the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Financial Market Update: After the Bell -Friday, Oct. 10
Investors usually pay lip service to long-term investing, but in times of crisis the reality is sell – everything – now! Panic was the order of the day on Wall Street, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average free fall 679 points, or about 7 percent, to the lowest level in five years. The Standard & Poor’s 500 also lost about 7 percent. Painfully, especially to those who invested in the market a year ago, October 9 was the first anniversary of the all-time DJIA peak of 14,198.Leading the way was General Motors, whose stock was down 31 percent. In…
Cole Takes $300M in September, Crosses $1B for YTD
Cole Real Estate Investments has acquired approximately $300 million in assets during September, it has reported. That represented 54 assets.The assets totalled nearly 1.6 million square feet. they included a Lowe’s in Chester, N.Y., a BJ’s Wholesale Club in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., a Home Depot in San Francisco, and Winter Garden Village in Winter Garden, Fla., just outside of Orlando. “Despite the current market challenges, we continue to see tremendous opportunities to acquire financeable, high-quality real estate at attractive prices as we build out our portfolio,” Michael Stubben, vice president of portfolio management for Cole, said in a statement. Cole…
D.C. Office Market Flat Despite Financial Chaos: Report
The modest second-quarter growth rates experienced in Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia evaporated in the third quarter, according to a CB Richard Ellis Inc. report. The entire region saw an essentially flat market with slowing leasing activity.In D.C. the flattening market is stalling new development in emerging areas such as NOMA and Capitol Riverfront, which have seen a slowdown in new construction starts as owners focus on leasing current projects. Northern Virginia is coping with flat demand, as currently there is no economic driver such as the defense contractors in 2003-2006 boom years for leasing. And in suburban Maryland, financial…
Management Matters with Mike Myatt: Are Recruiters Effective?
Sourcing tier one talent is an issue for all businesses. I was recently asked if recruiters are effective, or if they’re worth the investment.Since my firm has a talent management practice which includes a practice group that provides both contingent and retained search services, to be fair, I must disclose my bias before addressing today’s topic. While I clearly have a strong bias favoring an outsourced recruiting model, the question merits a bit of exploration in order to provide a fair answer.In the text that follows I’ll do my best to manage my bias and provide a transparent and authentic…
Financial Market Update–October 10
Overnight, markets around the world slip-slided away. The British FTSE 100 Index lost 1.2 percent to 4313.80; France’s CAC-40 Index declined 1.6 percent to 3442.7; and Germany’s DAX Index dropped 2.5 percent to 4887. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600, which represents western European stocks (including Iceland, oops) was down 2 percent to 221.77. In Japan, the Nikkei posted an 9.6 percent loss on Friday, the largest drop since 1987. The Euro-meltdown continues apace in any case. It was reported by a Dutch newspaper that Deutsche Bank may buy Fortis Bank Nederland, instead of buying ABN AMRO’s Dutch operations. The nationalization…
Citi Backs Out of Wachovia, Plans to Sue Winner Wells Fargo
After days of unquestionably heated talks, Citigroup Inc. has decided to relinquish its bid to buy Wachovia Corp.’s banking operations. This paves the way for Wells Fargo & Co. to follow through with its proposed $15.1 billion acquisition of the troubled financial institution. Citi announced yesterday that it had ceased negotiations with Wachovia, citing a vast disparity in the planned transaction structures and assessments of potential risks. However, the battle between Citi and Wachovia is not quite over, as Citi also revealed it would continue to seek legal action against Wells Fargo.What a difference a week makes. On September 29,…
As Global Bailout Efforts Increase, All Eyes on Washington
Even as nonstop efforts continue around the globe to contain the worldwide financial-credit crisis, there’s a sense of anticipation as the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank heads meet in Washington starting today.In a press conference as talks began in D.C., IMF chief Dominic Strauss-Kahn called for a temporary guarantee of all interbank deposits. “This means not only retail bank deposits, but probably also interbank and money market deposits, so that activity may restart in these key markets.”Even so, hopes were not high that the G-7 would truly unify their efforts. The finance ministers of France and Germany…
Madison Capital Takes NYC Retail Condo for $86M
O’Conner Capital Partners has announced the closing of the sale of the retail condominium portion of the Manhattan House to Madison Partners for $86 million. Eastdil Secured represented O’Conner in the deal.Manhattan House, at 200 East 66th St., is in New York City’s Upper East Side Manhattan neighborhood. Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and originally built in 1952, the property is currently undergoing a $1.1 billion condominium conversion.Brian Fallon, a partner at O’Conner told CPN, “In anticipation of the condominium conversion offering plan being approved by the Attorney General in late summer 2008, O’Connor conducted a competition for sale…
First Potomac Takes Pair of Maryland Properties
First Potomac Realty Trust has acquired two office properties in Maryland for a total of some $46.8 million.The firm purchased Rivers Park I & II, a 300,000-square-foot , six-building complex with office and flex facilities located in Columbia. The property was purchased from General Growth Properties for $42.3 million. In addition, First Potomac also snagged Triangle Business Center for $4.5 million. Triangle Business Center is a four-building, 74,000-square-foot flex and office facility in Baltimore. Rivers Park I & II is a strategic purchase for First Potomac as it is located near Fort Meade and the National Security Agency. The two…
ProLogis Takes Distribution Centers in Italy, France, U.K.
ProLogis European Properties Fund II has acquired four, fully leased distribution centers comprising more than 1.1 million square feet at locations in France, Italy and the United Kingdom for approximately $106 million, it has reported. Calling the acquisitions “strategic,” Simon Nelson, senior vice president of European fund management and acquisitions, noted that they would further expand the Prologis platform in Europe.The fund has acquired the following facilities: — A 327,000-square-foot distribution center at ProLogis Park Coventry in the United Kingdom. This facility was developed by ProLogis and later sold to a third-party by ProLogis European Properties in 2003; it is…