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Facing a looming CMBS debt maturity next summer, ProLogis European Properties is getting some much-needed breathing room from its corporate parent. In a deal valued at about 43 million euros, or $61 million, Luxemborg-based PEPR is selling ProLogis a 20 percent share of a private investment fund. The move is the latest in a series that ProLogis has taken since last month to shore up its financial position, Jan Svec, a director and REIT analyst for Fitch Ratings, told CPN. “It’s in [ProLogis’] best interest to make sure that PEPR continues to function,” she noted. PEPR holds Europe’s largest portfolio…

Ventas Inc. has sold five senior housing assets with a total of 432 units to Emeritus Corp. for $62.5 million. Emeritus had been leasing the facilities, located in four states, from Ventas. The Chicago-based healthcare REIT also announced Monday that it had agreed to sell Samaritan Hospital in Lexington, Ky., to the University of Kentucky for $35 million in an all-cash transaction. If completed, Ventas expects to gain approximately $18 million from the sale. The transaction could close in the first quarter of 2009. As reported Aug. 4 by CPN, the sale of the five assisted living communities to Emeritus…

First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. has obtained a new $110 million term loan facility for its joint ventures with the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), the second-largest public pension fund in the United States. The news came one day after the REIT said it was discontinuing its European operations as part of a cost-cutting measure. The Chicago-based REIT said Thursday that the three-year term loan is priced at LIBOR plus 2.75 percent. The loan could be expanded up to $275 million and allows for a revolving credit line of up to $175 million, for a total potential facility of…

Finally, another small tidbit of good news in the financial scene and this time, it is for one of the headline-grabbing commercial real estate companies–General Growth Properties. The publicly traded REIT said lenders for the $900 million Fashion Show and Palazzo mortgage loans has extended the deadline until Feb.12. In further efforts to reduce its outstanding debt, General Growth will put up for sale two of its most high-profile holdings, New York City’s South Street Seaport and Faneuil Hall in Boston, according to brokerage DTZ Rockwood L.L.C., which has been retained to market the properties. The company also put two…

Millions of square feet of mixed-use development could be built near Dallas’ light rail stations in the future as part of the city’s first Tax Increment Financing district that links multiple stations and covers nearly 600 acres. The TIF district was approved by the Dallas City Council for a 30-year term and will cover 559 acres, as well as public rights of way, stretching from the Lovers Lane/Mockingbird area to the Lancaster/VA Medical Center region. Real property values are expected to grow from $320 million in 2008 to $3.52 billion by 2038 with future developments. During the life of the…

Ground will officially be broken on Monday for the $87.5 million Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Dodge City, Kan., although construction is already under way. The developer is Butler National Service Corp., a subsidiary of Butler National Corp., in conjunction with BCH Development.Phase I of the development is scheduled for completion in December 2009. Butler National reported that a State of Kansas research study estimated the potential revenue from the casino, in highly rural southwestern Kansas, at $40 million to $60 million annually. The casino has been designed to evoke the 1880s era during which Dodge City, perhaps best…

The Bush administration has decided not to let the auto industry implode on its watch, doling out $9.4 billion to GM and $4 billion to Chrysler from the TARP program, which has seemed to stray somewhat from the financial industrial bailout it was designed to be. Ford, which didn’t ask for an immediate cash infusion, isn’t getting anything for the moment. The catch is that the automakers have until March 31 to figure out how to restructure themselves. By that time, the auto mess will also be the Obama administration’s problem. The news probably comes as fairly big relief in…

In the midst of the doom and gloom topping headlines lately, some small glimmer of light shone through with a report on weekly jobless claims set for release this morning with the indication that jobless claims may have fallen to 558,000 from 573,000, according to a Reuters report.Profit at Nike Inc. grew 9 percent in the second quarter with its net income risng to $391 million compared with net income of $359.4 million in the same quarter last year, according to the Associated Press. Abbott Laboratories will buy smaller firm Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc’s unit, Ibis Biosciences Inc, in a deal…

President-elect Barack Obama has picked Mary Schapiro to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. Schaprio was a member of the SEC from 1988 to 1994–originally appointed by President Reagan–and is currently CEO of the non-governmental Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a post she has held for about two years. She also chaired of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for two years during the Clinton administration. Schapiro has a lot a work ahead of her as head of the SEC, to prevent this sort of thing from happening again: SEC: “Anything funny going on here, Mr. Madoff?” Bernie Madoff: “No, not at…

General Growth Properties Inc. has reached a forbearance and waiver agreement with its syndicate of lenders on its Fashion Show and Palazzo mortgage loans totaling $900 million. The agreement, in connection with loans that originally had a Nov. 28 maturity date, extends until Feb. 12, 2009. In addition, the shopping center REIT has entered into a forbearance and waiver agreement with the syndicate of lenders for its 2006 senior credit agreement; the agreement extends till Jan. 30, 2009. In connection with the agreement, General Growth has agreed to certain restrictions and covenants during the forbearance period. The news followed an…