the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Pittsburgh Green Building Alliance Gives 3 Grants
The Green Building Alliance in Pittsburgh has announced the second round of recipients for product innovation grants. The three are a partnership of Energy Wall L.L.C. and Pennsylvania State University, Drexel University, and Temple University. Aurora Sharrard, GBA’s research manager told CPN, “For the first round of grants that we awarded in December of 2007, we gave away $448,000 to a total of seven recipients. But this round was more competitive than the first. It is a peer review process, so to get through to the end is really an achievement.” The three received a total of $140,000.The Green Building…
Laramar Group Opens California Office, Taps Campbell as VP, Acquisitions
Laramar Group has opened a California office, based in Irvine, and hired Greg Campbell as vice president of acquisitions, the company said today. Located at 8001 Irvine Center Drive, the office will pursue value-add multi-family assets throughout the state . Laramar’s first acquisition out of the new office represents the largest Bay Area apartment purchase in 2008. Located at 355 Kiely Boulevard, the 948-unit, garden-style Archstone San Jose will be renamed The Park Kiely. The 31-building property comprises of two- and three-story garden-style apartments, a clubhouse, fitness center, three tennis courts, five swimming pools, a sauna and sand volleyball courts,…
Northwind-Maestro Delivers for Condo and Timeshare Owners
Northwind’s Maestro software, which offers to the hospitality industry an online condo and timeshare owner management system as part of the company’s web connection package, now provides text messaging, so timeshare and condominium owners can use an cellphone to check what is going on with their property, and even to make adjust or cancel a reservation. It permits users to access information via a browser, to view performance and check the availability of their unit, reserve the unit, and to view their owner statements online. It can be used with Windows, UNIX, Linux,Terminal Services, ASP and Web platforms. Recent new…
DiamondRock Taps Brugger as CEO
DiamondRock Hospitality Co. has tapped Mark Brugger to become CEO, effective September 1, 2008, it has reported. Bill McCarten, DiamondRock’s current chairman & CEO, will continue in his role as chairman. In addition, Brugger has been appointed to the board, expanding it from 6 to 7 members. “I’m especially pleased that Mark will continue to receive sound advice from the same team that has driven its success,” McCarten said in a statement. “In particular, John Williams will continue to lead our acquisition and asset management activities as president & COO and will continue to serve on our board of directors.”…
Penn National Gets Option on MD Parcel for Possible Casino
Penn National Gaming Inc. has secured an 18-month option on 36 acres in Perryville, Md., where it hopes to set up a slots casino and entertainment center. The price of the land was not released, but company officials said they would invest about $125 million in the project. The land is part of an approximately 150-acre site in Cecil County, Md., where Stewart Associates is planning a mixed-use development with retail, a hotel and a visitors’ center. The 36-acre parcel, owned by Principio Iron Co., is located along Interstate-95 and borders Pennsylvania and Delaware along the Chesapeake Bay. Penn National…
Hill Wins Contract for $1.6B Abu Dhabi Project
New Jersey-based Hill International has been awarded a contract by Sorouh Real Estate PJSC of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to handle project management for Gateway Towers 3 through 8 at the firm’s Shams Abu Dhabi development. The four-year contract will be worth about $35 million to Hill. The total cost to build the six mixed-use towers, which will encompass about 11.8 million square feet, is expected to be about $1.6 billion, and construction is scheduled to be completed by May 2012. Overall, the Shams Abu Dhabi development will include residential, office, hotel, retail, entertainment and parking facilities, including the…
Maguire to Sell Orange Country Property for $211M
Maguire Properties, under new management in recent months and pursuing a plan to reduce the debt it incurred by bulking up on SoCal office space in recent years, is selling off Main Plaza Towers in Irvine, Calif. All together, the company expects the four-building, 607,000-square-foot complex to fetch $211 million. The buyer is another California property landlord, San Francisco-based Shorenstein Properties L.L.C. The deal includes nearly $10 million of cash reserves and the assumption of about $161 million of financing, and is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. The properties represent Shorenstein’s first foray into Orange…
$400M Army Hotel Program Takes Next Step
The U.S. Army’s plan for developing and renovating hotels at 12 installations as part of its Privatization of Army Lodging program has just advanced to the next stage now that it has entered into a transition agreement with Actus Lend Lease. With the pact in place, Actus can proceed with the program’s first phase, which has an initial development budget of $400 million. Under the PAL program, the Army can privatize hotels at its installations, thereby allowing the military to doll out to companies the tasks of developing and operating lodging facilities for use by soldiers, families and government employees…
Officials Green Light $1.8B for LA Airport Projects
Los Angeles International Airport is undergoing a massive multi-phase makeover and the city’s Board of Airport Commissioners has just authorized approximately $1.8 billion to cover projects encompassed in the initial stage of the airport’s capital improvement program, which is being conducted under Los Angeles World Airports’ Project Labor Agreement. . The labor agreement was negotiated with a list of organizations including the Los Angeles/Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council, the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, the Building and Construction Trades Council of California, as well as various unions. The accord essentially guarantees fair wages and acceptable working conditions…
Aptech Unveils Latest Execuvue Software
Aptech Computer Systems demonstrated the newest version of its Business Intelligence Execuvue at the HITEC 2008 conference, held this June in Austin, Tex. Pittsburgh-based Aptech’s Business Execuvue is now used by many hotel companies, including Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Extended Stay Hotels, Innkeepers Hospitality, Ashford Hospitality Trust and Peabody Hotel Group. The new version provides for flexible analysis and reporting solutions in the hospitality industry. The platform is web-based, making for easier maintenance and access. Getting information might not be difficult in today’s fast-paced market, but information overload makes it challenging to decipher the data and decide what you need…