the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Laramar Buys M-F near Houston, Washington, D.C.
Chicago-based Laramar Group has acquired two multi-family properties in different parts of the country totaling 664 units. The properties are the 356-unit Memorial Club Apartments in Houston and the 308-unit Hampton Court Apartments in Alexandria, Va.Nationally, the relative weakness of the for-sale housing market over the last year or so seems to be driving investors to multifamily properties. For example, total sales volume for US multifamily properties in the first three quarters of 2007 alone was roughly $52 billion, according to Real Capital Analytics — about $1 billion more than the entire multifamily investment sales volume in 2004.The two properties…
Atlanta Office Remains Stable As Demand Continues
The Atlanta market is making positive strides towards stability as tenant demand continues to have a positive effect on overall market conditions, a Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. report has found. Overall absorption for the fourth quarter was approximately 220,000 square feet, for a total net absorption of 1.9 million square feet. Vacancy rates hovered near 19 percent, which was relatively unchanged compared to fourth quarter 2006. While the overall activity is slightly off-pace from historical experience, the firm expects stable leasing activity throughout this year, noted David Demarest, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle’s tenant representation group (pictured). Construction continues…
$100M Equity Investment Anchors Acquisition of Au Bon Pain
Boston-based Au Bon Pain, a bakery-café chain with 226 stores, has agreed to a buyout by Au Bon Pain management and LNK Partners, a private equity firm based in White Plains, N.Y. LNK will put more than $100 million of equity in the company. The LNK capital infusion will support an expansion strategy in the U.S. and selected global markets. “Au Bon Pain has a substantial growth opportunity,” Henry Nasella, a founding partner of LNK, told CPN today. “This year they plan to open a number of new locations domestically and internationally. We will help support that growth.”LNK focuses on…
San Francisco 49ers Step Closer to Santa Clara Stadium
Santa Clara’s city council voted 6-1 Tuesday to accept city staff’s recommendation that city financing for a 49ers stadium is feasible, clearing one more hurdle for the NFL franchise to have its $916 million stadium up and running for football season in 2012. “The next step is for the team, city and the Cedar Fair, which has parking rights on the proposed site to move into serious negotiations to come together on a term of agreement,” Peter Hillan, spokesman for the 49ers, told CPN. The foot print for the proposed stadium is located on city-owned property in a parking lot…
Crown Properties Buys Partner’s Interest in First Indiana Plaza
An affiliate of Greenfield Partners L.L.C., South Norwalk, Conn, has sold its interest in the joint venture that owns First Indiana Plaza in downtown Indianapolis to its JV partner, Crown Properties, Garden City, N.Y., which is now the sole owner of the 28-story, 425,000-square-foot Class A office building. Crown and Greenfield had owned the property jointly for the previous six years. Both parties declined to release financial information. Completed in 1988, First Indiana Plaza counts among its primary tenants KPMG, First Indiana Bank and Bose McKinney & Evans, one of the state’s largest law firms, according to the Crown Properties…
BPG Properties Takes $260M Boston Capital Portfolio
Philadelphia-based BPG Properties Ltd. has taken a big chunk out of its $850 million private equity fund to pay for the $260 million acquisition of Boston Capital Real Estate Trust and the 11 apartment communities in the REIT’s portfolio.As reported Oct. 24 by CPN, shares of the publicly-traded REIT were valued at $13.30 each in the all-cash transaction, which closed Tuesday. Boston Capital REIT was a division of Boston Capital Corp., a real estate investment and advisory firm, and focused solely on apartment communities. The deal gives BPG 11 multi-family properties with a total of 3,098 units in the Seattle,…
Brookfield Buys Balance of Boston Buildings for $477M
Brookfield Asset Management has closed a deal to buy the balance of a property it previously co-owned with an affiliate of RREEF Alternative Investments, a member of Deutsche Bank Group. According to a report in the Boston Globe this morning, Brookfield paid about $477 million for 49 percent of the officer towers at 53 and 75 State St. in Boston, finalizing the transaction as 2007 drew to a close. All together the properties total about 1.87 million square feet, along with parking space. The transaction came in spite of recent sluggishness in the Boston-area real estate investment market. The third…
AMB Scores 900,000SF Property in Tight Inland Empire Market
San Francisco-based AMB Property Corp. has snagged a premier distribution facility outside of Los Angeles in the Inland Empire, one of the most highly coveted industrial markets in the U.S. The company has amended the name of the 900,000 square-foot property, which will now be known as AMB Loma Grande Distribution Center.AMB Loma Grande, sited in a prime spot off the well traveled I-15 and within close proximity to Ontario International Airport, offers a highly desirable position within close reach of the bustling Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Right now, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is benefiting from the advantageous…
Macklowe May Have Tapped CBRE to Sell, Refinance GM Building
As reported by various media outlets, Macklowe Properties may have hired CB Richard Ellis Inc. to either sell or recapitalize the company’s prized General Motors Building in New York. A source familiar with the deal confirmed the pairing to CPN, but both CB Richard Ellis Inc. and Macklowe declined to verify or comment. Macklowe purchased the building, located at 767 Fifth Ave., for a record $1.4 billion in 2003. At that point, CB Richard Ellis Inc. was hired to oversee the building’s leasing. “This makes sense,” Eric Anton, executive managing director for Eastern Consolidated, told CPN. “When (Harry Macklowe) purchased…
New Songdo City Starts 2008 with Microsoft, $3B in Construction
New Songdo City, the $30 billion, 100 million-square-foot master-planned city under construction in South Korea, has started 2008 off with a bang. Yesterday, Gale International, the force behind the project, signed a memorandum of understanding with technology giant Microsoft Corp. to act as a strategic partner for the city’s international business district. The deal begins a busy year for New Songdo City; Gale CEO & managing partner John Hynes told CPN that the project will start approximately $3 billion in new construction this year, and that majority of the developments over the next two years will be commercial space. Gale…