the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Ashford Wraps Up $135M Sale of 2 Hotels
Continuing its capital recycling strategy, Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. has closed on the disposition of the Hyatt Regency Montreal and the Hyatt Dulles Airport in Herndon, Va., in deals totaling $135.5 million. The 605-room Hyatt Regency Montreal (pictured) brought in $57.5 million from Swedish hotel company Pandox AB. Built in 1976, the hotel features 34,000 square feet of meeting space, a restaurant and a fitness center. Ashford came into possession of the lodging facility as part of its $2.4 billion acquisition of a 51-property former CNL Hotels & Resorts Inc. portfolio from Morgan Stanley Real Estate. Located about 25 miles…
Hospitality Q&A: Noble Investment Group’s Shah on the Industry’s Future
Noble Investment Group is a real estate private equity fund manager, and an integrated hotel operator and developer. They specialize in value-added investments in the North American lodging sector. Noble’s senior managing director, Mit Shah, talks about Noble’s plans, and what his forecast is for the hotel industry. CPNHospitality: Please talk about some recent initiatives that Noble has launched? Shah: We’ve invested 40 percent of our current fund, about $400 million over the last 12 to 13 months. We’ve acquired three assets so far this year: the Kansas City Marriott at Country Club Plaza. We also bought an Amerisuites in…
South Florida Heating Up; C&W Brokers Residential Land Transaction
The level of interest among investors in multi-family offerings in South Florida’s apartment rental market appears to be on the uptick, according to Cushman & Wakefield of Florida, who announced today the sale of 43.7 acres of residential land in western Broward County. The site is located at the northeast quadrant of Interstate 595 and N.W. 136th Avenue, in the city of Plantation. The price equates to approximately $581,395 per acre or $51,975 per proposed unit. A development entity led by Trammell Crow Residential acquired the parcel for $25 million. The seller was Colorado-based Affordable Residential Communities. In a statement,…
PREI, Beekman Helix Form India JV
Prudential Real Estate Investors has launched a joint venture with Beekman Helix India Partners L.L.C. to invest in middle-income residential development projects and office parks in India for institutional investors. Operating as Pramerica BHI, the private equity real estate platform will be headquartered in Guragaon near New Delhi. The launch strategy initially will be to invest up to $500 million, a PREI spokesperson told CPN today. The spokesperson said the joint venture would be starting where there is the greatest need in India, which is for middle-class residences to house the rapidly expanding population. Eventually investments would be made across…
Boston Redevelopment Project Starts Phase II with $45M Infusion
Phase II of the redevelopment of Boston’s Franklin Hill has received a boost via a $45 million capital infusion from Enterprise Community Investment Inc.The first phase of the Dorchester-area project (pictured) was completed in the spring. Development partners are Trinity Financial Inc. and the Boston Housing Authority (BHA). Franklin Hill Phase II will create 152 additional affordable rental units, making for a total of 266 affordable units at Franklin Hill. The $45 million in capital came from Enterprise Community Investment Inc., marking the program’s largest Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity investment. “This is the second and final phase of the…
Calloway Wraps Up $371M Purchase of 6 Canadian Retail Centers
Toronto-headquartered Calloway REIT has completed the acquisition of six open-air shopping centers in Canada from SmartCentres and Wal-Mart Canada Corp. The portfolio, which Calloway snapped up for a total of $371 million, will encompass an aggregate 1.7 million square feet upon completion. All six properties are to be expanded, and $86 million of the total acquisition cost will be shelled out over the next three years to accommodate construction. Calloway’s financing of the deal was a multi-faceted endeavor. The REIT relied on cash, in addition to $123 million of mortgage debt and acquisition loans secured by the portfolio; an additional…
ProLogis Inks Deal for BTS Facility near Chicago
Industrial property behemoth ProLogis has inked a deal with Bay Valley Foods, a specialist in private label food products, to develop a 600,000-square-foot distribution center for the company in Rochelle, Ill. Bay Valley will use the building primarily as a warehouse and distribution center for its products, as well as for packaging and labeling canned soup products.The built-to-suit property for Valley Foods will be located in ProLogis Park Rochelle, a 300-acre business park located at the junction of I-88 and I-39. Rochelle, about 75 miles west of Chicago, is already a major distribution hub. Besides the meeting of interstates, the…
Complementary Cultures, Opportunity to Increase Services Drove Merger, JLL’s Roberts Says
Peter Roberts, Jones Lang LaSalle’s CEO of the Americas, said the complementary cultures of the two firms was a major reason behind the merger of Jones Lang LaSalle and The Staubach Co., which was announced Monday evening. The desire of clients to deal with one service provider was also another strong reason for the two companies to combine, he said. “What drove this was our clients’ needs, and the opportunities it will create for our people,” Roberts (pictured) noted. “We saw the opportunity to serve our clients with one global platform.” Talks with Staubach intensified over the last six months,…
Wilshire, NWJ Agree to Merger
Wilshire Enterprises Inc. and NWJ Cos., a privately owned real estate development company, announced today that they have entered into a merger agreement providing for a purchase price of $3.88 per share in cash for each of the approximately 7.9 million Wilshire common shares outstanding. The purchase price represents a 23 percent premium to the average closing price of Wilshire’s common stock for the 30 trading days preceding today’s announcement. Under the merger agreement, Wilshire may continue to solicit proposals for alternative transactions from third parties for the 30-day period ending July 16. Completion of the transaction is expected to…
Skanska Tapped for $146M Children’s Hospital in Memphis
Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center in Memphis has awarded construction management responsibilities for a new children’s hospital to Skanska USA. The construction tab comes to $146 million, while Le Bonheur’s total cost will add up to approximately $327 million. The project (pictured) has broken ground and is scheduled for completion in 2010. Skanska has been busy with hospitals lately. Last week, the company announced the start of work on a $76.6 million cardiac hospital in Dayton, Ohio, for Miami Valley Hospital. “Hospital construction is going strong,” Steve Gressel, a senior vice president with Skanska USA told CPN today. “Over the…