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Houston-based third-party logistics firm Palmer Logistics has leased almost 500,000 square feet of warehouse space from First Industrial Realty Trust at InterPort Distribution Center in the Houston suburb of Pasadena. Specifics of the lease were not disclosed. The InterPort development (pictured)–which includes industrial, distribution and warehouse facilities –was built in 2007. The Houston Chronicle report said Palmer Logistics leased 468,000 square feet of the center’s 598,000 square feet. More than one-half of Palmer Logistics’ business is transported by the ports in Houston. “This served a dual purpose of being close to the ports and because of its size,” Palmer executive…

California-based Yes! Solar will be working on three Salinas, Calif., affordable housing project, it has reported. The three housing developments are the Monterey Street Apartments, Fanoe Vista Apartments and the Benito Street Apartments, and are in the communities of Soledad and Gonzalez in Monterey County in Northern California.The new work is in keeping with California’s push in the energy arena, as evidenced by Gov. Arnold’s Schwarzenegger’s recent executive order that set a goal to reduce energy use in state owned buildings by 20 percent by 2010. Kirk Stokes, general manager at Yes! Solar Solutions, told CPN, “SPI is the first…

A California company, Trilliant Inc., has just announced that it has hit a major milestone for so-called “Smart Grid” initiatives. It reported in early May that it had delivered more than 750,000 intelligent devices that support advanced metering, demand response and other Smart Grid applications. The “Smart” power grid effort was born from the shocking impact of of power outages, which cost the U.S. $80 billion every year. Just one, the Cleveland blackouts that occurred in August 2003, cost $4.5 billion to $12 billion in lost economic activity. Managing energy supply and demand, therefore, focuses on cutting down the odds…

Howard Roth will take over as global and Americas director of real estate at Ernst & Young US, replacing the retiring Dale Anne Reiss. Roth (pictured) will step up from his current post as head of the Northeast real estate practice at E&Y. In his new position, he will coordinate a network of 5,000 real estate professionals around the world from the firm’s global real estate center offices in New York City. Speaking with CPN today, Roth said that he plans to undertake initiatives on key priorities in the immediate future. Among these are infrastructure development and privatization and sustainability…

Privately held-Urban Real Estate, in Chicago, has replaced their traditional AT&T communications systems with RingCentral, an on-line and on-demand internet based system. Urban Real Estate helps business owners, individuals, and investors buy, sell, and manage real estate in the downtown Chicago area. RingCentral, also a privately-held company, is based in Redwood City, Calif. It was founded in 1999 and launched this product in 2003, which offers overall communication management for small and large businesses. Unlike traditional telephone service providers that require wiring or hardware, or new internet providers like Finality, Shortell, Cisco, or Phonell that also require a PBX, or…

The California Department of General Services has created and launched the first statewide green online database in the country, to catalog the greening of public buildings in the state. The database will make such information available to the public. Ken Hunt of California’s Department of General Services told CPN that the database which is 95 percent completed now, will further goals of California to make government open and accessible. “The goal for the database,” Hunt said, “is to provide an easy-to-use gateway to show the public, and the world… our portfolio of state owned facilities that are working to achieve…

Apollo Real Estate Advisors, an international real estate investor and fund manager, has closed a $758 million value-added fund, Apollo Value Enhancement Fund VII L.P. Since 1993, Apollo’s Value Enhancement Funds have focused on investing in existing, income-producing U.S. assets which present chances to increase value. Value Enhancement Fund I through VI have invested in more than 140 transactions with an aggregate value of $5.9 billion. The newly closed fund will continue the firm’s value-added strategy of investing in real estate property mainly located in major markets across the United States. One of the fund investments includes 500 1st Street…

Toronto-based Whiterock REIT and Leben REIT of Calgary have agreed that Leben will sell to Whiterock a portfolio consisting of eight of Leben’s nine properties for approximately $80 million. The properties, in Calgary and Edmonton, total about 341,000 square feet, of which about half is office, nearly a third is industrial and one-sixth is retail. The properties are currently 99 percent leased with a 5.7-year average remaining lease term, and the current leases average 20 percent below market rates. Excluding closing and transaction costs, the purchase price represents a going-in cap rate of about 7.0 percent, according to a prepared…

Less than a year after entering the Las Vegas market with the acquisition of the Lady Luck Hotel and Casino, Los Angeles-based CIM Group won a deal with the city to develop land adjacent to the planned Mob Museum in the city’s historic Post Office Block.Financials on the private-public partnership were not disclosed. The Las Vegas City Council approved an agreement with CIM Group to develop the land adjacent to the museum planned for the historic Post Office Building on Stewart Avenue in the downtown district. Under the agreement, the city remains responsible for the museum, with CIM Group providing…

The $1.2 billion PH Towers by Westgate in Las Vegas has reached a pivotal point in development with the attainment of the highest point of vertical construction. Located at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, the upscale 52-story PH Towers (pictured) will be the tallest timeshare building in the world. A Westgate Resorts project, the 3.2 million-square-foot PH Towers will also hold the distinction of being the first vacation ownership resort to be fully integrated with a major resort and casino complex. The 2,500-guestroom Planet Hollywood Resort debuted last year, having been reinvented from the former Aladdin Resort & Casino…