Regions

At Naval Base San Diego, Clark Realty Capital and the Department of the Navy opened the doors of Pacific Beacon (pictured), the first of three 18-story luxury apartment buildings in the country’s first large-scale housing privatization initiative for unmarried military personnel.Open to service members ranking E4 (petty officer third class) and above, the privately owned and operated Pacific Beacon is intended to offer sailors a relaxed, upscale housing option with the convenience and security of an on-base location. Nearly 100 sailors moved in on the first day. Under a first-resident program, they were able to choose their own apartments, and…

Sacramento County’s supervisory board has unanimously approved the final environmental impact report for GenCorp Inc.’s 1,400-acre mixed-use project and amendments to the county’s general plan for the project. The board of supervisors has also unanimously voted in favor for an intent motion to approve the balance of the development’s requested zoning amendments and map conditions, which are expected to be ratified at the board’s Jan. 28, 2009 meeting, according to GenCorp. Located between Hazel Ave. and Prairie City Rd. south of Highway 50 in eastern Sacramento County, Glenborough at Easton and Easton Place consists of plans for 4,883 residential units…

Weakening economic conditions in Manhattan’s office sector have begun impacting average asking rents for the city’s trophy-quality office buildings. According to a recent report from Jones Lang LaSalle, Manhattan’s top-end properties have seen average asking rental rents decline 6.2 percent, falling to $102.84, from $109.61 per square foot in the spring of this year. Rents overall continued to move higher throughout the summer months, even though vacancy rates had risen consistently since the beginning of the year. Midtown’s high-end buildings saw rates fall slightly more than 4.4 percent during the same time period, dropping to $117.46 per square foot from…

Next Century Associates has unveiled a proposal to build a $2 billion mixed-use property in Los Angeles’ Century Plaza, on the current site of the Century Plaza Hotel. The redevelopment proposal entails razing the 19-story hotel and replacing it with a pair of towers. One of the towers will be primarily residential, containing 130 luxury condominiums, while the other will feature a 240-room hotel and 163 hotel residences. The project will also include 100,000 square feet of office space, 106,000 square feet of retail and restaurants (pictured), plus a spa and a fitness center.Developer Next Century Associates is a partnership…

GVA Advantis has opened its first Southwest office in Austin, Texas. The new location will serve as the headquarters of the firm’s newly formed land services group.Bruce and John Endendyk, a father and son team, who will lead the new office, will concentrate on selling land to investors and developers, including parcels that are not zoned and property that is available for immediate use. The Endendyks are already embedded in land sales throughout the Texas market and will eventually expand into a full-service branch to address additional client needs. Most recently, Endendyk and his team were a part of the…

Signet Solar Inc., a manufacturer of thin film silicon photovoltaic modules based in Menlo Park, Calif., plans to build an $840 million manufacturing facility in Belen, N.M., about 30 minutes south of Albuquerque. The project will go up in two phases. Expected to open in 2010, the $200 million first phase will bring about 200 high-wage jobs to the state. Phase II will cost about $640 million and add another 400 permanent jobs. The plant will span 600,000 square feet. “We are already in discussion with suppliers and support businesses that will be drawn to the area by this project,”…

Australia-based shopping center owner Centro Properties Group has avoided liquidation by agreeing to give lenders 90 percent of the company’s stock in exchange for extensions on billions of dollars in debts. The eleventh hour agreement allows Centro to avoid having to sell off its some 775 retail properties, located in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. Centro’s creditors–including JP Morgan Chase Co., BNP Paribas SA and National Australia Bank Ltd.–will now grant the firm several more years to pay off its $16 billion in debts. The lenders’ acquiescence to the extension may be a sign that the banks feared the…

Construction has begun on a $210 million development in Jersey City, N.J., that will feature two 47-story towers with a total of 524 rental apartments and 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Monaco Towers, developed jointly by Roseland Properties of Short Hills, N.J., and Garden State Developers of Jersey City, had originally been planned as a condominium property but will now offer rental apartments. Monaco South will have 281 units and 223 parking spaces while Monaco North will have 243 units and 187 parking spaces. The towers are being built on Washington Boulevard near the waterfront on a former…

San Antonio, Texas-based developer Lynd Development Partners is making its first move into the Chicago market with a 300,000-square-foot, 249-unit apartment tower. Designed by Chicago architects Valerio Dewalt Train and located at 161 W. Kinzie St. in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, EnV will be one of the city’s first LEED certified rental buildings. Additionally, building amenities will include a rooftop deck and pool, dog run, fire pit, full kitchen and wine storage lockers. High-tech features will include an automated, 24-hour convenience store, virtual concierge and V-Connect, which allows residents to integrate security and other preferences via iPods or iPhones. The…

Declining asset prices, rising cap rates, and rising foreclosures have characterized the commercial real estate sector in the U.S. of late, but this gloomy scenario will likely become more familiar in the Asia Pacific region as well, according to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2009 report, recently released by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. The report provides an outlook on real estate investment and development trends, as well as trends by property sector and metropolitan area. The report is based on the opinions of a range of real estate professionals, including developers, investors, property company…