Foreign money floods Boston real estate market

Foreign investment in Greater Boston real estate has skyrocketed to record heights, more than tripling in the past year and bringing new ownership to some of the area's premier addresses.

Foreign buyers spent $4.2 billion in deals for office properties that included buyers from Canada, Norway, Japan, Chile, Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. That was up from $1.3 billion in 2013.

"My prediction is that more than half of the investment sales coming up this year will be foreign investors," said David Begelfer, CEO of NAIOP Massachusetts, a commercial real estate development trade group. "We've been discovered. Some of these larger deals are pension fund money, sovereign funds."

The proportion of foreign investment has nearly doubled in the past year: Foreign investors accounted for about 30 percent of the approximately $14.4 billion in real estate transactions that were $2.5 million or greater last year, excluding homes, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York commercial real estate data firm. That's up from about 16.5 percent of the $11.02 billion in 2013 transactions.

Almost half the money spent on office buildings in 2014 was by foreign investors, accounting for 46 percent of the $9.17 billion in deals — up from 27 percent in 2013.

Among the biggest were a September trifecta by Oxford Properties Group, the real estate arm of Canada's Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. Oxford snatched up three top addresses from Blackstone Group: 60 State St. for $817.49 million and 225 Franklin St. in Boston for $590 million, and Cambridge's 1 Memorial Drive for $405 million, according to Real Capital.

In October, Norges Bank Investment Management, Norway's sovereign wealth fund, paid $715.17 million to Boston Properties for 45 percent of 100 Federal St. and Atlantic Wharf in Boston. In July, Norges and MetLife had bought 1 Beacon St. in Boston for $562 million.

"It's becoming more costly for local buyers to buy property," Begelfer said. "The limited supply of properties to buy and a much larger demand from international players is pushing up the cost."

NAIOP Massachusetts will tackle the issue in a panel discussion tomorrow titled "From the Outside In: How Boston Is Fueled by Foreign Capital."

Boston's booming economy and job creation in biotechnology, technology, health care, research, education and financial services make it attractive to foreign capital, said Riaz Cassum, senior managing director of HFF in Boston, which arranges debt and equity capital for commercial real estate owners, developers and operators.

"It's viewed as a safe dollar-denominated investment," he said. "It has a good diversified economy, low unemployment rate, strong barriers to entry, and Boston's become more accessible just literally in terms of direct flights. ... It's always been attractive to European investors, and now it's expanding to the growing Asian and Middle East capital."

The increasing foreign ownership of properties has broad implications — not all positive, according to Begelfer, who likened the trend to the loss of corporate headquarters in Boston.

"Mayor Menino had … relationships with all the major property owners in Boston and could count on them civically and charitably," Begelfer said. "With this whole new influx of (foreign) buyers, we may not see as much money flowing into civic and charitable initiatives that the new mayor has and that the charities count on. We have some absentee owners who might not be concerned about being the good neighbor."

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Inspector Gadget: The Ubi is a good concept with bad execution

The Ubi: Voice of the Internet ($299, theUbi.com)

Ubi is short for "ubiquitous computer," which is what this device seeks to be. Billed as a voice assistant and smart-home add-on, Ubi connects wirelessly to certain home automation devices as well as your computer.

The good: What a great idea. A voice assistant that will tell me how many ounces are in a cup while I'm cooking or call my husband without having to pick up the phone.

The bad: If only it worked well. It's often a struggle to get Ubi to recognize commands, and this is more of a beta device than something that should cost $299 and be billed as a real product.

The bottom line: I'll definitely try the next iteration of Ubi because any company with a concept this good should eventually get it right. It just hasn't done so yet.

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Obama to call for laws on data hacking, student privacy

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama wants Congress to pass legislation requiring companies to inform customers within 30 days if their data has been hacked.

Obama will also propose a bill that would prevent companies from selling student data to third parties.

A White House official says Obama will unveil the proposals Monday during a speech at the Federal Trade Commission. The announcement is part of the White House's efforts to preview components of the president's State of the Union address in the lead-up to the Jan. 20 speech.

The official was not authorized to be named and insisted on anonymity to discuss the proposed legislation ahead of Obama's announcement.

