News

Just one year after the catastrophic collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minnesota, it isn’t a matter of whether another bridge will crumble, but when, according to an infrastructure expert. The danger goes beyond the mere safety of individuals traveling on that bridge, but also to the infrastructure of the nation’s business environment, too. “Infrastructure is the backbone of our whole commercial world. It keeps us competitive around the globe by moving products and people safely,” Barry B. LePatner, founder of the New York City-based law firm LePatner & Associates L.L.P., which advises on business and legal issues affecting real…

Albuquerque, N.M.–Enterprise Community Partners has chosen the first phase of Silver Gardens, a 119-unit green, transit-oriented, mixed-income housing community, as the first in the nation to receive funding from the newly formed Enterprise Green Communities Offset Fund, an initiative to counter developments’ carbon emissions.”The Green Communities Offset Fund is something we’ve been working on ever since we launched Green Communities,” Dana Bourland, senior director of Enterprise’s Green Communities, tells MHN. “We realized that each of the projects we’re getting developed will have significant environmental benefits, including reducing CO2 emissions.”Through the fund, Enterprise raises contributions from organizations, individuals and events to…

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Hotels has announced results of its study showing that global hotel sales have dropped 76 percent from a record high established in 2007.The firm reported that $13.9 billion worth of hotels have been traded globally in 2008. The region experiencing the largest drop in sales was the Americas, which dropped 81 percent from last year, yet remained the most liquid region, with $6 billion in sales in the first half of 2008. Other regions experiencing major decreases in sales include Asia Pacific, which lost 67 percent of sales, and Europe, Middles East and Africa, which lost…

Sarasota, Fla.-based Starwood Land Ventures L.L.C., an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group Global L.L.C., has established a joint venture with Vienna, Va.-headquartered The Penrose Group to acquire, develop and hold multi-family properties in key Mid-Atlantic markets. Penrose brings to the table 20 years of experience as a leading real estate force in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. While Starwood Land and Penrose have not disclosed further specifics of their planned activities, the Metro D.C. multi-family market is still fertile ground for potentially lucrative investments. The region–encompassing the District, as well as Northern Virginia and neighboring Maryland suburbs–continues to hold its position…

After four months of negotiations, Cushman & Wakefield in Florida has reported the finalization of the sale of an office tower in Coral Gables to the Boston-based institutional pension fund advisor, AEW Capital Management. Cushman & Wakefield represented the former owner of the property, J.P. Morgan Investment Management. The property is a Class A office building at 355 Alhambra Circle. No terms were made public. However, sources say it was a cash equity transaction of $87 million, making it $387 a square foot. That price is competitive with recent deals in the area. About a month ago, the highest sales…

Seahaven Resort on Noosa Beach in Brisbane, Queensland, has just come under new ownership, courtesy of a $120 million deal. With the assistance of real estates services firm CB Richard Ellis Inc., entities associated with Melbourne, Australia’s Carter Group and Michael Callaghan of Sydney sold the property to a group involving Brisbane’s Consolidated Properties, London-based BlueSky Capital and an international consortium of investors. Seahaven Resort is the last substantial freehold property on popular Noosa Main Beach. Seahaven, which has operated under the same ownership for the last three decades, sits along Hastings St. in one of the most coveted shopping…

The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa is set to undergo a $300 million renovation. Initial plans for the renovation call for the addition of 300 guest rooms, a spa and expanded restaurant facilities. The resort’s owners are hoping that the city of Phoenix will approve their zoning request, which was filed on July 9. Assuming the zoning change is approved, renovation is expected to commence in 2009. The owners of the property have been working with community groups including the Arizona Biltmore Estates Village Association and the Camelback East Village Planning Committee in order to build goodwill with the community…

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, Canada’s largest REIT, has purchased a 142,000-square-foot, two-story retail building in Ottawa for $40 million and agreed to a 15-year lease to the seller and primary tenant, Canadian Tire. The property was acquired for cash, at a cap rate of 6.4 percent, according to a prepared statement. The building has a Canadian Tire store on the second floor and a Mark’s Work Wearhouse (a subsidiary of Canadian Tire) on the first floor, along with two smaller occupancies. The sale-leaseback is structured as a headlease, Rags Davloor, RioCan’s senior vice president and CFO, told CPN, under…

A new report from Marsh Inc., an international insurance broker and risk advisor, finds many insurance companies remaining on the sidelines as they work to determine the extent and types of exposures that might evolve from green building projects. As the number of these projects grows throughout the United States, many leading commercial property and casualty insurers have been reluctant to provide the specialized coverages or program enhancements this construction may require or warrant. According to the Marsh report, the property and design professional liability insurance markets have been the first to develop enhanced coverages or provide specific risk management…

Fannie Mae is working on a number of enhancements to its multi-family financing offerings, including a combined construction-permanent financing product. The agency says it is cooperating with several DUS lenders who have construction lending expertise to combine construction financing with permanent debt. “The construction-to-permanent product will offer a seamless, lower cost execution and more certainty for the construction of new multi-family properties,” Fannie Mae states. Currently, only HUD offers a multi-family construction-permanent loan, under its FHA mortgage insurance program. HUD’s combined financing requires one underwriting and approval for both loans, with the construction loan rolling over to permanent loan. Despite…