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☆ ‘The Office’ gets an Australian reboot with a female boss
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —More than 20 years after British comedian Ricky Gervais gave insufferable middle-manager David Brent global fame, an Australian version of the hit show “The Office” is being made, this time with a female lead. Since its debut in 2001, “The Office” has won multiple awards and inspired local versions in countries including Chile, Israel, India, and Poland. The Australian series is the 13th adaption and the first to cast a woman in the lead role. The Australian edition is co-produced by BBC Studios Australia and New Zealand, Bunya Entertainment, and Amazon Studios. In a statement, Gervais, who co-created “The Office” with Stephen Merchant said he was excited about the Australian version.

Persons: Ricky Gervais, David Brent, Felicity Ward, Hannah Howard, Brent, Michael Scott, ”, Ward, she’d, Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Kylie Washington, it’s Organizations: CNN, BBC, Wakefield ”, BBC Studios, Bunya Entertainment, Amazon Studios, BBC Studios ANZ Locations: British, Chile, Israel, India, Poland, BBC Studios Australia, New Zealand, Sydney

☆ There's a big debate over whether it's OK to use AI in your job search. Some companies say it's 'a definite dealbreaker.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Many job seekers have started using ChatGPT and similar AI tools to write résumés and cover letters. 39% of surveyed HR professionals said using AI in applications is a dealbreaker. Some recruiters said that using AI to write applications could be a "marketable skill." Plovie added that it's hard to say if companies will seek job candidates who have "expertise and experience" with AI tools. Are you an employer who doesn't want job candidates using AI tools to help with their résumés or cover letters?

☆ The real reasons stores are closing in big cities
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

These big chains and others have closed stores in major US cities recently, raising alarm about the future of retail in some of the country’s most prominent downtowns and business districts. How policymakers remake their downtowns — with retail as a crucial attraction — will be crucial to cities’ fiscal health and regional economies. People who are being employed in those stores are losing their jobs” because of crime, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, said in February. San Francisco lost around 6% of its retail establishments from 2019 to 2021, according to the think tank’s research. For example, chain-store closures in New York City have correlated to the products most frequently bought online.

☆ No office tower is safe from the roiling market — not even a trophy building housing Google and Visa deemed one of the best
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Potential problems at One Market Plaza show how far San Francisco's office market may fall. One Market Plaza has long been considered the pinnacle of San Francisco's office market. Autodesk plans to downsize by about 73,000 square feet to 211,000 square feet, a spokeswoman told Insider. Google did not respond to a request for comment on its plans for One Market Plaza. One Market Plaza could indicate how far San Francisco's office woes reachTurbulence at One Market Plaza indicates the extent of the problems facing San Francisco's office market.

☆ Tornado Damages Homes and Uproots Trees in Virginia Beach
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( April Rubin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A storm that passed over Virginia Beach on Sunday evening brought one confirmed tornado and caused damage to multiple homes close to the coast, the authorities said. The tornado went through the Fort Story area in northeastern Virginia Beach just before 6 p.m., said Mike Montefusco, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Wakefield, Va. The tornado’s exact path will be confirmed through a survey on Monday. Damage was reported to at least 12 homes as of early Sunday evening, said Tiffany Russell, a spokeswoman for the city of Virginia Beach. Residents also reported gas leaks.

☆ A solid start to earnings season will be put to the test in the week ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

The biggest week of this earnings season showed us that things aren't as bad as many feared. The week ahead of earnings, including several more Club names, should tell us more. The results are always important, but it's the guidance and management commentary we will really hone in on to better understand the path ahead. In Amazon's case, a solid first quarter for its AWS cloud business was overshadowed by management seeing a material slowdown in April. ET: Nonfarm Payrolls Looking back It was the biggest week of this earnings season for the Club as several of our mega-cap holdings and industry bellwethers reported results.

☆ Big apartment landlords lean in to AI and proptechs as profit squeezes loom
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Apartment landlords are getting squeezed by rising interest rates and insurance costs . interest rates and insurance . But some big US landlords were already waist-deep in labor-saving technologies of their own to ward off profit squeezes, like the ones many are facing today. On the supply side, the race has been on for some time to sell landlords on tech that works. In this case, landlords are adapting to today's higher interest rates from a time when borrowing costs were low and taking any pressure off operations, he said.

