The National Association of Realtors has released preliminary information from its upcoming report on the state of the commercial real estate industry that asserts that times are tough, but not as tough as during the recession of the early 2000s. Its essential findings are that commercial real estate vacancies are trending up modestly, while investment has dropped sharply in the wake of the credit crunch. In the office market, the NAR report projects that office vacancy rates will increase to 13.7 percent nationally in the fourth quarter of this year, compared with 12.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007,…

Mark Rose will officially be filling the newly created position of CEO at Avison Young, the firm has just announced. Rose has also been named the CFO of the Canadian-based real estate firm. “Any time you have a vision and are given an opportunity that matches that vision, any great leader would jump on it,” Rose (pictured) said. “I’ve been given that opportunity here.” After a six-month hiatus, Rose will be bringing his real estate management experience from Grubb & Ellis Co. and Jones Lang LaSalle north of the American border. Rose most recently acted as CEO of Grubb &…

Laying the groundwork for a new continuing care retirement community in Matthews, N.C., ACTS Retirement-Life Communities has entered into a purchase agreement with a local family to acquire a 48-acre parcel less than 15 miles from Charlotte. The project, Plantation Village, could cost in excess of $150 million. Situated just across from its existing Plantation Estates CCRC, the parcel for Plantation Village will cost ACTS nearly $10 million. Tentative plans for the new project encompass 350 independent living apartments and single-family homes, as well as assisted living units and skilled care suites. Amenities will include an upscale clubhouse, a fitness…

The Austin City Council late yesterday selected a joint venture consisting of Trammell Crow Co., USAA Real Estate and Constructive Ventures Inc. to redevelop a five-block city-owned downtown site. The redevelopment (pictured), Downtown Austin’s largest to date, will consist of up to 2.6 million square feet of space, including office, retail, for-sale residential, for-rent residential, a boutique hotel, assisted living, parking and public spaces, such as five public plazas. On full build-out, the project is expected to be valued at about $750 million. The site is actually two nearly adjacent sites, one currently occupied by a water treatment plant, the…

Dr Pepper Snapple Group made two announcements today, indicating a turn toward improving efficiency through its real estate portfolio. An agreement to open a $120 million production and distribution center in Victorville, Calif., was announced. The facility is expected to employ 200 people with six manufacturing lines with the capacity to produce 40 million cases annually. Opening in 2010, this facility will become the company’s Western hub serving California and parts of the Southwest or 20 percent of the U.S. population. Construction is set to begin in October 2008 at the Southern California Logistics Airport, an 8,500-acre master planned multi-modal…

Behringer Harvard announced today that it would invest in the 168-unit Alexan Russell Lofts apartment community in Las Vegas, six miles southeast of the Strip and three miles east of McCarran International Airport. Trammell Crow Residential will develop the 163,000-square-foot property (pictured). TCR developed the Alexan brand as a luxury upscale apartment community for young professionals interested in maintaining liquidity and geographic flexibility for job changes. Alexan properties offer extensive amenities and provide access to employment, shopping, cultural activities and transportation. This is the second TCR Alexan development in which Behringer Harvard has invested. The first is the Alexan Prospect,…

General Growth Properties has unveiled the details of a plan to redevelop South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan, a mall and tourist center the Chicago-based REIT acquired the with its purchase of the Rouse Co. in 2004. The plan would replace the existing enclosed mall with a pedestrian district, and add more than two acres of additional open space and circulation areas connected to the street grid of the historic Seaport District. According to General Growth, the thrust of the redevelopment plan would be to reconnect South Street Seaport to the fabric of the surrounding neighborhood. New shops and restaurants,…

Nemours has finalized the acquisition of 60 acres of land in the heart of Lake Nona’s medical city in Orlando, and plans to build a $400 million top-tier pediatric health care facility, anchored by a children’s hospital. The pediatric health system company tapped Skanska USA Building Co. as the construction manager to oversee the building process for the facilities. The 600,000-square-foot project is expected to break ground next year and will start receiving patients in 2012. It will be located in proximity to the University of Central Florida’s College of Medicine, the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the Orlando…

Ownership of Braddock Place, a 348,200-square-foot office complex in the Old Town submarket of Alexandria, Va., has just changed hands. MGP Real Estate L.L.C. purchased the four-structure property (pictured), located approximately five miles from Washington, D.C., from ING Clarion. ING, which relied on real estate services firm Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers to market Braddock Place, turned a decent profit on the deal, having acquired the property in 2005 for approximately $80 million. Braddock Place is located in the 1300 block of Braddock Place, just a stone’s throw from a Metro station, and within close proximity to the Capital Beltway and…