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RREEF, a unit of Deutsche Bank AG and the world’s largest alternative investment manager, has plans to invest more than $1 billion in India’s real estate and infrastructure assets over the next three years, according to a news report by Bloomberg today. In related news, a unit of The Blackstone Group has purchased a stake in a prominent Indian construction- and asset-management firm.  “It’s known that India needs more than $450 billion in investments for developing infrastructure,” Kurt Roeloffs, RREEF’s regional CEO based in Singapore, told Bloomberg. “We think India will be an attractive emerging real estate and infrastructure market…

Irvine, Calif.-based Trussnet USA Development Co. has won a finance, design and build contract for the facilitation of a high-tech, mixed-use turnkey development in China. The project, which will encompass 12.9 million square feet, will cost an estimated $2.5 billion to complete.Occupying approximately 247 acres, the project will center on a state-of-the-art telecommunications plant surrounded by office space and several dormitories. Construction activity is on target to get underway next month. The contract marks one of the largest for Trussnet. Previously the company was awarded a $300 million design/build contract for a turnkey manufacturing facility in China, and it also…

Robert Maguire III, chairman & CEO of Maguire Properties Inc., has proposed a plan to privatize the REIT. The proposal represents the latest chapter in the company’s efforts to resolve its debt problems, which is being spearheaded by a special committee of independent directors.As recently as last month, as reported by CPN, the committee let it be known that it hadn’t received any desirable bids for the company, and that it wasn’t pursuing a buyer. The committee cited adverse market conditions inspired by the credit crunch as the main reason for discontinuing its search.The newly proposed plan calls for the…

This week’s column is part two in a three part series on naming. Last week’s column contained advice on how to select a naming firm and today I’ll address the elements that go into creating a great name. Contrary to popular belief all of the great names have not already been taken. So, what are the components of a great name? While the answer varies a bit from industry to industry, the following rules of thumb should be kept in mind: 1. Keep it short: Short names are more memorable, easier to design around, more suitable for domain names and…

Earlier this week, former Grubb & Ellis Co. chairman Anthony Thompson (pictured) launched a new venture, Thompson National Properties L.L.C., a private investment management firm. The explicit purpose of the company is take advantage of current market conditions, which Thompson refers to as the “fourth recession” of his career. Having experienced previous downturns, he says he’s poised to make the most of this one. CPN:Your goal is to take advantage of the downturn? Thompson: Yes. With the successful completion of the reverse merger with Grubb & Ellis, my job was done at NNN Realty, and as the credit crunch played…

A year after paying a record $1.8 billion for 666 Fifth Ave. in Midtown Manhattan, Kushner Cos. may sell a partial interest in the trophy tower’s coveted retail space to The Carlyle Group in order to retire short-term debt from the transaction, according to local sources. Representatives of Kushner and Carlyle Group declined to comment on this morning’s report by Jason Kelly, Jonathan Keehner and David Levitt of Bloomberg. But a local market source told CPN this morning that Carlyle was negotiating to buy a 49 percent stake in the tower’s 85,000-square-foot ground-floor retail. Kushner would retain 100 ownership of…

Clise Properties has pulled 13 acres of prime Downtown Seattle land off the market despite significant investor interest because of the global credit crisis. The portfolio was assembled by the Clise family for the past 100 years and expected to be developed into a massive $7 billion project that would have changed the skyline of the city.As reported by CPN on June 15, 2007, Clise Properties hired Jones Lang LaSalle to market the portfolio, which could accommodate more than 12 million square feet of development and rival other major urban projects like New York City’s Rockefeller Center and London’s Canary…

SKS Investments takes the next step toward developing a $150 million office property at 1100 Broadway in Oakland with the Oakland Planning Commission’s hands down approval of the design for the 320,000-square-foot green building. KMD Architects is behind the design of the 20-story structure that will carry the distinction of being one of the first new high-rises in the city’s office market within the last five years. The property will incorporate the adjacent 96-year-old Key System Headquarters building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Additionally, SKS will seek LEED-Gold certification for 1100 Broadway; and if attained, the…

Global equity firm The Carlyle Group and developers Cypress Equities and Kettler have received a $217 million construction loan that paves the way for the building of The Village at Leesburg in Leesburg, Va.Sovereign Bank is the administrative agent for several national and local financial institutions that are providing the loan for the project.The Village at Leesburg will be a four story, 1.2 million square foot mixed-use development. The project will be anchored by Wegmans Food Market, and the developers have received commitments from local and regional retail stores and restaurants to complement the national brands expected to populate the…

After 28 years, Hartford-based UBS Realty sold Omni Royal Orleans to a partnership of Crow Holdings private local investors. UBS and the investors have declined to disclose the price. UBS Realty regularly buys and sells properties in investor portfolios to execute portfolio diversification and risk strategies and to attempt to earn the best possible return for our investors, according Kris Kagel of UBS.The hotel was owned by one of the investor portfolios that is advised by UBS Global Realty Investors, a division of UBS Global Asset Management. The buyers include Darryl Berger Jr. of DBJ Investments, Joe Jaeger of Mechanical…