News

Steady progress on the World Trade Center continues as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey brings excavation work for WTC Tower 3 to a close, about a month after excavation for WTC Tower 4 reached completion. With the conclusion of the work for both towers, the Port Authority turned the sites over to WTC redeveloper Silverstein Properties. Excavation activities for the buildings on Greenwich Street involved 400,000 tons of concrete, soil and rock. Additionally, the Port Authority built a new 80-foot-deep foundation supported by 240 steel tiebacks. Silverstein is now in a position to move forward with…

As of yesterday’s deadline, four proposals have been submitted to the Port of San Francisco for redevelopment of a prime parcel on the city’s waterfront, adjacent to AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The 16-acre site, currently a parking lot for Giants fans, is located directly south of the stadium, , or right across “McCovey Cove,” which is just outside the right-field fence. The highest-profile entry is that from the Giants organization itself. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, they propose to redevelop the parcel with 875 homes, many of them in a 300-foot high-rise; 800,000 square feet…

The city council in Berwyn, Ill., an inner-ring western suburb of Chicago, has approved a redevelopment agreement. It will see the historic — but long-vacant — Berwyn National Bank Building at Cermak Road and Oak Park Avenue undergo a renovation into 8,000 square feet of retail space. The project’s developer is Berwyn Center L.L.C. One of its partners, Richard Kahan of KB Real Estate in Northfield, Ill., told CPN that they hope to snag a single tenant for the bank, ideally a large restaurant. Once the renovation is complete in about summer 2009, Tony Griffin, executive director of the Berwyn…

Continuing to tap into Asia’s coveted real estate markets, CB Richard Ellis Investors has just closed its second value added investment fund for the region. Strategic Partners Asia II closed with equity commitments of about $400 million, leaving it with total purchasing power valued at an estimated $1.2 billion. Asia II will target Japan, which has one of the largest economies in the world, as well as China, India and Korea, destinations that top the list of the world’s largest economies that are presently growing at breakneck speed. The fund will focus on the acquisition, development, and repositioning of premier…

Contrary to a recent news report suggesting that Developers Diversified Realty Corp. has an unusually high number of retail properties on the chopping block, a spokesperson for the REIT told CPN that the approximately 37 assets currently available for disposition reflect “an ongoing culling of our portfolio” and dispositions in groups of one and two properties.  The spokesperson also clarified that some of these properties have been on the market for over a year.  Non-core assets for DDR, the spokesperson explained, include remote locations, where distance from other properties makes management and leasing less efficient, and fully-leased centers, especially smaller…

Ground has broken on Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, a massive endeavor that will produce the first zero-carbon and zero-waste city in the world. The multi-phase, multi-faceted project will cost about $22 billion to complete. The first segment of the 1,480-acre Masdar City will consist of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, a graduate university being developed in a partnership between the Abu Dhabi government and MIT. With work now underway, the development is on schedule to debut as the world’s first graduate school dedicated to renewable energy in 2009. MIST will account for 6 percent of the entire development,…

Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. has acquired Locke Drive Technology Park in Marlborough, Mass. The park is a 295,700-square-foot flex/office portfolio comprised of three standalone buildings on 27 acres, and also includes 942 parking spaces. The property is in the I-495 West office submarket in the Boston area. According to a recent report by Richards Barry Joyce & Partners, office vacancies in the submarket in the fourth quarter of 2007 stood at 17.2 percent, which is comparable to the overall suburban Boston vacancy rate of 17.8 percent. The acquisition was made on behalf of Intercontinental’s U.S. Real Estate Investment Fund L.L.C….

CB Richard Ellis Inc. said today it had acquired Eurisko Consulting SRL, the largest independent commercial real estate services company in Romania, for approximately $35 million. Noting that Romania has one of the region’s fastest growing economies, CBRE officials said the acquisition expands the firm’s ability to offer services across Central and Eastern Europe. While the firm has had a presence in Romania for about 12 years, this is the first time it has owned an office in the country.“We expect the Romanian commercial real estate market to see substantial growth over the long term,” Colin Waddell, managing director for…

A deal has been struck for the Eagle Point Cos. to acquire Lawler Wood Housing L.L.C.’s general partner interest in 20 affordable housing apartment communities. The assets, situated in seven states, account for an aggregate 3,911 units. Thirteen of the properties involved are in Tennessee, with the remaining located in other southeastern states. While the transaction will reduce Lawler’s portfolio of residences by 60 percent, the company is hardly getting out of the game. Lawler’s decision to sell was prompted by the fact that the apartment market is currently booming across the country. A division of Lawler-Wood L.L.C., Knoxville, Tenn.-based…

Carlton Advisory Services Inc. has arranged a $92 million financing package for a 159,000-square-foot office building at 511-541 West 25th St. in Manhattan. The acquisition is the latest Manhattan pickup for Cardinal Real Estate Investments L.L.C., a hedge fund based in El Segundo, Calif. According to a statement, Carlton Advisory Services, an affiliate of the Carlton Group, arranged a first mortgage with a balance-sheet lender and obtained mezzanine financing from a boutique money management firm. Despite the tough credit market, Carlton is reporting an busy start to 2008. In January, the investment bank cinched some $1 billion in deals, ranging…