DALLAS — AECOM (NYSE: ACM) will relocate its global headquarters from Los Angeles to Dallas, the engineering and infrastructure consulting giant said in a statement earlier this week. Beginning on Oct. 1, select corporate leaders, including CEO Troy Rudd, will join the 1,200-plus employees who currently work at AECOM’s Dallas office at 13355 Noel Road, as well as the firm’s other offices across Texas. About 2,500 employees will continue to work in the California offices, including Los Angeles. The company cited the market’s talent pool for engineering and infrastructure consulting as a key factor in its decision to relocate, while also crediting the “additional benefits as a corporate hub” that Dallas offers. AECOM, a Fortune 500 company, accrued $13.2 billion in revenue in its 2020 fiscal year. The company’s stock price closed at $63.19 per share on Wednesday, Aug. 18, up from $38.19 per share a year ago.
LOS ANGELES — Standard Communities and Faring have formed a joint venture with plans to create more than $2 billion of middle-income housing across California over the next 18 to 24 months. The strategic partnership, Standard-Faring Essential Housing, will engage in both ground-up construction of middle-income rental housing and the acquisition and conversion of existing market-rate properties. The partnership recently created more than 650 units of dedicated middle-income housing in Southern California with a total capitalization of over $400 million. The transactions utilized tax-exempt bond financing provided by CSCDA Community Improvement Authority, a state program that seeks to improve the availability of housing for Californians earning approximately the same as the area median income (AMI). Upon taking ownership, CSCDA Community Improvement Authority worked with Standard-Faring Essential Housing as project administrator to immediately lower rents for new residents who qualify with incomes between 80 percent and 120 percent of AMI. “By focusing on middle-income housing, California cities can ensure that middle-income families and essential workers such as first responders, hospital and healthcare staff, and teachers can afford to live near their jobs in the communities they serve,” says Jeffrey Jaeger, principal and co-founder of Standard Communities. “This joint venture will provide …
CHICAGO — Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE: H) has agreed to acquire Apple Leisure Group (ALG), a Pennsylvania-based firm that specializes in third-party operations of luxury wellness resorts, for $2.7 billion. The transaction comes as part of the Chicago-based hotel giant’s initiative to sell off $2 billion in real estate holdings by the end of 2024 and focus its growth strategy on the operations side of the hospitality business. Hyatt expects to sell $1.5 billion of its real estate assets by the end of this year, which would result in more than $3 billion in sales since the strategy was announced in 2017. Mark Hoplamazian, Hyatt president and CEO, notes that under this strategy, he expects that 80 percent of the company’s revenue stream will be fee-based earnings by the end of 2024. “The addition of ALG’s properties will immediately double Hyatt’s global resorts footprint,” says Hoplamazian. “ALG’s portfolio of luxury brands, leadership in the all-inclusive segment and large pipeline of new resorts will extend our reach in existing and new markets, including Europe, and further accelerate our industry-leading net rooms growth.” ALG’s operations portfolio spans 33,000 rooms across 100 properties in 10 countries. ALG’s resort brand management platform AMResorts provides …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Merchants Capital, a Carmel, Ind.-based affordable housing lender, has opened a new office in Washington, D.C., that will be the company’s fifth location nationwide. Located at 505 9th St. NW, Suite 800, the new office serves as a hub for a dozen team members and is part of the company’s strategy to expand its national lending footprint with a concentration on the East Coast. “We are excited to be positioned in downtown Washington, D.C., as it is a natural fit for the firm to be in close proximity to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other landmark institutions that support affordable multifamily housing across the nation,” says Dwayne George, the executive vice president and national head of production for Merchants Capital. The new office follows the announcement that Merchants Capital was named the No. 4 affordable multifamily lender nationwide in 2020 by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Last year, Merchants Capital closed $2.2 billion in affordable housing loans across 188 transactions, with an average transaction size of $11.8 million.
