Bob Knakal Out At JLL

Black leaders in commercial real estate are driving a new and growing wave of investment in the country’s communities of color, leveraging assets owned by Black institutions like historically Black colleges and universities.

Similar efforts have gained traction over the years in residential real estate but have been slower to catch on in CRE. But with millions of dollars committed to growing wealth and reducing inequality in majority-Black areas by investing in commercial property, that is changing.

“We've seen, by way of gentrification, or by way of slumlords or just by way of mismanagement, a lot of degradation over the years,” Haltere Group Vice President Mikael Pyles said. “It's integral that companies like ours, Black-owned companies, come in and enhance and enrich these communities.” The Haltere Group,…

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In Case You Missed It...

Key economic indicators that for months have been moving in a positive direction for commercial real estate reversed course Tuesday. New inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed prices rose 3.1% in January.

Most crucially for CRE, the outlook on interest rates worsened after weeks of optimism that a rate cut was coming as early as March. Interest rate futures now predict that a cut is more likely in June, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Oxford Economics, which hadn't predicted a March cut, now expects the Federal Reserve's first rate cut in May. 

“The January CPI does not warrant a change to our assumptions around monetary policy, but lends some upside risk to the inflation forecast this quarter,” the research firm said in a statement. “Recent gains in consumer prices have been concentrated in the less volatile categories of goods and services, suggesting that inflation may be a little stickier than some Fed officials thought.”

The new data runs counter to what Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in January would be needed to bring rates down.  “We have six months of good inflation data,” Powell said at a Jan. 31 press conference. “Is that six months of inflation data sending us a true…

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