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In the midst of a national economy rife with cutbacks and layoffs, research and development concern Battelle is making plans to increase the size of its digs at three locations in the Columbus, Ohio, area. The global nonprofit organization, whose core businesses include health and life sciences, energy and national security, will shell out over $200 million to build, expand and renovate office, laboratory and manufacturing facilities, as well as a day care center. “Business is strong and we’re investing in growing sectors of our business, like bioscience and biomedical research at our West Jefferson location,” a Battelle spokesperson told CPN. West…

Wall Street was gloomy in the morning Thursday, but by the final bell investors were feeling better, perhaps pumped up a little by the news that the federal government won’t let Bank of America fail, despite shooting itself in the foot with the purchase of Merrill Lynch. The Dow Jones ended up a slight 12.35 points, or 0.15 percent. The S&P rose 0.13 percent, and the Nasdaq did best of all, rising 1.49 percent, unfazed by the uncertain state of Steve Jobs’ health (Apple was off slightly for the day, however).The housing bubble has popped, but the pain lingers. Even…

Similar to an Internet dating service, a new Website is designed to introduce commercial real estate developers to investors and private equity companies looking for opportunities. Equity Interface is an online real estate investment service designed to connect developers and accredited investors. The site was launched six months ago and currently represents about $640 million of equity available, Nikolas Kron, founder & CEO of EquityInterface.com, told CPN. “There is not as much fluidity in the equity marketplace as we would like. Many developers are looking for equity partners as part of their general business structure. It is hard to identify…

Electronics retailer Circuit City Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in November, will close all 567 of its remaining U.S. stores and liquidate the entirety of its inventory after failing to reach agreements with creditors that would have allowed the company to continue operations. Circuit City entered a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Virginia’s Eastern District that said the firm had agreed to liquidate its assets. The sale will begin Saturday and run through March. When initially filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 10, the company hoped to keep its stores open while undergoing a corporate restructuring. However,…

Sometimes you have to invest money to save money, and it appears Benchmark Hospitality International has adopted that philosophy with the purchase of Pittsburgh-headquartered Aptech Computer Systems Inc.’s Execuvue Business Intelligence System. With Execuvue, Benchmark, which operates a portfolio of 30 independent hotels for various owners, will be able to automate and consolidate the data gathering and performance management processes for its properties at a central point, thereby acquiring a precise view of which activities or procedures are cost effective and which are not. With the economy in a tailspin, commercial real estate is being hit hard, and the hotel…

CB Richard Ellis Investors is definitely in the mood for shopping and has just snapped up a three-property Class A office portfolio totaling approximately 1 million square feet for its Strategic Partners U.S. Value 5 Fund. The seller, ING Clarion, had acquired the Los Angeles, East Rutherford, N.J., and West Palm Beach assets separately in 2005 and 2006 for an aggregate $365 million. The off-market transaction was an all cash deal. Both CBRE Investors and ING Clarion are remaining mum on the subject of the portfolio’s price tag, but fund principal Mike Burrichter told CPN that “it’s been a long…

Wall Street has been shrugging off bad economic news for a while now, but Wednesday felt like the good old days of last September and October, when the Panic of 2008 was in sell! now! mode. The Dow dropped more than 300 points briefly, ending down 248.42 points, or nearly 3 percent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost even more by the end of the day, in terms of percentage: 3.35 percent and 3.67 percent, respectively. What spooked the markets? News about Citigroup, for one thing–gee, the bailout didn’t seem to help Citi all that much, it turns out. Citigroup’s…

A joint venture between KDC and Spear Street Capital has leased 133,400 square feet to four companies at the redeveloped 1.2 million-square-foot Campus at Legacy in Dallas.Bear Transportation Services L.P. signed a 81,100-square-foot lease at 5340 Legacy Drive. The company plans to move into its new location in spring and will occupy two full floors. “Since May 2008, we have leased more than 245,000 square feet at The Campus at Legacy,” John Brownlee, senior vice president at KDC noted in a release.  “Activity took off as we were finishing the renovation of 5360 Legacy Drive and opened up the space…

Banks were back in the spotlight again Monday, and not for pleasant reasons, as they helped to drive the equity markets downward. Citigroup led the downward charge, losing about 17 percent of its value. Investors seemed worried about the banking giant’s continued and seemingly unquenchable thirst for capital, as well as uncertainty about who’s going to be running the place once an opaque management reshuffling is complete.All together, the Down Jones Industrial Average was down 125.21 points, or about 1.46 percent. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq lost more: 2.26 percent and 2.09 percent respectively. Attention also focused on banks…

The Clarett Group acquired FountainGlen Portfolio Management Inc., a developer and operator of age-restricted residential communities located in California cities such as Huntington Beach, Pasadena, Anaheim Hills and Valencia.The firm’s existing portfolio of managed properties includes 10 communities that were developed under the FountainGlen banner which were sold in 2006 to an institutional investment partnership.  To date, the company has developed 12 communities totaling approximately 2,650 units.  “We believe that high-quality rental age-restricted housing will continue to be an increasingly important segment of the real estate market,” said Veronica  Hackett, managing partner of The Clarett Group.   “FountainGlen has created the…