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The city of New Haven, Conn., has picked Northland Investment Corp. to redevelop the 4.5-acre site of the former Veterans Memorial Coliseum into a mixed-use project that will include office, residential and retail space along with a new Long Wharf Theatre.One of six submissions, Northland’s proposal included more than 1 million square feet of development and parking. Tom Iskra, development manager for Northland, has told CPN the firm’s proposal called for 550 units of residences, most of which would be in a 29-story tower at George and State streets and others in seven-story buildings along Frontage and Orange streets that…

The Wall Street mess has clearly provoked Main Street. As of midday today the market was treading water–after yesterday’s near drowning. Then the Fed stood pat, and stocks fluctuated broadly in response. They closed up strongly however. The Dow ended at up 141.51, or 1.3 percent, the Nasdaq was up 1.28 percent, or 27.99, at 2,207.90; the S&P 500 finished up 1.75 percent, or 20.90, at 1,213.60. But according to some economy watchers, the worst is yet to come–there are plenty more shoes still to drop.But while the public awaits the next market gyration with baited breath, the market has…

AIG is getting hammered, and according to some industry watchers may have only a day or two to find sufficient funding or declare bankruptcy. As of this morning, although the Federal Reserve had declined to extend a bridge loan to American International Group, its New York branch was in talks with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan about raising an emergency fund for AIG. As this appeared to fall apart later in the day, AIG hopes slumped. Then after hours, a Bloomberg News report unnamed sources suggesting that a Fed conservatorship might be an option. That was later followed by a…

Construction of a new car manufacturing facility has kicked off on a 200-acre site in Franklin, Ky. The plant is being developed by Integrity Automotive, a joint venture between Shepherdsville, Ky.-based Integrity Manufacturing and Santa Rosa, Calif.-based electric vehicle developer ZAP. Integrity Manufacturing and ZAP have joined forces to boost the manufacturing of electric vehicles in the U.S. The new 1 million-square-foot factory, to be situated about 150 miles south of Louisville and 45 miles north of Nashville, Tenn., could have been destined for China, where ZAP conducts most of its manufacturing activities. The new ZAP plant will make its…

In the latest of numerous partnerships between a deep-pocketed capital source and a real estate company, RED Development L.L.C. has teamed up with CDK Realty Advisors. Under the terms of the deal, a fund managed by CDK will provide $200 million for investment in certain existing RED projects as they open. These include–in RED’s hometown market–Adam’s Dairy Landing in Blue Springs, Mo., and Summit Fair in Lee’s Summit, Mo. The fund will also be a 50/50 JV partner with RED in future development projects. For each of these development projects, CDK will provide the equity necessary to obtain construction financing…

The sale of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, along with storied Wrigley Field and a stake in SportsNet Chicago, a cable TV operation, could pass a milestone by the end of this month or early in October. Final bids for the Cubs and the other assets will be due by then, according to press reports, with five bidding groups still in the running. The Cubs are owned by Tribune Co., which is best known as the owner of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers. In an effort to pay down debt, the parent company put the Cubs assets…

The reverberations from the acquisition by Bank of America Corp. of Merrill Lynch & Co. are already being felt. Although the $50 billion all-stock transaction is, along with the filing for Chapter 11 by Lehman Brothers, signaling the end of an era on Wall Street, those who masterminded the deal contend that it’s the product of opportunity, not desperation.In a live interview this morning, BofA CEO Kenneth Lewis told CNBC that once BofA has integrated Merrill Lynch, “this company will be a thing of beauty…We have the opportunity of a lifetime.” He also pointed out that BofA has moved quickly…

GFI Capital Resources Group has formed a joint venture with the Carlyle Group to acquire real estate assets throughout the United States. The partnership will provide GFI with $1.2 billion in buying power, leveraging a total of $300 million worth of equity. According to GFI, the JV will allow it to more than double the size of its existing portfolio, which totals about 20,000 multi-family units, representing 100 properties in five states. The company will be seeking distressed and other non-performing assets (such as real estate debt) as opportunistic plays. New York-based GFI has already made a number of recent…

The deteriorating U.S. economy will continue to negatively effect commercial real estate fundamentals. That was the conclusion reached by a panel that convened at the CityScape USA on Thursday to examine macroeconomic factors in the U.S., and their impact on commercial real estate performance. Some panelists did see some positive factors amidst a mostly gloomy economic scenario. Continued productivity increases, and low yearly wage growth among U.S. workers could mean that employment losses could be less than in previous recessions, said Richard Green, director of Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California. Fred Cooper, senior vice…

For years, we’ve heard a steady stream of bad economic news out of the Midwest, typified in most cases by the decline of the manufacturing sector and the struggles of the Detroit automakers. Yet for commercial property investors the Midwest remains a fine place to be in business–and may even prove somewhat of a haven in the current economic downturn. The region offers plenty of bright spots for investors and developers seeking attractive cap rates that are rarely found in the more competitive East and West coast markets. In fact, one of the strongest aspects of the Midwest is its…