the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Details Revealed for $6.8B Abu Dhabi Airport
An “X”-shaped design for the Midfield Terminal Complex will be the centerpiece of the $6.8 billion Abu Dhabi International Airport redevelopment, according to the officials at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, the project’s master plan architect. Currently the largest airport development under construction in the Middle East, Phase I of the 5.9 million-square-foot terminal (pictured) will include 42 gates and will be completed in 2012. At that time, the airport is expected to handle an additional 20 million passengers a year. Eventually there will be more than 90 gates at the airport and it is projected to process more than 50…
Developer Purchases 174 Acres in Growing San Antonio Area
Potranco Limited L.P. has purchased 174 acres about 20 miles west of San Antonio from the General Land Office of the state of Texas on behalf of the Permanent School for an undisclosed amount. Potranco Limited is a mix of several partnerships from Dallas to San Antonio. The firm has a large retail development underway adjacent to this property, Cody Persyn, a senior associate with CB Richard Ellis Inc., the broker for the deal, told CPN. The property, known as Redbird Ranch, is located 18 miles to the west of Downtown San Antonio with frontage on Potranco Road and the…
Stonebridge JV to Build $90M Hotel on Manhattan’s West Side
A joint venture including Stonebridge Realty Advisors Inc. will erect a $90 million, 220-key select service hotel in Midtown Manhattan on W. 37th St. between 8th and 9th Avenues. The project is currently being contemplated as a boutique hotel or a primary select-service brand. The hotel will be strategically located near the redeveloping area around Penn Station, the Jacob Javits Convention Center, the West Side Rail Yards project, and is also within walking distance to Times Square. The project marks Stonebridge’s first venture into the Manhattan hospitality market; the company said it plans to partake in additional projects in the…
Panel Sees Positives for Houston Office Market
The run-up in oil and gas prices has roiled the U.S. economy, but it has had a positive impact on the Houston office market, according to a panel of leading office brokers who convened on Tuesday at CPN’s Houston Property Opportunities Conference.Indeed, one major part of a lease that office tenants are looking for today is future expansion rights, said Aaron Thielhorn, principal of Trammell Crow Co. “We’re seeing energy companies bumping up against one another for the same space,” he said. The panel’s moderator, Mark Taylor (pictured, standing), managing director of CB Richard Ellis Inc., asked the panel if…
SL Green Aqueduct Plan Includes $28M for Upstate Programs
SL Green Realty Corp’s bid to develop Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, N.Y., will include a $28.5 million Equine Development Plan. The plan, which has won the support of upstate New York agricultural leaders, is part of SL Green’s efforts to revitalize the raceway in Queens. The plan will create jobs by linking the gaming and developing franchises at Aqueduct with various farming programs statewide, and also aims to share the proceeds derived from raceway operations with upstate communities. The plan, which Assembly Agriculture Committee Chairman William Magee has endorsed, will disburse the $28.5 million over the initial term of the…
Suburban D.C. Mixed-Use Project Gets Green Light
Plans for the development of Monument View, a mixed-use project in Arlington, Va., have cleared a major hurdle now that the Arlington County Board has given developers MR Boundary Channel L.L.C. and Monument Realty L.L.C. the go-ahead to take the next step toward realizing the project. “Now the ball is in Monument’s court,” a spokesperson for Arlington County told CPN today. “This was the final permission they had to attain. Essentially, we’ve signed off on it.” Along with giving its approval of the project, the County Board authorized a land swap that leaves the county with an additional two acres…
Army, Trammell Crow Shake Hands on $500M Office Project
The U.S. Army’s Fort Meade, located less than 30 miles from Washington, D.C., in Anne Arundel County, Md., is on track to sprout an office complex with as much as 1.7 million square feet now that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has reached a tentative agreement with Trammell Crow Co. for the project’s development. Trammell Crow will spend an estimated $500 million to realize the endeavor. The Fort Meade Technology Center (pictured) will be built as part of the Enhanced Use Lease program and will be situated on 173 acres of installation property near Fort Meade’s Visitor Control Center….
Can Zell Sell Trib Tower?
Can Chicago’s Tribune Tower sell, even in a market as sluggish for investment sales as the current one? Tribune Co. and real estate mogul Sam Zell didn’t address that question directly, but he did say that an attempted sale of the Chicago property, along with the company’s office building in Los Angeles, is well within the realm of possibility. “[The properties] are… under-utilized, and as employee-owners, it’s in our best interests to maximize the value of all our assets,” Zell said in a statement yesterday. Currently, according to Zell, the company is “exploring strategic alternatives” for the property, one of…
Commercial Construction Starts Mostly Down, Though Bottom May Be in Sight
Reed Construction Data today announced their latest figures on the value of recent U.S. construction starts, and while those numbers are pretty unsightly, at least they shouldn’t be surprising. From January through May, according to Reed, starts were down 5.9 percent from the same period in 2007, continuing a downward trend that started in the middle of last year. But such overall figures don’t necessarily say much, so Reed provided some commercial construction stats broken down especially for CPN. The figures below cover various commercial sectors from January through May, with comparisons to the same period last year. * Office…
ProLogis Developing its First Distribution Facilities in Austria
ProLogis is developing its first distribution facilities in Austria, the company said today. The firm has started construction on the first of two planned distribution centers that will comprise ProLogis Park Himberg, a new industrial park located outside of Vienna, in close proximity to the S1 highway. ProLogis expects to complete the 352,000-square-foot facility in early 2009.”Our recent entry into Austria is part of our global strategy to provide our customers with exceptional distribution services and space that meets their expansion and reconfiguration needs,” Christian Bischoff, managing director of ProLogis in northern Europe said in a release. “We have been investigating…