Regions

While office builders and the like struggle to obtain money for projects in the midst of the credit crunch, the College of Creative Studies in Detroit has managed to secure $145 million for the transformation of the long-vacant Argonaut Building (pictured) into a facility to house its second campus, as well as an arts-centric middle school and high school. The federal government’s nine-year-old New Markets Tax Credit Program played a major role in financing the redevelopment of the former General Motors Corp. property, which locals expect will help revitalize the city that began feeling the impact of the car industry’s…

The Asia-Pacific region tops the list of investment opportunities for global container ports, while the leading container ports in the United States have plenty of ground to make up, a study published last week by RREEF contends. “We found that despite the current downturn, most analysts agree that future growth in container traffic will be led be intra-Asian trade,” concluded researchers from RREEF, the alternative investment affiliate of Deutsche Bank A.G., in a comprehensive overview of global container ports. “This does not discount opportunities elsewhere, although they may need to be more targeted and selective.” The study’s authors emphasize that…

Despite the chilly economy, Faris Lee Investments is in an expansion mode.  The company has opened a New York office, and has named Richard Berlinghof to head the retail investment sales and advisory firm’s East Coast team. The move is a natural for the firm, said Richard Walter, Faris Lee’s president. “We have a lot of clients on the East Coast, and there is a need for them to receive intelligence on a real time basis,” Walter said. “There is something new that happens every day, so we decided to move down the street from them.” Berlinghof (pictured), who has…

Decreased completions and continual job losses are anticipated to ease the rise in apartment vacancy in Atlanta through the rest of the year, according to a second-quarter report by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. A shortage of construction financing and unease over constant job losses in the city have resulted in developers postponing some plans until the market stabilizes. Last year, 4,500 units were delivered, whereas in 2009 completions are expected to total just 3,300 units. “Investment activity in the Atlanta apartment market is constrained and will be dominated by distressed sales in the coming months,” John Leonard,…

The economic crisis has gone global, but real estate investors with funds on hand are still plunking down cash in desirable markets like Mexico, where LaSalle Investment Management will invest heavily through a new fund. Launched in 2007, LaSalle Mexico Fund just closed with $300 million in equity that, with leverage, will allow for the acquisition and development of $600 million in assets. “It is a good time to invest in Mexico given the continued demand for quality real estate in the Mexican market due to the favorable demographics and the existing inventory,” Eduardo Güémez, CEO Mexico, LaSalle Investment Management,…

The U.S. commercial real estate market, plagued by high vacancies and declining property values, is not at its most appealing right now, but according to a new report by Deloitte, sovereign wealth funds are beginning to see a great opportunity for investment.Entitled Sovereign Wealth Funds: Real Estate Partners in Growth?, the report concludes that for SWFs, the acquisition of commercial real estate in the U.S. today has its benefits, including the opportunity to circumvent currency depreciation and take advantage of capital appreciation upon a turnaround of the market. For a bevy of other reasons, SWFs, government entities charged with investing…

Las Vegas’ struggling development market is breathing a bit easier, now that co-developers MGM Mirage and Dubai World have buried the hatchet over the massive CityCenter mixed-use project there. The $8.5 billion development looks to be on its way to completion now that the developers have agreed to a deal with lenders for the financing of the remainder of construction.Dubai World, the real estate investment arm of the Dubai government, filed a lawsuit against development partner MGM Mirage in April after the latter ran into financial difficulties–both in terms of funding the CityCenter project, as well its overall company balance…

While projects across the country stall or delay until the economy turns a corner, a half-million square foot Pennsylvania retail development dubbed Exeter Commons is bucking the trend with 94 percent of its space pre-leased as a late summer opening approaches. The 490,000-square-foot project is located about 40 miles southwest of Allentown, Penn., and is being developed by Exeter JV Associates L.P., a partnership of The Goldenberg Group and Ironwood Property Group. The cost of the project was not disclosed. What key element that allowed Exeter Commons to proceed when others stalled was location, according to Kevin Trapper, senior vice…

As U.S. commercial real estate investors continue their global outreach, they desire the same sense of security across borders that title insurance companies provide for United States-based transactions. The field of conflicting and varying regulations and legalities on different countries’ and municipalities books prevent the enactment of simple, standard practices. From lack of surveying experience in parts of Asia-Pacific to village-green laws in the United Kingdom, title insurance firms must help their clients wade through crossborder transactions on a case-by-case basis.In Mexico, for example, state governors appoint notarios publicos—a different role than the United States’ notary public—to confirm titles. But…