Construction companies in need of steel and manufacturers in need of palladium have seen double-digit increases in both materials in the last two months, with most analysts forecasting additional increases in the weeks to come. And things have only been made worse by the Russia-Ukraine war, with upwards of 60% of all pig iron imports into the U.S. coming from both countries since at least 2018. According to the Data Digest, which is published by the Associated General Contractors of America, the price for U.S. companies of reinforced steel and stainless steel products have seen substantial increases, with aluminum coil and aluminum accessories slated to go up by 10% at the beginning of next month. Before the war, Russia was serving as a major supplier of aluminum, nickel, and palladium both to the U.S. and a number of other countries. Because of the changed conditions brought on by the war, and the now-scarcity of such materials, prices are up by anywhere from 30% to as high as 211%. Palladium, used to produce catalytic converters, has increased by more than 25% since the beginning of the month, while the price of nickel, used to make electric car batteries, has nearly doubled. By Garry Boulard
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An international aviation and aerospace company is on the verge of building a massive manufacturing plant at the Albuquerque International Sunport. Founded in early 2020, Universal Hydrogen is focused on hydrogen-based aviation technology that can be used in existing airplanes. The company also specializes in what it calls “hydrogen fuel packs” to be transported to airports both nationally and internationally with the goal of converting existing aircraft to hydrogen power. It is thought that it will cost up to $254 million to build Universal Hydrogen’s new Albuquerque facility, a plant that will put New Mexico on the map in the emerging hydrogen plane market. “This company can deliver a net-zero carbon footprint in aviation, making New Mexico one of the top leaders in this space around the world,” New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said in announcing the company’s decision to set up operations in Albuquerque. As part of a package to secure the Universal Hydrogen deal, the New Mexico Economic Development Department has committed itself to putting up some $10 million in Local Economic Development Act funding. As planned, the company’s manufacturing facility and distribution center will be built on 50 acres of land that formerly served as a north-south runway at the airport, to the northeast of the Sunport’s passenger terminal. Work on the plant could begin by summer, with an anticipated 2024 completion date. Late last year, Universal Hydrogen secured $62 million in funding, bringing its total raised capital to $85 million. Upon the announcement of that funding, Paul Ermenko, chief executive office of the company, remarked: “If we want to decarbonize the industry on the timeframe of the Paris Agreement, the world’s narrowbody airliner fleet has to become hydrogen-powered starting in the 2030s.” By Garry Boulard One of the truly grand hotels of the southwest is being listed for sale in Douglas, Arizona for $3.2 million. Located at 1046 N G Avenue, the Gadsden Hotel was built in 1907 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. With 130 rooms, the hotel is perhaps most known for its mezzanine 42-foot-wide stained glass window mural, and spacious lobby dominated by a solid white Italian marble staircase at the center of four massive marble columns. The Gadsden, contends author Stanley Turkel in his book Built To Last: 100+Year-Old Hotels West of the Mississippi, originally “provided some civilized behavior and gracious hospitality to the growing business brought in by the nearby mining operators. The hotel soon became a meeting place for cattlemen ranchers, miners, and businessmen.” It has also been featured in the film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean starring Paul Newman, and the Charlie Sheen movie Terminal Velocity. Listed with Novoa Realty of Douglas, the Gadsden Hotel has hosted the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt, John Wayne, Faye Dunaway, and the popular Western novelist Louis L’Amour. By Garry Boulard Upwards of 200 ships carrying a variety of cargo are reported to be trapped in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war. According to the London-based maritime tracker Windward Limited, more than 3,500 sailors serving on those ships are also stranded due to a halt in maritime traffic in the area. Some of the ships, carrying corn and wheat, have been hit by Russian missiles as part of a larger attack on the Ukraine’s port infrastructure. Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping, told a reporter for the Reuters news service that “multiple ships have been hit by munitions, seafarers have been killed and injured, and seafarers of all nationalities are trapped on ships berthed in ports.” International shipping organizations, in response, have called for the establishment of a safe maritime corridor that would allow all the trapped vessels to sail out of the endangered areas. The International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners of London has disclosed that besides grain, many of the ships were also carrying coal. According to the publication Outsider the trapped status of the ships not only represents a threat to the life of the sailors, but is also the latest challenge in a global supply chain beset with problems. “With the war continuing, there is no telling when supply chains will return to normal,” said the publication. In an advisory, the U.S. Maritime Administration has cautioned U.S.