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March 2017 Luncheon – A Conversation with Andrea Smith

Submitted by Ryan Ramey

Andrea Smith, Chief Administrative Officer at Bank of America, and the 2017 Charlotte Chamber Chairman joined CREW Charlotte on Tuesday, March 14^th to share some thoughts about her career and what’s ahead for the business community and the City of Charlotte.

With nearly 30 years’ experience at Bank of America, Andrea Smith oversees several critical functions that support the strategic and operational foundation of the company. She is responsible for the overall global corporate strategy and managing the market presidents. She also leads global real estate services, global procurement, and supplier diversity. Her supplier diversity program has been recognized as one of the best in the country spending more than $2 billion each year with women and minority-owned businesses.

When asked about the success of her career, she attributed it to taking risks and not being afraid to take on new challenges. Andrea started her career out of college as a computer programmer for First RepublicBank Corp. and strongly believes in mentoring and bringing people along. Her commitment is solid as Bank of America and Vital Voices Global Partnership recently announced that they are bringing their Global Ambassadors Program to the U.S. The program is a week-long mentorship initiative, which will bring women leaders of small businesses and social enterprises from the Carolinas and around the world for mentoring and workshops.

Outside of the bank, Andrea Smith currently chairs the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. She hopes to broaden the chamber’s mission to be more inclusive and innovative. Her goal would be to bring more voices to the table to better represent Charlotte’s business community. “Gone are the days of the chamber being your grandfather’s chamber,” says Andrea. There is a new vision of a chamber that connects people, helps connect people to nonprofits, helps connect businesses to people and connects the work that’s going on all around Charlotte.

Andrea was named 2016 BusinessWoman of the Year, serves on the Board of Directors of both the Charlotte Ballet and the Charlotte Sports Foundation, was appointed to the Board of Trustees for Discovery Place, and is the 2017 Chairman of the Charlotte Chamber.

CREW Charlotte February 2017 Luncheon: Affordable Housing: Why it Matters to Everyone

Submitted by Robin Haddock

On February 14, CREW Charlotte hosted a panel of housing experts who provided an overview of affordable and workforce housing needs, and discussed challenges of meeting those demands in today’s real estate market.

Moderated by Robin Haddock of RLH Development, panelists Caroline Chambre Hammock of Urban Ministry Center, Liz Ward of The Housing Partnership and Tim Hose of Synco Properties provided an overview of those struggling to find housing that meets the definition of affordable – spending no more than 30% of gross income on rent and utilities – from the homeless to those working full time but earning less than Charlotte’s median income of $67,000 annually.

Ms. Hammock provided an overview of Housing First, a program aimed at ending chronic homelessness, that Urban Ministry Center has implemented at Moore Place, a 120-unit supportive housing development in Charlotte.  While construction and ongoing operations for Moore Place rely on grants and charitable donations, it has been documented that it costs just under $14,000 annually to provide housing and supportive services to a formerly homeless person that would otherwise cost tax payers nearly $40,000 per year for emergency room visits, incarceration, and other emergency services if left unhoused.   

Ms. Ward indicated that more than one-third of households in Charlotte can afford rents of only $900 or less, while the options for housing at that rent level are shrinking.  The Housing Partnership primarily relies on the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and City of Charlotte Housing Trust Fund to close the gap created by offering affordable rents that can support much less conventional debt.

Synco Properties is in the planning stages of a total redevelopment of The Colony apartments in South Park.  Mr. Hose explained that his company has volunteered to offer 5%, or 55 units, out of the total 990 units to be developed as workforce housing, meaning they will be restricted to households earning 80% of the median income or less.  Synco Properties will receive no financial incentives for offering these units and, in fact, will lose $600,000 per year in revenue by voluntarily reducing the rents for these 55 units.

All the panelists agree that there are many barriers to providing affordable housing that is also well located near amenities, services, jobs and public transportation.  The costs and limited availability of land, a lack of adequate gap financing or other financial incentives, neighborhood opposition, and the time needed for rezoning and other regulatory reviews are among the issues faced by developers.

