News

The U.S. Supreme Court today turned down an appeal from opponents of the plan to build a new arena to house the NBA’s Nets in Brooklyn as the centerpiece of the Atlantic Yards development. Eleven property owners and tenants contended that the government’s seizure of the property via eminent domain, was in violation of the U.S. Constitution because the project benefits the developer, not the general public. “We believe, and the courts have repeatedly agreed, that Atlantic Yards provides significant public benefits, including thousands of affordable homes, and much needed jobs for Brooklyn,” said Bruce Rather, CEO & chairman of…

Due to the global credit crunch, the $1 billion Olympic Village for the London 2012 Games may need extra public financing, Reuters reported today. The development was expected to be mainly financed by the private sector.Lend Lease Corp., the village’s developer, confirmed that the deal is expected to close by the end of the year even though there had been delays in securing financing.Returns on the arrangement will be announced following the sale of the village’s 3,500 homes at the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in September 2012.Blog Story and Comments

How do you freshen up a landmark 19th-century Boston skyscraper? One way is to give it a $75 million makeover and turn it into a boutique hotel. Morgans Hotel Group Co., Normandy Real Estate Partners and Ames Hotel Partners said this week that they will open a 115-key hotel property in downtown Boston during the third quarter of next year. The subject of their transformation is the Ames Building, a 119-year-old structure near Beacon Hill and the Washington Street Mall. Containing elements of Byzantine and Romanesque styles, the Ames Building is still one of the East Coast’s tallest masonry structures.Officials…

Flagler Development Group has acquired Reserve at Maitland, a Class A office property with three single-story buildings in Orlando’s Maitland submarket, in a tenant-in-common exchange, according to Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors L.L.C. The price paid for the 9.5-acre property was not released.Built in 2001, Reserve at Maitland consists of 30, 65 and 70 Keller Road. The three single-story Class A office buildings have six tenant spaces with a total of 197,000 square feet of rentable space. Located near Interstate-4 and the Orlando International Airport, the complex has 943 parking spaces.Officials at Coral Gables, Fla.-based Flagler Development Group could not…

The glory days of staggeringly high-priced commercial real estate transactions that ended about a year ago are over for the foreseeable future, as U.S. and international investors battle the credit crunch and, according to the latest CBRE Global In-Sight report, hold tight for the gap between asking prices and offers to shrink. But all is not lost during the waiting game; rising rental rates over the last few years continue to produce higher net operating income as tenants come and go.Sellers are still hoping to turn those exceptionally high profits they became accustomed to in the last couple of years…

Ownership of One City Centre in Houston’s Central Business District has officially changed hands in a deal valued at $131 million. Broadway Partners sold the 608,600-square-foot high-rise to Behringer Harvard REIT I Inc.Once known as the First City Main Building, One City Centre was originally developed in 1961. The deal closes about 18 months after Broadway Partners acquired the property for $115 million from McCord Development, which had renovated the property to the tune of approximately $22 million. Spanning an entire downtown city block and carrying the address of 1021 Main St., the 31-story tower had an occupancy level of…

Expanding its New York City area holdings, Hersha Hospitality Trust has acquired the new Sheraton JFK Airport Hotel, an upper upscale 150-room hotel located a half-mile from the busy international airport in Queens, N.Y., for $33.9 million. The full-service hotel, located at 134th Street and South Conduit Avenue, has about 2,300 square feet of meeting space. It will be managed by Hersha Hospitality Management L.P. The seller was not identified. In connection with the purchase, Hersha assumed a floating rate loan for $23.8 million at LIBOR plus 2 percent. It also issued 1,177,306 Hersha Hospitality Limited Partnership Units to a…

The level of interest among investors in multi-family offerings in South Florida’s apartment rental market appears to be on the uptick, according to Cushman & Wakefield of Florida, who announced today the sale of 43.7 acres of residential land in western Broward County. The site is located at the northeast quadrant of Interstate 595 and N.W. 136th Avenue, in the city of Plantation. The price equates to approximately $581,395 per acre or $51,975 per proposed unit. A development entity led by Trammell Crow Residential acquired the parcel for $25 million. The seller was Colorado-based Affordable Residential Communities. In a statement,…

Wilshire Enterprises Inc. and NWJ Cos., a privately owned real estate development company, announced today that they have entered into a merger agreement providing for a purchase price of $3.88 per share in cash for each of the approximately 7.9 million Wilshire common shares outstanding. The purchase price represents a 23 percent premium to the average closing price of Wilshire’s common stock for the 30 trading days preceding today’s announcement. Under the merger agreement, Wilshire may continue to solicit proposals for alternative transactions from third parties for the 30-day period ending July 16. Completion of the transaction is expected to…

Though as of this afternoon Jones Lang LaSalle had not yet announced a deal to acquire Staubach Co., the transaction is reported to be imminent. Calls to both JLL and Staubach were not returned at press time. As reported by CPN last week, U.K.-based Property Week reported JLL would acquire Staubach Co. in a $735 million deal, a figure that would reflect 10 times Staubach’s earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. The acquisition, if it occurs, should create opportunities for other firms. The loss of a pure tenant rep firm like Staubach will likely provide growth opportunities for Cresa…