Monthly Archives: June 2012

Partial interest real estate deals are apparently on the rise in Manhattan, accounting for 63 percent of the $15.7 billion spent in Manhattan office transactions in 2011. That number is up from 19 percent back 2007, when the market was at its height.

Costs will soon rise for businesses in Philadelphia, after the city council opted to raise business and property taxes last week. The decision was make last Thursday to implement a budget which collects almost $40 million more for the School District, which is all but insolvent. Each proposal is projected to raise $20 million for the district.

Development disputes throw off many a project time table, but delays don’t typically last as long as a recent one that was recently resolved. Last Thursday, Upper Merion Township supervisors voted unanimously to settle a dispute involving the former Valley Forge Golf Course. The property is apparently the last undeveloped tract of land in King of Prussia.

On Tuesday, the Philadelphia City Council decided to table–after hours of testimony before the Rules Committee– a proposed zoning change that would have allowed a developer to redevelop acres of green space near the Philadelphia International Airport.

Former Philadelphia Sheriff John D. Green is currently involved in a civil case involving Sheriff’s Office real estate sales. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia is reportedly conducting a probe of the sheriff’s operations, in response to financial irregularities during Green’s time in office.

Going up against restrictive ordinances can be a real challenge for developers. Sometimes zoning restrictions are out of date and the community is ready for a change. Other times there is considerable opposition to be faced. Moving forward with a project can quickly become political.

Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon announced last month that the financially strapped energy company plans to pick itself back up by drilling more wells on Marcellus Shale real estate. According to McClendon, the center of the activity would be the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, as well as regions in Ohio and West Virginia where wells can extract liquid gases like ethane and propane, which are worth higher prices nowadays.

In our previous post, we mentioned that Chesapeake Energy Company will soon be pursuing a new policy of increased natural gas drilling on Marcellus Shale real estate. The Marcellus shale, as our readers may know, is the largest of several shale formations that have become sites for oil and gas production in recent years following upon advanced techniques in hydraulic-fracturing.