The topic of affordable housing has been at the forefront in Charlotte recently, and our panelists hope that the conversations and problem-solving continues.  For those interested in learning more about the struggle to adequately house all members of our community, the following resources might be of interest:

Books: “The Hundred Story Home” by Kathy Izard; “Same Kind of Different as Me” by Ron Hall and Denver Moore; “Nickled and Dimed – On (Not) Getting by in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich; “Rachel and Her Children” by Jonathan Kozoland; and “Evicted” by Matthew Desmond.

Video: “Souls of our Neighbors” – A video discussing facts and myths about affordable housing in Charlotte.  Produced by MeckMin, the video is available for purchase online.  The trailer can be seen at:  http://www.meckmin.org/souls-of-our-neighbors/

Crisis Assistance Ministry offers a Poverty Simulation workshop that provides an opportunity to walk in the shoes of low-income individuals and the hard economic choices they face.  More information is available at  https://crisisassistance.org/poverty-simulation/be-an-advocate/.

CREW Charlotte January 2017 Luncheon: Got WELL?: A Holistic Approach to Wellness in Your Office

Submitted by Holly Alexander

On January 10, Nancy Everhart of Little and Molly Fowler of Wells Fargo Bank kicked off CREW Charlotte’s 2017 year by introducing how to incorporate wellness into your workspace.  They used the WELL Building Institute’s wellness program developed by Delos and the USGBC as the basis of their discussion.  Nancy discussed four design strategies used in this certification: Active Design, Biophilic Design, Restoration Space, and Circadian Rhythm.  Some of these methods include making stairwells more accessible and desirable with paint and better signage, repositioning how you use the tools in your workspace, turning your computer to face a window, and simply standing up every 30 minutes.  Molly discussed the seven categories of measurement used in obtaining the actual WELL Building Certification.  The bank currently has 5 pilot projects across the country pursuing WELL Building Certification.  The seven categories include Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Fitness, Comfort, and Mind.  Providing healthier food and drink options in vending machines, cleaning with green cleaners, lowering cube walls to increase light and exposure to the outdoors, and creating alternative areas to work are all items they are using in obtaining this certification.  We encourage you to visit the website to learn of some ways you can incorporate wellness into your workspace! Please visit  www.wellcertified.com/well or click here for more information.

CREW Charlotte 2016 Excellence Awards

CREW Charlotte celebrated an exciting 2016 at the final luncheon of the year on December 13. We spent the afternoon recapping the successes of 2016 and honoring our members and leaders. The program was accompanied by a live tweet wall that enabled our members to celebrate the accomplishments live via Twitter.  Seven members were presented awards for their outstanding contributions. The awards and winners exemplify what CREW Charlotte embodies in promoting women in leadership in the Commercial Real Estate Industry.  And the winners are:

Rising Star – Mellissa Oliver of LandDesign

Networker of the Year – Dawn Royle of Investors Title

Outreach Award – Carrie Sharp of Indoff, Inc., Nancy Olah of Nancy Olah Law, and Sharon Reed for their work on the Inaugural women’s leadership program, Becoming an Authentic Leader.

Member of the Year – Emily Buehrer of BLOC Design

Presidents Choice – Robin Haddock of RLH Development and Anna O’Neal of Wells Fargo

Deal of the Year – For their work on the Johnston Allison and Hord refinance –  Primax Properties, Parker Poe, Fortenberry Lambert, South State Bank and Investors Title.

In addition to recognizing these tremendous achievements, CREW Charlotte made a donation of $5,000 to Community Building Initiative of Charlotte, NC.

CREW Charlotte November 2016 Luncheon – Commercial Mortgage Back Securities (CMBS) Loans

Submitted by Virginia Luther and Nichole Kelley

What You Missed: Commercial Mortgage Back Securities (CMBS) Loans

Next month there is a new rule coming to the structure of CMBS loans.  But, how with this affect us?
 
