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The owners of Canterbury Park, a race track and card club in Shakopee, Minn., have signed a letter of intent with RED Development L.L.C., a Kansas City–based retail developer, to explore the possibilities of adding destination retail to the property. Canterbury Park Holding Corp. and RED will examine the feasibility of a master-planned retail, entertainment and mixed-use development that would be integrated into the existing 400-acre property. The property is currently centered on a one-mile oval dirt race track and a seven-furlong turf course, as well as 34 tables for poker and other casino-type card games. The facility opened in…

Church & Dwight Co., which manufactures personal care and household products under the Arm and Hammer label and other major brands, said today it is closing its North Brunswick, N.J., facility and building a new 1.1 million-square-foot laundry detergent manufacturing plant and distribution center in York County, Penn. It will be the largest capital expenditure in the 165-year history of the company, said James Craigie, chairman & CEO. Construction and transition expenses are expected to cost $170 million, with $150 million of that being capital expenditures, company officials said during a morning conference call with investors. They said much of…

In a joint venture between Taurus Investment Holdings L.L.C. and Apollo Real Estate Advisors, seven Turkish properties were acquired as part of a project to invest between 80 to €100 million in private equity and debt finance. Taurus Eurasia–a Taurus subsidiary led by Ertan Dal–closed on a series of acquisitions in Turkey through its Taurus of Galata Gayrimenkul Yatirim A.S. vehicle, which is the joint venture between Taurus and Apollo Real Estate Advisors. Its purpose is to acquire, develop and sell residential buildings in Istanbul’s city center and involves both restoration and new construction. The program plans to invest approximately…

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust and Kimco Realty Corp. have teamed up to acquire a 10-property portfolio of retail assets in central and eastern Canada. The joint venture, RioKim II, will shell out approximately $156 million for the shopping centers, which encompass a total of 1.1 million square feet. Seven of the properties–accounting for an aggregate 540,000 square feet–are located in Ontario and span the cities of Belleville, Chatham, Fergus, Hawkesbury, London and Ottawa. The remaining assets cover 535,000 square feet in Montreal and Gatineau, QC, and Halifax, NS. Six of the properties count Shoppers Drug Mart, Wal-Mart or Zellers…

While commercial construction spending showed gains and losses, overall construction spending in April totaled $1.12 trillion, 3.9 percent lower than April of 2007 and 0.4 percent down from March, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Not surprisingly, new private single-family construction led the decline, falling 4.4 percent compared to March and a whopping 38 percent compared to April of last year. In the various commercial categories, however, spending trends were mixed. Hotels rose 7.6 percent between March and April and 45 percent compared to April of 2007. “It’s amazing to me that people keep pumping money into hotels,” Kenneth Simonson,…

A pair of new reports from London-based consulting firm Trusted Sources and Urandaline, an Australian consultancy that specializes in capital-intensive industries, says that India and China will between them put $1.5 trillion into infrastructure improvements and modernization over a five-year period. “Both countries are investing on a massive scale,” Larry Brainard, chief economist at Trusted Sources, said in a prepared statement, “and this is creating attractive long-term investment opportunities, both in specific projects as well as in companies that are positioning themselves to meet the new demands for resources, expertise and technology. To sustain economic growth, both countries urgently need…

Oakmont Industrial Group will develop an 849,000-square-foot LEED-certified bulk distribution building as the sole building at its 75-acre NorthPort Logistics Center on New Berlin Road in Jacksonville, Fla. As CPN reported in April, Oakmont purchased the development rights to what was then known as New Berlin Commerce Park from Schafer Development. Ground is expected to be broken by mid-September, with delivery scheduled for summer 2009. Tom Cobb, Oakmont senior vice president of development, told CPN that the original plans had been for three buildings, but that Oakmont decided to go with a single, larger building. “Our goal is to have…

Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. and Lexington Realty Trust have closed on a final group of seed properties into the $1.1 billion joint venture they set up to acquire and manage net lease properties. The deal, according to Lexington, involved the transfer of two single-tenant net leased assets from Lexington and its subsidiaries for $64.8 million to the joint venture. The properties total about 554,500 square feet, and are both located in Texas. The JV, Net Lease Strategic Assets Fund L.P., has now all together been seeded with 43 net leased properties contributed by Lexington, totaling 6.2 million square…

Horseshoe Casino Hammond, located just outside of Chicago in Hammond, Ind., has joined forces with AEG Live as it moves toward the conclusion of its $500 million expansion.AEG Live will take on responsibility for The Venue at Horseshoe Casino, a 3,200-capacity entertainment center that will become a centerpiece of the gaming property. AEG Live will spearhead programming for The Venue, which was conceived to draw in leading performers, full-scale shows and concerts to Horseshoe. At maximum capacity, the facility can accommodate 3,200 guests with seating for 2,300, including 200 seats in a designated suite section. Designed by Sceno Plus–which was…

The Carlyle Group has just wrapped up its third European real estate fund, Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners III, with approximately $3.4 billion in commitments, surpassing Carlyle’s $2.3 billion target. In terms of leverage, the fund will have a total of as much as $13.9 billion to invest in properties in Western and Central Europe. The new European fund is by far the largest of the three, with the first having raised $659 million and the second having closed with $1.2 billion. The list of contributors to CEREP III was diverse, and American entities were among those who threw in…