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Booting Up: LinkedIn isn’t connecting with its aspirations

LinkedIn's just-announced expansion of its publishing platform is a bid to become more than just a professional stalking tool. And it's a sea-change for a company that two years ago claimed its goal was to become "a digital representation of every economic opportunity in the world — temporary or full-time jobs."

That was a crock, and so are these new aspirations.

As someone who works in the social media and digital world, I'm supposed to embrace LinkedIn, keep it updated with recent writings, leave all manner of endorsements and recommendations for people I barely know and congratulate those same people every time they spend another year in a job they hate. 
I can't do it.

LinkedIn is a company that earned more than $500 million last quarter, compensates its CEO to the tune of $50 million a year and has 320 million members worldwide. Its public debut on Wall Street in May 2011 made a lot of people a lot of cash. Therefore, you might think this service — the largest professional network in the world, with a declared intention to be the planet's digital representation of economic opportunity — might try to connect with under-represented masses or the underdeveloped world. You might think LinkedIn would spin off a version of its app for unskilled workers looking for a shot, or give free job-seeker subscriptions to the unemployed.

You would be wrong.

Scratch below the surface of all those recruiting tools and subscription plans and you find a company that simply exists to make rich people richer.

My profile has been viewed by just 6 people in the last 15 days and my rank for profile views is down by 11 percent in the last 30 days. Apparently I have to pay $30 or $60 a month to "unlock the full list."

I currently have 436 connections to people I barely know and more than 100 requests to connect with people I know even less. More emails than I will ever read have piled up in my "InMail," including some that appear to be automatically generated by networking bots who do nothing all day but post on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn's earnings announcement for its fourth quarter and annual outlook was just set for Feb. 5. I expect the stock to soar after earnings beat expectations. I do not expect the company to do better at curating content, enabling offline meet-ups or reaching a lesser-skilled demographic.

My New Year's resolution was to stop detesting LinkedIn. But clearly, that's a job I just don't excel at.

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Area pharmaceutical companies make acquisitions

Lexington's Shire said yesterday it will pay $5.2 billion to acquire NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc., which specializes in drugs for rare conditions.

The acquisition will expand Shire's portfolio of specialty drugs, medications for niche diseases and conditions that typically command much higher price tags than conventional medications. The best-selling medications of the Irish drugmaker — which bases its U.S. operations in Lexington — currently include the attention deficit disorder drugs Vyvanse and Adderall XR.

Shire Chief Executive Officer Flemming Ornskov said he would keep looking for more deals to grow the company into a biotech powerhouse.

"This is about growth and rare diseases, and it fits hand in glove with our strategy and our franchise," Ornskov said.

NPS currently has one drug on the market in the U.S. and Europe: Gattex, which is used to treat short bowel syndrome, a potentially life-threatening chronic condition that prevents patients from absorbing nutrients from food. The drug had sales of $67.9 million for the first nine months of 2014.

NPS is awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a second drug, Natpara, which is designed to treat a rare condition called hypoparathyroidism. The FDA is slated to decide on the Natpara application by Jan. 24.

The takeover continues the breakneck pace of deal-making in 2014 in the pharmaceuticals sector, as companies jockey for promising assets amid a wave of new drugs emerging from research laboratories.

Also yesterday, Cambridge-based Biogen Idec announced that it has agreed to acquire U.K.-based Convergence Pharmaceuticals. Biogen Idec plans to leverage Convergence's expertise in chronic pain research.

"Neuropathic pain is an area of significant unmet need and represents a natural complement to our current neurology portfolio," said Douglas Williams, executive vice president of research and development at Biogen Idec. "The team at Convergence has pioneered some of the most innovative science in pain management. We believe their industry-leading talent, capabilities and pipeline of candidates, starting with CNV1014802, will provide a strong foundation upon which to expand our neuropathic pain portfolio."

Under the terms of the deal, Biogen Idec will pay Convergence shareholders an upfront payment of $200 million. Convergence shareholders are eligible to receive additional payments up to $475 million contingent on future milestones. Convergence will continue to operate out of Cambridge, U.K.

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City eyes rules for Airbnb

Boston is turning its attention to Airbnb, scheduling a public hearing later this month to help determine what, if any, regulations are needed for the booming short-term rental service.

"This is a fast-growing industry here in the city of Boston; we just want to make sure it's operated safely and appropriately," said Jerome Smith, the city's chief of civic engagement, who will host the hearing. "The goal is information gathering. There are a lot of residents in the city of Boston who may use Airbnb."

