The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed today that Merrill Lynch has pulled out of plans to locate its headquarters at a new office tower to be constructed at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. “While communications continue, formal negotiations between the Port Authority, Silverstein Properties and Merrill Lynch have ended over economic terms,” a Port Authority spokesperson said in a prepared statement. “We are confident in the long-term viability of the office market at the site, and continue to make progress on construction of all of the projects.” A Merrill Lynch spokesperson told CPN…

A four-partner public-private partnership has broken ground for the second phase of work on a $400 million mixed-use transit oriented development called Avalon Walnut Creek at Contra Costa Center, which is located next to the transit station in Pleasant Hill in California’s Bay Area. According to Steve West, senior vice president of development on the West Coast with Washington, D.C.-based AvalonBay Communities Inc., one of the project’s partners, mixed-use transit oriented development is the wave of the future for multi-family developers. “This kind of mixed-use, higher density smart growth development–including multi-family apartments–will push toward the urban core over the next…

Stirling Capital Investments recently announced it is pursuing LEED certification on its new industrial buildings at its Southern California Logistics Center, part of the Global Access industrial development in Victorville, Calif., in San Bernadino County. Brian Parno (pictured), vice president of Stirling, talks about the company’s decision to go green, and other trends in the industrial market. CPN: Please talk about what drove Stirling’s decision to go green at the Southern California Logistics Centre? Parno: It really encompasses a number of reasons. The compelling reason is that tenants and users are demanding it, and major companies want it in their…

The latest semiannual construction forecast from the American Institute of Architects, released today, foresees “a mild decline” of 1.9 percent in nonresidential construction activity in 2008, followed by a more severe decline of 6.7 percent in 2009. This latest forecast is in contrast to the AIA’s previous semiannual forecast, in December, in which the AIA Consensus Construction Panel predicted modest growth in inflation-adjusted nonresidential construction spending this year, with a modest decline next year. Because of the continued weakening of the overall economy, however, the current outlook is somewhat more negative. The report notes that the U.S. gross domestic product…

After considering locales in Alabama and Michigan, Volkswagen Group of America Inc. has just decided to develop its new U.S. manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, Tenn. As the likes of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. continue to struggle, Volkswagen will shell out $1 billion to complete its new production plant. The 1,350-acre Enterprise South Industrial Park, owned by the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County, will be the site of the new facility. The park sits just 12 miles from Downtown Chattanooga and is just a stone’s throw from I-75. While specific details of the project have not yet…

International law firm Greenberg Traurig has inked a 15-year, 150,000-square-foot lease at the upcoming Met 2 office tower in Downtown Miami, taking its place as the building’s anchor tenant. The new lease averages in the mid-to-high $40s per square foot over its 15-year-term. The firm, which will use the space as its Miami headquarters, is expected to move in Fall 2010. The space will allow greater flexibility for expansion and changes as Greenberg Traurig evolves, featuring wireless mobility and connectivity, moveable walls for varying space needs and a state-of-the-art conference center. Metropolitan Miami (pictured) is a $1 billion mixed-use development…