LocalCenters.com » Commercial Real Estate

How to Make California Business Friendly

LC — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:32:06 +0000

California created less than 1% of the new jobs created in Texas, over the past two years. An unresponsive and punitive bureaucracy at both state and local levels in California, along with disturbing demographic and social trends, contribute to the growing exodus of businesses leaving California and the dwindling numbers of new start ups and relocations from other states.

During a recent guest appearance on a local Wall Street Journal Business Network radio station affiliate, host Mark Montgomery and I discuss the needed steps to help get California back in the game of business development.

Here are a few topics from our discussion:

* California is becoming a brain drain. Only 56% of 2010 California college graduates have found work, and they are starting to move out of state en masse.

* While Economic Development is 12.5% of the Texas annual budget, it doesn’t even warrant a line item in California’s budget.

*We examine three business surveys with several criteria for ranking state desirability for doing business. Texas ranks very high in all; California is often at the bottom. We look at why.

* Find out what well known company has scrapped all expansion plans in California, and received a personal phone call from Gov. Rick Perry, thanking them for doing business in his state (even if I did screw it up and said “California” instead of “Texas.” Apologies to the governor;-)

* What small business people can do in acts of self-defense against an unfriendly business climate

Listen to the podcast here

LocalCenters Elk Grove Disney Giveaway 2010

LC — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 04:11:49 +0000

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED.

CONGRATUATIONS TO MARK DRIVER WHO WILL BE TAKING HIS FAMILY ON A CRUISE SOON!

Win two 365 day, unrestricted annual passes to Disneyland, or a $900 cruise voucher!

All you need to do is visit any of our participating stores in our shopping centers below, fill out a simple entry form (no purchase necessary) and wait for an email notification around December 20. If you are the winner, you may choose the Disney passes or the cruise voucher.

With only about 20 stores, your odds of winning are much higher than most large ticket drawings. A family can enter once at each store, so the more of our stores you visit, the better your chances of winning!

Our drawing closes on December 19, 2010.

Participating Merchants

This list will be expanded as more stores participate

Laguna Oaks Shopping Center

Corner Elk Grove and Big Horn
8139-8145-8153 Elk Grove Blvd.

DQ Salon
Foot Reflexology
Contours Express
Allstate Insurance
Kittel Family Veterinarian
Dinner My Way
1230 Performance
D-Vision
Boba Tea
Planet Beach

Harbour Cove Shopping Center

Northeast corner Harbour Point Dr. and Elk Grove Blvd.
2745 Elk Grove Blvd

Javatime Donuts
Royal Thai
Wasabi Grill
Hans Cleaners

Harbour Palms Shopping Center

Northwest corner Harbour Point Dr. and Elk Grove Blvd.
2471-2475 Elk Grove Blvd

Anytime Fitness
Original Pete’s
Jacquelyn’s Salon
Villa Vista Dental

Remember, each family can register once at each participating merchant, so the more stores you visit and sign up, the better your chances of winning!

Pick Up Stix Closes 26 Stores Without Notice

LC — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:46:31 +0000

Pick Up Stix, a San Clemente,CA based chain of fast casual Asian restaurants, has shuttered 26 stores in Northern California, Nevada, and Arizona as of January 15, 2008. Apparently there was no notice given to the local employees, according to the buzz on Elk Grove, CA based Elk Grove Online (requires registration).

Wal-Mart Says “Watch Out Tesco!”

LC — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:30:59 +0000

Strip Malls Soon To Get A New Player with Marketside

Today Wal-Mart announced plans to roll out “Marketside,” a concept intended to compete head on with the UK Giant Tesco, doing business in the U.S as Fresh and Easy.

The story is still developing, and the figures in the Forbes article below are incorrect. They state that the Marketside stores will be “a tenth the size of Wal-Mart’s 200,000 SF stores, even “smaller than Fresh and Easy stores that are 10,000 SF.”

First, Fresh and Easy stores in the U.S and 14,000 square foot, not 10,000 square feet, and clearly 20,000 is larger than 10,000 so we do not have the full store, which certainly is characteristic of the cloak of secrecy typical of Wal-Mart. No geo-targeting has been released from the giant discounter.

Strip malls are entering a new paradigm with the densification of the suburbs, and Marketside provides yet another fine mini-anchor for strip mall developers. A possible downside could be Wal-Mart’s ability to be a category killer, maybe with any size.

From Forbes

Retailer Reports 30% Credit Card Declines and Bad Checks

LC — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:27:02 +0000

Some of our merchants are membership-based and funds are either withdrawn from checking or a credit card automatically.

This afternoon I received a call from one of my best tenants, requesting a split rent payment schedule in January; the reason for his request is pretty clear with the headline above. Thinking there was a processing error, he called the company who processes the payments, only to find that they’ve been flooded with similar calls since January 1 from all over the nation.

Obviously the payors are contractually obligated to make good their commitment, however this is an alarming percentage of defaults.

While the major credit card issuers’ mid-December estimate of a 4% default rate falls far short of the reported 30% declines which could be simply over-limit in some cases, it’s still up 26% from the previous period according to a recent CNN Money article. We’re all familiar with home equity defaults and foreclosures; so what’s next? Auto loans, and debt on those toys like Waverunners is my best guess.

What do you think?

Oh, and of course I agreed to half the January rent now and half on the 15th. When you’ve got a great tenant who has a plan and gets blindsided you go to the wall for them.