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The Westin Charlotte in Charlotte, N.C., gets refinanced, courtesy of a $185 million loan. Jones Lang LaSalle’s Real Estate Investment Banking practice orchestrated the financing deal for Portman Holdings L.P., the owner of the 700-room hotel.Carrying the address of 601 S. College Street, the Westin Charlotte sits within the blossoming business and entertainment district. With 44,000 square feet of convention space and the city’s largest ballroom, the five-year-old hotel is one of Charlotte’s most prominent lodging facilities, serving as a great magnet for meetings and conventions.In its pursuit of financing for the hotel, JLL managed to skirt the credit crunch…

DLF Group and Hilton Hotels Corp. have announced that they have signed a management agreement involving seven new hotel developments in India. This marks the second stage in the joint venture’s overall strategic development plans to build and develop 75 hotels, totaling 25,000 rooms, in India over the next five to seven years.The new projects will bring the total number of new hotels under the joint venture to 16, comprising of 3,500 rooms. All of the projects are in various stages of development and construction. The seven new hotels include: the 300-room Hilton Dwarka New Delhi; the 400-room Hilton Garden…

Miami-based Equity One announced today that it has agreed to contribute seven properties valued at $197.4 million to a joint venture formed in February with Global Retail Investors L.L.C., a shopping center investment entity formed by Bethesda, Md.-based First Washington Realty Inc. and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. Equity One will realize approximately $129.8 at the completion of the transaction. The company will use the money to fund existing development and redevelopment projects, pay down debts, fund acquisitions and support other corporate activities. The initial contribution includes the following five properties: the Concord Shopping Center, The Shoppes at Quail…

ARC Properties Inc. has sold all 26 properties held by ARC Corporate Realty Trust for an aggregate price of $212 million. The trust specialized in credit lease properties, and the properties—located across 10 states–included such tenants as AT&T, Bed Bath & Beyond, United Technologies, OfficeMax, Walgreens and Barnes & Noble.  ARC Corporate Realty Trust was founded by the principals of ARC Properties Inc.  An ARC spokesperson told CPN  today that multiple buyers were involved, but was unable to provide further information as of presstime.  A prepared statement said ARC is seeking to focus on land for development (one to 200…

Fair Oaks Mall, a nearly 1.6 million-square-foot regional shopping center in Fairfax, Va., has just been refinanced to the tune of $250 million. Property owner Taubman Centers Inc. used a portion of the proceeds to pay done existing debt on the enclosed two-level retail property.With a location near the intersection of I-66 and Route 50 in Northern Virginia, Fair Oaks sits within 15 minutes of Washington, D.C. The four-anchor shopping center was originally developed in 1980, and expanded in 1987 and 2000.A total of nine banks participated in facilitating the financing package, including the New York branches of Eurohypo AG…

Ronald Pollina, a site selection specialist and commercial real estate broker based in Chicago, has released his fifth annual evaluation of the job creation and retention efforts of the federal government and all 50 state governments, and it doesn’t paint a pretty picture of the long-term economic outlook for most of the nation. The report, “Keeping Jobs In America: Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States 2008,” warns that the federal government and many state governments offer little or no effective assistance to promote job growth or keep existing jobs in the United States. As a result, the report posits, U.S….

DebtX, a loan sale advisor for commercial debt, announced last week that it would sell more than $380 million in commercial real estate loans secured by properties in the southeastern United States. The transaction includes more than 200 lending relationships, with loans range in size up to $20 million and are secured primarily by land, commercial, and residential development projects throughout the Southeast, including Atlanta, Orlando, and south Florida. Investors can bid on pools as well as individual loans. The first of four loan portfolios will bid April 15. Kingsley Greenland, DebtX CEO, talks about the loan sale environment today.CPN:…

Vornado Realty Trust has agreed to sell its entire interest in AmeriCold Realty Trust, a third-party logistics supplier to the food industry, to The Yucaipa Cos., a Los Angeles based investment firm with interests in grocery store chains. Vornado owned a 47.6 percent share and will receive net proceeds of approximately $220 million, resulting in a gain of approximately $110 million. The sales price is based on a valuation of $1.52 billion before debt and other obligations. Morgan Stanley Real Estate has also agreed to sell its 31.7 percent interest in AmeriCold to Yucaipa, which will then own 100 percent…

Despite the global credit crunch, the leasing market for bulk distribution space in the United States is holding steady, and the development side surged in the second half of 2007, according to a pair of semi-annual reports released today by distribution space powerhouse ProLogis.  ProLogis’s U.S. Property Market Review reports that the average vacancy rate for bulk space in the 30 largest U.S. distribution markets crept up from 7.6 percent at midyear 2007 to 7.8 percent at year’s end. Meanwhile, the second half of last year saw new construction starts swell to 79 million square feet, compared to 66 million…

Ethan Penner, known in the real estate industry as one of the foremost experts in securitization, is now a player on CB Richard Ellis Investors’ team. Penner has taken on the role of executive managing director and is also holding a seat on the executive committee.Penner’s reputation as a leader in securitization began to take hold in the 1990s. Among his most celebrated role was that of founder and president of Tokyo-headquartered Nomura Securities Co.’s U.S. mortgage lending division the Capital Co. which, after a year of phenomenal success, hit the skids in 1998. It was in this position that…