About eight years ago, I instructed our staff that when starting a conversation with a client, do not ask, “How are things going?” With a down economy, this was the wrong way to start a conversation with anyone, except maybe a real estate auctioneer.
Fast forward to the summer of 2017, while attending the 150th anniversary celebration of the Boston Society of Architects, with the new skyline of the seaport district ahead of us: “How’s it going?” was the greeting of choice.
Real estate is cyclical, and for those who design and build, being ahead of the cycle in planning how to deal with demand is the art of good business. In our Forecast focus we invited a few select companies to share their forecast for 2018. Here are a few indicators for 2018:
Historic Tax Credit Saved
No matter your feelings on tax reform broadly, there is good news for the preservation community. The Federal Historic Tax Credit has been preserved at 20% in the final tax reform bill. For months, the future of the Historic Tax Credit was in question; the House bill initially eliminated the HTC completely, while the original Senate bill cut the credit by half. Although the proposed legislation weakens some elements of the federal Historic Tax Credit, the preservation community has a lot to celebrate.
Fix Our National Parks and Create Jobs
An analysis commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts and prepared by Cadmus Group shows that investing in the maintenance of our national parks could create or support more than 2,261 jobs in Massachusetts and 110,169 jobs across the country.
In Massachusetts, Boston’s three national park sites, including many popular stops along Boston’s Freedom Trail, need more than $135 million in repairs and maintenance. Also, the Cape Cod National Seashore faces a backlog of almost $44 million in funds required to restore full access to the pristine and scenic landscape.
Clean Energy Jobs in Massachusetts Grow 4%
Clean Energy Industry Adds 4,014 Jobs Statewide
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) announced that the state’s clean energy sector grew by 4% between 2016 and 2017, employing a total of 109,226 clean-energy workers. The figures, released as part of MassCEC’s 2017 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report, found that the number of clean-energy jobs in Massachusetts has increased by 81% since 2010.
MassEcon’s ReadyMass Adds 1M SF
Businesses added about 1 million sf of space in Massachusetts in 2017 from properties listed on MassEcon’s ReadyMass 100 portfolio of available land and buildings, the nonprofit group that promotes business in the commonwealth reported.
MassEcon, the commonwealth’s partner in promoting business and locations in the state, said that six properties were removed from the 2017 portfolio of available and ready properties because they were scooped up by Massachusetts companies relocating or expanding or by companies that decided to move to the Bay State.
And MassEcon, after vetting multiple new properties in all regions of the state, added six new market-ready properties to its 2017 ReadyMass100 list.
“This year marked the ninth anniversary of the ReadyMass initiative,” said Susan Houston, executive director of MassEcon.
9.1% Expansion In Equipment and Software Investment Forecast
Investment in equipment and software is projected to expand 9.1% in 2018, according to the 2018 Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook released recently by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation. The annual investment growth projection, which is well above the estimated 5.2% growth rate experienced in 2017, continues the strong improvement trajectory seen over the last 12 months. While a few headwinds persist, they should be outweighed by an encouraging business investment climate. The foundation’s report, which is focused on the $1 trillion equipment leasing and finance industry, highlights key trends in equipment investment and places them in the context of the broader U.S. economic climate.
Boston Properties Quarterly Dividend Up by 6.7%
Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE: BXP), the largest public owner and developer of office buildings in the United States, announced that its board of directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.80 per share of common stock for the period October 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017 payable on January 30, 2018 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 29, 2017. This represents an increase of 6.7%, or $0.05 per share, over the most recent quarterly cash dividend of $0.75 per shar