☆ Bed Bath & Beyond store closures will kick off a land grab for fast-growing retailers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In strip malls across the country, Bed Bath & Beyond stores have "Closing Soon" signs. Its shuttered stores will kick off a land grab for retailers hungry for additional space. Bed Bath will join a list of other bankrupt companies, such as Kmart and Sears, that vacated spaces and made way for stores. Former Bed Bath stores could turn into a variety of other retail spaces, said Deborah Weinswig, CEO of Coresight Research, a retail advisory group. Weaker retailers' locations thinned out during the fallout of the Great Recession and again during the Covid pandemic, said James Bohnaker, senior economist with Cushman & Wakefield.

☆ The fallout from empty offices is coming. Here's where investors could see the pain
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Christina Cheddar Berk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

As concerns about regional banks roiled markets, investors weighed another threat: commercial real estate. Also, layered on top of the property value pressure, are the tightening credit conditions brought on by the recent turmoil in the banking sector. There is no doubt this scenario is a toxic mix for the capital-intensive real estate industry. At the moment, many experts say the real estate market isn't causing trouble for banks, but fears about the financial system are likely worsening conditions in real estate because liquidity is being reduced. The biggest concern is seeing how many other companies join Brookfield , Blackstone and Pimco in handing back the keys on office properties, Clancy said.

"Weakness continues to develop in commercial real estate office," Wells Fargo Chief Executive Charlie Scharf said on a call with analysts. Stress in the commercial real estate sector could have broad implications for banks and the economy, as losses emanating there can tighten credit availability and exacerbate a downturn. More than $1.4 trillion in U.S. CRE loans will mature by 2027, with some $270 billion coming due this year, according to real estate data provider Trepp. As the epicenter for the technology industry downturn, California's CRE market has been hit hard. Citigroup and Wells Fargo declined to comment for this article.

☆ Here are Monday's biggest analyst calls: Tesla, Walmart, First Republic, Nikola, McDonald's & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Here are Monday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Bernstein reiterates Tesla as underperform Bernstein said more price cuts are coming for Tesla. Morgan Stanley reiterates Walmart as overweight Morgan Stanley said its latest survey shows Walmart+ membership is at a record. UBS reiterates McDonald's as buy UBS said the fast food giant is extremely well positioned. UBS upgrades Regions Financial to buy from neutral UBS said in its upgrade of the regional bank that it likes the company's balance sheet. Northcoast upgrades McDonald's to buy from neutral Northcoast said it sees improved profitability for McDonald's .

☆ Goldman Sachs downgrades this commercial real estate stock on difficult macro environment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Goldman Sachs thinks commercial real estate giant Cushman & Wakefield will have a tough time navigating the current macro environment. Goldman added that Cushman's interest expenses have also risen considerably as benchmark rates continue to climb. CWK YTD mountain Shares of Cushman and Wakefield have been under immense pressure so far this year, and Goldman Sachs doesn't expect a company recovery this year. Shares of Cushman are down nearly 21% in 2023, as the broader commercial real estate sector faces turmoil. Meanwhile, a tightening of liquidity will continue to pose a challenge to real estate investors, Goldman estimates, which will "more than offsets any tailwinds from potentially lower rates."

☆ The coming commercial real estate crash that may never happen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

"There's a lot of headaches about calamity in commercial real estate," said Kevin Fagan, director of commercial real estate analysis at Moody's Analytics. But credit in commercial real estate has performed well until now, and it's far from clear that U.S. credit issues spreading outward from real estate is likely. Analysts raised concerns that developers might default on a big chunk of $3.1 trillion of U.S. commercial real estate loans Goldman Sachs says are outstanding. "We're well aware of the concentrations people have in commercial real estate," Powell said at a March22 press conference. But there are reasons to believe lending issues in commercial real estate will be contained, Fagan said.

☆ The Wine Merchant Who Needs Security at the Door to Control the Crowds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( James Hookway | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WAKEFIELD, England—This time last year, Mohammad Azar Nazir was running a humdrum convenience store in Wakefield, a small city in the north of England, trying to turn his life around after a four-year stretch in prison for drug offenses. “I was the biggest numpty you could meet,” he said, meaning a bit of a fool in the local Yorkshire slang, flashing a gold tooth as he smiled. He said he fell in with the wrong crowd and made some poor choices.

