The crossroads of politics and real estate, a new wave of restaurant closings and rats ruling in Chicago. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of Oct. 21-25.
Miss: Getting Data on Migrant Housing. Earlier this week, the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra when his department refused to hand over information about taxpayer-subsidized housing for migrants. The New York Post reported that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the committee’s chairman, accused Becerra of failing to provide information regarding housing assistance funding and referrals offered to migrants by HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Jordan noted that since July his committee “sought information about ORR’s coordination with the State Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Homeland Security to use taxpayer dollars to pay for housing assistance for aliens in the country.” Don’t expect HHS to acquiesce to Jordan’s demands so close to the election. And speaking of politics…
Miss: Exit, Stage Left. Mark Fitzpatrick, owner of the real estate firm Idaho Wild, called attention to himself with a social media advertisement offering to provide free real estate listings for political liberals who want to move out of Idaho. Fitzpatrick stated that he doesn’t like having people around him who don’t share his political views. “I’ve gotten to the point where … I don’t want that around,” he said. “I don’t want liberalism around my family. I don’t want it around my community.” That “my community” comment is interesting since Fitzpatrick is not a native of Idaho – he’s a transplanted Californian, which makes his huffing and puffing about his Idaho neighbors all the more curious. And while we’re still speaking of politics…
Miss: Political Feuding with Neighbors. A new survey by Redfin found nearly one in five (18.7%) people have gotten in a disagreement with a neighbor over politics. More than one in four men (27.1%) said they had been in a political disagreement with a neighbor, compared to 13.4% of women, while nearly a quarter (23.1%) of respondents who said they are voting for Donald Trump have gotten into a partisan quarrel with a neighbor, compared to 19.5% of respondents voting for Kamala Harris. Whatever happened to the concept of agreeing to disagree? Okay, we’ll just do one more politically focused real estate story…
Miss: Bad News for Giuliani. On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to turn over most of his possessions and available cash to a receivership controlled by Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, two Georgia election workers who successfully sued him for defamation after he claimed they tried to steal the 2020 election from former President Donald Trump. Among the assets Giuliani is being forced to turn over is his New York City penthouse apartment, which the New York Daily News said was valued at $5.1 million – the property was primed for seizure after Giuliani’s filing for bankruptcy was rejected. The new court order does not include the value of his condo in Palm Beach, Florida – Giuliani, who was formerly Trump personal lawyer, faces trial in January to determine if he can claim that property as primary residence, thus protecting it from seizure under that state’s law. For someone who was hailed as a tireless prosecutor of organized crime and was dubbed “America’s Mayor” for his steady leadership of New York City during the harrowing days after 9/11, this is a sad denouement to a once respected career.
Miss: Fewer Options for Eating Out. The restaurant industry continues to face significant post-pandemic challenges – this week, Denny’s announced it was closing 150 eateries (10% of its chain) while Shari’s Restaurants closed all 42 of its Oregon locations. TGI Fridays is the next to pull out the padlocks – there have been news reports from across the country regarding restaurant closures ahead of a potential bankruptcy filing by the company. Commercial real estate brokers are finding themselves with plenty of vacant restaurants – but with the chains pulling back and very few independent restaurants operators coming forward, where are the new tenants to fill those now-empty spaces?
Miss: Rat-a-Tat-Tat. For the tenth consecutive year, Chicago earned the sorry first-place ranking on the Top 50 Rattiest Cities List published by the pest control company Orkin. Chicago’s perennial placement at the top of the rankings was attributed to an “abundance of alleys provides rodents with hidden havens, offering plenty of space to hide while feasting on trash.” Granted, this designation is based on narrow data – Orkin ranks cities by tracking its new residential rodent treatments from Sept. 1, 2023, to Aug. 31, 2024. Still, with so many problems burdening Chicago, the last thing it needs is another year as the Ratty City.
And, yes, this week there were no Hits, only Misses. Here’s hoping for a cheerier news slate next week!
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
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