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In the wake of some of the recent, and highly publicized business, financial and political scandals that seem to dominate the media of late, I thought it might be an opportune time to assess the value of truth in business. If you peel back the layers on most of the debacles that often transform themselves into highly sensationalized headlines, you’ll see that said problems often begin with rationalizations, justifications, posturing, and spin being substituted for the truth.I think sometimes we all need to revisit reality, and examine why we do the things we do. It is my hope that this…

A decision by the owners of Madison Square Garden to renovate the 40-year-old arena rather than move it as part of the $14 billion Moynihan Station development in Manhattan may derail the project, at least temporarily.“After exploring several alternatives, it has become clear that the only viable option is a renovation,” Barry Watkins , a spokesman for Madison Square Garden, said Thursday in a statement reported in the New York Sun and other city media.MSG, which is built atop Penn Station at Eighth Avenue, said it would go ahead with a renovation announced in 2004 rather than move a block…

Plans are in the works to add a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development to the upscale Shops at La Cantera in San Antonio. No timeline or dollar amount has been associated with the project yet. The Town Center at La Cantera will be a mixed-use development on approximately 178 acres bounded by The Shops at La Cantera, Interstate 10 and Loop 1604. The Town Center at La Cantera will include approximately 1 million square feet of office, a high-end boutique hotel with spa, upscale retail and approximately 500 residential units, according to the developer, San Antonio-based USAA Real Estate Company. The…

A co-investment program between Lexington Realty Trust and Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. has closed on the acquisition of 11 primarily single-tenant net-leased assets from Lexington and its subsidiaries for a total price of $270.2 million.  The purchase price includes the assumption of non-recourse first mortgage financing secured by some of the assets. The 11 properties total more than 2 million net rentable square feet in six states: Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas.  The buyer is Net Lease Strategic Assets Fund LP, whose general partner, according to an SEC filing, is LMLP GP L.L.C., a wholly owned…

Shirlington Gateway, a premier office property in the Arlington, Va., has just come under new ownership, courtesy of a transaction valued at $62.5 million. Choi Cos. L.L.C. took the 207,000 square-foot building off the hands of Federal Capital Partners, which had acquired the property just under two years ago for $55 million.Developed in Shirlington Gateway sits within the Arlington blossoming submarket of Shirlington, an area located in the I-395 corridor only minutes from Washington, D.C., and a stone’s throw from the Pentagon. The 12-story structure is presently 95 percent leased to a roster of leading businesses. Among the occupants are…

Two projects started by Atlanta-based Post Properties in 2006 will see fruition this spring with the opening of leasing offices for Post Eastside mixed-use development in the Dallas suburb of Richardson and the upscale Post Alexander luxury apartment complex in Atlanta’s Buckhead area. The Post Eastside master-planned development will include 80,000 square feet of retail, nearly 200,000 square feet of office space and 435 apartment homes surrounding a one-acre central park with a fountain and amphitheatre on a 14.8-acre parcel. An existing Class-A office tower and parking deck have been integrated into the master development. Located at the southeast corner…

The bidding battle for the right to develop Manhattan’s vast Hudson Yards project is won—by Tishman Speyer Properties. At a press conference yesterday the Metropolitan Transit Authority gave the firm the nod after it upped its initial bid by $100 million to over $1 billion for the air rights over the yards. Tishman must now spend $2 billion to cover the train yards, which are near Penn Station. Tishman beat out the Durst Organization, Vornado Realty, The Related Cos. and Brookfield Properties for the deal.”Just think how (Rockefeller Center) transformed midtown Manhattan,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg noted Wednesday. This is going…

The Federal Reserve’s actions have staved off a capital-markets catastrophe for the moment, but the economy is by no means out of the woods, experts on the keynote panel at the Pension Real Estate Association’s spring conference in Boston said Wednesday. “I would say we are in a recession,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist and executive vice president for Global Insight. “How deep is really the question.” Behravesh characterized the recession as between mild and medium. Approximately $240 billion of $400 billion in losses tied to sub-prime loans have been reported, he noted. The economic stimulus package will prod the…

How tough will it get for the real estate capital markets before it gets better? That was the question top executives tried to answer yesterday afternoon at the Pension Real Estate Association’s spring conference in Boston. As a measure of the intense interest in the issue, the event drew close to 700 real estate finance professionals from around the country—a record turnout for a PREA event, according to the association’s leaders. For the moment, at least, the outlook is not pretty. “I think the capital markets’ pain is going to take longer to heal than people realize,” said Jonathan Gray,…

In a market where employers are forecast to create 23,000 jobs in 2008, REIT Douglas Emmett Inc. has acquired a 1.4 million-square-foot office portfolio consisting of six Class A buildings in the Los Angeles area for $610 million. Working out at $428 per square-foot, the portfolio is currently 88.7 percent leased. The properties acquired include 2001Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica (pictured); 9100 Wilshire Boulevard and 8383 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills; 15250 Ventura Boulevard and 16000 Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks/Encino; and 21300 Victory Boulevard in Warner Center/Woodland Hills. When reached by CPN, a Douglas Emmett spokesperson declined comment. This…