the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
$73M Green Data Center on Tap for British Columbia
Having brought IBM on board as a partner, RackForce Networks will develop a 150,000-square-foot data center in Kelowna, B.C. The approximately $73 million energy efficient facility, gigaCENTER, will be near the top of the list of the largest green data centers in Canada. While RackForce notes that gigaCENTER will be one of the biggest green data facilities in Canada, IBM takes it up a notch. “This is a very large-scale project and it will be one of the largest green data centers in the world,” an IBM spokesperson told CPN today. Details about gigaCENTER’s specific site have not been released,…
AMB Developing Distrib Center in California’s Central Valley
San Francisco-based AMB Property Corp., a specialist in industrial real estate, is making a foray into California’s Central Valley with a 658,000-square-foot build-to-suit development in Tracy, Calif. When complete, the distribution facility, called AMB Pescadero Distribution Center, will serve as the regional distribution center for a major retailer, though AMB has declined to specify the identity of its client yet. Still, the REIT asserts that the project is an example of the retailer thinking ahead, beyond the current slump in consumer spending. “Retailers are taking space, even in this current economic climate, to reconfigure their supply chain and gain increasingly-important…
New Hilton Partnership to Create 4,000 Rooms in U.K.
Taking another big leap in its international expansion plan, Hilton Hotels has formed a strategic alliance with HLH Property Ltd. for the development of as many as 30 new hotels in the United Kingdom over the next five years. The properties, which will encompass a total of approximately 4,000 guestrooms, will be delivered over the next five years. For the most part, the lodging facilities will carry the flag of Hampton by Hilton, Hilton’s modern economy hotel brand. HLH has already pinpointed sites for consideration in the U.K. and Ireland. Areas chosen for the new hotels are predominantly located in…
NetLease Q&A: Market Still Adjusting to Debt Woes, Says Pandaleon
When CPN NetLease last spoke with George Pandaleon, president of Inland Institutional Capital Partners, last fall, the subprime meltdown was still fresh news and still a harbinger of uncertainty more than anything else. Since then, the reverberations of the crisis have become all too well known, and a new – and much tougher – borrowing and lending paradigm has established itself. But has the crisis been particularly calamitous on the net lease industry? Pandaleon says no. Certainly lending conditions haven’t adversely affected the $1.1 billion joint venture that Inland American and Lexington Realty Trust formed in 2007, Lease Strategic Assets…
CMSA Study Finds CMBS Market Turning Around
The economy may remain difficult, but the commercial mortgage-backed securities market has turned the corner. That was the determination of Jun Han, who performed an extensive study of the CMBS market for the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association. Han released the white paper and discussed his findings during a press conference at the organization’s annual convention yesterday. “This is the investment of a lifetime,” he declared, terming the instrument’s poor performance to a degree an unfortunate and unfounded fallout of having the word “mortgage” in its name—causing investors to automatically extend fears about the residential market’s troubles to the commercial market.“CMBS…
JV Breaks Ground on $350M Mixed-Use Development in Coral Gables
Ponce Circle Developers L.L.C., a joint venture between Ralph Sanchez and Mas Group, has begun work on Old Spanish Village, a $350 million mixed-use community in Coral Gables, Fla.Upon completion the development will consist of three mid-rise condominiums and 38 villa residences. It will also include the 16-story Ponce de Leon Towers at 2801 Ponce de Leon Blvd., to be developed by The Allen Morris Co. Located outside the city’s Central Business District, Old Spanish Village is four blocks south of Miracle Mile. The village’s mid-rise condominiums, along with the Ponce de Leon Towers, will border Ponce de Leon Boulevard. …
Emeritus Makes Agreement to Purchase Communities for $300M
Assisted-living firm Emeritus Corp. has entered into an agreement to purchase 29 communities currently leased by the company for $299 million, excluding transaction costs. The communities comprise of 2,257 units located throughout the United States. Eight of the communities are currently subject to a cash flow sharing agreement with an entity controlled by Dan Baty, the company’s Co-CEO. As part of this purchase, these properties will be held in a joint venture owned by the company and a Baty-related entity which provides for similar economic terms and conditions as the existing cash flow sharing agreement. CPN reported in February that Emeritus…
Pier 1 Sells Ft. Worth HQ, Eyes Cost Plus
With the impending closing of the sale-leaseback of its corporate headquarters, Ft. Worth-based retailer Pier 1 Imports Inc. has set its sights on acquiring California-based Cost Plus Inc.Pier 1 executives sent a letter to the board of directors of Cost Plus on Monday with a proposal to acquire the outstanding shares of Cost Plus common stock in a stock-for-stock transaction. The deal could be completed in the third quarter of this year, according to Pier 1 information.Under the terms of the proposal, Pier 1 would issue 0.6 shares of its common stock for each share of Cost Plus common stock….
HRPT Finalizes Cleveland Office Complex Acquisition
HRPT Properties Trust has closed on the acquisition of the 877,000-square-foot North Point office complex in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio. All together, the two-building property sold for $123 million, or about $140 per square foot. North Point office complex consists of the five-story, 286,500-square-foot North Point I and the 19-story, 590,500-square-foot North Point II. The buildings are connected via a nine-story atrium and share various amenities, such as an amphitheater, conference center, fitness center and restaurant with outdoor deck facing Lake Erie.Combined, the complex is 92 percent occupied by tenants that include law firm Jones Day, with North Point I serving…
Regency Centers’ Fiala Named ICSC Chairman
Mary Lou Fiala (pictured), president and COO of shopping center developer Regency Centers, has been elected the chairman of the International Council of Shopping Centers for 2008-2009. She succeeds Rene Tremblay, president of Ivanhoe Cambridge in Montreal.“Mary Lou’s unique knowledge of what it takes to be both a successful retailer and a successful shopping center developer will serve our members well,” Michael Kercheval, ICSC president and CEO, said in a news release.Fiala, who has been with Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers since 1998, has been a member of ICSC since 1997 and served on the Board of Trustees for the past…