Hoteliers face an array of weather, financing, regulatory and supply obstacles when it comes to upgrading their properties in the Caribbean, including destinations such as the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas.

“It is a little bit challenging; it’s a whole different ball game,” said Louis Alicea, senior director of development for Latin America and the Caribbean with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, during a renovations panel at the Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit. “You don’t want to reposition a property, making it an upscale product for the users and ending up in a position where there’s a hurricane coming and you don’t have a backup generator to support the property,” said Juan Mosseri, South East U.S. and Caribbean sales manager at energy technology provider E-Finity.

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Ecommerce giant Amazon confirmed plans to build a £500 million fulfillment center at developer Segro’s flagship Northampton site northwest of London.

Sources previously told CoStar News that Amazon acquired the land from Segro at the end of 2023, with plans to build a multi-floor warehouse spanning about 2 million square feet. Seattle-based Amazon is returning to big-box logistics acquisitions in the United Kingdom, after previously curtailing expansion in that region and elsewhere amid cost-cutting efforts.

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Developer VGP Group of Belgium has been tapped to build a new corporate headquarters near Munich for rocket maker Isar Aerospace.

Plans call for a complex spanning more than 40,000 square meters at the Vaterstetten-Parsdorf III business park, according to public filings. Pending approval by regional planners, developers plan to start construction later this year on facilities that will also house Isar’s production of orbital launchers for small and medium-sized satellites.

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To reach his current post as CEO and chairman of the management board at mall giant Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Jean-Marie Tritant said he has climbed the company hierarchy guided by a desire to increase “his field of expertise” and put himself at risk — including on a rugby field.

“I suffered!” Tritant said during a recent interview with Business Immo, five days after participating in a match with friends at a Paris park. “It’s been two years since I last played rugby,” he said, adding his pleasure from the sport remains intact for its ability to evoke “one of those moments during which you no longer think about anything.”

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Quebec officials are calling on design and architecture professionals and students from around the world to come up with ways to recycle or reuse Montreal’s Olympic Stadium roof, which is set to be replaced.

The provincial government arm that oversees Olympic Park facilities has launched a competition offering prizes ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 for the best proposals for the current roof membrane spanning 42,000 square meters with 12 kilometers of cables. Authorities earmarked $870 million earlier this year to replace the roof as part of a project expected to take four years, after rejecting a cost-prohibitive proposal to demolish the stadium that opened in 1976.

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Delays in interest rate cuts previously signaled by the Federal Reserve could pose problems for some active commercial real estate lenders, according to property professionals who say lenders are increasingly deciding to keep troubled loans on their books to buy time until the Fed lowers borrowing rates.

About $929 billion, or 20%, of the $4.7 trillion in outstanding commercial mortgages are set to mature this year, up from $729 billion in 2023, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Most loans nearing maturity were originated when interest rates were lower than they are now, so it’s costly for borrowers that are behind on payments to refinance at higher rates.

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This report was compiled from CoStar’s news publications in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany.