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While anarchy reigns in the residential real estate market, commercial real estate executives believe that commercial real estate market fundamentals remain solid, according to a report issued by the Real Estate Roundtable and the FPL Advisory Group.“The fundamentals referred to in the report are supply and demand,” William Ferguson, co-chair and co-CEO of FPL told CPN today. “During the last major downturn in the early 1990s, there was tremendous over-development and over-supply. When demand diminished, there were terrible problems. But today, the fundamentals of supply and demand are pretty much in balance.”The report, Leading the Enterprise 2008, surveyed nearly 200…

While anarchy reigns in the residential real estate market, commercial real estate executives believe that commercial real estate market fundamentals remain solid, according to a report issued by the Real Estate Roundtable and the FPL Advisory Group. The report, Leading the Enterprise 2008, (pictured) surveyed nearly 200 CEOs and other senior executives in real estate and related industries on their expectations for 2008. According to the report, 69 percent of the respondents forecast increases in revenues during 2008 and 71 percent expect profitability to increase. By contrast, 85 percent predicted increased revenues and 80 percent predicted increased profits in last…

Mixed market-rate and low-income urban infill housing. Projects as small as 120 units of rental housing or 75 of for-sale. Community retail, office and medical office developments or redevelopments. Not exactly the stuff of recent commercial real estate headlines dominated by huge this, luxury that and state-of-the-art something else. But if success in real estate comes from seeing, and seizing, opportunities that others don’t, Phoenix Realty Group might be onto something. The two real estate private equity funds that PRG just closed with a total of $470 million from a passel of blue-chip institutional investors will be deployed primarily in…

The Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate a half-percentage point today, marking the second rate decrease in just over a week. The announcement this afternoon that the Fed would lower the federal funds rate from 3.5 percent to 3.0 percent came on the heels of last Tuesday’s emergency cut from 4.25 percent to 3.5 percent. The Fed also lowered the discount rate–the interest charged to banks borrowing directly from the central bank–from 4.0 percent to 3.5 percent today. Even with last week’s emergency announcement, today’s cut came as little surprise to most industry observers and players, given the growing…

The Water Garden, a premier office complex in the beach community of Santa Monica, Calif., has just been financed for $230 million. The loan on the 1.3 million square-foot property (pictured) was provided for owner The Water Garden Co., an entity controlled by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.Newmark Realty Capital Inc. orchestrated the financial package, which came in the form of a fixed-rate loan provided by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America. Designed by the architectural firm of McLarand, Vasquez & Partners Inc., the Water Garden occupies a 17-acre parcel and encompasses six structures that are six-stories high, as well…

The hotel sector has seen steady growth in 2007 and demand appears to be growing in major markets unabated. CPN senior editor Eugene Gilligan met with Poirot to discuss Accor’s plans for 2008. CPNHospitality: Accor North America opened 37 hotels in the economy lodging sector, 36 Motel 6 properties, and one Studio 6. Please talk about the locations you chose to open hotels, and why? Poirot: We have Motel 6s all over the U.S. and Canada. With more than 950 locations, we do have many areas with a dense concentration of our motels. California has 184, yet we still work…

Health-care REIT Ventas Inc. has agreed to sell some 3.9 million shares of its common stock to UBS Investment Bank in an underwritten public offering. Ventas also granted UBS a 30-day option to buy as many as 585,000 more shares to cover overallotments.  According to Louisville-based Ventas, gross proceeds from the offering will be about $168.6 million, or $193.9 million if the overallotment option is fully exercised. The company says it will use the offering’s net proceeds to pay down debt and for other purposes, including acquisitions. Ventas’ current portfolio includes seniors housing communities, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals and medical…

Duke Realty Corp. has acquired about 161 acres of land near the Port of Houston with plans to pump $140 million into the development of up to 2.9 million square feet of industrial space. The acquisition also includes a 12-acre container/chassis storage yard, and a 172,000-square-foot, fully leased industrial building on in the Cedar Crossing Business Park in the Houston suburb of Baytown.    Duke’s planned development will be named FairPort and will be designed to accommodate up to 2.9 million square feet of industrial space within six miles of both Barbours Cut and the recently constructed Bayport container terminal (pictured),…

Newmark Knight Frank has bolstered its presence in the Greater Boston market and throughout New England by acquiring The Codman Co., the region’s oldest privately held real estate firm. The Codman team brings experience and deep roots in New England as well as a property management portfolio of 5.5 million square feet with it.Financial details were not disclosed.The merger comes less than a year after New York City-based Newmark Knight Frank opened its Boston office in April at One Federal St. and had hired James Thomson, formerly of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., as managing principal to run it.“This expansion brings…

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. has arranged a $129.4 million refinancing for a 14-property, 1.35 million-square-foot portfolio that’s part of The Hampshire Cos.’ Hampshire Partners Fund VI. The properties, 12 in New Jersey and two in southern Connecticut, consist of six office buildings (877,000 square feet), five flex buildings (167,000 square feet) and three industrial buildings (306,000 square feet).  In a prepared statement, HFF noted that “The Hampshire Cos. is recapitalizing a portion of the fund’s assets, replacing a current line of credit and rebalancing the rest of the portfolio with the new loan.” Based in Morristown, N.J., The Hampshire Cos….