Investors Ready To Flock To Life Sciences, Multifamily Assets As Inflation Looms

Needham residents have voted to block a potential warehouse from being developed alongside Route 128, rezoning the properties where a TV station and car dealerships currently stand with no plans to move. The vote, during the Boston suburb's Town Meeting Monday, updated zoning language to remove a warehouse as…

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In a news cycle dominated by vaccines and an economy focused on innovation, cities see life sciences as not just a good bet, but a critical piece of their economic development future. But while many metros believe they can attract jobs with increased investment in lab space, only a relative handful can become new centers of industry growth.

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ATLANTA — Atlanta restaurants have bounced back from the depths of the coronavirus pandemic, but operators are encountering a new problem: finding enough workers to staff their eateries. 

Hiring issues are complicating restaurateurs' efforts not only to expand during this recovery, but also fully open existing restaurants to capacity.

“We hear tenants all the time [say] they can't open regular hours because they can't find people to work,” said Jeff Fuqua, a prominent retail developer in Atlanta. “They can't even find people to deliver food. It's had a pretty dramatic effect.”

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Renewable energy and sustainability came into vogue in the past few years. The owners of Class-A trophy office and multifamily buildings have competed with one another over who could trumpet more pro-environmental features, qualities increasingly prized by tenants. Affluent homeowners are also likely to dabble with solar panels, LED lights and advanced appliances that cut energy use. Low-income communities tend to get left out of these innovations, but a Chicago-based investor and developer is changing that, one building at a time.

After a career as an analyst for Duke Realty Corp. and HSBC, and more than six years as vice president of business development for Equities First, A.J. Patton founded 548 Capital in 2016, naming the new firm after the unit number of the Section 8 apartment where he grew up in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was there he learned harsh lessons about the high cost of energy.

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