Here is a great article from one of my favorite writers at the Palm Beach Post, @Alexandra Clough. It is about the Office Depot deal and the effects it will have on the region. Good stuff:
My reader does not support good links, therefore we are including the article. Full credit here is given to the Palm Beach Post. This is just too important to the Boca Raton Real Estate Market not to share.
Office Depot HQ choice seen as boon to real estate
Alexandra Clough
Business Watch
Boca Raton is the winner in Office Depot’s decision on a headquarters location with the recently merged Office-Max, based in Naperville, Ill.
But the city isn’t the only winner: Palm Beach County’s residential real estate market is a victor, too.
Real estate agents hailed the move as a boost to the area’s housing market. The deal will mean growth at Office Depot’s Military Trail headquarters, which now employs 1,700. In Naperville, Office-Max employs 2,050.
The decision to choose Boca Raton “is phenomenal,” said Scott Agran, president of Lang Realty, based in Boca Raton. Lang has 400 agents in 11 offices from Port St. Lucie toBoca Raton.
“One of the weaknesses of South Florida and Boca Ra-ton is getting big companies to come into the area,” Agran said. “We’re so dependent on retirees, seasonal people and tourists. So to have this big company moving into the area is huge. It brings in employees who are making good money and buy houses.”
Agran also noted: “It also signals to other companies that Boca Raton is a very good place to relocate.”
It’s still unclear how many jobs the newly merged company will bring to Boca Ra-ton. Leading to the merger, the companies said the transition to a combined workforce would take three years. Office Depot said last week it plans to keep a presence in Naperville during the integration.
“To build a world-class leadership team and organization, we are committed to selecting the best talent available from both locations,” Office Depot spokesman Brian Levine said. “It is too early to estimate how many employees will relocate from Illinois to Boca Raton.”
Nonetheless, growth will take place in Office Depot’s Boca Raton complex. In fact, the complex’s size, at 625,000 square feet, has plenty of room for expansion and was one of the reasons cited by Office Depot for bringing the combined company to Boca Raton.
(The size of the campus matches the size of Office Depot’s rival, Staples Inc., which has a 600,000-squarefoot headquarters in Framing-ham, Mass.)
Agran’s optimism was echoed by Sarah Granato of Realty Associates in Boca Raton, who said the move “would definitely” boost the area’s real estate market. “People have tolive somewhere,” added Dan Vento of Innovative Realty Professionals in Boca Raton.
But what will Office Depot employees find when they get here?
Alicia Vaitiekunas, a real estate agent with RealEstateShowcase. com in Coral Springs, said there are more people looking in Boca Raton than there is inventory, especially for villas and townhomes — and especially for rental property.
In addition, investors are snapping up properties in the $200,000 to $300,000 range, while some snowbirds want smaller properties, in the $90,000-to-$150,000 range, in Boca Raton, Vaitiekunas said.
When it comes to doing deals, sellers will prefer a cash deal to one involving a mortgage, Vaitiekunas noted. Still, Vaitiekunas believes the influx of employees, especially those with higher wages, will boost the overall Boca Raton market.
Of course, there’s no guarantee they will all be able to find homes in Boca Raton.
Inventory in the $350,000 to $600,000 range is tight, Agran said. So buyers may need to look in neighboring cities, such as Delray Beach or even west of Boynton Beach, which has many housing communities, including the Canyons developments.
Agran also said that cash investors aren’t as active in the higher price range, so homebuyers needing mortgages to secure homes are likely to do OK when trying to close a deal.
Inventory could loosen up due to action on the part of sellers, too.
Debora Bacarella of Elite Florida Real Estate in Boca Raton said the influx of well-paid employees might just motivate sellers who have been on hold.
“I think a lot of sellers have been waiting for the right time to put their homes on the market, and now is a good time,” Bacarella said.
Wherever the relocated Naperville employees wind up, one thing is certain: They will be able to walk outside this time of year without fear of frostbite.
Monday night, Chicago set a record-low temperature when temperatures dipped below zero — the earliest it has been that cold in 18 years.
