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Sixty percent of retailers, investors, developers and lenders expect the market to take more than 12 months to regain pricing equilibrium, according to a survey by Jones Lang LaSalle of attendees at the International Council of Shopping Centers’ conference in Las Vegas. And 120 respondents saw full recovery in 14 months. Of the retailers surveyed, which on average represent 1,073 stores, 61 percent expect to add retail locations this year, while 27 percent indicated no change expected, and 12.1 percent expect store closings. Of those expecting increases, the largest percentage, 24 percent, have between 5 and 10 new locations earmarked…

San Francisco’s 43-story One Sansome office tower has sold for $370 million to a South Korean asset management company. According to a Reuters report, the tower was purchased by Mirae Asset MAPS Investment Management, a unit of Mirae Asset Group, which is South Korea’s biggest mutual fund seller. Reuters identified the seller as New York City-based Broadway Partners, which acquired the building in May of 2007. One Sansome (pictured) is a landmark Class A office tower located in the North Financial District of San Francisco. The property is located less than one-half block from Market Street, which is the financial…

As one financial services giant indicates it may step away from New York’s World Trade Center redevelopment, another moves toward possibly taking space in the massive rebuilding project. Merrill Lynch & Co., according to a Wall Street Journal report based on unnamed sources, has re-entered talks regarding moving its headquarters to the planned Tower 3 at the WTC. Merrill Lynch’s current HQ is in the World Financial Center, across West Street from the WTC site. The Journal reported that the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, is expected to discuss the…

The massive West Side railyards project (pictured) in New York City got the green light from the Metropolitan Transit Authority today to move full-steam ahead on the Related Cos., Goldman Sachs development deal. “The MTA board met today is special session to consider the new agreement and voted unanimously” in special session for staff to proceed, an MTA spokesperson told CPN. Overall the bid has not changed substantially from the one originally submitted by the development duo during the original round of proposals, the source added, except that they have lost their original tenant, Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp. The go-ahead caps…

An investment group including Boston Properties Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and two Middle Eastern investors is in negotiations to buy Manhattan’s 1.8 million-square-foot General Motors building at 767 Fifth Ave.–along with other properties–from embattled New York developer Harry Macklowe for between $3.6 million to $3.9 billion, according to reports.The pending deal–first reported by the Wall Street Journal today–values the GM Building (pictured) at approximately $2.75 billion, giving Macklowe up to $1.8 billion to pay off debt and taxes, according to Lois Weiss of the New York Post, who cited the other four properties in the deal as Two Grand…

The Houston office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. has been named to market One BriarLake Plaza, a Class A office tower in West Houston and Post Oak Central, a 1.3-million-square-foot office and retail complex in Houston’s Galleria area. Both properties are being sold by Crescent Real Estate Equities L.P., an affiliate of Morgan Stanley Real Estate. Both are being offered without a formal asking price. HFF declined to discuss pricing with CPN. Completed in 2000, One BriarLake Plaza includes a 502,400-square-foot, 20-story tower and a connected 2,068-space parking garage. The 94.7 percent-leased property is located on a 9.4-acre site along…

Two new office towers are set to rise in the $30 billion Songdo International Business District near Incheon, South Korea. The buildings, provisionally known as the Songdo LIG Towers, will cost between $300 million and $500 million to build and will break ground next year for a 2012 completion. The towers comprise the F2 block of the commercial and business district of Songdo IBD (pictured) and will rise 30 and 22 stories, with retail on the bottom floors. The buildings are a joint development between LIG Consortium, which includes a leading Korean insurer as well as engineering, construction and management…

Sunrise Senior Living has acquired a 7.7-acre parcel of land in Mundelein, Ill., for the future development of a senior housing project. The land traded for about $4.5 million. Sunrise currently operates 441 senior living communities in various parts of the world, largely assisted living with dementia care but also independent living and continuing care retirement centers. As of the end of the first quarter of 2008, the company had 40 properties under construction–about $1 billion worth–with capacity for an additional 5,300 residents. According to Sunrise, it expects to begin construction on about another 3,200 to 3,400 units in North…

Restaurant firm IHOP Corp., through its Applebee’s division, has entered into a sale-leaseback deal in which it will dispose of 187 Applebee’s restaurant real estate parcels for an estimated $347 million. The buyer is a newly formed partnership involving Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund L.P., Drawbridge Real Assets Fund L.P., and various affiliates. As per the terms of the agreement, the price tag on the transaction may change based upon adjustment of restaurant sales for the 12-month period concluding on April 30. Additionally, the Drawbridge team will have the option to forego the purchase of as much as 15 percent of…

While numerous United States and Europe-based hotel companies have made expansion into Asia a central part of their growth strategies, some Asian hoteliers are focused on expanding their presence in the Americas as well as other parts of the world. Hong-Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts continues to grow in Asia, particularly China and India. But the luxury hotelier has also targeted the Middle East, opening the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2003. The company now owns four hotels in the region.“Our development philosophy is to select locations which will allow us to showcase the brand in markets…