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ProLogis isn’t wasting time. In a presentation to investors on Nov. 13, new CEO Walter Rakowich gave some specifics about how the company, the world’s largest developer/owner of distribution facilities, would respond to a financial crisis that included a stock price in freefall and the resignation of the previous CEO, Jeffrey Schwartz. The three-pronged strategy that Rakowich presented comprises deleveraging ProLogis’ balance sheet, minimizing risk in its business model and downsizing. In line with that strategy, ProLogis has just closed a $104.7 million secured financing with a large institutional investor on behalf of an affiliate of ProLogis North American Industrial…

Morgan Stanley has become the second investor to take a large stake in General Growth Properties Inc., the struggling mall operator headquartered in Chicago. Morgan Stanley bought more than 13.6 million shares, upping its stake in the company from 3 percent to 5.1 percent. General Growth’s stock price closed yesterday at 94 cents. At mid-morning today, it had risen to $1.35. Last month, Pershing Square Capital Management, a New York City-based hedge fund managed by William Ackman, bought just over 20 million shares or a 7.5 percent stake in GGP. The Morgan Stanley move followed an agreement, reported Monday by…

ShareBuilder, an online brokerage and investment subsidiary of ING Bank fsb, is growing so rapidly that it needs more space and is moving from Bellevue, Wash., to 83 King St. in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, an eight-story building owned by Starbucks.The company, which is currently located at 1445120th Ave. NE in Bellevue, is taking 130,000 square feet in the 204,500-square-foot building in mid-2009, according to a release from its owner, ING Direct.Dan Greenshields, ShareBuilder president, said the firm needs extra space to achieve its expansion plans. ING Direct acquired ShareBuilder in November, 2007. Since then, headcount and staffing is up 60…

One of the nation’s largest mall owners, General Growth Properties, Inc., reached an agreement Monday with the holder of a $58 million note to extend the maturity date to Dec. 11. The struggling REIT has been renegotiating with lenders for extensions including one made Sunday on $900 million in loans for two of its premier malls. However, the sharks are still circling. Forbes.com reported that on Monday, General Growth shares sank by 17.4 percent, or 24 cents, to $1.14. Its shares have tumbled by 97.2 percent since the beginning of the year. General Growth has $1.1 billion in debt coming…

RREEF Alternative Investments has finalized its agreement to acquire “a significant minority interest” in Rosen Real Estate Securities L.L.C., a Berkeley, Calif.-based real estate investment advisor. RREEF Alternative Investments is the global alternative asset management business of Deutsche Bank’s asset management division, and includes real estate, infrastructure and private equity segments. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. CPN reported on Oct. 29 that the parties had agreed to RREEF acquiring the stake in Rosen. The firms will reportedly expand Rosen’s long/short real estate investment platform and collaborate on product distribution, providing Deutsche Bank’s institutional and high-net-worth investors with…

Just weeks after promising to do all it could to refinance or renegotiate maturing debt, ProLogis has closed on a $105.8 million financing of a Chinese tranche in its global line of credit. ProLogis, the world’s largest developer/owner of distribution facilities, said the deal has two components, a $36.4 million term loan and a $69.4 million revolver, according to the Denver-based REIT. The proceeds will be used to refinance the $105.6 million tranche of the company’s global line of credit, which was due to mature in May 2009, and for general corporate purposes. The financing was secured with a syndicate…

The Federal Reserve has acknowledged that the recession won’t be over anytime soon by extending a number of temporary programs designed to deal with the credit freeze and generally unstable financial markets. These programs include the Fed’s emergency lending facility, which has been a source of cash for firms having trouble borrowing elsewhere, and a program that allows financial institutions to swap unpopular investments (like mortgage-backed securities) temporarily for Treasuries. The various programs were originally slated to expire at the end of January, but for now they’ve been extended to the end of April. The move came the day after…

Despite a slowing world economy, many of the world’s signature shopping thoroughfares are seeing retail rents rising, or at least remaining stable, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s 23rd annual “Main Streets Across the World” report, which measures the strength and popularity of major shopping streets in 48 countries. According to the report, retail rental rates rose, or remained stable, in 94 percent of 236 streets monitored. The report covered the time period from mid-2007 to mid-2008. New York’s Fifth Avenue is the world’s most expensive shopping street, where retailers can now expect to pay rents of $1,850 per square foot…

The U.S. population will grow by 45 million people in 2020, or about 17 million households, an uptick of roughly 15 percent from today’s population level, according to a white paper by NAI Global chief economist Peter Linneman, Ph.D. The document–“Where Will Growth Occur?”–contends, however, that as the population surges, warm-weather markets will experience the strongest potential for commercial and residential growth.“Retiring aging Boomers will want to locate where it is warm, dry and close to their grandchildren,” wrote Linneman, who also serves as principal of Linneman Associates and the Albert Sussman Professor of Real Estate, Finance and Public Policy…

London and Moscow remain the worlds’ two most expensive places to rent office space, according to a survey by CB Richard Ellis Inc. The just-released report tracked 172 markets worldwide for the 12 months ending Sept. 30. The report found that the average growth rate for office occupancy costs was 8 percent. And Abu Dhabi emerged with far and above the fastest growing rate of occupancy costs, showing an increase of 94.6 percent. Dr. Raymond Torto, CBRE global chief economist, told CPN, “While Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ho Chi Minh City are among the fastest growing markets, there are a…