the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
The Trends: Apartment Prices, Asking Rents Receive Q3 Boost
National apartment prices rose 2.3 percent from the second quarter to the third quarter, notching a score of 178.57, according to Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Indices for November 2008. That mark is the highest of all property types examined; in addition to apartments, the report assesses the office, retail and industrial sectors. Apartments’ index is down 7.2 percent from its third-quarter 2007 score but up 2.5 percent from its tally in 2006’s third quarter. The sector’s prices have fallen for longer than the other property types, but its overall decline has been the lowest, according to the report.Meanwhile, a report…
New Fund Focuses on Investments in U.S., South America
New York City-based Falcon Real Estate Investment Co. has created a new investment fund that has four main sub-funds in three South American countries and the United States. The first phase of Falcon The Americas Real Estate Opportunity Fund is due to close in January 2009. The fund is based in Luxembourg and is aimed at institutions and high-net worth individuals seeking alternatives to the volatile stock and bond markets. Falcon officials said investors can choose which of the four countries they want to invest in, or rely on Falcon’s guidance. The U.S. portion of the fund will seek opportunities…
MGM Mirage Creates Global Gaming Division
MGM Mirage Hospitality has formed MGM Mirage Global Gaming Development, a new division that will focus on expanding MGM Mirage Hospitality into new markets internationally with luxury resorts, both with and without gaming. The division’s president will be Lloyd Nathan, who has been with the company since 2002. Nathan most recently held the position of executive vice president & managing director of MGM Mirage International, based in Hong Kong. He is also a practicing attorney specializing in international transactions. Educated at the London School of Economics and the Law Society of England’s College of Law, he is both a California-licensed…
Pending Home Sales Up in Some Places
The National Association of Realtors index of pending existing home sales fell 0.7 percent nationwide to 88.9 in October. According to Bloomberg, observers had been expecting a 3 percent drop for the month, but apparently some buyers have been able to take advantage of the steep recent drops in housing prices, especially in the South, where pending sales jumped 7.8 percent, and Northeast, where they were up 0.6 percent. According to a survey of 31,800 employers nationwide by Manpower Inc., two-thirds of them plan to hold staff levels steady in the first quarter of 2009, while 16 percent plan to…
New York State, New England See Modest Rise in M-F Asking Rents
Despite the careening economy, average asking rental rates throughout New York State and New England notched moderate gains in the third quarter compared with the levels recorded in the first quarter, according to a recent report.The study, conducted by third-party property management specialist Sunrise Management & Consulting, assesses rental conditions in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York (excluding New York City), New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The fall survey, which was conducted from September to November, does not include actual rent rates. Much of the increase in average rental rates can be attributed to the supply-and-demand situation in New York…
Will High-Profile Approvals Spark Building in Boston?
When the city of Boston signed off on a pair of high-profile developments last week, officials may have been sending a message about the need to kick-start development. On Thursday, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved two major projects that developers want to add to the site of the 3.2 million-square-foot Prudential Center. Boston Properties Inc. plans to build a 17-story, 422,000-square-foot office tower at 880 Boylston St. Nearby, AvalonBay Communities is planning a 188-unit, 27-story apartment complex. That the projects won approval despite community reservations about their size shows how urgently the city wants to move projects forward. “Boston has…
Ventas Closes $126M in Refis on 8 Assisted Living Communities
Ventas Inc. has closed eight first-mortgage loans totaling $126 million through Freddie Mac on eight senior housing communities in three states managed by Sunrise Senior Living Inc. Proceeds of the loan were used to repay in full $71 million of existing debt, secured by the same facilities that was due to mature in mid-2009.The debt, which matures in January 2019, with a possible one-year extension, is 6.5 per cent inclusive of costs, expenses and fees. The borrowers under the $126 million Freddie Mac loan are owned 85 percent by Ventas and 15 percent by Sunrise. KeyCorp Real Estate Capital Markets…
Obama Weekend Address Leads to Market Rallies Worldwide
Stockmarkets in Europe and Asia rallied strongly this morning after President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday pledged to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in a bid to drag America away from another great depression, according to The Guardian UK. CNNMoney.com reported that U.S. stock futures rose sharply this morning, too, on those same hopes along with signs that U.S. automakers would stay out of bankruptcy. CNNMoney.com reported that it looks like a deal is in the works that may keep General Motors, Ford and Chrysler out of bankruptcy court at least through the end of March. Congressional Democrats and the…
Automakers May Get Money, New Bosses
The White House has let it be known that a deal to bail out the Big Three automakers might come as soon as later today, totaling perhaps about half of what the companies were angling for as recently as last week, or $15 billion to $17 billion in bridge loans. The news may be cold comfort to the CEOs of the Big Three, since certain members of Congress–namely Sen. Christopher Dodd (D.-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee–have suggested that certain heads should roll, namely theirs. Or at least GM CEO Rick Wagoner, whom Dodd specifically mentioned as expendable on…
SL Green, Gramercy Venture to Sell N.J. Office Interest for $230M
SL Green Realty Corp. and Gramercy Capital Corp. have announced an agreement to sell their interests in a three-building, 670,000-square-foot property in Bridgewater, N.J., for $230 million. The property is located in the Central New Jersey submarket surrounding the intersection of Interstate 287 and Route 22 near Raritan. The buyer is Chicago-based Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. According to data tracked by Real Capital Analytics, SL Green and Gramercy bought the property with Gale Cos. in June of 2006 for $250 million. When Gale was acquired later that year, SL Green and Gramercy bought Gale out. The purchase price…