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Property managers say resources are readily available to help them make their properties more energy efficient. One, the Energy Star program, run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, allows a building to benchmark its energy performance against its peer set. The requirements to perform these measurements are relatively easy, such as having a year’s worth of utility bills, noted Al Skodowski, Transwestern’s senior vice president & director of engineering. “It takes a lot of the guesswork out of things,” he said. “And it’s a free program.”In July 2007, CB Richard Ellis adopted the BOMA…

The refinancing woes of heavyweights like Macklowe Properties and Centro Properties Group are the talk of the real estate finance industry, yet those headline-grabbing cases tell only part of the tale. Investors and lenders nationwide are grappling with the challenges of refinancing properties in a lending environment that has changed drastically since the first half of 2007.     One of the many owners weighing refinancing decisions today is Fort Lee, N.J.-based Palisades Financial. The investment banking firm wants to refinance the acquisition loan on an apartment asset that it bought with a minority partner three years ago in the St….

Any CEO or entrepreneur still vertical and breathing has spent more hours than they can likely count pouring over poorly conceived financial information. I probably review at least 50 spreadsheets a week, and few things chap me more than feeling like the spreadsheet I’m reviewing was constructed by an alien. PowerPoint presentations certainly receive more notoriety for being the butt-end of business jokes, however in my opinion a boring slide-show pales in comparison to the sophomoric use of a spreadsheet. I know this may seem like a trifling rant of little consequence, but if you stay with me I promise…

Tarragon Corp. is moving on from a year of debt reduction and selling inventory in struggling housing markets, and is ready to get back into the acquisition business.  This morning the mixed-use and residential developer announced that it had sold a new high-end apartment complex in Hoboken, N.J., to an institutional investor for $116.2 million. “I think this transaction marks a return to business as usual,” William Friedman, the company’s chairman & CEO, told CPN this morning. In contrast to some of the properties it has sold to pay down debts, Tarragon developed the 217-unit Hoboken complex with the intention…

Las Vegas-based Herbst Gaming Inc., which reported a net loss of $34.1 million for the first nine months of 2007 after having recorded a net gain of $36.7 million for the same period in 2006, has tapped Goldman, Sachs & Co. to help in the exploration of financial and strategic alternatives.  Herbst took a big hit at its slot route operations in Las Vegas as a result of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, which imposed a ban on smoking at indoor places of employment. The company, according to its third quarter 2007 earnings report, had been further hobbled by…

Yesterday’s announcement that Chester, Pa., will host Major League Soccer’s new Philadelphia team could bring as much as $500 million in development to the struggling city.  Officials confirmed Thursday afternoon that soccer league’s 16th franchise will start playing in an 18,500-seat, $115 million stadium by 2010. The venue will be the centerpiece of a 60-acre parcel on the Delaware River waterfront near the Commodore Barry Bridge. Details are as yet undetermined, but at full buildout, the complex is expected to incorporate entertainment, retail, residential and office components. The state of Pennsylvania has earmarked $47 million for the project, and Delaware…

Developer O & S Holdings L.L.C. has broken ground on the $200 million Bridge Street Town Centre, a mixed-use, upscale lifestyle center featuring retail, office and a local college, in the north Dallas suburb of McKinney. The Westin McKinney and Conference Center will be the centerpiece of the Bridge Street Town Centre. Phase I is scheduled to be completed fall 2009. The first phase of the development will include a five-story, 221-room Westin McKinney; the 43,000-square-foot McKinney Convention Center (pictured); and the 125,000-square-foot Collin College (formerly Collin County Community College) Higher Education Center.  The Westin will be McKinney’s first-full service…

Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. has acquired Lakeside Commons, a 514,000-square-foot, Class A office complex in Atlanta’s Central Perimeter submarket, for $102.8 million. It is at least the third office acquisition made through Intercontinental’s U.S. Real Estate Investment Fund, L.L.C., in recent weeks.The name of the seller was not disclosed today.The two-building complex (pictured) and structured parking facility at 980-990 Hammond Drive is located on 10 acres just east of Georgia 400 and north of Interstate-285. The campus has a café, sundry shop, health club, dry cleaner and car detailer on site. It is about 97 percent leased to tenants such…

Following a record year for the Houston office market, BHP Billiton Petroleum has expanded its space with the signing of a long-term lease through 2021 for almost 450,000 square feet in the city’s Galleria submarket. Financials on the deal were not disclosed. BHP Billiton’s lease will total 444,145 square feet in the Four Oaks Place, which is a four-building Class A office complex with 1.8 million square feet, located at the northern end of Post Oak Boulevard in Houston’s Uptown Galleria submarket. The building is owned by TIAA-CREF and leased and managed by Transwestern. BHP has been located in Four…

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts is expanding its brand in the Caribbean with its first project to be built in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The luxury 400-room Wyndham St. Croix Golf Resort and Casino will be part of a $250 million conference center complex.Construction is expected to begin this spring on the 294-acre property on the island’s south shore and be completed in 2010. It is being developed by Golden Resorts L.L.L.P. of New Jersey in joint ownership with Jericho All-Weather Opportunity Fund of Boca Raton, Fla. The resort will be managed by Wyndham Hotel Management Co.Located near downtown Christiansted…