ATLANTA — Stuart Shapiro has joined Associated Agencies Inc. as an account executive on the sales team. Shapiro will be in Atlanta to expand the firm’s presence in the Southeast. Shapiro has spent the past five years as vice president of leasing for Phillips Edison & Co. in Atlanta, where he managed a team of commercial leasing agents. Shapiro received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Florida. He resides in Atlanta with his wife, Stacey, and two children, Avery, 7, and Ethan, 5. Associated Agencies is an independent insurance brokerage founded in 1980 and headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Ill. The privately held firm manages property and casualty, employee benefits and personal lines for business and individuals.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect new developments. HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. — Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLDQ) has reached a temporary deal to avoid liquidation and keep 425 of its stores open, according to media sources. After it was widely speculated that Sears Chairman Eddie Lampert’s $4.4 billion bid to save the company would be rejected, representatives of Sears agreed Tuesday to a revised bid from Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments, that gives the 126-year-old company another small shot at survival. Liquidation remains a possibility for Sears. According to USA Today, ESL Investments has until 4 p.m. Wednesday to come up with a $120 million deposit to keep the deal alive. In addition, the company’s assets will be auctioned off on Monday, Jan. 14. The original bid by Lampert, the man behind the retailer’s merge with Kmart in the 2000s, would have theoretically saved 50,000 of the retail chain’s 68,000 jobs nationwide, per the network. CNBC reported that Hoffman Estates-based Sears considered the bid by Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments, to be insufficient, particularly with regard to covering fees and payments owed to vendors. In October 2018, Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after it failed to …
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Omega Healthcare Investors Agrees to Acquire MedEquities Realty Trust for $600M
HUNT VALLEY, MD. AND NASHVILLE, TENN. — Real estate investment trust Omega Healthcare Advisors (NYSE: OHI) has agreed to acquire MedEquities Realty Trust (NYSE: MRT) in a cash and stock transaction valued at $600 million. As part of the transaction, Omega will acquire the fee simple interest in 34 facilities operated by 11 operators in seven states. Omega will also acquire approximately $34 million in mortgage loans. Under the terms of the transaction, MRT shareholders will receive $2 in cash and 0.235 OHI shares for each MRT share owned, which represents $10.26 per share based on Monday’s closing price for OHI. The boards of directors for both companies have unanimously approved the transaction. “This acquisition reinforces our commitment to the skilled nursing and senior housing industry, while adding new asset types to our portfolio furthering our strategic objectives,” says Taylor Pickett, CEO of Hunt Valley-based Omega. “MedEquities has built a high-quality diversified portfolio, which should provide Omega with meaningful future growth opportunities.” Omega is a real estate investment trust that invests in the long-term healthcare industry, primarily in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. As of Sept. 30, 2018, Omega’s total portfolio consisted of 917 facilities spread across 41 states and the United Kingdom. …
SAN DIEGO — ECP Commercial, a commercial real estate firm, has joined SVN International, merging offices with SVN/Vanguard’s San Diego professionals. ECP has provided sales, leasing, property management and maintenance services to commercial real estate owners throughout San Diego County for 34 years, since its establishment in 1984 as East County Properties. The existing SVN/Vanguard multifamily team will move from its downtown office into the ECP offices at 4455 Murphy Canyon Road in San Diego. The merged SVN Vanguard/San Diego team will provide the full spectrum of real estate services to the local market. The team currently consists of 14 broker advisors and a combined staff of 25. Managing directors Joe Bonin and Pat Millay, as well as Jorge Jimenez and Dennis Leslie of the current SVN/Vanguard office, will led the new team. SVN/Vanguard is a franchise of SVN International with offices in Orange and San Diego counties.
