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International travel to New York City, inspired by the weak dollar, has helped the market maintain its good health. That momentum, however, has not yet yielded much new development in demanding price points and parts of town.“There’s simply more demand in the New York hotel rooms than there has ever been, and there really hasn’t been an increase in supply to meet that increase in demand in the full-service and luxury sectors,” said Mark Gordon, head of the U.S. hotel group for Cushman and Wakefield Sonnenblick-Goldman L.L.C. Indeed, according to a PKF Consulting survey of 77 hotels encompassing 33,162 rooms,…

Rising rental rates are making it more difficult to structure lease renewals in many markets. But the General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service has an even tougher challenge. When the organization, which handles both leased and owned space for federal agencies, needs either a new lease or an expansion, it is federally mandated to look first at buildings that it already owns.That was the case when it needed to consolidate the space used by the Department of Homeland Security, which occupies 60 locations in Greater Washington, D.C. For example, St. Elizabeth’s Hospital’s West Campus in Southeast D.C. will house 4…

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has joined forces with Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Co. to open Element Abu Dhabi, which will be the first property in the Europe/Middle East/Africa region to operate under Starwood’s new green-centric Element brand. The 270-room extended-stay hotel will be located in the sprawling $2.3 billion Capital Centre commercial and residential micro-city development. In addition to upscale guestrooms, Element Abu Dhabi (pictured) will feature a restaurant and fitness center as part of the property’s group of offerings designed to accommodate business and leisure travelers. Starwood’s partner, ABNEC, points to Abu Dhabi’s strong economic growth and…

With construction starting earlier this year on Park Place, a mixed-use development in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Ariz., developer Cybert Hall Partners has gained $65.2 million in financing for the project. Buchanan Street Partners negotiated the financing package on behalf of Cybert Hall. Park Place is planned to be a 100-acre mixed-use business park located at the intersection of Highways 101 and 202 in Chandler. The business park is located across the highway from the popular Chandler Fashion Center and is near the corporate campus corridors on Price Road, which is home to many Fortune 500 companies including Intel,…

In an effort to help hotel real estate investors and owners weather the credit crunch storm, San Francisco-based PKF Capital has established a hotel finance program. Under the program PKF Capital will orchestrate debt and equity financing for clients in need of anything from construction loans to short- and long-term bridge loans to refinancing packages.Presently, the lending market isn’t exactly friendly to the real estate industry, and the hotel sector is no exception. However, it’s this current state of affairs that spurred PKF to make a move in the financing arena. The company has brought in Steve Hanover, a former…

Ground has just broken on Universal Studios Dubailand, a 7 million-square-foot theme park in the sprawling mixed-use Dubailand development in the U.A.E. Tatweer is behind the project, as well as the entire $64 billion, 3 billion-square-foot Dubailand endeavor, which is being designed to be the largest tourism, leisure and entertainment destination in the world.Universal Studios will consist of five segments, two of which will center on renowned U.S. destinations Hollywood and New York City. Work is on schedule to reach completion in 2010. The Universal Studios project, which carries a development price tag of $1.3 billion, is one of six…

Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises has refinanced Century Center I and II, a 624,600-square-foot office complex in Arlington, Va., for $116.1 million. The Washington, D.C., office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. placed the three-year adjustable rate loan with GE Real Estate. The proceeds repaid the original loans on the property and will finance additional renovations now underway. Since acquiring the property (pictured), which is located four blocks south of the Crystal City Metrorail station, two years ago, Lowe, a national real estate investment, development and management firm, has carried out a complete renovation of the building systems and infrastructure and refurbished…

Washington, D.C.–President George W. Bush signed into law today a comprehensive package of housing legislation including broad authority for the Treasury Department to safeguard Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a plan to help hundreds of thousands facing the possibility of foreclosure.Bush signed the legislation, which Congress approved last week, authorizing the Treasury to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac if the need arises. Partly to accommodate the rescue plan for the mortgage companies, the bill raises the national debt ceiling to $10.6 trillion, an increase of $800 billion.“On a macro level, this is touted as a cure-all but when…

Laramar Group has acquired Oceanview Apartments, a 160-unit waterfront property located in Boca Raton, Fla. The property, to be renamed Villa Oceana Apartments, was previously a condominium conversion project, and is now designated to be renovated as luxury waterfront apartment units. The price was not disclosed. Laramar acquired the note on the Oceanview from the senior lender, and negotiated with the mezzanine lender and the current owner to complete the foreclosure process. During the foreclosure, Laramar was appointed as receiver, and took over management of the property. Apartment Realty Advisors, through its Boca Raton office, brokered the transaction. Villa Oceana…

American and European-based hotel companies have focused much effort in recent years on expanding their presence in the booming economies of China and India. Much less attention has been paid to the world’s third largest economy, Japan, but, according to a recent report from HVS International, that is soon likely to change. The report notes that investing in Japan does pose some challenges to Western firms. The Japanese lodging industry has no data-gathering company comparable to Smith Travel Research, which provides a wealth of hotel operations and profitably data in the United States. Also, hotel values are measured differently. In…