10/28/21 Richmond Mastermind Meeting

Richmond October 2021 – Key Take Aways 

• The roundtable discussion kicked off with a discussion about the COVID vaccination and working in the office vs. at home.
  • Matt Plaugher with First Citizens Bank stated how their employees, worked at the office by being socially distanced by the design of their building.
  • Kaylin Phillips, guest, representing Charlie & Jimmy from JLL added that CoStar Group had offered any employee that came to the office a chance to win $10K in a raffle per week.
• Rick Lackey discussed selling 100,000 SF multi-building office deal in the ATL area – with a majority of tenants already signed on – had thoughts about the buyer flipping it – but doubts it.  Working on a 10,000 SF deal w/ top secret space – hard time finding commercial inspectors near the ATL airport.  Currently involved in a lot of potential casino sites in GA which could bring more than 35K+ jobs to the ATL.
• Tom Rosman interjects (with a laugh) that a Caesar’s Casino w/ a 500 room hotel in Danville, VA could work?  He said there must be a market?  Rick talked about how important it was that casino projects be close to an exit ramp and more of a destination resort.  Regarding sellers – he states there is a low price resistance because of the high market demand.  He brought up how, “how to attract new people to RIC?”   There is an uptick in office development w/ owners who want to rent to numerous tenants.  Condo and Townhouse development w/ HH Hunt – the demand is huge
• Charlie Kreye brought up how expansion compared to building new is taking the lead – which could be part of the shortage of labor materials.  Biggest thing is fulfilling federal contracts that are coming hard on Dec 8^th given that the Federal Gov’t will require 100% of all employees and contractors to be vaccinated.  Draper Aden is trying to quantify the amount of the federal contracts w/ employee shortage + raises + bonuses – minus unwilling unvaccinated employees =  ??.  The 64W corridor – there is a lot of tech development in the White Oak Tech Park and Richmond already has the infrastructure needed in between Northern VA & Tidewater.
• Matt Plaugher described a situation where “logistics” are booming – he had a client that was in need of a warehouse for “junk beer”, needing it for:   expiration date is one off or the packaging split, etc. and just stowing it until Anheuser-Busch can get rid of it.  Acquiring warehouses and a lease is a part of the bank’s repertoire.  He discussed a hard tax decision being forced on owners because of the 2022 unknown.
• Andy Little discussed breaking ground on a 282-unit multi-family area in Innsbrook within 30 days.  Already involved with the selling of West Broad Village and Metropolis.  Talked about the Carlisle Hotel units on Columbia Pike – the land per unit in Northern VA was $80K compared to Richmond was $25K.  Strong developers in Scott’s Addition.