued modest growth. Patrick Barkey, IBJ contributor and Ball State University economist, says, “We should expect to…

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Past retail failures in China don’t scare Simon away: Developer’s partnership with Wal-Mart could be key

Executives of Simon Property Group Inc. are confident the shopping mall owner’s foray into China will prove successful, even though they acknowledge others have failed there. In a conference call with analysts late last month, the locally based real estate investment trust announced its plan to be the first American company to develop retailing projects in the communist country. Its first project will be a 500,000-squarefoot mall at Hangzhou, a city of 6 million people about two hours from Shanghai….

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Reaping the benefits of the American Jobs Act

Astute real estate professionals should be taking advantage of several tax-saving provisions of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. The act was signed by President Bush last October to spur economic development and investment. The primary components of the Amer ican Jobs Creation Act include increased depreciation deductions on leasehold improvements, greater flexibility for real estate investment trusts, modification of expensing rules for equipment and vehicles, and a reduction in the tax rate for domestic manufacturing activities. Leasehold improvements…

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BEHIND THE NEWS IPALCO buyer wins key lawsuit but isn’t out of woods:

Score one big victory for former executives of AES Corp. and IPALCO Enterprises Inc., but they still face obstacles on other fronts. Last month, Judge Larry McKinney of U.S. District Court in Indianapolis dismissed the final claims in a shareholder lawsuit stemming from AES’ soured $3 billion purchase of the Indianapolis utility five years ago. McKinney didn’t buy plaintiffs’ charges that through omissions and misleading statements the companies had failed to disclose to IPALCO shareholders the risks of exchanging their…

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Quiet approach drawing criticism: President’s lack of visibility hurts IU, some complain

Never mind the Herculean task of leading the state’s largest college system in a difficult economic climate; he knew that would be hard. But after two years of long weeks and late nights, he’s facing a more surprising challenge-defending himself from critics who question his ability to get the job done. IU seems to be adrift, naysayers argue, and so far Herbert doesn’t seem to be doing much to get it back on course. “It is with great regret that…

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Defining success: Those who’ve tasted it share their thoughts on just exactly what ‘it’ is

How do you define career success? We posed that question to a variety of high-profile women and men in the Indianapolis business community. While the responses did confirm some of our preconceived notions-such as that men would mention financial rewards more often than women-there are far more similarities than differences, regardless of gender or profession. Still, “Career success is defined differently by each individual,” as Alex Slabosky, president and CEO of The Healthcare Group, so wisely put it; and as…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Hoosiers are wallflowers as housing party rocks on

Have you heard about the wild party that’s going on? It’s not one of those parties with wine, women and song. It’s all about buying and selling, and making lots of money. And, for some Americans, at least, it’s being done from the comfort of their own homes. It’s called the housing market, and in some corners of the country, it’s a rowdy affair. In coastal California and Florida, the price of homes is going up so fast it is…

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MSA redevelopers set to make another run at tower: Project takes on new moniker as it rolls out redesigned condominium plans

With a new name, new floor plans and a new marketing team, the developers of the former Market Square Arena site are gearing up to make another go at building a high-rise condominium tower on the east side of downtown. Developers hope the new designs, crafted with the assistance of Chicagobased Mesa Development LLC, will jump-start the tower, now more than a year behind schedule and saddled with a lien from a former key player. The first phase of One…

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BEHIND THE NEWS Marsh shares stage rally, despite firm’s challenges:

Marsh Supermarkets Inc. might be a great place to shop, but it’s been a long time since the embattled Indianapolis grocer has been a great place for investors to park their money. That’s why the recent runup of Marsh shares is raising eyebrows in the investment community. Both the company’s Class A and Class B shares are up more than 25 percent since early June, and better than 20 percent for the year. What’s driving the increase? In part, probably…

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