-flagged ships to stay away from both the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, noting in particular the danger of naval mines, GPS interruptions, and communications jamming. The agency notes that since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there have been reports of “multiple commercial vessels being struck by projectiles and/or experiencing explosions” in the area. The advisory further states that U.S. flagged commercial vessels still in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov should report any suspicious activity immediately to the NATO Shipping Center, which is tasked with providing military support for maritime units that are registered with a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member country. By Garry Boulard Plans are underway for the restoration of a historic downtown El Paso four-story building that was severely damaged in a fire last month. According to reports, the owner of the structure, which is most known for having once been the home to the old De Soto Hotel, says he still intends to proceed with renovating and upgrading the building, although the costs of the project have increased. Owner Rogelio Gonzalez had earlier entered into an agreement with the City of El Paso allowing for up to $60,000 in fee and tax rebates to bring the building at 309 E. Mills Avenue back to life. It was earlier thought that an estimated $1.2 million renovation of the structure would see it turned into an apartment building, before Gonzalez, who purchased the building in 2019, announced that the project could also include building hotel space on the top floor and restaurant and retail space on the ground level. Built in 1904, the structure was once known as the Great Northern Hotel before becoming the De Soto Hotel in later decades. Measuring around 22,400 square feet, the building has long been a focal point of interest for city officials concerned about its depleted condition. The February 4 fire destroyed the building’s roof and significantly damaged its upper floors. A timetable for when the restoration work on the structure will begin has not yet been announced. By Garry Boulard A former two-story northern Colorado fire station is now listed for sale, with a price tag of $4.5 million. Located at the corner of 9th Street and Yampa Street, the nearly 50-year-old building has long housed truck and equipment space for the Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue department. Owned by the city of Steamboat Springs, the downtown Central Station building has been one of three facilities used by the rescue department, with the other two being the iconic Mountain Station in the 2600 block of Pine Grove Road and an ambulance barn across the street from the Central Station. Plans are now underway for the construction of a building at 137 10th Street, which will not only house a modern fire rescue station but will also serve as Steamboat Springs’ new city hall. The 12,800 square foot Central Station was built in 1974 and upgraded in 2020. Listed with the Steamboat Springs-based Colorado Group Realty, the building features a 13-foot-tall ceiling in its garage section, as well as second floor office space. By Garry Boulard A new commercial real estate industry survey is indicating that realtors are less worried than in previous surveys about the presence of the pandemic and more concerned about such issues as inflation and supply chain challenges. In fact, as part of its annual survey of commercial real estate attitudes, the Chicago-based law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP saw industry respondents placing Covid 19, which burst upon the U.S. exactly two years ago this month, as number four among its top ten worries. The rising cost of materials, labor shortages, and supply chain problems are “much more standard economic concerns than anything related to the pandemic,” notes the National Observer in analyzing the Seyfath Shaw results. The survey also indicated that even while receding in importance, the pandemic has left its mark on the office market, with the demand for Class B and Class C space down significantly from 2020. Responding companies also indicated that while they had implemented work-from-home models in the wake of the pandemic, upwards of 75% said they had not been negatively impacted by those changed models. Indicating a decided post-pandemic optimism, some 84% of respondents in the Seyfarth Shaw survey said they were feeling positive about business opportunities this year. That optimism is seen in the remarks of Remen Okoruwa, co-founder of the rent payment app RentDrop, who recently told the publication Bigger Pockets that a complete shift from the office to home has never really happened and it “appears unlikely that it will.” Continued Okoruwa: “As such, office and retail properties are likely to be a good investment in a post-pandemic world, as the demand will likely be higher than once