☆ Real estate warning: beware the backward cap
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Lauren Silva Laughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The commercial real estate industry has a different kind of backward cap – one that’s also a sign of a losing streak. The cap rate comes from dividing a property’s net operating income in any given year – money from rent minus associated costs – by the asset’s value. For more than 10 years, that gap remained positive even though cap rates were falling in virtually all real estate subsectors, from shopping malls to apartments. Reuters GraphicsAsk a large-scale real estate owner – or several – about this and they are characteristically optimistic. Reuters GraphicsWhen Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, the narrowed spread between cap rates and interest costs didn’t last for long.

☆ Big real estate landlords are finally starting to decarbonize, creating an $18 trillion market that this Blackstone portfolio company plans to profit from at every turn
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Blackstone portfolio company Legence wants to be a one-stop shop for landlords. A Real Estate Board of New York study found that the total penalties could top $213 million. Its ICS became the strategic planner, its CMTA, which designed the first net-zero school in the United States, designed the upgrades, and its Gilbert Mechanical installed the new heating, cooling, ventilation, and lighting hardware. How to do itIt may still be a challenge to coordinate decarbonization processes, which don't come naturally to large-scale real-estate operators, Boland said. Legence plans to grow the business's geographic scope and increase its depth in current markets, including Colorado and California, Sprau said.

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☆ Some of Florida's cities don't want spring breakers. With the state's economy booming, many don't need them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Miami Beach's mayor recently said officials "don't want spring break in our city." Spring break is among the reasons the state generates billions of dollars in tax revenue per year from tourism. But there are signs that booming population growth, which Florida's Office of Economic and Demographic Research has described as the state's "primary engine of economic growth," could help diversify the state's economy. The number of arrests in the city during spring break more than doubled in 1986 from the same period in 1985. While thousands of college students still frequent Fort Lauderdale during spring break, the city's current mayor, Dean Trantalis, described them as "very well behaved."

☆ Office Doom Loop: Landlords Face a Reckoning As Companies Move to Fancy Offices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

The Gas Company Tower in downtown Los Angeles has a sterling pedigree, but even that can't save it from the doom loop facing many older office towers. A huge swath of America's office market is vulnerable to these twin threats of being under-equipped with amenities and underwater financially. This behavioral shift has deeply cut into demand for office space. The amount of sublease space nationally more than doubled from 118.5 million square feet at the end of 2019 to 242.8 million square feet at the end of 2022, Colliers stated. Lenders are often reluctant, he said, to seize office buildings because of the costs and expertise required to operate the properties.

"Most luxury retailers don't think Hong Kong will return to the dizzy levels of 2014 when the market here peaked," said Simon Smith, Savills' senior director of research and consultancy in Hong Kong. Morgan Stanley (MS.N) forecast Hong Kong visitor numbers this year will reach just 70% of 2018 arrivals. It estimates retail sales will grow 15%, holding at around 80% of retail trade from the pre-COVID year. That outstripped total Hong Kong retail sales from a peak hit in 2013 at HK$494.5 billion ($63.0 billion), according to the city's statistics department. ($1 = 6.8510 yuan)($1 = 7.8498 Hong Kong dollars)Reporting by Farah Master, Jessie Pang, Anne Marie Roantree, Angel Woo and Donny Kwok in Hong Kong, Sophie Yu in Beijing, and Mimosa Spencer in Paris; Writing by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Tuesday Morning says it wants to close 265 stores as part of its bankruptcy filing. See if your local store is on the list.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +30 min

Camarillo: Camarillo Village Square, 2450 Las Posas Road, Ste HCamarillo Village Square, 2450 Las Posas Road, Ste H Roseville: Fairway Commons Shopping Center, 5771A Five Star Blvd. San Diego: Pacific Plaza Shopping Center, 1772‐D Garnet AvenuePacific Plaza Shopping Center, 1772‐D Garnet Avenue Woodland Hills: Pride Shopping Center, 22950 Victory Blvd. Winston-Salem: Whitaker Square Shopping Center, 1947 North Pease Haven Road, Space #1947Whitaker Square Shopping Center, 1947 North Pease Haven Road, Space #1947 Matthews: Windsor Square Shopping Center, 9945 E. Independence Blvd. ; Westhill Village Shopping Center, 7525 WestheimerWeslayan Plaza West Shopping Center, 5442‐A Weslayan Street; Westheimer Commons, 12568 Westheimer Rd. ; Westhill Village Shopping Center, 7525 Westheimer El Paso: West Towne Marketplace, 6450 N. Desert Blvd., Ste.

