the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Undaunted By Economy, W Hotels Continues Global Expansion
W Hotels Worldwide, the lifestyle brand from Starwood Hotels and Resorts, is continuing its ambitious expansion plan despite the rocky economy. The firm just opened a new hotel in Hoboken, N.J., the latest step in the brand’s global growth efforts. The W Hoboken hotel and The Residences at W Hoboken, located on the Hudson River across from Manhattan, contains 225 guest rooms, including 23 suites, and 40 W branded residences. The hotel contains The Chandelier Room, a lounge and bar with views of Manhattan; Zylo, a Tuscan steakhouse; Bliss spa; and W Hotels The Store. The new hotel is owned…
Macklowe’s Woes Continue as Firm Forfeits Another NYC Tower
Macklowe Properties’ financial troubles continue to chip away at the firm’s New York City office portfolio. A month after having to sell off a major Manhattan tower, the company has just lost the 525,000-square-foot office building at 1330 Avenue of the Americas in a foreclosure auction. Montreal-based mortgage lender Otera Capital, which held a $130 million mezzanine loan on the property, placed a $100,000 bid and walked away from the auction as the new owner. Macklowe had defaulted on its $130 million loan with Otera, as well as its $240 million mezzanine debt with another lender, which Otera has now…
New NHL Arena to Be Another Green Milestone
The green movement continues. Following on the heels of new environmental sustainability programs at the Empire State Building and Sears Tower, the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins and the Sports & Exhibition Authority picked Earth Day to announce their goal of working toward LEED Gold Certification at the new $321 million Consol Energy Center, which is slated to be the first NHL arean to receive the Gold stamp from the U.S. Green Building Council.One other NHL arena is LEED certified, but it has elected to remain confidential, the Green Building Council’s Marie Coleman told CPN. “To date, there are now…
Economic Update – IMF Feels Exceedingly Bearish
Only a year ago, the International Monetary Fund predicted growth of 1.9 percent for the world economy in 2009, a prediction that seems positively quaint now. On Wednesday, the IMF called the current crisis “by far the deepest global recession since the Great Depression,” and urged governments to stimulate their economies more. The organization is now predicting a worldwide economic contraction of 1.3 percent in 2009, with the U.S. economy shrinking 2.8 percent, a largest decline since 1946. Still, there may be glimmers of recovery in parts of the U.S. economy damaged most by the recession. Indicators such as existing…
Another Day, Another Bankruptcy, as Opus South Files for Ch. 11
Just days after one of the largest commercial real estate bankruptcies ever–that of retail giant General Growth Properties last week–another high profile firm has filed for Chapter 11. Opus South Corp., one of the divisions of Opus Corp., has also been forced to say Uncle in bankruptcy court, citing the slumping Florida condo market as the main culprit.Opus South’s chief restructuring officer Anne Marie Solberg said that, though the firm had begun pulling back the pace of new condo development almost two years ago as the credit crunch and industry downturn began to loom, the severe nosedive taken by the…
Attractive Conditions Bring Investors Out in Droves to Snap Up Pair of San Diego M-F Properties
Apartment demand continues to hold strong in metropolitan San Diego, and with the government-controlled mortgage lenders actively doling out multi-family financing and cap rates showing signs of coming down, more than 30 potential buyers recently set their sights on two Oceanside, Calif., apartment complexes being sold by Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. The Prime Group emerged victorious, snapping up the assets, which encompass a total of 658 units, for an aggregate $84 million. Prime acquired the 424-unit The Villages of Monterey and the 234-unit Montecito Village from Northwestern Mutual in two separate transactions. Developed in 1988 at 3901 Mesa Dr.,…
Blanca’s New Firm Gets Off to Fast Start with 1450 Brickell Assignment
Miami commercial property veteran Tere Blanca’s new services firm looks to be coming out of the gate quickly, despite the industry’s current slump. Just weeks after she launched Blanca Commercial Real Estate, the company landed the exclusive leasing duties for 1450 Brickell, a Class A office tower currently under construction in Miami’s Brickell financial district.Being developed by Rilea Group, the 586,000-square-foot 1450 Brickell is set for completion in the first quarter of 2010, and will become the first Miami office to be LEED Gold-certified for sustainability. For Rilea, tapping Blanca Commercial to oversee leasing was motivated by the past history…
Economic Update – Economists Call for Downsizing Financial Companies
If some esteemed economists testifying before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress Tuesday had their way, “too big to fail” would be a phrase of historical interest only–applying especially to that period of history just before 2008. “We have little to lose, and much to gain, by breaking up these behemoths, which are not just too big to fail, but also too big to save and too big to manage,” said one of them, Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz, who is a well-known critic of the current bailout of the financial sector, and who also happens to be a Nobel…
Despite Economy, Leasing Continues Apace at AllianceTexas
With Texas’ business climate not quite as dire as in other parts of the country, Fort Worth’s AllianceTexas development hit almost record levels of leasing in the first three months of 2009 with more than 1.2 million square feet. About 600 new jobs were created at AllianceTexas in the first quarter, too. Last year, Dallas-based Hillwood leased 710,000 square feet in the first quarter at the 17,000-acre development. “Being in Texas is a huge advantage, in good or bad times, because companies are looking to be more strategic and efficient and Texas enables a lot of that,” Bill Burton, senior…
Economic Update – Credit Woes Put Kibosh on $2.5B Midway Deal
Citi Infrastructure Investors–a joint venture of Citigroup Inc., John Hancock Life Insurance Co. and Vancouver Airport Services– will be unable to go through with a deal that would have seen the group buy Midway International Airport in Chicago for $2.5 billion. After previous extensions, the City of Chicago decided not to give the group any more time to close on the deal.The problem with the Midway sale? As the president & CEO of Vancouver Airport Service was quoted as saying in a statement, “the company was unable to finalize the transaction due to current global market conditions that have materially…