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Carr’s D.C. Office Building Gets $104M Funding

The speculative office development at 901 K Street (pictured), in Washington, D.C.’s CBD, has gotten a $104 million construction loan, according Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P., which arranged the financing. The structure, under development by Carr Properties, will have a total of 261,000 square feet of space. HFF’s Bill Asbill, Bob Donhauser Cary Abod worked exclusively on behalf of Carr Properties to secure the 36-month loan with a consortium of banks. The facility is co-led by Wells Fargo Bank National Association as administrative agent and PNC Bank National Association as syndication agent. The bank group also includes US Bank National Association…

Boston Capital Invests in Colorado Apartment Properties

Boston Capital Real Estate Partners has wrapped up investments in two apartment projects in Colorado. Boston Capital has partnered with Trammell Crow Residential on the developments, which account for an aggregate 741 units.One of the Class A properties involved is the Alexan Broadway Station in Denver. The multi-family project will occupy a five-acre parcel Trammell Crow acquired late last year from Cherokee Denver and will feature 419 residences. The other property is Alexan Briargate Apartments, also in the construction phase, which will offer a total of 322 units in Colorado Springs. A garden-style community, Briargate’s apartments will be divided among…

Interstate, Harte Holdings JV Completes $207M Hotel Buy

Interstate Hotels & Resorts has completed the acquisition of four US hotels from affiliates of the Blackstone Group for a total of about $207.8 million. The deal was structured as a joint venture with partner Harte Holdings of Cork, Ireland. The four properties included in the JV are the 198-room Sheraton Frazer Great Valley in suburban Philadelphia; the 327-room Hilton Lafayette in Lafayette, La.; the 142-room Latham Hotel Georgetown in Washington, DC; and the Sheraton Mahwah in Mahwah, NJ (pictured). Interstate invested about $11.5 million, for a 20 percent equity interest in the four hotels. The partnership plans to invest…

HEI Hotels’ Development Pipeline Hits $500M

It’s further evidence that, at least for some players, the hospitality market isn’t slowing down. With the acquisition of a one-acre parcel in Bellevue, Wash., HEI Hotels & Resorts, Norwalk, Conn., now has more than $500 million in its development pipeline. In addition to the 378-room, 15-story Marriott Bellevue, which should break ground mid-year, HEI has under planning or construction a 305-room W Hotel at Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood, Calif., and an historic adaptive re-use 202-room Le Meridien in Philadelphia. The Hollywood project also includes 143 residential condos and approximately 15,000 square feet of retail space. In a prepared…

Developer Takes Major Step for 928-Acre Project in New York State

A major mixed-use resort has been in the works for the Town of Brasher in Upstate New York, and the project is now moving ahead with Northway Island Associates submission of its Planned Unit Development to the city. Dubbed the North County Entertainment Complex, the project has been designed to encompass a wide range of offerings, including a casino, five hotels, a 30,000-seat motor sports oval, an amphitheater, a golf course, a water park, an equestrian center and a drag strip. Northway has already secured the 928 acres the development will occupy, having closed the acquisition in late June of…

Studley’s Ducharme, 58, Dies from Deadly Infection

Studley Inc. veteran Jacque Ducharme, vice chairman of the western region and past president, has died after a sudden illness, the company has announced. Ducharme, 58, died of a sudden systematic infection that ultimately caused organ failure, according to an e-mail from Studley chairman & CEO Mitchell Steir, who said, “There was nobody like him. He pioneered the idea of working as a team where, historically, brokers worked as individuals. He was a true professional and visionary; respected, admired and loved by all those who had the pleasure of working with him.” Ducharme joined Studley’s Chicago office in 1972, and…

Latin America, Mexico Hotspots for International Investors

Latin America is certainly piquing interest from investors, judging from the crowd of over 200 attendees at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.’s Latin American Capital Markets Perspective conference, held this morning at the Jumeirah Essex House in Manhattan. “The proportion of (foreign) investment was 25 percent in 2002, was up to 45 percent last year and is increasing rapidly,” said Colin Dyer, the company’s president & CEO, at the start of the panel discussion.Mexico has been a large part of the region’s growth, pointed out Pedro Azcue, president & CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Latin America region, who noted that the…

EXCLUSIVE: Arden Realty to Sell 5 MSF of SoCal Office Space

Robert Peddicord (pictured), COO of Arden Realty, Inc., said in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that the firm intends to sell approximately 5 million square feet of its Southern California office portfolio. Target date for the completion of the transactions will be by the end of the first quarter of this year. Of the approximately 5 million square feet of office space, 3.7 million square feet is in Los Angeles County and the immediate vicinity; 235,000 square feet is in Orange County; and approximately 1 million square feet is in San Diego County.“From day one when GE acquired us, we…

Special Report: MBA Finds Decreased Originations, Predicts Future Changes

Commercial/multi-family mortgage originations ended last year down, thanks largely to the credit crunch, the Mortgage Bankers Association announced on Monday at the annual Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multi-family Housing Convention & Expo. And while solid fundamentals provide promise for the future, when the economy does return, certain aspects of the real estate financing business will be different, according to a presentation by MBA senior vice president & chief economist for research and business development Douglas Duncan (pictured) and senior director of commercial/multi-family research Jamie Woodwell. “Location, location, location (will be) mattering again,” noted Woodwell, while Duncan said the major issue to…

Special Report: Fannie Mae Cites Record Volume, Expects Repeat Multi-Family Performance

With fundamentals steady and lenders now pricing risk adequately, Fannie Mae expects further strong multi-family performance following its record volume last year of $60 billion. “If you look at all the metrics for the multi-family business, they’re positive,” remarked Phil Weber, senior vice president of the multi-family division, during a press conference Monday at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multi-family Housing Convention & Expo. Fannie Mae saw increases across most of its lending categories, according to Heidi McKibben, vice president of multi-family. That news is particularly good in the current uncertain market because 88 percent of multi-family units…