PARIS AND LONDON — Luxury group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has inked a deal to acquire Belmond Ltd. (NYSE: BEL), the owner or manager of 46 luxury hotel, restaurant, train and river cruise properties across the world, including three hotels in the U.S. LVMH will acquire Belmond for $25 per Class A share in cash, which represents an equity value of $2.6 billion and an enterprise value of $3.2 billion. Belmond currently operates properties in 24 countries, including the Hotel Cipriani in Venice, the Hotel Splendido in Portofino, the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire, Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg, Maroma Resort & Spa in Mexico and Cap Juluca in Anguilla. Its United States portfolio includes El Encanto in Santa Barbara, Calif.; Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels, Md.; and Charlston Place in Charleston, S.C. LVMH, which is owned by France’s richest man, Bernard Arnault, currently owns three properties in the ski resort of Courchevel, the Maldives and St. Barth’s as well as a group of Bvlgari hotels in Shanghai, Milan, Bali, London, Beijing and Dubai. “Belmond delivers unique experiences to discerning travelers and owns a number of exceptional assets in the …
CLEVELAND — PGIM Real Estate Finance has opened a new Cleveland office and hired an originations team led by Bruce Gerhart and David Strachan. PGIM Real Estate Finance is the commercial mortgage finance business of PGIM, the $1 trillion global investment management business of Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU). The new team will be responsible for sourcing and originating loans for affordable housing, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) multifamily, healthcare and seniors housing with a focus on Ohio, Michigan and the Midwest region. The team will report to Hal Collett, head of FHA and affordable lending for PGIM Real Estate Finance. Gerhart, Strachan and their production team of Thomas Bruce and Troy Buckley formerly worked together at Love Funding Corp.
FRISCO, TEXAS — The PGA of America will move its headquarters from South Florida’s Palm Beach County to Frisco, where it will anchor a 600-acre, mixed-use development. The organization’s initial investment in the northern Dallas suburb will exceed $500 million, while the overall economic impact of the move will exceed $2.5 billion over the next 20 years. The PGA’s new headquarters will include two championship golf courses, a short course and practice areas totaling 45 holes, as well as a clubhouse, Class A office space, 500-room Omni Hotel, 127,000-square-foot conference center and a retail village. A joint venture between Omni Hotels & Resorts, Stillwater Capital and Woods Capital will purchase the land and construct the hotel, conference center, retail space and golf courses. The golf courses are expected to open in summer 2022. The hotel, convention center and other facilities are expected to open within six months of that date.
NEW YORK CITY — IKEA U.S. has announced that it will open its first store in Manahattan. The ‘IKEA Planning Studio’ is slated to open at 999 Third Ave. in spring 2019. The Planning Studio concept will focus on smart solutions for urban living and small spaces. The New York City location is the first market in the U.S. for the concept. IKEA U.S. has recently made a number of investments to enhance its e-commerce offerings, including lower priced shipping & delivery, Click & Collect, financing and TaskRabbit assembly services. IKEA already has four locations in the metro area in Brooklyn, Elizabeth, Long Island and Paramus.
IRVING, TEXAS — Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company McKesson Corp. (NYSE: MCK) will relocate its corporate headquarters from San Francisco to Irving’s Las Colinas district, where it already has a regional office. The company’s new campus will obtain LEED Gold certification and feature an array of amenities and enhanced technology capabilities, according to a statement from the company. The relocation will begin in April of next year. The number of jobs that will be relocated was not provided.
LOS ANGELES — SRS Real Estate Partners has hired Mike Rielly as senior vice president and managing principal in the Dallas-based company’s new Los Angeles office, which is scheduled to open in early 2019. In this role, Rielly will also lead the newly formed SRS Signature Group nationally. The group is a one-of-a-kind service offering that will cater to aspirational and high-end brands targeting coast-to-coast growth in high-street, Class A mall, lifestyle, premium outlet and design/arts district environments. Rielly has nearly 20 years of experience in commercial real estate and an extensive background incubating and serving best-in-class brands in various categories. Additionally, he has expertise in assisting international retailers with U.S. transitions or expansions, as well as early retail template formation for domestic and global brands.