the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Lehman, Gencom JV Sells Portfolio of 6 Hyatt Summerfield Suites Hotels
Two years after acquiring a group of nine Bradford Home Suites Hotels and renovating them at a cost of $15 million, a partnership involving Gencom Group and Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners has sold to RLJ Real Estate Fund III L.P. six of those properties, which had been re-branded as Hyatt Summerfield Suites hotels. The extended-stay lodging facilities are located in Texas, and Colorado. RLJ Fund III has tapped Aimbridge Hospitality to manage the three hotels located in the Dallas market, while White Lodging Services has been brought onboard to manage the properties in Austin and Houston, Tex., and Colorado…
Vornado Increases Presence in India with New $500M Retail JV
Paramus, N.J.-based Vornado Realty Trust has just formed a joint venture with Mumbai-based Reliance Industries Ltd. to acquire, develop and manage shopping centers in major cities across India. Vornado and Reliance will each contribute as much as $250 million to the partnership. The properties, most of which will be anchored by supermarkets, will range in size from 500,000 to approximately 1 million square feet. India, according to A.T. Kearney Inc., is one of the most appealing regions in the world for retail investment, scoring the number two spot on the global management consulting firm’s 2008 Global Retail Development Index. Opportunity…
First Industrial Continues to Expand in Metro Seattle
Having entered the Seattle market only last year, Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust has grown its presence there steadily, its most recent transaction being the just-announced acquisition of a three-building distribution portfolio in the Kent Valley. The Class A buildings total 233,000 square feet and are 100 percent leased.The price was not disclosed. Andrew Harnish and Chris Spofford of Jones Lang LaSalle assisted with the transaction. First Industrial opened its Seattle/Tacoma office in the first quarter of 2007, and in July 2007 announced its first land acquisition, for the development of First Park Meridian Campus in Lacey. The project has…
REIS Considers CoStar’s Latest Merger Offer “Hostile”
Having declined the first merger proposal from competitor CoStar Group Inc., in June, commercial real estate market information provider REIS has rejected the second proposal, an identical one, much more quickly — and in much stronger terms. On June 30, REIS, based in Bethesda, Md., had declined CoStar’s June 5 offer of $8.75 a share with the simple comment that “the Board of Directors has determined that there is no reason to explore further” that proposal. In the latest go-around, CoStar repeated its offer on Tuesday, its proposal over the signature of CEO and president Andrew Florance noting that REIS’…
Paramount Closes on $1.5B NYC Office
Only a day after the finalization of the sale of two Macklowe Properties buildings in Manhattan to Boston Properties, Paramount Group Inc. has closed on another of the buildings Macklowe owned for a while, 1301 Avenue of the Americas. The unconfirmed transaction price, widely reported when the deal was announced early this summer, is about $1.5 billion. The 45-story office tower is on Sixth Ave. in Manhattan (Avenue of the Americas) between 52nd and 53rd streets, giving it a Midtown location. Of early 1960s vintage, the building totals about 1.8 million square feet. Current major tenants include Lehman Bros., investment…
Boston Properties’ $440M Office Purchase Wraps Up Macklowe Deal
Just a day after announcing the closing of two New York City office building acquisitions from Macklowe Properties totaling $705 million, Boston Properties has completed its purchase of yet another Macklowe trophy office building, 125 West 55th St. The acquisition of 125 West 55th St. was part of a $3.95 billion, four-property portfolio purchase agreement Boston Properties and partners made with debt-ridden Macklowe earlier this year. To get its hands on the 591,000-square-foot Midtown Manhattan tower that Macklowe developed in 1989, Boston Properties agreed to a purchase price of $440 million, including the assumption of $263.5 million in debt with…
HFF Arranges $56M Funding for $80M SFO Logistics Center Buy, Development
Centrum Properties Inc. and Angelo, Gordon & Co. have secured $56.3 million in financing to acquire and reposition the SFO Logistics Center, a 572,000-square-foot warehouse-distribution center and adjacent 5.2-acre land parcel in south San Francisco that had been owned by the federal government for decades. An HFF executive who arranged the financing told CPN today the entire deal is worth $80 million.Peter Smyslowski, managing d irector in the San Francisco office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P., said the 25-acre property near the San Francisco International Airport had been owned by the GSA and used as a government services distribution center…
First Industrial, CalSTRS Break Ground in Master-Planned Minneapolis Industrial Park
First Park Lakeville, First Industrial Realty Trust Inc.’s 1.4 million-square-foot master-planned industrial park in suburban Minneapolis, will soon get a new tenant, now that the developer has broken ground on a 285,000-square-foot distribution center for Uponor North America. Located in Lakeville, Minn., about 25 miles from Minneapolis, the 140-acre First Park is a project of First Industrial’s development and repositioning joint venture with public pension fund California State Teachers’ Retirement System.Commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Inc. participated in the negotiation of the development deal between First Industrial and Uponor, whose facility will sit near CR 70 and Dodd…
Mixed-Use Project Housing Fireman’s Fund Aims for Carbon Neutrality in 10 Years
American Assets Inc. has revealed plans for The Commons at Mount Burdell, a green mixed-use project on a 65-acre site in Novato, Calif., about 30 miles north of San Francisco. According to the San-Diego-based real estate company’s calculations, the 1.5 million-square-foot development and redevelopment endeavor will be able to achieve carbon-neutrality within a 10-year period. The Commons will evolve on the site of a Class A office complex on San Marin Drive. Home to the headquarters of the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., American Assets acquired the property last year and will incorporate the existing buildings into the project. Ultimately, The…
HCP Wraps Up $500M Offering
Long Beach-headquartered HCP Inc. has just concluded its offering of 14.95 million shares of common stock, which, at a price of $33.50 per share, yielded the healthcare REIT an aggregate $500 million. The company originally priced the offering of just 13 million shares on August 6 with hopes of taking in $435 million. HCP plans to use the proceeds from the offering to repay part of its outstanding debut under a bridge loan facility. In other recent financial transactions, in late May, the company placed $259 million of secured debt on 21 of its nearly 300 senior housing properties. The…