the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
German Bank Finances $241M in North American Office Sales
Going against the tide of the currently stalled credit markets, German-based DekaBank has provided financing totaling $241.5 million for the acquisition of office properties in Los Angeles and Montreal over the last few weeks. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale closed a $175 million financing to Hines U.S. Office Value Added Fund II L.P. for the acquisition of Citigroup Center, a 48-story landmark office property in Downtown Los Angeles, which CPN reported on Sept. 19. The seven-year loan is fully underwritten and funced by DekaBank, A spokesman for Estate Lending North America at DekaBank said the Hines deal is a good example of…
Allen Secures $20M Bridge Loan to Recap Part of Dallas Logistics Hub
The Dallas and San Diego offices of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. has announced that they secured a $20 million bridge loan for the recapitalization of 1,000 acres in the Dallas Logistics Hub. The hub is a 6,000-acre, master-planned development.Working on behalf of the Allen Group, HFF associate director John Ahmed and senior managing director Tim Wright placed the 36-month, adjustable-rate loan with American Bank of Texas. The land assemblage is located within the DLH, adjacent to Union Pacific’s Southern Dallas Intermodal Terminal, a proposed BNSF intermodal facility. DLH, which spans the communities of Dallas, Lancaster, Wilmer and Hutchins, is master-planned…
Grosvenor Affiliate Lands Mortgage for 260,000SF New Jersey Office
The New York office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. has secured a $25 million mortgage on behalf of an affiliate of Grosvenor Investment Management for Rockaway 80, a 260,000-square-foot, Class A office building in Rockaway, N.J.HFF director Steven Klein and senior managing director Michael Tepedino represented the borrower in arranging the floating-rate loan through MassMutual. GIM is the North American fund management subsidiary of the London-based Grosvenor Group Ltd. Rockaway 80 has seven stories of office space plus a two-level, 883-space parking structure. Originally completed in 1991 and renovated in 2006, the property features a reflective glass facade with granite…
From CPN’s Morning Newsletter–Libor at 1.67 Percent, a 4-Year Low
As CPN reported exclusively in our Daily News REport Morning Edition(subscribe here), first comes the good news: the global bailout appears to be loosening banks’ purse-strings, to each other at least. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, is at a four-year low of 1.67 percent, says the British Bankers’ Association.That’s all for the good, at least so far. Housing? The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence fell to a record low of 14, down three from September, reports Bloomberg News. Ahead of today’s Commerce Department report on starts, a Bloomberg survey of economists put the…
Management Matters with Mike Myatt: Surviving the Economic Downturn
As odd as it may sound, if you want to survive the economic downturn, increase your marketing expenditures. If you’re the short-sighted CEO who cuts back on marketing, branding, and advertising budgets in an attempt to reduce costs, shame on you. Top CEOs recognize that economic slow-downs are not all doom-and-gloom. In fact, the smartest executives understand that swimming upstream against the conventional wisdom of the risk adverse can actually create significant opportunities for growth. By making heavy operating investments into marketing, advertising, business development, and sales initiatives, the aggressive enterprise can create significant competitive separation during a time when many are…
Bush Reassures, Buffett Buys American, Germans Think Big (and Act Fast)
Speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building near the White House this morning, President Bush tried to reassure investors and the public that although the ongoing financial/credit crisis won’t be over soon, the federal government’s programs now under way are “big enough and bold enough to work.” Bush noted that under ordinary circumstances, he would have opposed moves such as the recent commitment to inject $250 billion directly into nine major banks in return for equity stakes, “but these are not ordinary circumstances.” It’s sort of a private bailout, but it’s also a call for the nation to bail…
Guardian Buys $30M Stake in Kennedy Wilson
Just weeks after The Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America and Kennedy Wilson teamed up for the first time to buy a California apartment community, Guardian said today it had purchased a 10 percent stake in the real estate services and investment firm for $30 million. The deal calls for Guardian to buy $30 million of convertible subordinated debt in Kennedy Wilson, headquartered in Beverly Hills, Calif. The transaction gives Guardian a 10 percent interest in the firm, while Kennedy Wilson management retains the controlling ownership with 54.1 percent. This is the second time this year that Kennedy Wilson has…
Panel: Credit Crunch to Continue into Next Year
The mounting troubles plaguing the nation’s economy will likely continue through at least the early part of next year, according to a conference call with economists and legal professionals. In fact, Lewis Feldman, chair of public/private development for Goodwin Procter L.L.P.’s New York office, views the current economic meltdown as even tougher than the fiscal calamity that took place early in the decade. “The financial crisis that we face in government is far worse than the 2001 recession because of the declines in income and also retail spending, which impacts sales tax collections,” the panelist said. “With property taxes declining…
Harvey Honored By ULI for Affordable Housing Work
F. Barton Harvey III, (pictured) former chairman & CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., and former chairman of the board of Enterprise Community Inc., was honored today at a luncheon in New York with this year’s Urban Land Institute (ULI) J.D. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. Harvey shared the prize with Columbia, Md-based Enterprise, a major developer of affordable rental and owner-occupied housing. He retired from Enterprise last March. Enterprise now has operations in 17 regions across the U.S., working with local community development organizations, other nonprofit organizations, developers, investors and elected officials to build affordable housing that…
Multiple Award Winners Schwartz, Linde, Others to be Honored at CPN’s Executive of the Year Awards Luncheon
Jeffrey Schwartz is taking home this year’s biggest honors among CPN’s 2008 Executive of the Year awards. The chairman & CEO of ProLogis, a repeat winner recognized by the 12-year-old awards program, has been elected the Executive of the Year, the program’s topmost honor, by his peers across the commercial real estate industry. Schwartz has also been awarded the Industrial Property Executive of the Year award as well as the newly introduced Sustainability Executive of the Year award, along with honors recognition under the Developer of the Year and Innovator of the Year awards. This year, CPN expanded the awards…