☆ Analysis: The deep freeze over UK assets is thawing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Naomi Rovnick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"This does suggest a possible inflection point in sentiment towards UK assets," said Nick Kissack, a UK portfolio manager at Schroders, which manages roughly $910 billion of client funds. "We saw extreme levels of risk aversion," in September, he added, while "the risk premium for UK assets has come down since." That, in short, is an outlook of higher global interest rates, weak growth and high inflation. Reuters GraphicsHowever, analysts expect the FTSE 100's rise to falter with a stronger global growth outlook combined with waning energy inflation. "The UK is the standout global economy where growth prospects have not improved," said Baylee Wakefield, multi-asset portfolio manager at Aviva Investors, who expects gilts to continue outperforming Treasuries.

☆ Security Gets Blended With Corporate Networks in New Cloud Platforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

As everything moves to the cloud, a new generation of cybersecurity platforms has emerged, combining corporate networks with security tools such as malware protection into a single system that tech leaders can manage centrally. Older technology can be upgraded to lay the groundwork for implementing a new platform, Mr. Franch said, but it needs to happen without disrupting the existing corporate network. PREVIEWAt Carriage Services, Mr. Franch wants to undertake a network modernization similar to one he oversaw as chief technology officer of commercial real-estate services company Cushman & Wakefield. Modernization tends to reduce complexity and increase visibility of what’s on the network, which can benefit security, according to Mr. Franch. Goya Foods Inc. CIO Suvajit Basu said the Jersey City, N.J.-based company uses cybersecurity services from about seven vendors and a total of about 12 cybersecurity tools, many purchased and implemented over time.

☆ Slowing Warehouse Construction Could Extend Squeeze on Space, Experts Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Construction of new warehouses is slowing as developers grapple with rising interest rates and declining leasing activity, potentially prolonging an ongoing shortfall in logistics space. Developers began building about 137 million square feet of new warehouse space, the lowest amount of new space to start construction in a quarter since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company is planning development starts for the year to range between $2.5 billion and $3 billion, down from $4.7 billion in construction starts last year. Even with construction starts slowing, the pipeline of industrial projects being built remained elevated at 682.6 million square feet as of the fourth quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Developers completed 143.6 million square feet of new space to finish the year, the company said, down from the record-high 148.2 million square feet delivered in the third quarter.

☆ A Portland woman said a gas station employee told her 'I don't serve Black people.' 3 years later, a jury awarded her $1 million in damages.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Taylor Ardrey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Portland, Oregon, woman was awarded $1 million following a racist incident in 2020, KGW reported. Rose Wakefield said a gas station employee told her, "I don't serve Black people." While there, she said a gas station employee on site, identified as Nigel Powers, ignored her multiple times, KGW reported citing court documents. Before Wakefield left, she said the gas attendant scoffed at her saying, "I don't serve Black people," the outlet reported. "I went to a gas station to get gas and service, and I wasn't served," Wakefield, 63, told KGW.

☆ Jury awards $1M to Oregon woman who was told ‘I don’t serve Black people’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

PORTLAND, Ore. — A jury has awarded an Oregon woman $1 million in damages after finding she was discriminated against by a gas station employee who told her, “I don’t serve Black people.”The Multnomah County jury’s award this week to Portland resident Rose Wakefield, 63, included punitive damages of $550,000. When she tried to ask for assistance, he said, “I’ll get to you when I feel like it,” according to Kafoury. Kafoury said as she was leaving, Wakefield asked Powers why he refused to help her and that he said, “I don’t serve Black people.”Rose Wakefield. KGW“I was like, ‘What world am I living in?’ ” Wakefield told KGW. It was a terrible, terrible confrontation between me and this guy.”During the following week, Wakefield complained twice to managers, but her phone calls were largely disregarded, Kafoury said.

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