With construction expected to begin this spring, New York City-based Wereldhave USA has retained Baltimore-based Peter Fillat Architects (PFA) to design 11 buildings in the $300 million éilan lifestyle community on the outskirts of San Antonio. Ground was recently broken and construction should begin in the spring on the 120-acre site, with targeted opening planned for the spring of 2009. The project is located along the IH-10 corridor at La Cantera Parkway on the north side of San Antonio and near two other upscale development projects. The project, master planned by Gensler Architects, will consist of luxury apartments, class A…

So far the Manhattan office market has escaped harm from the capital markets meltdown, and this year will bring both changes and opportunities, according to a panel of industry leaders yesterday during Deutsche Bank’s 2008 Real Estate Outlook Conference in Manhattan. “We have seen a disconnect in the marketplace like we’ve never seen before,” commented David Greenbaum, executive vice president for Vornado Realty Trust. The market continues to be strong despite jitters about the financial markets and the national economy. Greenbaum cited a study by Cushman & Wakefield Inc. showing that only 9 million square feet of office space returned…

Macerich Co., in partnership with the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. (APFC), has acquired one of the more prominent retail properties on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, the 680,000-square foot Shops at North Bridge, for $515 million. The deal represents Santa Monica, Calif.-based Macerich’s first move into the Chicago market.”We look for best-in-market properties, and when the opportunity arises, we jump on an acquisition like this,” Chris Facas, vice president of asset management for Macerich, told CPN this morning. “Chicago has been a vacancy in our portfolio for a long time.”The seller was a partnership comprised of the John Buck Co., the…

It’s unclear what will happen to Countrywide Financial Corp.’s real estate properties around the United States now that Bank of America has agreed to buy the troubled company for $4 billion in stock. What is clear is that the deal announced this morning catapults Bank of America into the top spot as America’s leading mortgage lender and loan servicer.“Countrywide presents a rare opportunity for Bank of America to add what we believe is the best domestic mortgage platform at an attractive price and to affirm our position as the nation’s premier lender to consumers,” Bank of American chairman & CEO…

The reports of retail real estate’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. That was the consensus of a panel of major retail property owners at the Deutsche Bank 2008 Real Estate Outlook Conference this afternoon, moderated by Louis Taylor, a managing director of the bank.Taylor kicked the panel off by describing the reports of gloom he¹s seen in recent weeks regarding retailers and the real estate industry that they support, because of a consumer-led recession on the horizon. “One research firm said recently that retail is going to get killed,” he said. “We’re here today for the views of the people…

Have you ever finished listening to an explanation from a purported subject matter expert only to wonder what it was they just said? It has been my experience that the more vague, general, or ambiguous an explanation, the less command of the subject matter the person doing the explaining likely possesses. It is one thing to toss around the latest buzz-words, but it is quite another thing to actually know what they mean and have the ability to correctly apply them. In today’s column I’m going to reveal the tricks of those who practice what I call “the black art…

Houston’s Energy Corridor office market is among the dominant areas of the region for new office construction and Dow Chemical Company plans to move its Houston Dow Center and Memorial Plaza operations into one of the larger new projects in the works. Financials were not disclosed. The company is expected to move into the new building – the Plaza at Enclave, a six-story, 344,053-square-foot building at 1254 Enclave Parkway – in September. The Plaza at Enclave is among some of the largest new office construction projects in the growing Energy Corridor of Houston, according to a Grubb & Ellis Office…

FirstCal 3, a joint venture between First Industrial Realty Trust’s Strategic Land and Development and the California State Teachers’ Retirement Pension Fund, CalSTRS, has acquired a 261-acre site near DuPont, Wash. The deal is the third major acquisition announced by the pair this year. The site is located near I-5, which serves all the major cities in the area including Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Portland. The development, First Park Northwest Landing, is now in its initial stages for entitlements. The motivations for the project stem from the projected growth, both of population and port activity in the region, according to…