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The latest round in the debate over the future of the four-acre, former Con Ed site on mid-town Manhattan’s East River shore took place today. Civic leaders and local legislators held a press conference to announce the launch of a campaign to ensure that development provides public access to the waterfront and includes a new park. Hopes are that the final project will reflect the spirit if not the details of the designs that came out of the three-day charrette that took place last June. The press conference was led by City Council Member Daniel Garodnick, Lyle Frank of Community…

The sale by Icahn Enterprises of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas and three other southern Nevada casinos to an affiliate of Goldman Sachs, first announced last April, has just closed. In the process, according to a prepared statement, Icahn Enterprises made a before-tax profit of $700 million on the sale price of $1.2 billion.  American Casino & Entertainment Properties, owner and operator of the four casinos, will now be under purchaser Whitehall Street Real Estate Fund, a Goldman Sachs affiliate. Neither Icahn Enterprises, formerly known as American Real Estate Partners, nor Goldman Sachs would comment on the announcement.  The casinos…

Pension fund giant TIAA-CREF has acquired the Park Evanston, a 283-unit, 24-story, multi-family high-rise in downtown Evanston, Ill. The seller was Chicago-based John Buck Co.Located about 10 miles north of downtown Chicago, the property was completed in 1997. It also includes about 39,000 square feet of street-level retail space leased to Whole Foods, among other tenants.The property is currently 97 percent occupied. According to a real estate broker familiar with the market, the property probably commanded in excess of $100 million. Evanston is a close-in northern suburb of Chicago notable for the presence of Northwestern University and posh housing near…

Interstate Hotels & Resorts has teamed up with JHM Hotels in a joint venture that will focus on the operation of hotels in India, as well as the investment in lodging properties across the country through participation in a $200 million fund. Establishment of JHM Interstate Hotels India paves the way for Interstate’s entrée into the Indian lodging market. Operating out of New Delhi, the 50-50 joint venture will engage in a multi-pronged platform to accomplish its goals. The partnership’s main focus will be on obtaining management agreements on existing and planned properties. Already, the team has orchestrated a strategic…

Ownership of Dadeland Towers North, a group of three office structures just outside of Miami in the suburban town of Kendall, Fla. has changed hands. The deal leaves Cabot Investment Properties with nearly $41.2 million in exchange for the 244,200-square-foot complex, which was acquired by a joint venture involving Keystone Property Group and Colliers Abood Wood-Fay. Occupying a 4.6-acre parcel, Dadeland Towers (pictured) is located off U.S. 1 in an area of the city that is in the midst of a rebirth. The structure at 9200 Dadeland Blvd. encompasses about 150,500 square feet, while the buildings at 9300 and 9350…

Despite a slowing economy, the new national director of research for Jones Lang LaSalle said he anticipates a cautious “wait and see” attitude in the market, but believes the fundamentals of commercial real estate are still in relatively healthy shape. Real estate research specialist Ben Breslau (pictured) was selected as director of research for the Americas region for Jones Lang LaSalle. He will lead a team of 40 researchers with both local and national expertise covering markets across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Latin America. Previously, he was director of research with Spaulding & Slye in Boston, now Jones…

A joint venture between BioMed Realty Trust Inc. and Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI) has entered into a $245 million construction loan with Wachovia Bank, National Association and other lenders. The proceeds will repay a portion of the joint venture’s $550 million secured acquisition and interim loan facility with KeyBank National Association. The new loan will also fund the remaining construction work on a 300,000-square-foot life sciences building at 650 East Kendell Street in Cambridge, Mass. The interest rate on the construction loan will float with LIBOR plus 150 basis points and will mature in August of 2010.  The joint…

Department stores are the anchor tenants of the past, particularly in New York City, contended top retail experts at Urban Land Institute’s “Redefining the Anchor” panel discussion, held this morning in Manhattan. The panel focused on the evolving role and value of retail in urban, mixed-use development. In order for retail to succeed in urban areas, developers must provide a 24/7 environment that includes residential, office and perhaps a hotel, stadium or transit-oriented development, noted Kate Coburn, principal for Economics Research Associates. “With the cost of construction, retailers can’t just depend on residential anymore,” she said. “They are looking for…

Laramar Group, a Chicago-based private real estate investment and management company, has acquired Waterford Lakes Apartments, a 694-unit lakeside property in Charlotte, N.C. It is the 13th acquisition the firm has made as part of its $350 million Laramar Multi-Family Value Fund since it launched in December of 2006.The purchase price and the seller of Waterford Lakes Apartments were not disclosed. Laramar had managed the 43-acre property for the previous owner. Bennett Neuman, vice president of acquisitions for Laramar Group, told CPN that approximately half of the $350 million fund has been spent. He anticipates it will be fully invested…

The two just-announced projects for Downtown Austin–a new museum facility and a Class A office tower–probably face rather divergent short-term futures.  On one hand, the Austin Museum of Art presumably knows how it will fill its planned 40,000-square-foot building, to be constructed on roughly half of a 71,000-square-foot site owned by the museum. On the other hand, it’s by no means certain how soon the demand will exist to support the 30-story, 425,000-square-foot Museum Tower announced for the other half of the site.  The Frost Bank Tower, Downtown Austin’s most recent Class A high-rise, has been doing well for leasing,…