the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Kushner May Sell Stake in 666 Fifth Ave. Retail to Pay Down Debt
A year after paying a record $1.8 billion for 666 Fifth Ave. in Midtown Manhattan, Kushner Cos. may sell a partial interest in the trophy tower’s coveted retail space to The Carlyle Group in order to retire short-term debt from the transaction, according to local sources. Representatives of Kushner and Carlyle Group declined to comment on this morning’s report by Jason Kelly, Jonathan Keehner and David Levitt of Bloomberg. But a local market source told CPN this morning that Carlyle was negotiating to buy a 49 percent stake in the tower’s 85,000-square-foot ground-floor retail. Kushner would retain 100 ownership of…
Clise Holds Off Selling Prime Downtown Seattle Site, Cites Credit Crunch
Clise Properties has pulled 13 acres of prime Downtown Seattle land off the market despite significant investor interest because of the global credit crisis. The portfolio was assembled by the Clise family for the past 100 years and expected to be developed into a massive $7 billion project that would have changed the skyline of the city.As reported by CPN on June 15, 2007, Clise Properties hired Jones Lang LaSalle to market the portfolio, which could accommodate more than 12 million square feet of development and rival other major urban projects like New York City’s Rockefeller Center and London’s Canary…
City Officials Green Light 2,500-Room Las Vegas Hotel
The Las Vegas Planning Commission has just given its approval–with conditions–for a development group to move forward with a hotel project that would bring an additional 2,500 guestrooms to the downtown area.According to papers filed with the commission, Grand Central L.L.C. is the team behind the proposed project, which would occupy 12.5-acres at Grand Central Parkway and Charleston Blvd. In addition to requesting a site development plan review, the partnership submitted requests for special use permits for constructing the 700-foot tower in a district with a 200-foot height limitation, and for including a lounge and bar in the hotel. Grand…
Sale of Cincinnati Mall for $93 Shows That Location is Still Paramount
Yesterday’s $93.3 million sale of the Sycamore Plaza/Sycamore Crossing shopping center in northeast suburban Cincinnati seems to be a sign that even in a troubled economy, in the right location a retail center can be highly recession-resistant. As reported in today’s Cincinnati Enquirer, the sale from RP Properties, Beverly Hills, Calif., to Regency Centers, Jacksonville, Fla., was presumably a very profitable one, since RP had bought the centers in 2004 for a figure reportedly in the area of $61.5 million. Sycamore Plaza was built in 1966 as an enclosed mall and converted in 1994 into a 355,000-square-foot, three-story shopping center….
Design Approval Moves $150M Oakland Office Building Forward
SKS Investments takes the next step toward developing a $150 million office property at 1100 Broadway in Oakland with the Oakland Planning Commission’s hands down approval of the design for the 320,000-square-foot green building. KMD Architects is behind the design of the 20-story structure that will carry the distinction of being one of the first new high-rises in the city’s office market within the last five years. The property will incorporate the adjacent 96-year-old Key System Headquarters building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Additionally, SKS will seek LEED-Gold certification for 1100 Broadway; and if attained, the…
$217M Construction Loan for Virginia Mixed-Use
Global equity firm The Carlyle Group and developers Cypress Equities and Kettler have received a $217 million construction loan that paves the way for the building of The Village at Leesburg in Leesburg, Va.Sovereign Bank is the administrative agent for several national and local financial institutions that are providing the loan for the project.The Village at Leesburg will be a four story, 1.2 million square foot mixed-use development. The project will be anchored by Wegmans Food Market, and the developers have received commitments from local and regional retail stores and restaurants to complement the national brands expected to populate the…
Cavico Moves Forward in Development Near Hanoi
Cavico Corp. has announced that its wholly own subsidiary has received approval from Ha Tay People’s Committee to participate as the principal investor and constructor for Ngo Sai urban city, eleven miles southwest of Hanoi. Ngo Sai city lies on 6-lane Lang-Hoa Lac highway, which is currently under construction. The urban city is expected to take until 2013 for full buildout, at a total investment cost of $94 million. The deal is anticipated to net approximately $25 million. Ha Tay province will become part of Hanoi capital with the entire project ultimately within Hanoi capital’s boundary. Cavico is now part…
UBS Sells Historic New Orleans Hotel to Local Partnership
After 28 years, Hartford-based UBS Realty sold Omni Royal Orleans to a partnership of Crow Holdings private local investors. UBS and the investors have declined to disclose the price. UBS Realty regularly buys and sells properties in investor portfolios to execute portfolio diversification and risk strategies and to attempt to earn the best possible return for our investors, according Kris Kagel of UBS.The hotel was owned by one of the investor portfolios that is advised by UBS Global Realty Investors, a division of UBS Global Asset Management. The buyers include Darryl Berger Jr. of DBJ Investments, Joe Jaeger of Mechanical…
Proxy Fight at CBRE Realty Finance Avoided
A brewing proxy fight between Arbor Realty Trust Inc. and CBRE Realty Finance has been averted, according to the two parties.As previously reported by CPN, Arbor Realty, in a move widely seen as part of a takeover bid, had been planning to field a slate of its own candidates at CBRE Realty Finance’s still-unscheduled 2008 annual stockholders meeting. Arbor Realty is currently a majorshareholder in CBRE Realty Finance.Under the terms of the agreement, Arbor will not only withdraw its alternate slate, but it will vote as a shareholder for all of the CBRE Realty Finance board’s director nominees at the…
Strategic Capital Forms $300M Hotel Investment Program
Seeking to capitalize on the current turmoil in the credit markets, Strategic Capital Solutions L.L.C. has created a program to invest exclusively in hospitality properties.The firm’s dedicated hospitality financing program will fund up to $300 million of debt and equity investments, targeting developers and owners of hotel and resort properties who are currently having difficulty obtaining financing given the current condition of the credit markets. The program is targeted at properties in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and Europe, with a particular emphasis on the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Italy.While Strategic Capital did not…