expected.” While health experts have been reluctant to declare Covid 19 a thing of the past, media outlets have proven more bullish on the topic, with the Wall Street Journal last week declaring: “The U.S. labor market is pivoting toward a post-pandemic world, with a steady stream of adults joining the labor force and employment approaching levels before Covid 19 began its rapid spread.” Even the New York Times, which last year criticized the very phrase “post-pandemic,” in February noted the supply chain and worker shortages confronting many businesses today “make it harder for forecasters and policymakers to get a clear picture of the post-pandemic recovery.” By Garry Boulard One of the largest electrical products manufacturers in the country plans to launch a new production facility on the west side of El Paso, adding to four such plants that the company already operates in the city. Schneider Electric, whose corporate headquarters are in Rueil-Malmison, France, will put up a 160,000 square-foot plant at the intersection of Northern Pass Drive and Northwestern Drive, within the borders of the Northwest Corporate Center industrial park. Describing the project as a “new, state-of-the-art facility,” Annette Clayton, chief executive officer of Schneider Electric, said the plant will “allow us to get products into the hands of our distributors and end-users more quickly, and it will bring an estimated $138 million in economic value to the local area.” The company, specializing in energy management and automation digital solutions, says the new El Paso plant will help to accelerate the delivery of its products to a wide customer base throughout the U.S., as well as in Canada and Mexico. The new facility is expected to cost around $100 million to build, and upon completion will be the company’s largest such plant in the U.S. A Fortune 500 company, Schneider, which first set up operations in El Paso in 2001, saw revenues of nearly $29 billion in 2020. Work on the new El Paso facility will begin this spring, bringing Schneider’s total facility footprint to more than 576,000 square feet in the city. By Garry Boulard A parking lot at the intersection of N. Nevada Avenue and East Pikes Peak Avenue in downtown Colorado Springs could become the site of a long-planned multi-modal transportation center. As envisioned, the center would serve as a station for the city’s Mountain Metro Transit as well as a Greyhound line and shuttle service. Plans additionally call for connecting the new facility with a proposed Front Range Rail train station. The new facility will replace the city’s nearly 50-year-old transit center, at the intersection of E. Kiowa Street and N. Nevada Avenue. A study completed in 2017 said the current center “no longer suits Colorado Springs’ transit needs,” and contains “a large number of operational, safety, and access deficiencies, in addition to the facility’s generally uninviting patron environment.” The new center will have space for restaurants, offices, stores, and possibly either a hotel or apartment units. Located on a block populated with office buildings and stores, the center’s site could also include a public plaza and will include space for electric scooters and electric bikes. If all goes well, the city is expected to draw up an agreement plan between the public and private parties involved in the project in the months to come, with design work launching early next year. An informal timetable sees work on the new transit center beginning by 2024, with a rough completion date of sometime in 2027. By Garry Boulard Making history, the average asking price for a home in February hit the $392,000 mark - a record, according to a just-released industry analysis. That figure, according to the site Realtor.com, is now some 13% greater than where things stood in February of last year, and a significant 27% jump over February of 2020, the month before the Covid 19 outbreak. The report, February 2022 Monthly Housing Market Trends, also reveals that the inventory of active listings nationally declined by 24.5% in the last twelve months. Indicating a current tight market, that inventory is also down by a substantial nearly 63% from early 2020. A sense of homebuyer demand is also seen in the amount of time a typical house these days spends on the market: 47 days. In early 2021 the figure stood at 64 days, while in the month before the pandemic it was at 79 days. According to Sabrina Speianu, economic data manager with Realtor, February’s national median listing price “surpassed last year’s July seasonal high,” with time on the market “declining faster than usual heading into the spring season.” Meanwhile, the nation’s for-sale inventory is expected to increase in the weeks ahead in the typical spring pattern as more newly listed homes come onto the market. Regionally, some of the highest median prices are being seen in the West, with metro Denver at an unprecedented $650,000; the popular Austin market now at $575,000; metro Phoenix at $500,000; and metro Las Vegas at $474,000. The Midwest, meanwhile, saw some of the country’s lower median home prices, although still higher than in recent years, with metro Indianapolis at $287,000; Detroit at $217,000; and the Cleveland metro area at $177,000. By Garry Boulard |
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