With a tight market for apartments in Southern California, CT Realty Corp. and Macbeth Apartment Systems Inc. have created a joint venture program to pursue multi-family acquisitions in that region.   With echo boomer demographics, foreign immigration and limits on new supply, indicators point to a strong outlook for apartments in the next five years, according to the 2008 National Apartment Report prepared by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Research. Apartment properties in Los Angeles are expected to record strong performance in 2008 due to tight operating conditions and low housing affordability and the apartment market in San Diego is…

A $60 million, 17-story office building, now known as CAPTRUST Tower at North Hills after its first big tenant, is under construction in Raleigh, N.C., and will include 274,000 square feet of Class A office space and 28,400 square feet of retail space when it is completed in mid-2009.The tower is being developed jointly by Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. and Kane Realty Corp. of Raleigh in a 100-acre mixed-use district in North Hills known as Midtown. It is located at Six Forks Road and Interstate 440, with direct access off the interstate, and is part of Kane’s $800 million North…

While the portion of the President’s proposed economic growth plan related to the housing industry is focused on homeowners, the commercial real estate industry would benefit, albeit indirectly.  This afternoon, the plan took a major step toward passage, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirming that the House had reached a tentative agreement on the aid package, according to Reuters. “We’re going to take another look at it when it comes here (to the Senate),” Reid said, noting that that Congress would attempt to pass the $150 billion plan to the White House before a mid-February Congressional recess. According to…

Next Wednesday, the hotel within Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago, which is still under construction on the Chicago River in the city’s downtown, will have its soft opening. In hospitality industry parlance, that means open for business, but before any elaborate grand opening ceremonies. The hotel will be the first operational part of the 92-story development on the former site of the Sun-Times building, with a total of 339 rooms, roughly half of which will be suites of various configurations, the other half studios.This morning CPN spoke with Jim Petrus, COO of Trump International Hotels L.L.C., in Chicago about…

The Ainbinder Co. has kicked off construction of a 550,000-square-foot mixed-use retail center in Plano, Texas. The project will be developed in phases, with the first retail tenant opening up shop this June. High Street at Stonebriar will occupy 35 acres about 30 minutes outside of Dallas. In addition to the retail offerings, the Class A lifestyle center will feature office space, as well as a boutique hotel. The Container Store has already committed to space and will be just one of a bevy of national retailers planned for the development. Ainbinder, relying on UCR Urban to oversee retail leasing…

For most equity real estate investment trusts, existing lines of bank credit and cash flow above dividend requirements will provide enough liquidity to meet short-term cash needs, according to a report released by New York City-based Fitch Ratings.The report, “Liquidity Focus: U.S. Equity REITs,” says that Fitch-rated equity REITs have drawn only 29.8 percent of funds available in bank lines of credit and cash left over after dividends. In addition, less than 20 percent of long-term debt owed by Fitch rated equity REITs will come due over the next 2 years. “Another important consideration is unencumbered assets — assets that…

Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. and Prudential Real Estate Investors have created a joint venture to invest in and originate mezzanine debt secured by hotels, and buy equity hotel investments.  The JV, which will be funded over the next two years, will ultimately be capitalized to the tune of about $300 million, according to the partners. “Ashford got out of the lending business about 18 months ago, because spreads for mezzanine debt had compressed too much,” a spokesperson for Ashford told CPN this morning. “The compensation for the risk just wasn’t enough. But now spreads have widened, and it’s a good…

Daniel Corp. has just committed to acquiring HealthSouth Corp.’s headquarters campus in Birmingham, Ala., in a $43.5 million deal. Terms of the definitive agreement allow the health company to continue to occupy its 200,000-square-foot office building under a sale-leaseback arrangement. Financial terms of HealthSouth’s long-term lease with Daniel Corp. have not been disclosed; however, Class A office space in the city leases for about $21 per square foot, according to a fourth quarter 2007 report by corporate real estate service advisory firm CresaPartners. In addition to HealthSouth’s 13-year-old headquarters building, which occupies 85 acres, the transaction will include an adjoining…

CBRE Capital Markets has completed the sale and financing of a 29-building, 1.6 million-square-foot office portfolio located throughout suburban Pennsylvania for $184 million. The portfolio consists of low and mid-rise Class A and B office buildings located in the Horsham, Bucks, Lehigh Valley and Fort Washington submarkets of suburban Philadelphia. The properties range in size from 25,000 to 115,000 square feet. James Gunning and Donna Falzarano of CBRE New Jersey’s capital markets team arranged the $184 million in permanent first mortgage financing on behalf of buyer G&I VI Interchange Office L.L.C., a joint venture between a fund managed by DRA…