the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
San Diego-Area Green Development Recognized by National Building Industry
With 20 percent of the mixed use Del Sur community completed, The National Association of Home Builders yesterday named the project its Mixed Use Development of the Year.”What makes Del Sur unique is the size and scale of the community and the affordability of the ‘green’ features” said Ray Tonjes, chairman of NAHB’s green building subcommittee.When complete, Del Sur–located twenty minutes from downtown San Diego–will include 2,500 market-rate homes, 469 low-income homes, business and commercial space, a transit center, fire station, two schools and more than 1,900 acres of dedicated open space shared with sister community Santaluz.The Ranch House, the…
Office Project Planned for Lubbock
Dallas-based Tyler Technologies Inc. plans to expand its West Texas presence with the development of a Class A office project in the city of Lubbock. No financials were released. The project will include two 75,000-square-foot, three-story office buildings at the southwest corner of Chicago Avenue and 53rd Street in Lubbock. “We currently have 190 employees in Lubbock in three different facilities and we’ve outgrown them. This is an opportunity for us to bring all of them together under one facility. It will give them a working environment on par with the caliber of our employees,” Dustin Womble, executive vice president…
$52M Office, Industrial Fund Grabs First Philadelphia Property
The APCA Property Fund I, operated by Stamford, Conn.-based Ashforth Co. and Paradigm Capital Advisors of Boston, has acquired an 86,000-square-foot industrial building in Philadelphia, marking the $52 million fund’s first acquisition in the city. Occupied by Brooks Provisions, a food warehousing and distribution company, the property is located in an area zoned as a food distribution center, which is about a half-mile from the Packer Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia and adjacent to an intermodal rail yard served by truck and rail, Stephen Marzullo, senior vice president, investment properties with the CBRE Institutional Group in Wayne, Pa., told CPN…
Woes Mount for Centro as Suit Claims Property Group Misled Investors
Beleaguered Centro Properties Group, the Australian property group that just recently won a $6.2 billion debt extension, faces new troubles. A lawsuit filed on May 9 alleges that Centro and its Centro Retail Group breached their obligations to keep investors fully informed between Aug. 9, 2007 and Feb. 15, 2008, according to report today from Bloomberg. The suit was filed May 9 in Australia’s Federal Court, and was announced by IMF Australia, a fund that invests in lawsuits. As reported by CPN on Feb. 29, Centro announced a record loss in the six months ending Dec. 31, 2007 of $1…
Dallas Project to Include More Offices, Fewer Condos
Dallas’s massive CBD mixed-use project, Victory, will include more office space and less condominiums and hotel rooms, said Hillwood’s Development Co.’s chairman, Ross Perot, Jr. According to a report in Friday’s Dallas Morning News, Perot told a meeting of the National Association of Real Estate Editors that “what’s working in Victory today is office.” A 43-story skyscraper, to include a Mandarin Oriental hotel, luxury condominiums, office space and retail, has been postponed. Hillwood and Hines are co-developing One Victory Park, a 20-story office tower at Victory. According to a report on the Dallas-Fort Worth office market from CB Richard Ellis…
Meruelo Maddux Battles Financial Woes
Ahead of releasing its first quarter 2008 financial results after the market closes tomorrow, Downtown Los Angeles landlord Meruelo Maddux Properties Inc. has been taking steps to battle debt woes and a depressed stock price.Since the company’s IPO in early 2007, its stock price has lost about 80 percent of its initial value, though it did see an uptick to above $2 a share in trading this morning.In a filing with regulators early this month, the company said that it plans to sell as much as $300 million worth of stock, debt securities and warrants in one or more separate…
Puerto Vallarta Condo Tower Shows that High-End Market Still Thrives
The launch party will be held Friday and five of 46 condo units are presold, with three more under contract. Not earth-shattering, perhaps, but further evidence that the real estate slowdown is an inconsistent beast. The first of two towers at Grupo GVA’s $40 million-plus Dos Marias condo project just outside Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, broke ground about two months ago. The 18-story south tower will include 29 two-bedroom homes of nearly 2,000 square feet each, 13 three-bedroom homes of 2,400 to 2,500 square feet all at the building’s corners. In addition, there will be four penthouses: a…
Luxury Hotel to Rise on Convention Center Site
Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty has unveiled plans for a new luxury hotel at the site of the old city convention center.At a press conference this morning, Mayor Fenty announced that the city has reached an agreement to build a 400 room luxury hotel at the site. A joint venture between Hines and Archstone-Smith will develop the project. The partnership is already developing an $850 million mixed-use project on an adjacent site. That deal, announced in December, will serve as Washington’s Downtown retail anchor, located on a 10 acre parcel between New York Ave., H St., and 9th and 11th…
Redevelopment of Baltimore Suburb to Be a Model in Green
General Growth Properties’ vision for Downtown Columbia, Md.’s renaissance will leave the master-planned community awash in green, the developer recently revealed to a crowd of area residents.Established 40 years ago, Columbia sits about 20 minutes outside of Baltimore. Chicago-headquartered GGP’s details on the extensive environmentally friendly elements that will be incorporated into the Town Center redevelopment endeavor were presented last week at GGP’s headquarters, according to the Baltimore Sun. The sustainable aspects of the project will include green roofs, solar arrays and storm-water management concealed as civic art, as well as preserved wetland areas. Landscape architect Keith Bowers of Biohabitats…
$188M Financing Deal Paves Way for New William Morris HQ in Beverly Hills
A joint venture involving New York City-based George Comfort & Sons Inc. and Morgan Stanley Real Estate’s Prime Property Fund, have secured $188 million in refinancing for an existing office structure and construction funding for the development of a new office and retail building in Beverly Hills. The new structure, which will become the headquarters of the William Morris Agency, and the existing building will total 376,500 square feet.JP Morgan Chase, originator and administrative agent of the loan, partnered with Wells Fargo to lead the financing endeavor that involved three additional banks. The new building (pictured) will sit on the…