CMBS loans are a type of mortgage-backed security backed by commercial mortgages rather than residential real estate.  CMBS tend to be more complex and volatile than residential mortgage-backed securities due to the unique nature of the underlying property assets.  CMBS are bonds created from pools of loans secured by commercial real estate mortgages; each pool of loans is aggregated into a single trust or securitization.  The securitizations are diversified by geography, property type, borrowers and tenant exposure.  Most of these loans have 10 year terms meaning there is a large group of loans that were originated in 2007 and are maturing in 2017. Now that commercial real estate is back up and interest rates are low, there is a healthy amount of capital available to invest.  80-85% of these loans that are maturing are able to refinance successfully.
 
Why might borrowers migrate to other sources other than CMBS loans?
1.      The market was artificially overstated and distorted in 2007
2.      Regulations are now making CBMS loans less cost effective
 
What happens when a borrower defaults and there is a foreclosure due to breach of contract?
–        A receiver comes in to stabilize the asset. Through utilization of the lender’s funds, the receiver reports directly on his/her progress to the court system. Loans rarely go back to the initial borrower and often have complicated maintenance structures, which makes the process of maintaining an asset challenging with layered approvals.
 
On December 24, 2016, Risk Retention occurs for CMBS loans. How does that impact borrowers?
–        Requires a 5% credit risk retention on the sponsor of the securities.
–        Positives: Everyone wants a good experience so sponsors work hard to keep those loans beneficial for all parties. Heavy regulations mean focus on security of all parties and keeps things honest (i.e. airlines, telecom, etc.)
–        Negative: Lose some competitive leverage due to the regulations. More regulations = more expense. Therefore, borrowers will likely pay a higher interest rate.
 
Does the election affect this?
–        It can. As government increases, so does its role in regulations. As well, change in power causes market volatility. If one party holds all the power, change can be more easily put into effect.

CREW Charlotte October 2016 Luncheon – Recent Developments in Charlotte

Submitted by Kathleen Chambers

Who You Missed:
    Chris Daly, Childress Klein
    Kristy Venning, Beacon Partners
    Brendan Pierce, Keith Corp
    Moderator: Allen Clark, Charlotte Business Journal

What You Missed:
Program focused on recent significant commercial real estate developments in Charlotte:

Industrial space – Childress Klein:
•    Examples
Jordan Food Service. 360,000 sq ft distribution center with 150,000 sq ft of refrigerated storage
Afton Ridge.  Started as 125,000 sq ft but is now 300,000 sq ft. 
•    Changes in industrial warehouse development. The facilities are much larger now to allow for larger trucks, significant need for onsite storage. Facilities require lots of land and lots of paving. 
•    Incentives for industrial are different between NC and SC. In SC, the tax rate is higher and so incentives are needed to build on that side of the border. Challenge in NC is lack of space in the Greater Charlotte area.
•    Daly has seen the turn towards larger spaces and longer term leases and so they develop to meet the need
    
Office Space in NC – Beacon Partners
•    Example – 1616 Camden, South End
•    Big changes in demographics going forward brought big changes in needs
•    The millennial work force favors the urban infill experience
•    Less square footage per person required 
•    Explosive demand for open office with exposed structural elements: less me, more we
•    More interest in creating the customer experience
•    Venning predicts that they will not do spec building in the near future

Office Space in SC – Keith Corporation
•    Example: Mortgage Company in Lancaster County. Aided in consolidating the company to one space requiring development of a 100,000 sq ft facility that was augmented during the consolidation
•    Spaces are now amenity driven. Their experience is that the amenities can come to the employees when you build them in to the facility. 
•    Benefits to building in SC because land is available.
•    Lower square footage per employee with new construction. 
•    Noted that rates in SouthPark have increased and new construction is finally underway.
•    Pierce noted that NC has a problem with incentives. There is no cohesiveness to attracting companies to NC. Our competitor states are much better at attracting business through economic incentives.