NEW YORK CITY AND CHICAGO — Global coworking provider WeWork has entered into a strategic partnership with Cushman & Wakefield to provide flexible workspace solutions by leveraging WeWork’s proprietary platform with the Chicago-based real estate giant’s asset and facilities services network. In addition, Cushman & Wakefield, WeWork and special purpose acquisition company BowX Acquisition Corp. are in discussions regarding a potential transaction where Cushman & Wakefield would provide up to $150 million in a backstop equity facility to New York City-based WeWork. Earlier this year, BowX Acquisition Corp. agreed to acquire WeWork and take the company public in a deal that was valued at approximately $9 billion. The deal is scheduled to close in the current quarter. “Partnering with Cushman & Wakefield will create a solution that helps both landlords and businesses meet the demand for flexible workplaces to fit the changing needs of today’s workforce,” said Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of WeWork “With flexible workspaces being an important component of the hybrid workplace, we’re excited to partner with WeWork to demonstrate how global occupiers and investors will benefit from two global leaders providing unmatched accessibility to flexible offerings, best-in-class technology and a seamless tenant experience,” added Brett White, CEO and …
NEW YORK CITY — Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc. (BREIT) has entered into an agreement to acquire Toronto-based WPT Industrial REIT for a cash price of US$3.1 billion. That figure includes the assumption of the publicly traded Canadian REIT’s corporate debt. Under the terms of the deal, shareholders of WPT Industrial will receive US$22 for each share of common stock they own. That figure represents a premium of 17 percent over the closing price of WPT Industrial’s stock on Friday, Aug. 6, the last day of trading prior to the merger announcement. The price per share also marks a 19.5 percent premium over the Canadian REIT’s weighted average unit price for the 30-day period that ended on Aug. 6. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. “Logistics continues to benefit from strong tailwinds driven by e-commerce,” says David Levine, senior managing director at Blackstone. “We look forward to expanding our logistics presence across key U.S. markets with the acquisition of this high-quality portfolio that WPT has built.” WPT Industrial owns, develops and manages warehouse and distribution facilities throughout the United States. The company’s U.S. footprint consists of 109 properties totaling approximately 37.5 million square feet of …
NEW YORK CITY — MSCI (NYSE: MSCI), a New York City-based global finance firm, has entered into an agreement to acquire Real Capital Analytics (RCA) for $950 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the late third or early fourth quarter. MSCI’s products and services include providing equity, fixed-income debt, stock market indexes and multi-asset portfolio analysis tools. Founded in 2000, New York City-based RCA provides a range of data and research services for commercial real estate owners and investors on a global basis. MSCI executives noted that the acquisition would significantly bolster the firm’s suite of real estate-based products and solutions by leveraging RCA’s platform that tracks more than $20 trillion in commercial transactions and features more than 200,000 lender and investor profiles. “With the addition of RCA’s wealth of commercial real estate data and analytics, investors will be better supported to access the opportunities that exist within this sector at scale, informed by industry-leading insights and the premier global database capturing the global commercial real estate footprint,” says Henry Fernandez, chairman and CEO of MSCI. “Our primary goal has always been to bridge the information gap between commercial real estate and other asset classes across …
DALLAS — CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBRE) has entered into an agreement to acquire a 60 percent interest in Turner & Townsend, a project management and advisory firm based in the United Kingdom, for $1.3 billion. Upon the closing of the deal, which is expected to occur in the fourth quarter, Turner & Townsend’s executive management team, led by chairman and CEO Vincent Clancy, will continue to run the company’s day-to-day operations and retain a 40 percent equity stake. In addressing the motivating factors behind the deal, Turner & Townsend cited the opportunity to expand its service offerings in the United States via the Dallas-based real estate giant’s platform of occupier and investor relationships. Bob Sulentic, CBRE’s president and CEO, added that with public and private infrastructure investment at the top of the current U.S. political agenda, there are major growth opportunities in project management. “Turner & Townsend is by far the best firm to help us realize our ambitions for this business,” he says. CBRE’s stock price opened at $91.35 per share on Wednesday, July 28, the first full day of trading after the deal was announced. Shares were trading at a high of $96.96 per share during the …
MCALLEN, TEXAS — Coldwell Banker Commercial Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is expanding by merging with McAllen-based brokerage firm Pointer Realty. Daniel Galvan, principal broker at Coldwell Banker Commercial RGV, and Pointer Realty principal owner Harry Urey Jr. made the announcement late last week. Also joining Coldwell Banker Commercial RGV are Pointer Realty’s Benny Dominguez and Rafael “Felo” Guerra. The combining of the brokerage firms becomes effective on Aug. 1. The new entity will operate out of an office at 508 E. Dove Ave in McAllen and will offer development, sales, leasing, tenant representation and property management services. In 2020, Coldwell Banker Commercial RGV and Pointer Realty completed about 200 sales and leases valued at $125 million combined.
PHILADELPHIA AND IRVINE, CALIF. — Independence Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: IRT), a publicly traded apartment REIT based in Philadelphia, has agreed to acquire Irvine-based Steadfast Apartment REIT Inc. On a pro-forma basis, the combined company is expected to have a total enterprise value of approximately $7 billion and be equally owned by shareholders of both firms. Post-merger, the company will operate under the Independence Realty Trust banner and trade under the same stock symbol. The portfolio will total 131 apartment communities comprising approximately 38,000 units across 16 states. The combined company’s 10 largest markets by unit count would be Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Oklahoma City, Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Raleigh-Durham, Houston and Memphis. According to an investor presentation, the portfolio averages $1,231 in effective rent per month and is 96.2 percent occupied. The combined company would rank at No. 26 on the National Multifamily Housing Council’s (NMHC) 2021 ranking of the top 50 apartment owners. Neither Independence Realty Trust nor Steadfast Apartment REIT is on the NMHC Top 50 Owners ranking for 2021. Both companies expect the transaction to close during the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval of both companies’ stockholders. The boards of directors …