Shopping centers add tenants in 2012
U.S. shopping centers had a net gain in occupancies in the first quarter amid a slow economic recovery, according to property research company Reis Inc.
Occupied space rose by a net 2.96 million square feet, the second-largest increase since neighborhood and community retail centers began losing tenants in the first quarter of 2008, New York-based Reis said in a report last week. So-called absorption was up from 717,000 square feet a year earlier.
“The first quarter produced more evidence in favor of a slow recovery,” Ryan Severino, a Reis senior economist, said in the report. “We remain cautious about pronouncing a turnaround until we observe a couple more quarters of improvement.”
Retail landlords are benefiting as consumers spend more amid improving employment. U.S. chain-store sales last month rose 4.1 percent from a year earlier, the International Council of Shopping Centers said.
Shopping-center vacancies stood at 10.9 percent in the first quarter, unchanged from a year earlier and down from 11 percent in the last three months of 2011, according to Reis. It was the first decline in vacancies from a prior quarter since the second quarter of 2005.
State’s app eases business filings
The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs has launched its second mobile Web app, offering business filers the option of renewing their annual filing from their smartphones or tablet devices while on the go.
"The new mobile app for renewals of annual business filings is another way for the DCCA to meet customers where they are doing business — on iPhones, Android phones and tablets," said DCCA Director Keali‘i Lopez. "It is part of the Abercrombie administration’s continued efforts to transform the way government works and to serve the public more efficiently and effectively."
The app, which features a modified version of the state’s business registration website, is designed to help filers renew their annual reports more easily. It takes advantage of touch-screen technology and smartphone interfaces by providing larger text, buttons designed for touch response and layouts for smaller screens.
Airline pours Maui java on flights
Island Air is serving MauiGrown Coffee Co.’s Kaanapali Estate brews on its morning flights.
"It’s great to feature locally produced coffee on our flights," Island Air CEO Lesley Kaneshiro said. "Island Air services West Maui, and it is impressive to see the hedgerow style of Arabica coffee trees spanning 500 acres across the hills above the Kaanapali Beach Resort area."
MauiGrown Coffee, which began the service April 1, calls itself the largest individually operated coffee grower in the U.S.
