the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Fontainebleau Sells Half Ownership in Miami Beach Resort for $375M
Las Vegas-headquartered Fontainebleau Resorts L.L.C. has sold a 50 percent interest in the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort to Nakheel Hotels, a subsidiary of Dubai-based real estate developer Nakheel. Fontainebleau pocketed $375 million on the deal and with its new partner in tow, will continue the $500 million renovation of the luxury property.A celebrated destination, Fontainebleau Miami Beach occupies 17 acres along the ocean. When it emerges from its redevelopment, the resort will feature 1,500 guestrooms, 200,000 square feet of meeting and event space, a 40,000-square-foot spa, as well as restaurants and a nightclub.Fontainebleau anticipates that its partnership with Nakheel on…
JLL Finds New Partners in Australia, Turkey, Philippines
Jones Lang LaSalle is strengthening its overseas presence through new relationships with commercial real estate players in Australia, The Philippines and Turkey. In the most major of the three new relationships, JLL is entering into a 50-50 joint venture, effective June 1, with Colonial First State Property Management (CFSPM), a subsidiary of Australia’s largest bank and second-largest company, Commonwealth Bank. The JV, called simply Sandalwood and headquartered in Singapore, will initially focus on retail mall management in Asia, specifically in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Macau, Taiwan, Indonesia and India. CFSPM is a long-standing Jones Lang LaSalle client that has been…
Pair of Opus Projects to Add 300,000 SF to Booming Texas Office Markets
Opus West Corp. is on the verge of increasing the pool of Class A office accommodations in Dallas and Houston with the delivery of an aggregate 300,000 square feet of space. The company just broke ground on a building in the suburban Dallas town of Addison, and has wrapped up the acquisition of 15 acres in Houston for a new project.In Addison, work has gotten underway on Two Addison Circle, which will ultimately feature 198,000 square feet of space at 15725 North Dallas Parkway. It was last July when Opus West acquired the 3.5-acre site, one of Addison’s few remaining…
Industry Groups, Advocates Decry Apartment Squeeze
Though possibly strange bedfellows, apartment landlord groups and advocates for affordable apartment housing have been sounding some similar alarms lately about the squeeze on renters.Both are calling for more help from the federal government in dealing with the problem, which is regarded as worsening in the face of the current U.S. economic slowdown.The National Multi Housing Council, the apartment industry’s landlord trade group, joined with the National Apartment Association and the National Leased Housing Association in testifying before the Senate Banking Committee recently that tens of thousands of affordable housing residents are at risk of losing their housing if Congress…
CPNTechnology Q & A: Transcend Equity’s Gossett on Green Retrofitting
Transcend Equity is a 6-year-old privately held Dallas-based company that greens buildings at no cost and creating no debt for the owners. Transcend Equity contracts to pay the utility bills for ten years, and the owners/managers pay a fixed rate to the company. The average reduction in energy consumption – 30 percent. Transcend Equity is under contract now to green more than 33 buildings from Washington, D.C., to Dallas. CPNTechnology recently spoke with Steve Gossett Jr., President of Transcend Equity, about his company’s approach to the green retrofitting buildings.CPNTechnology : I have read that you are the only business out…
U.S. Solar Firm to Enter Indian Market
Clear Skies Solar Inc. had signed a letter of intent worth $20 million with Power Cube, a company located in Utter Pradesh, India, it has reported. The firms plan to develop and construct the first of several solar energy projects in India. This project is Clear Skies Solar’s first international move. The firm will design and build a multi-megawatt solar power system that will supply power to a steel mill and support the community’s energy grid system. International projects hold special challenges for U.S. solar energy providers. These include identifying proper high voltage lines and the ownership of the property…
Transwestern Snares Medical Campus Assignment
Transwestern’s Houston headquarters has snared the leasing and marketing responsibilities for Oasis Medical Campus, a thirty-acre medical campus in Houston, Texas, it has reported.Oasis Medical Campus is a multi-phase new development. Phase one includes the newly constructed 193,000 square foot medical office building that will house doctor offices, clinics, dialysis, imaging and outpatient surgery centers. Later phases will include development of a general hospital, a specialty hospital and facilities for additional medical services. “While this concept is unique to suburban Houston, the mixed-use medical concept has been successful in other parts of the country. The combination of a wide array…
Beverly Hills Medical Building Goes for $55M
The $55 million sale of a medical facility at 120 S. Spalding Dr. in Beverly Hills, Calif., has closed, according to Madison Partners Principal Bob Safai. The firm arranged the funding. The four-story, 63,000-square-foot building went for $869 per square foot. That price is a record for a Los Angeles medical office property. There is below a 1 percent vacancy rate for medical office space on the Westside of Los Angeles, and rents can be 20 percent higher than rates for other types of office space, according to the statement. As a result, rents in the building have been raised…
Arbor Funds $61M for Acquisitions
Arbor Commercial Funding L.L.C. has recently provided loans totaling more than $61 million for three separate acquisitions. The loans are as follows: * A $28.1 million loan under the Fannie Mae DUS product line, for the purchase of The Exchange at Greenville, a 288-unit student housing complex in Greenville, N.C. The five-year loan amortizes on a 30-year schedule and has a 5.47 percent note rate. It was originated by John Edwards, director, in Arbor’s Boston office. Edwards said in a release that the financing was completed in less than 30 days. * An $18 million loan under Fannie Mae’s…
Starwood Begins Largest Development Pipeline in Sheraton Brand History
As part of its multi-year strategy to revitalize the Sheraton Hotels & Resorts brand, its parent company said this week it is beginning an aggressive expansion with 54 hotels and 20,000 guest rooms to be added by next year. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc. said the company will spend $2 billion in North America alone on the growth plan.Sheraton, Starwood’s largest and most global brand, will open one hotel every 12 days in 2008, according to a company release. New hotels will be added this year in Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, Phoenix and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area in the United…
