Fashion rental company Le Tote has three years to turn around struggling department store brand Lord & Taylor, according to reports. Le Tote’s roughly $100 million deal with parent company Hudson’s Bay gave the subscription service full control of Lord & Taylor’s brand, ecommerce and 38 stores. Five of those stores are expected to close. But as part of the deal, Hudson’s Bay will hold onto the store’s real estate obligations, essentially giving Le Tote free rent for 36 months (L&T’s rent expenses are about $58 million annually). Le Tote’s turnaround plans include testing new stores and locations in the U.S., shrinking stores that are already open and integrating its own business into Lord & Taylor through studio concepts. Subscription service spin-offs may also be in the works. (Finance & Commerce)
With home prices within the Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington MSA outpacing income growth since 2011, there’s a growing need for affordable housing within Dallas and the North Texas region according to recent research. Currently, there is a shortage of about 20,000 affordable housing units within the areas, Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) CEO Troy Broussard said in a recent interview. DHA is working to bolster affordable housing development with programs including tax increment financing (TIF), public improvement districts (PIDs) and opportunity zones. Broussard spoke out against rent control programs, saying, “We would not want to see a rent control program that disincentivizes development because the need for more affordable housing is so great.” He may be alluding to recently passed New York State legislation that tightened restrictions on rent-regulated apartments. The new laws are pushing some investors to look outside of New York City. (MultiHousing News)
Housing Justice for All, a New York-based affordable housing advocacy coalition, has written to the state’s political leaders to urge them drop 421A and 485A. The two real estate tax incentive programs cost about $4 billion annually. Housing Justice For All told Governor Andrew Cuomo, State Sen. Andrea Stewart Cousins, and Sate Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie that the billions should be put toward fully funding public housing. “Public housing across the state is in severe disrepair, yet our state keeps funneling billions in subsidies and tax breaks to corporate landlords and developers,” the group wrote.“These issues are directly connected: Subsidies and tax abatements for landlords and developers are coming at the expense of investments in repairing and rebuilding public housing.” (New York Daily News)
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Retail Brokerage President Urges California CRE Community to Get Politically Active in 2020
