Regions

Fowler Buys 420-Unit Atlanta M-F, Plans Upgrades

Conifer Crossing, a 420-unit multi-family property in Norcross, Ga., has traded hands for $31.75 million. The buyer was San Francisco-based Fowler Property Acquisitions; the seller, Denver-based Simpson Housing L.L.L.P. Located on about 54 acres on Holcomb Bridge Road, Conifer Crossing is about 17 miles northeast of Atlanta’s CBD, and is currently 98 percent occupied. In the vicinity of the property is about 10 million square feet of office space, including Technology Park/Atlanta, a 3.8-million-square-foot business park primarily occupied by technology-related tenants. The property includes one-, two- and three-bedroom units averaging 1,233 square feet each. Amenities include a clubhouse, pool, fitness…

Port of Corpus Christi Opens Trade Lines to Venezuela

Establishing a dedicated monthly shipping service between Texas’s Port of Corpus Christi and Venezuela opens a two-way trade route that hadn’t existed at the port before. The opening of the trade route comes on the heels of the selection of Federal Development as the master developer of a $400 million project that includes the development of La Quinta Trade Gateway. Federal Development will be the master developer of 1,009 acres in Ingleside, which includes 576 acres at Naval Station Ingleside, which will revert to the port in the fall of 2010. Federal will create a mixed-use site with potential uses…

PNC Finances $354M for Trio of California Projects

PNC has provided a total of $354.4 million in financing to three separate projects in California. In the largest financing, PNC subsidiary PNC Real Estate Finance extended a $300 million term/construction loan to Macerich for the expansion of The Oaks, a high-end retail center in Thousand Oaks, Calif. PNC was the lead syndicator on the loan, with seven other institutions providing the remainder of the financing. In another deal, PNC ARCS–a multi-family lending arm of PNC Real Estate–funded a $34.5 million loan for the purchase and rehabilitation of Woodsong Apartments, a 262-unit garden-style apartment complex in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Freddie…

Douglas Emmett Nabs $365M Loan

Douglas Emmett Inc. has announced that it has obtained a non-recourse $365 million term loan to refinance the bridge loan that was obtained in connection with the REIT’s acquisition of a six-office portfolio on March 26, 2008. This new loan is secured by the six-office portfolio. The loan bears interest at a floating rate equal to LIBOR plus 165 basis points, but the firm has entered into interest rate swap contracts that effectively fix the interest rate at 5.515 percent until September 4, 2012. The loan facility matures on August 18, 2013. Emmett does not have any debt maturities until…

Liberty Takes Class A Florida Office

Liberty Property Trust is expanding its portfolio in the Sawgrass International Corporate Park in Sunrise, Fla., with the acquisition of a 107,000-square-foot Class A office building. The REIT bought the building at 13621 NW 12th St. from Real Estate Capital Partners, but did not release the purchase price. The building is fully leased by UnitedHealthcare. Liberty officials said they also lease space to UnitedHealthcare at properties it owns in Maryland, Minnesota and North Carolina. The Malverne, Pa.,-based REIT now owns properties totaling more than 200,000 square feet in the South Florida complex. Liberty owns and operates three other buildings at…

Indian Firm Buys Land for $100M HQ in Little Rock

Man Industries, a pipe-manufacturing firm based in Mumbai, India, has made its first venture into the United States with the purchase of 155 acres of land in Little Rock, Ark., with plans to build a $100 million facility to serve as its North and South American headquarters. Construction will begin later this month in an existing industrial area on Greenfields. No targeted completion date was released. “The cost of transporting finished goods from India had risen to a level that it was too expensive and made better sense to have a location in the U.S. to be closer to their…

Deferred Loan Payments Confirm Delay of Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas

Groundbreaking on The Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas–would-be sibling to the landmark Manhattan hotel of the same name–has been put off till next year, in conjunction with an agreement by Goldman Sachs Group and Credit Suisse Group to give the project’s developer an additional six months to repay $625 million in loans. A spokesperson for the project’s developer, Elad IDB Las Vegas L.L.C., told CPN that payment on the loans, used toward the purchase of the 35-acre site of the former New Frontier hotel/casino, will now not be expected till May of next year. The developer is a joint venture…

Northern Virginia County Gets First LEED Gold Spec Office

Construction has wrapped up for the first of two Class A office buildings that will comprise the 230,000-square-foot Atlantic Corporate Park in Sterling, Va., located about 25 miles from Washington, D.C., in Loudoun County. Developer DEXUS Dulles Town Crossing L.L.C.’s completion of the complex’s East Tower marks a milestone for Loudoun County, as it is the municipality’s first spec office project to achieve LEED Gold certification. Situated on a one-acre landscaped park at the corner of Atlantic Blvd. and Woodland Rd., Atlantic Corporate Park provides easy access to major thoroughfares Route 28 and Route 7. The 115,000-square-foot East Tower, carrying…

Construction Begins on $24M JV in La Quinta, California

Marinita Development and Regency Centers are breaking ground on Jefferson Square, a commercial development of 90,000 square feet in La Quinta, a city near Palm Springs in the Coachella Valley . The project is being planned in sections. Phase One, a shopping center, is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2009. Current tenants include Fresh & Easy Market, owned by Tesco of Great Britain, and CVS/Pharmacy. Marinita Development is a privately held company, a developer, builder and manager of retail and industrial properties. The general contractor for Phase One is Mercer Construction of Temecula,…

Work Gets Underway on $150M Wellness Resort in Mexico

Construction has commenced on Taheima Wellness Resort & Spa, a project in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, spearheaded by Whole In One Nuevo Vallarta S.A. de C.V. To be developed at a cost of $150 million, the upscale condo-hotel will ultimately feature 400 units. Whole In One is targeting the baby boomer set in North America and South America, highlighting the property’s wellness-centric attributes. Taheima sits on the El Tigre Golf Course fairway in Paradise Village, approximately 10 miles from Puerto Vallarta International Airport. In addition to space to accommodate offerings such as yoga, T’ai Chi and lectures ranging from cooking to…