Regions

Deutsche Bank AG and other lenders are suing Macklowe Properties Inc. to foreclose on a $510 million loan the company took out to develop the site of the Drake Hotel in New York City. Macklowe bought the vintage 1920s hotel about two years ago and razed it, with plans to develop a mixed-use retail and office tower on the site. However, as reported extensively by CPN, the credit crunch has caught up with Macklowe. Last month, the company sold a number of major assets in New York–including 125 West 55th St., 540 Madison Ave., Two Grand Central Tower and 1301…

It’s not quite two acres, but the Akridge Office Fund’s newly purchased parcel of land on Half Street near the new Nationals Ballpark in Washington, D.C., will become the home of a 700,000-square-foot mixed-use development. Having just completed the $46.5 million acquisition of the site from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Akridge can now take the next step toward realizing the approximately $330 million development known as 25 M Street. When all is said and done, 25 M Street will feature approximately 320,000 square feet of premium office space, 300 square feet of residential space and 70,000 square feet of…

Maguire Properties Inc. has closed the books on the disposition of City Plaza, a 324,000-square-foot office building in Orange, Calif. An entity owned by Hudson Capital L.L.C. took the property off Maguire’s hands. The sale, the Los Angeles-based REIT’s second in Orange County in less than a week, is part of Maguire’s plan to reduce debt and increase Funds from Operations by selling certain assets in Orange County. Developed in 1969 and renovated in 1999, City Plaza carries the address of One City Boulevard West and sits off the 5 Freeway within three miles of Disneyland. The 18-story tower–as well…

Africa Israel Investments Ltd., a Yehud, Israel-based company owned by billionaire Lev Leviev that has real estate holdings in Israel, the United States, Russia and other countries, has agreed to sell some of its interests in three New York buildings that it acquired in 2007. The three properties are 23 Wall Street/15 Broad Street, the Clock Tower at Five Madison Avenue and the former New York Times Building. The buyer was an unidentified Asian investment fund. The company sold 23 Wall Street/15 Broad Street in its entirety for $150 million. The Downtown building, long headquarters of J.P. Morgan & Co.–and…

The 307,000-square-foot office building at 370 Lexington Ave. in New York City’s Grand Central submarket has come under new ownership, courtesy of a transaction valued at $155 million. Sherwood Equities Inc., acting in a joint venture with institutional investors advised by JP Morgan Asset Management, acquired 370 Lexington (pictured) from a joint venture consisting of Broad Street Development and Crow Holdings. The deal included Sherwood’s assumption of $80 million in outstanding mortgage debt from CIGNA.For the seller, what a difference two years make. Broad Street and Crow Holdings paid La Salle’s Income & Growth Lexington L.L.C. $97.2 million for the…

Context is everything, and hurricanes appear to be no exception. Though Hurricane Gustav’s impact on the Gulf Coast in Mississippi and Louisiana wasn’t a love pat, locals mostly seem grateful that the damage it caused, already estimated at possibly up to $10 billion, is a fraction of that created by Hurricane Katrina three years ago. That legendary storm caused more than $80 billion in damage and left more than 2,500 people dead or missing. The Category 2 Gustav, by comparison, was not only substantially weaker, but it made landfall farther from the densely populated areas around New Orleans. Lenny Sawyer,…

Japanese REITs, which have lost more than 50 percent of their value on the Tokyo Stock Exchange since their peak last year, are increasingly attracting the attention of U.S.-based private equity firms like Oaktree Capital Management, which has launched the first tender offer for a REIT in Japan. Japan has been hit hard by the global credit crunch, particularly the REIT market, which relies on banks to fund investments. “Banks (in Japan) are really loath to go into property at all now, even if the underlying fundamentals are really strong,” Peter Culliney, director of research at Real Capital Analytics, told…

Duke Realty Corp. has started construction of a $55 million, 403,800-square-foot office campus for GE Aviation in West Chester, Ohio, as the aviation company seeks to consolidate its office space in the Cincinnati region. The 43-acre campus will include two, four-story, L-shaped buildings which will be 201,900 square feet each. The site, off Union Centre Blvd. just east of Interstate-75, also has room for GE Aviation to expand in the future. Site work has already begun at the property, which Duke bought last year, a Duke spokesperson told CPN. The property was formerly the Queen City Sports Complex. In addition…

The LaSalle Asia Opportunity Fund III has closed with the raising of some $3 billion focused on real estate investments in the developed nations of Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China. The fund was launched last year by LaSalle Investment Management, and with leverage will represent buying power of $10 billion to $12 billion. According to the company, it expects its assets under management in Asia to roughly double in the next three years, as it invests the new opportunity fund. Currently, LaSalle has about $11 billion in Asian property under management, much of which…

More than seven months after a fire at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, news has emerged that the exterior wall claddings at the property did not meet the building code at the time of original construction in 1996. Fire protection and engineering firm Hughes Associates Inc. prepared a report for the Clark County Development Services’ building division to assist in determining the materials that were involved in the Jan. 25. The fire, which was started by workmen on the roof area, spread over the upper portion of the exterior wall claddings on the south and west…