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Multi-family advisory and brokerage firm Apartment Realty Advisors has announced the formation of a private clients group to serve high-end private investors in Florida multi-family markets. The new group will advise clients who typically invest in communities of 150 units or fewer. ARA said it will expand the private clients group across key Florida markets, with the South Florida division being headed up by Brandon Rex, who will join ARA as a vice president, after serving as a senior investment associate with Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co. Over the course of his nine-year career in the commercial…

Major Abu Dhabi real estate developer Aldar Properties has signed an agreement with Intercontinental Hotels Group to build hotels in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Aldar Properties will build a 430-room Crowne Plaza, and a 165-suite Staybridge Suites Hotel. Both are scheduled to begin construction shortly and to be completed by 2009. Aldar has also agreed to build an Intercontinental Hotel, scheduled for a 2011 opening. “Abu Dhabi offers huge growth potential for IHG,” said John Bamsey, (pictured), COO, Middle East and Africa, for IHG. “Abu Dhabi is investing $136 billion in developing business and tourism assets, and…

International consumer and commercial products marketer Newell Rubbermaid Inc. has just revealed that it will develop a new distribution facility in the Atlanta area, where it has maintained its headquarters for the last five years. Development of the 800,000-square-foot center is part of the company’s global strategy for consolidating operations and reducing its portfolio of properties.  The new distribution center will sit in Union City, about 15 miles from Downtown Atlanta. With the completion of construction, Rubbermaid will be able to distribute more than one product brand from a single location. The project dovetails with the company’s goal of moving…

Retail and residential are the two property types most likely to be developed on a 100-acre brownfield site on the west side of Jersey City, N.J., according to one prominent New Jersey real estate executive. The parcel, which is chromium contaminated, will be developed as the result of an agreement reached earlier this month between Jersey City and Honeywell International.The city sued Honeywell in 2005, and the court ruled that Honeywell must clean up the site, according to the Jersey Journal. Over the next five years, residential and retail development are the most likely property types to be developed in…

With the inking of a single deal late last week, Bank of America became the nation’s leading mortgage lender and loan servicer when it bought the troubled Countrywide Finance Corp. for $4 billion in stock. But what is Bank of America getting for that princely sum?This morning, CPN spoke about the acquisition, and its wider implications, with Stuart Gabriel, UCLA professor of finance and holder of the Arden Realty Chair, and director of the Richard S. Ziman Center for Real Estate.Until 2007, Gabriel (pictured) held the Lusk Chair at the University of Southern California and directed the Lusk Center for…

While policy-makers and elected officials ponder how to provide affordable housing to the booming population of Californians–expected to grow by six million residents between now and 2030 in Southern California alone–Fifteen Group Land & Development L.L.C. plans to redevelop a 1930s era apartment complex into a $2 billion mixed-use community that will increase the availability of apartments, homes and retail space. Located in Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, the project is planned for the current Wyvernwood Garden Apartments. The firm purchased the land in 1998 and acquired an adjacent complex in 2006 for a total of 70 acres. Plans…

With construction expected to begin this spring, New York City-based Wereldhave USA has retained Baltimore-based Peter Fillat Architects (PFA) to design 11 buildings in the $300 million éilan lifestyle community on the outskirts of San Antonio. Ground was recently broken and construction should begin in the spring on the 120-acre site, with targeted opening planned for the spring of 2009. The project is located along the IH-10 corridor at La Cantera Parkway on the north side of San Antonio and near two other upscale development projects. The project, master planned by Gensler Architects, will consist of luxury apartments, class A…

So far the Manhattan office market has escaped harm from the capital markets meltdown, and this year will bring both changes and opportunities, according to a panel of industry leaders yesterday during Deutsche Bank’s 2008 Real Estate Outlook Conference in Manhattan. “We have seen a disconnect in the marketplace like we’ve never seen before,” commented David Greenbaum, executive vice president for Vornado Realty Trust. The market continues to be strong despite jitters about the financial markets and the national economy. Greenbaum cited a study by Cushman & Wakefield Inc. showing that only 9 million square feet of office space returned…

Macerich Co., in partnership with the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. (APFC), has acquired one of the more prominent retail properties on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, the 680,000-square foot Shops at North Bridge, for $515 million. The deal represents Santa Monica, Calif.-based Macerich’s first move into the Chicago market.”We look for best-in-market properties, and when the opportunity arises, we jump on an acquisition like this,” Chris Facas, vice president of asset management for Macerich, told CPN this morning. “Chicago has been a vacancy in our portfolio for a long time.”The seller was a partnership comprised of the John Buck Co., the…

It’s unclear what will happen to Countrywide Financial Corp.’s real estate properties around the United States now that Bank of America has agreed to buy the troubled company for $4 billion in stock. What is clear is that the deal announced this morning catapults Bank of America into the top spot as America’s leading mortgage lender and loan servicer.“Countrywide presents a rare opportunity for Bank of America to add what we believe is the best domestic mortgage platform at an attractive price and to affirm our position as the nation’s premier lender to consumers,” Bank of American chairman & CEO…