News

Following months of negotiating  with its creditors to secure the time necessary to establish a solution to the credit crisis facing the company, mall owner and operator General Growth Properties Inc. announced this morning that it has declared bankruptcy and has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection in United States Bankruptcy Code. Moreover, nearly 158 regional shopping centers owned by the firm also filed for bankruptcy protection.The nation’s second-largest retail REIT ran into trouble after taking on some $27 billion in debt as a result of a buying spree that included the acquisition of mall owner Rouse Co. in 2004….

Lenders still aren’t rolling out the red carpet for the real estate industry, but some firms, like the Macerich Co., are managing to get their hands on financing despite the inhospitable environment. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based shopping center REIT just announced two refinancing deals totaling $320 million, and two loan extensions valued at $126 million. Macerich will refinance the Shops at North Bridge, a 680,000-square-foot retail destination in Chicago, to the tune of $205 million, courtesy of a loan from a life insurance company. Scheduled to close in June, the loan is for a seven-year term and carries a fixed…

Continuing its quest to increase liquidity and reduce debt through the sale of non-core assets in Orange County, Calif., office landlord Maguire Properties Inc. has just taken another step in its disposition program. The struggling Los Angeles-based REIT, whose financial woes first began to surface soon after its $3 billion acquisition of a former Equity Office Properties Trust portfolio from Blackstone Real Estate Advisors two years ago, has closed the $22 million sale of an 86,000-square-foot office building in Irvine to building tenant Allergan Inc. Maguire came into possession of the two-story office structure, located at 18581 Teller Ave., with…

With the finance industry suffering, securing a loan of any size is not as easy as it used to be. But despite the current economy, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain active sources of financing. In one of the agencies’ latest deals, Arbor Commercial Funding L.L.C. announced the funding of three loans totaling $53 million under the Fannie Mae DUS product line. Financing for the three multi-family properties was arranged by Carolina Mortgage Co. in Fayetteville, N.C.  The loans included a 288-unit Battleground North Apartments, located in Greensboro, N.C., in the amount of $16.2 million; Eagle Point Village, a 300,000-unit…

In yet another sign of just how affected even the New York City market has been by the faltering economy, the owners of the massive Starrett City multi-family complex in Brooklyn have given up on a plan to sell the property for more than $1 billion, according to the New York Times. The news is the latest troubling development in a New York market that has far from escaped the economic malaise gripping the nation. It was a significantly brighter market in 2006, when the 46-tower, 5,881-unit complex (pictured) was put on the block by its owner, a group of…

At the middle of this decade, headlines boasted supersized dollar signs and square footage. It was almost too much to keep up with. Last year, especially the second half of 2008, gave real estate players a chance to slow down and catch up with a decelerating pace of deals. Here are the deals across 10 major U.S. markets that did not happen in 2008. The developments that didn’t break ground or halted construction, as well as the landlords and tenants that failed to sign on the dotted line, are contenders to watch in 2009—once again especially in the second half….

At a time when securing a real estate development loan is an uphill battle, ShoreBank Pacific has decided to pave the way for those builders who are dedicated to eco-friendly development. With the establishment of its new Green Building Loan Program, the bank has joined the ranks of those financial institutions that are making an extra effort to step up the support of green commercial development in the midst of the credit crisis. “The only people who are going to build today are, one, very serious builders–no one’s building on spec unless they’re idiots–and, two, people with a fair amount…

Preparing for the recovery of the commercial real estate industry, a joint venture called Cofinance-RiverOak Realty Partners formed with a goal of gathering “opportunistic real estate acquisitions” in the Northeast corridor from Boston to Washington. The joint venture is the combination of Cofinance Inc. of Hackensack, a subsidiary of Cofinance Group of Luxembourg, and RiverOak Investment Corp. L.L.C. of Stamford, Conn. The new entity is well-funded, ready to make deals and currently exploring potential acquisitions of multifamily, office, retail, industrial and hotel projects, according to information released by the joint venture, with special emphasis placed on distressed situations requiring intense…

Selling a retail property–or any property, for that matter–with a big debt attached is no simple feat in the current real estate climate, but Sperry Van Ness has managed to do just that. Acting on behalf of Stillwater Capital and partners, the real estate services firm closed the sale of the 131,900-square-foot Voice Road Plaza in Carle Place, N.Y., to a 1031 multi-family investor for just over $36.2 million, including the assumption of a $23 million mortgage. Occupying 8.3 acres on Long Island, Voice Road Plaza was developed in 1951 and renovated in 1996. In December 2006, Stillwater, along with…

Where in the United States did housing sales actually go up in December? The San Francisco area, bastion of exceedingly high housing costs throughout the early- to mid- 2000s, saw home sales spike upward 19.7 percent in the last month of 2008, compared with November, according to MDA DataQuick, which specializes in compiling real estate information. Compared with December 2007, last month saw 36 percent higher home sales in greater San Francisco.It’s no coincidence that the spike comes after a sharp drop in the Bay Area’s median home price, which is now a shade more than 50 percent lower than…