Smith said it is unclear if the city will push for regulations after the Jan. 26 hearing.

"We're not saying that we're definitely regulating the industry; we're just saying that because it's a growing industry here in the city of Boston we should take a look at it," he said.

San Francisco-based Airbnb, which lets people rent out their homes nightly to strangers through its website, has steadily gained popularity nationwide and internationally. Between July 2014 and June 2014, Airbnb customers stayed in Boston homes 1,080 times, the company said.

"We want to work with leaders in Boston to make sure residents can continue to share their homes and the city they love with the world, while also creating sensible regulations that work for Boston," said Marie Aberger, an Airbnb spokeswoman.

San Francisco and Portland, Ore., have set up regulations to charge hotel taxes to private home rentals and Amsterdam last month penned an agreement with the home-rental service to collect a tourist tax. And New York's attorney general formed a city-state task force last year to investigate illegal hotels after he issued a report alleging that nearly three-quarters of Airbnb's listings in that state were illegal, a charge the company denied.

Boston has taken a more cautious approach to Airbnb, with Mayor Martin J. Walsh telling the Inspectional Services Department last summer not to fine people who rent out their homes through the service.

But City Councilor Salvatore LaMattina wants to take a closer look at Airbnb's practices after hearing complaints about apartments where people cycle through like through revolving doors. LaMattina said he refiled a bill for a hearing on Airbnb before the City Council.

"I really do think they need to be regulated, and we'll look at other cities across the United States and what they're doing to address the issues," said LaMattina. "They're not paying any hotel tax to the cities and towns, and I think there's something we really need to look at."

He said his biggest concern is potential investors buying homes or condos specifically to rent out on Airbnb.

Airbnb has also spurred the creation of Neighbors for Overnight Oversight, a national group pushing for regulation of the rental service.

"At this point we're just glad the city is having this hearing; it's an important first step," said Conor Yunits, a spokesman for the group. "The end goal will hopefully be some sort of oversight of this, so if people are abusing the laws with illegal hotels, that there's some kind of check on that."

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SpaceX launches for NASA, no luck with rocket landing at sea

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX sent a supply ship soaring flawlessly toward the International Space Station on Saturday, but the booster rocket ended up in pieces in the Atlantic following a failed attempt to land on a barge.

"Close, but no cigar this time," the company's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, announced via Twitter shortly after the unprecedented touchdown effort.

Despite the high-profile flop in the dark ocean, Musk said he was encouraged. The 14-story booster managed, at least, to fly back to the floating platform from an altitude dozens of miles high.

"Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard," he said in a tweet. "Bodes well for the future tho."

He's already planning another landing test next month.

Musk, who also runs electric car maker Tesla Motors, maintains that recovering and reusing rockets is essential for bringing down launch costs and speeding up operations.

Until Saturday, no one had ever tried anything like this before.

The modified barge — nearly the size of a football field — was positioned a couple hundred miles off Florida's northeastern coast. The uncrewed platform was spared serious damage from the impact, although some equipment on deck will need to be replaced, according to Musk. A recovery ship with SpaceX staff was a safe 10 miles away.

SpaceX's primary mission was delivering more than 5,000 pounds of station supplies ordered up by NASA, including hasty replacements for experiments and equipment lost in the destruction of another company's cargo ship last fall, as well as extra groceries. Belated Christmas presents were also on board for the six station astronauts.

"Hurrah! A #Dragon is coming to visit bringing gifts," Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti said in a tweet from orbit.

Without interfering with the $133 million delivery, Musk had fins for guidance and landing legs installed on the first stage of the unmanned Falcon rocket.

Once separated from the upper stage of the rocket, the main booster reignited as planned for the flyback. Automatic engine firings maneuvered the booster down toward the autonomous, modified barge. The Air Force maintained the ability, as always, to destroy the booster if it strayed off course.

There was no good video of the "landing/impact," Musk said, noting the "pitch dark and foggy" conditions. Brief TV images from booster cameras, broadcast by NASA, showed only water bubbles.

"Will piece it together from telemetry and ... actual pieces," said Musk, one of the co-founders of PayPal.

