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Every day, headlines announce the crumbling of yet another once-iconic partner. Bankruptcies are flourishing, and the ultra-complex financial structures of recent deals are quickly unraveling. The situation is made more difficult because there is no familiar context. The “go-to” investment banks are gone, double-digit unemployment is a global issue, foreign capital has either evaporated or become extremely cautious, tenants are contracting at a frightening rate, construction has stopped mid-crane and there are simply no transactions.  Real estate companies and other businesses with substantial real estate holdings–such as retailers, hotel companies, healthcare entities and other orporations–are challenged by an unprecedented need…

With the United States and much of the global economy in a perilous state, many corporations are looking to their real estate service providers for advice on how to make the best use of their real estate portfolios. To this end, telecommunications firm Nokia has chosen CB Richard Ellis Inc. as its global strategic real estate advisor. CBRE will provide services such as transaction management, brokerage, and lease administration across Nikia’s 20 million square foot global portfolio, which encompasses more than 380 properties in 60 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.  A recent white paper…

While the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has, like the rest of the nation, suffered from the sagging economy, the impact on the hotel and hospitality industry has been somewhat less than might be expected. Some projects have pulled back, but several others are still on track.One such development is in its embryonic stages; the University of North Texas System and City of Denton’s negotiations with John Q. Hammons for the development of a full-service hotel with meeting and convention facilities on university-owned property. The UNT System issued a request for redevelopment proposals in September seeking an experienced developer and operator to…

With the industry’s current struggles dragging down office leasing rates in even normally robust Manhattan, tenants are finding that for the first time in a long while, the balance of power is tipping in their favor. According to a fourth quarter 2008 Grubb & Ellis Co. report. Class A direct average asking rents for Manhattan were down 2.5 percent in 2008 as compared to 2007, a $2.26 drop to $86.80 per square foot to end the year, the report said. In spite of the minimal decline in asking rents, landlords have discounted rents more precipitously. In 2007, landlords were completing…

While the credit crunch and economic downturn have significantly hampered real estate investment activity across all sectors, the medical office niche is one area that many in the industry expect to remain relatively active in the uncertain months ahead. Chicago-based Lillibridge’s recent closing on the purchase of a $31 million medical office portfolio is the latest in a spate of acquisition and development activity in the sector in the past few months. The Lillibridge deal entails a portfolio of 13 medical office buildings totaling 255,000 square feet, which the company acquired from Decatur Memorial Hospital. Ten of the properties are…

A lending environment that is particularly hostile, and a deep recession that is severely depressing hotel operating fundamentals, are putting many high-profile lodging development projects on ice. The latest victim is the Shangri La Chicago, a 222-room hotel that was to open in the Waterview Tower at West Whacker Drive and Clark Street, along the Chicago River, construction on which is currently at a standstill.“Under the current economic environment, regrettably, the implementation of the hotel project has been suspended with no indication of when activities will resume,” the Hong-Kong-based luxury hotel company said in a statement.This marks the second time…

Sizeable loans are eluding most real estate concerns these days, but Colonial Properties Trust has proven to be one of the exceptions. The Birmingham, Ala.-based REIT just closed a $350 million credit facility originated by PNC ARCS L.L.C. for repurchase by troubled mortgage lender Fannie Mae, which, despite a 2008 loss of $58.7 billion, is apparently not shying away from big deals. Colonial’s new credit facility, secured by 19 multi-family assets encompassing an aggregate 6,565 residential units, comes with a 10-year term and a 6.04 percent weighted average fixed interest rate. The REIT will use the proceeds to pay down…

Social Darwinism aside, reports of nose-diving profits for nearly every store in the nation continue to pour in. The Home Depot, Office Depot, Target, Lowe’s, Macy’s, Sears, RadioShack and Domino’s Pizza are just a few of the retailers posting losses for the quarter. How many quarters such reports will continue depends on how long these stores and others competing for the limited consumer dollars can hold on. They will do all they can to survive, from reducing new store openings or closing stores altogether to freezing salaries and cutting staff, to reducing contributions to employees’ retirement funds. Nothing is off…

Of nationwide lenders to the commercial real estate sector, 53 percent expect loan production to increase from 2008 to 2009, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.’s annual Loan Production Outlook survey, conducted at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo last month. Private equity lenders and government agencies expected increased lending, noting an average expected rise of as much as 20 percent. Banks and life companies, however, expected volume to decrease anywhere from 30 to 80 percent.This year, 80 percent of respondents predicted that as much as 40 percent of each their companies’ loan allocations…

Canada’s highly regulated banking system has fared better than the United States’, as they largely avoided subprime mortgages. Thus lending for hotels in Canada is less constricted than in its neighbor to the south. However, Canada’s economy has slowed, affecting new hotel development to a degree, according to a Lodging Econometrics report. “There is a softening economy, but they don’t have the down-and-out-lending industry that the U.S. has,” said the firm’s president, Patrick Ford. Thus, the Canadian hotel development pipeline is evenly divided between hotels under construction, construction starts scheduled for the next 12 months and hotels in the early…