RETSINAS

Economy cuts into home remodeling

The distressed housing market and the weak economy are deeply cutting spending on home remodeling, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Homeowner improvements will continue to decline, falling by an annual rate of 11.1 percent by the first quarter of 2009, according to an index created by the center to measure the activity. Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, said, “Households are reluctant to undertake major improvements in the context of falling prices.” Added Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program of the Joint Center, “Weak home sales and a growing inventory of unsold homes have discouraged upper-end remodeling activity in many areas.”

Store closings will climb this year

The International Council of Shopping Centers last week raised its estimates for the number of stores that will close this year to 144,000, up 7 percent from last year. That’s the largest one-year increase in the 14 years the ICSC has tracked the figures. The forecast includes all store closings, including those by independent and privately held retailers that make up the majority of the U.S. store base. The impact could be felt deeply at strip malls and shopping centers. Already, U.S. retail properties posted a vacancy rate of 7.8 percent through the second quarter, according to market-research firm Reiss Inc. According to the U.S. census, there are 1.1 million retail establishments in the United States. But here’s another fact to remember about the resilient U.S. economy. Every year, the number of new stores opened comes close to the number closed, even in tough economic times. For example, the ICSC reported that in 2006, 123,000 new stores opened and 139,000 closed.

Slot revenue drops at Foxwoods

The falloff of gambling revenue during the economic slowdown continued in June at Foxwoods Resort Casino and MGM Grand in Connecticut. The casino’s owners, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, reported the slot handle in June, or the total amount bet in the slot machines, was $745 million, off 8.6 percent from the $815 million in June 2007. The net slot win of $63.6 million was a $6.1 million decrease from June 2007. “The gaming industry is in the most challenging time in its history. This past month saw an industry-wide downturn in revenues fueled by record-breaking gas prices and unstable economic indicators,” said Barry Cregan, interim president, Foxwoods Resort Casino. There were 8,147 slot machines in play during the month at Foxwoods and MGM Grand at Foxwoods, 911 more than the 7,236 available in June 2007.

Rhode Islander gets Harvard post

Christine Heenan, most recently president of Clarendon Group, a Providence-based communications firm, last week was named vice president for government, community and public affairs at Harvard University. Heenan, 41, of East Providence, was a former aide in the Clinton White House, where she worked on health care policy issues under Ira Magaziner, of Bristol. She also worked as a public policy instructor at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University. She will start at Harvard on Oct. 1.

Dunk’s attendance in short season

The Dunk in downtown Providence, now dark as the final phase of renovations is under way, hosted 109 events with an estimated attendance of 523,800 during the abbreviated season that ran from Nov. 14, 2007 through May 30, 2008. The Dunk, run by the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority, is scheduled for a reopening during the weekend of Sept. 5, after a three-year renovation.

Hotel completes management team

Maggie Longo has been named food and beverage director at the new NYLO Providence/Warwick hotel, to form an all-women management team. Longo, of Providence, was previously general manager of the Sage Restaurant Group, serving as project manager for the development of the Temple Downtown Restaurant Lounge at the Renaissance Providence Hotel. The group includes Susan Shaw, of Kingston, as accounting manager; Christine Nevers, general manager; Mari Palace, director of sales; Sue Gallogly, sales manager; Angela Sabino, front office manager; and Noris Castillo, operations manager. Last week, the managers gave a tour of the “loft lifestyle hotel” to several Rhode Island travel agents. The hotel, at 400 Knight St. in Warwick, is scheduled to open next month.

After the bell…

•The U.S. House last week passed Rep. Barney Frank’s bill to designate a section of the Taunton River as a “wild and scenic “ environmentally protected area that would all but kill plans to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on a stretch of the riverbank in Fall River. There is similar legislation pending in the Senate.

•William J. Hanney, owner and operator of Rhode Island’s Theatre By The Sea, was selected by the Stratford, Conn., Town Council last week as the prime developer of the Shakespeare Theater that closed in 1989. Hanney said he’ll find a Shakespearean producer to put on Bard plays, since the council is requiring that some Shakespeare be performed there.

John Kostrzewa is the Journal’s business editor. Share an anecdote from the world of business by sending it to pjbiz@projo.com.