Later in the day, Musk said the fins on the rocket ran out of hydraulic fluid right before touchdown. Regardless, he praised his team "for making huge strides towards reusability on this mission."

"Upcoming flight already has 50% more hydraulic fluid, so should have plenty of margin for landing attempt next month," he said.

In the weeks preceding the test, Musk had estimated there was a 50-50 chance, at best, that the Falcon's first-stage booster would land vertically on the platform. A pair of attempts last year to bring boosters down vertically on the open ocean went well, but company officials conceded before Saturday's try that a platform touchdown was considerably more challenging.

The platform measures 300 feet by 100 feet, with wings stretching the width to 170 feet — a relatively puny spaceport in the vastness of the sea.

NASA watched the post-launch drama with keen interest, but its primary focus was on the Dragon racing toward the space station. The capsule is due to arrive there Monday.

The shipment — the sixth by SpaceX since 2012 — is especially crucial given the recent loss of another company's supply ship.

Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket exploded seconds after liftoff in October, destroying the entire payload and damaging the Virginia launch complex. That rocket is grounded until 2016. Orbital Sciences plans to shift some of the backlog to an Atlas rocket later this year.

This SpaceX delivery was supposed to occur before Christmas, but was delayed by a flawed test-firing of the rocket. Then a problem with the rocket's steering system cropped up at the last minute during Tuesday's initial launch attempt.

NASA is paying SpaceX and Orbital Sciences to keep the space station stocked in the wake of the retired shuttle program. The $1.6 billion contract with SpaceX calls for 12 flights; the $1.9 billion contract with Orbital calls for eight. SpaceX also returns items to Earth; Orbital cannot.

Russia and Japan will make their own supply runs this year.

SpaceX, headquartered in Hawthorne, California, also has been contracted by NASA to develop beefed-up Dragons for astronaut rides to the space station, beginning as early as 2017. Boeing also is hard at work on a manned capsule. In the meantime, NASA is paying tens of millions of dollars to Russia for each U.S. astronaut launched aboard the Soyuz spacecraft.

___

Online:

SpaceX: http://www.spacex.com/

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

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The Ticker

Southie housing
next to Doughboy

Evergreen Property Group has proposed a six-story contemporary glass residential building with 33 rental units and ground-floor retail space at 248 Dorchester Ave. in South Boston, on a lot next door to Doughboy Donuts and Deli.

Burlington to get 
Bauer hockey shop

Bauer Hockey, the leading manufacturer of ice hockey equipment and a subsidiary of Performance Sports Group Ltd. announced today that it will open its first-ever Bauer retail shops beginning this summer, with six to eight more opening in key markets, including Minneapolis. The shop will house an indoor ice rink.

TUESDAY

• Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for November
• Treasury releases federal budget for December.

WEDNESDAY

• Commerce Department releases retail sales data for December. L Commerce Department releases business inventories for November.
• Federal Reserve releases Beige Book.

THURSDAY

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• Labor Department releases the Producer Price Index for December.
• Freddie Mac releases weekly mortgage rates.

FRIDAY

• Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for December.
• Federal Reserve releases industrial production for December.

Nathaniel Silver has been named assistant curator of the collection at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

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Use an automatic battery charger when storing a car

I am the proud owner of a restored 1969 Pontiac GTO. This past summer I purchased a new battery from Sears. The salesman said for winter storage to remove one lead and leave it in the car. I have always believed in removing the battery and recharging it every so often. This year I left the battery in the car with one lead off and purchased an automatic battery charger that monitors the battery and keeps it at full charge with a display showing its condition. What do you think about these chargers and storage method?

For a minute there, I thought I was reading a question I wrote! Like you, I've followed the "old school" method of battery preservation by disconnecting, removing and periodically charging the batteries from my summer cars and recreational vehicles.

But the older I get the lazier, eh, make that more efficient, I am. So, I now have several Battery Tender automatic battery chargers connected to the disconnected batteries in my seasonal-use stuff. I've had no issues doing this over the past four years.

Well, make that one issue. My C6 Corvette has electric door locks, so when I carefully prepared it for storage, my final step was to disconnect the battery, hook up the charger and close the hood. Sounds perfect, eh? Except for the fact that with the doors, hood and rear hatch closed and the battery disconnected, there was no way to unlock the doors!

