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Don’t let the term “ground lease” fool you. Negotiations for this kind of contract necessitate a different approach than does a lease for regular space, requiring crucial considerations. Otherwise, the parties involved could find themselves involved in unnecessary litigation.By Lawrence Teplin & Heather SternWhen it comes to typical leases for space, landlords and tenants can generally draw on predictions of fundamentals in order to develop reasonable terms. A similar approach to ground leases, however, would require predicting rents decades in advance. Thus, parties to a long-term ground lease must take a different route.That path usually begins with an agreement to…

The investment scene has taken on a very different look in the Orange County industrial market of late, says Rob Neal, managing partner of Hager Pacific Properties, an investment firm that owns approximately 1.5 million square feet of Orange County industrial space. Indeed, it has essentially become a waiting game, as many sellers still want to sell their properties at pre-credit crunch prices, while buyers are thinking they can swing a better deal.“It’s like an eighth grade dance,” Neal said. “Everyone’s sitting on opposite sides of the room.”Neal is seeing more industrial deals come a cropper.  “We’ve been getting calls, where…

CPN spoke this morning with Anthony Thompson (pictured), retiring chairman of Grubb & Ellis Co. and architect of the recent megamerger between Grubb & Ellis and NNN Realty Advisors Inc.CPN:What’s next for Tony Thompson? Thompson: The last ten years or so have been tremendous, but also a lot of hard work, especially with the merger, so I’m going to take a little while off to smell the roses and take some trips with my wife. But this is a very interesting time in real estate. Even considering the state of the economy, there will still be various opportunities ahead to…

NYLO Hotels, a hotel brand that saw its initial hotel opening recently in Plano, Texas, will focus its growth ambitions on secondary and tertiary markets. Expanding into major, gateway cities is just “too expensive,” John Russell, CEO of NYLO Hotels, told CPN at the Americas Lodging and Investment Summit held Wednesday in Los Angeles. “We want to establish the brand first.” The company announced on Tuesday that they would franchise the NYLO brand, and also debuted a new, select service brand, XP. For every three NYLOs that are built, Russell said seven XPS should be constructed. Average development costs for…

The hotel industry is very likely to see declining fundamentals, but the influx of institutional investors to the sector and strong inbound international travel to the U.S. are two reasons the slowdown is unlikely to be as severe as the last industry slump, concluded a panel held at the Americas Lodging and Investment Summit that was held on Wednesday in Los Angeles. John Arabia, panelist on “The Equity Outlook- A Focus on REITS,” commented that he has distilled opinion from a number of leading economists who have recently weighed in on the subject, and said the U.S. economy is projected…

Tribune Company is making some bold moves with its real estate. In a like-kind exchange, the media conglomerate will acquire eight office properties it currently leases from TMCT L.L.C. for $175 million, relying on funds it will gain from the sale of its Tribune Studios (pictured) in Los Angeles to Hudson Capital L.L.C. for $125 million. Accounting for over 2.9 million square feet of space, the office assets Tribune plans to acquire are home to some of the company’s long list of owned newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant. Tribune was awarded the…

Investment in commercial real estate across the globe rose $59 billion in 2007 to $759 billion, making it a record year for activity despite the dragging effect the credit crunch had on the market in the second half of the year, according to a report today from Jones Lang LaSalle. “2007 was a year of two halves. The very strong performance in the first half helped overall investment to exceed 2006–itself a record year,” Tony Horrell, CEO European Capital Markets at Jones Lang LaSalle, noted in a release. “The sub-prime crisis, ensuing credit crunch and re-pricing led to a marked…

ProLogis is expanding its platform at one of its largest industrial parks in China, ProLogis Park Suzhou, with new inventory facilities of more than 613,000 square feet, the company has reported. The industrial powerhouse recently bought land at the park to enable development of five additional facilities–more than 1 million square feet. Construction as begun on three. Strong leasing activity during the fourth quarter has contributed to the development pace. Currently, the 27-building, 3.6 million-square-foot park is 100 percent leased. The five-building expansion is due for completion in the first half of 2009, at a cost above $34 million. All…

Castlethorn Construction has submitted a major planning application to the South Dublin County Council for the $1.7 billion, 1.65 million-square-foot Adamstown Central, one of the largest mixed-use projects in Ireland. The project (pictured), which is a new urban district on a greenfield site adjoining the main Dublin-Kildare railway line, will provide a full range of community, civic, residential, retail and commercial facilities for the town’s expected population of 30,000 by 2015. Planned facilities include a primary healthcare center, an inter-church place of worship, a leisure center, library, enterprise center and several civic squares. The 20-acre town center will include 60…

Plans have been made for UDR Inc. to sell a portfolio of 86 multi-family properties to a joint venture involving DRA Advisors L.L.C. and Steven D. Bell & Co. As per the terms of the contract, UDR will walk away with an aggregate $1.7 billion. DRA and Steven D. Bell & Co. will fork over $1.5 billion in cash as well as a $200 million principal note in exchange for the group of assets, which encompasses 25,684 apartment residences. Presently, the apartment properties haven an average occupancy level of 94.4 percent and an average age of 24 years. For UDR,…