Regions

Kennedy Associates has taken the 22-story office tower at 185 Franklin Street in Boston off the hands of Verizon Communications Inc. in a deal valued at $192 million. But Verizon is not walking away from the six-decade-old property completely. The telecommunications company will continue to own 100,000 square feet of the building, which has a total 700,000 square feet of rentable office space, and will lease back the remaining 600,000 square feet from Kennedy under a short-term agreement. Sited in Beantown’s bustling Financial District, the art deco-style structure at 185 Franklin (pictured) originally served as the headquarters of New England…

FirstService Corp. has announced the completion of its previously reported purchase of a 65 percent interest in New York-based GVA Williams Real Estate, with senior management retaining the balance of equity. To celebrate the conclusion of the deal it is scheduled to bring together Douglas Frye, president & CEO of FirstService Commercial Real Estate Services and chairman of Colliers International, Robert Freedman, executive chairman of Williams Real Estate and Mark Jaccom, CEO of Williams Real Estate to talk with the press at a luncheon at the Williams Real Estate Manhattan headquarters today. GVA Williams will be re-branded as “Williams Real…

Atlantic City has issued a request for proposals for the development of Bader Field, a 150-acre former municipal airport. The site, the city states, is the premier gaming and resort development parcel in North America.The Bader Field RFP is open to various development opportunities and is not limited to casino. Other uses include hotel, retail, entertainment, residential and commercial uses . The selection of a developer, or developers, for the site is expected at the end of the first quarter of 2009. Atlantic City has positioned the disposition of the site as a ground lease with a substantial upfront payment…

Perini Corp. has announced that it has won the order, worth $50.7 million, for repairs to the south runway at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, and $175 million for work in Iraq.The order at Andersen AFB is a design-build project for the removal of an existing runway and replacement with a new Portland Cement Concrete runway of the same size. The work also includes the removal of existing landing equipment and its later replacement after the goverment refurbishes it. Andersen AFB is the home of the 36th Wing of the Pacific Air Forces which hosts USAF active, reserve, national…

Madison Capital Management L.L.C. and its affiliates  closed on a $45 million B Note loan acquisition from Hypo Real Estate Capital Corp. The loan is secured by a luxury oceanfront hotel and condominium project in South Beach, Fla. W South Beach Hotel & Residences (pictured) is currently under construction at 2201 Collins Ave. and is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2009. The property is the first W project made up entirely of residences and will operate as a hotel as unit holders include their residences in a voluntary rental program. The hotel features 419 residences. Amenities will…

Less than six months after it paid off its debt on its Detroit headquarters, struggling automaker General Motors is trying to refinance the Renaissance Center or arrange a sale-leaseback to raise about $500 million.GM officials recently appeared before the Detroit Police & Fire Retirement System Pension Fund board in an effort to get the board to agree to a $250 million collateralized revenue bond investment, according to a Detroit Free Press report. If that pension board agrees, GM would seek another $250 million from another city pension fund. But GM may have trouble getting the first pension board to invest….

Woodmark Commercial Services L.L.C. has announced the sale of 2021 L Street, N.W., in Washington, D.C. The 75,500-square-foot, 10 story, Class A office building was bought by the American Society of Hematology. Woodmark handled the sales on behalf of the seller, initially marketing the project as office condominiums on a floor-by-floor basis.The former owners, 2021 L Street Investors L.L.C., bought the building from the NFL Players Association in June 2007. The private ownership group led by Mark Rivers of Potomac Development Partners L.L.C. renovated the building this year, including the addition of two floors, new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems,…

California’s looming fiscal crisis is likely to take its toll on the state’s commercial real estate sector. The credit freeze-up had deprived California of up to $7 billion in short-term financing necessary for day-to-day operations. The fiscal difficulties will likely manifest themselves in two ways. If the state is forced to raise taxes to cover the budget shortfall, job losses may result if higher taxes slow the economy, so office vacancy may increase, said Gary Painter, professor of policy planning and development, and director of research at the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California.He told…

The Swig Co. has announced it has completed its planned recapitalization of One Beach Street, a 97,000-square-foot office building acquired by the company earlier this year. The asset is situated in the North Waterfront submarket of San Francisco. The recapitalization includes the creation of an equity joint venture with Angelo, Gordon & Co. This is the second joint venture between Swig and Angelo, Gordon. Last year, the two investors entered into a joint venture to own 115 Sansome Street, a 128,000-square-foot Class A office building in San Francisco’s Financial District. In addition to forming this second joint venture, the partners…

Mounting concerns surrounding the health of the economy, meshed with sluggish employment growth, continue to drag down markets across the country. Orlando’s office market–although somewhat buoyed by employment growth experienced in the hospitality and tourism sectors–is no exception. “[People] don’t know where the bottom is and when they’re going to it,” said John Crossman, president of Crossman & Co. They are waiting to see “where this lands and what the next step looks like.” CB Richard Ellis Inc.’s third quarter MarketView report pits Orlando’s vacancy rate 12 percent in the third quarter. Cushman & Wakefield Inc.’s figure, however, trends somewhat…