Here's the funny part. I never even thought about the issue until I tried to unlock the doors the next spring! Thankfully, the owner's manual with the little black plastic emergency key was in the house. It unlocked the rear hatch, where I could lean in and pull the emergency driver's door release so I could open the door and unlatch the hood to reconnect the battery. Live and learn.

I have a 2003 manual-transmission Honda CRV with about 100,000 miles. Ever since I bought it used with 90k it has high idle RPM when it starts up. The engine idle RPM hunts between 2,000 and 3,000 until the engine warms up. Then the idle drops to below 1,000 RPM. Any thoughts?

Whenever trying to diagnose a driveability issue, apply the KISS principle first — keep it simple. Start with the basics, which in this case is to check carefully for any type of vacuum leak in the induction system. Any air entering downstream of the MAF sensor (mass air flow) is not metered and can create a lean air/fuel ratio. Until the engine warms up to the point of switching to "closed loop" operation where the air/fuel ratio is monitored and trimmed by feedback from the oxygen sensor, the idle speed can be high and fluttery/unstable.

The IAC (idle air control) regulates air entering the induction system. If it is sticking or binding it may be contributing to this issue. And a scan tool check for DTC fault codes might help pinpoint the problem.

My 2010 Chevrolet Colorado will not start all the time. When I put the key in the ignition all accessories light up and the radio plays but the starter will not engage. Turn key off, take key out of ignition, wait 10 minutes, try again, and it will start. This has happened in all weather, approximately 10 times since May. The dealership could not find anything wrong. Can you help with this problem?

Your vehicle is equipped with a vehicle immobilizer system which will not allow the engine to start until and unless the BCM (body control module) sees the correct voltage through the ignition key resistor circuit. If the voltage generated through the resistor in the key doesn't match, the engine won't start.

Try your spare key first. Have the dealership scan the BCM for fault codes. And again, remember the KISS principle. Check the battery and starter/solenoid cables and connections.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. Because of the volume of mail, we cannot provide personal replies.

20.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Wind energy shifts direction

With the Cape Wind project on the ropes, the industry's future in Massachusetts may rest on a federal wind power auction later this month for a sprawling area off Martha's Vineyard.

Twelve companies have qualified to bid Jan. 29 as the federal government auctions four commercial leases for 742,000 acres of sea roughly 14 miles south of Martha's Vineyard. The power generated, if leased and used by the industry, could provide electricity for about 1.4 million homes, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said.

The Massachusetts Wind Energy Area that is up for auction is farther offshore than Cape Wind's estimated $2.5 billion project to install 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound, but that's not enough to silence some critics.

"Offshore wind is a nonstarter. I can't imagine circumstances under which it would be justifiable from an environmental or economic standpoint," said David Tuerck of the Beacon Hill Institute, who's been a vocal opponent of Cape Wind. "There never was any economic justification for the Cape Wind project, and now with the falling fossil fuel prices, there's even less justification for those projects."

The auction comes as Cape Wind's $150 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy is in jeopardy after National Grid and Nstar backed out of their contracts with the company, saying it had missed a Dec. 31 deadline for the necessary financing and had not provided collateral to extend the deadline.

From the beginning, the Cape Wind project was fraught with criticism from environmental advocates and economists alike, who said that it would disrupt fisheries in the area and create higher energy costs for Massachusetts residents.

"Anyone who bids on these tracts and puts up money to obtain them must be assuming that they're going to be allowed to charge even higher rates than Cape Wind got National Grid and Nstar to charge," Tuerck said. "Because however expensive it was, these projects will be more because they're farther out to sea."

But Audra Parker, president of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound and a Cape Wind opponent, said both the lease area in question and the steps taken by the government to look out for the public's best interest already make this endeavor superior to Cape Wind.

"There's a right way and a wrong way of identifying areas. Cape Wind's fight was driven to maximize profit," Parker said. "This process has involved science and stakeholder input."

Although she said that it "does not address the high cost of offshore wind," it is still better "in terms of site and the process it's taken."

That process has involved tools like Coastal Marine Spacial Planning, used to avoid environmental and financial costs in ocean management, she said.

Christopher Boelke, field office supervisor for the national Marine Fisheries Services, said the lease area was reduced by a third in part to protect the fisheries. He added that people may view this project as "less intrusive" than Cape Wind, given that it's farther offshore in a lower-traffic area.

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