Top Stories

Joint Venture to Redevelop East Hills Mall in Southern California

by Katie Sloan January 24, 2017

BAKERSFIELD, CALIF. — A joint venture between C & C Properties Inc. and MarkChris Investments has announced the redevelopment of East Hills Mall in Bakersfield, roughly 110 miles north of Los Angeles. The 414,000-square-foot enclosed regional mall will be transformed into a 350,000-square-foot, open-air lifestyle center. A state-of-the-art movie theater will anchor the development, which is set to feature a collection of restaurants, retail and entertainment space. Renovations will include the addition of a large outdoor plaza, water fountain, and seating and landscaping around the movie theater complex. Development plans also include the addition of several buildings along Mall View Road for shops, restaurants and services. The buyers acquired the mall from a joint venture between Retail Equities LLC and El Corte Ingles in late December 2016. Duane Keathley, Vince Roche and Josh Sherley of Cushman & Wakefield | Pacific Commercial Realty Advisors represented both the buyer and seller in that transaction, and have been retained by the new ownership to lease the redeveloped center. Construction is expected to begin this year, with completion scheduled for fall 2018. — Katie Sloan

January 24, 2017

Capital Markets Update panel at InterFace Seniors Housing Northeast

Features Top Stories

‘Funny Money’ Dries up for Seniors Housing Construction Financing, Concludes InterFace Panel

by Kristin Harlow January 24, 2017

The market for seniors housing construction financing is “pretty fickle right now,” a stark contrast from just a few years ago when the lending spigot for developers was flowing freely, according to Ari Dobkin, managing director of Meridian Capital Group. “The funny money for construction just isn’t out there anymore. Lenders are hyper-focused on the borrower’s balance sheet, their experience doing construction and their ability to successfully fill up a building,” remarked Dobkin during a capital markets update panel session at InterFace Seniors Housing Northeast in Philadelphia on Nov. 15. The daylong conference held at Hyatt at the Bellevue hotel in downtown Philadelphia attracted approximately 200 industry professionals. In addition to Dobkin, other panelists included John Randolph, senior mortgage banker, KeyBank Real Estate Capital; Frank Cassidy, vice president of originations at Berkeley Point Capital; Trace Wilson, director, Prudential Mortgage Capital Co.; and panel moderator Lee Delaveris, director of seniors housing and healthcare for RED Capital Group. Dobkin joked that in the past he has fielded some unique requests from borrowers at industry conferences, including the following: “I own a bowling alley and now I want to build a seniors housing project on top of it. Can you get me 90 …

January 24, 2017

Office Southeast Top Stories Virginia

Riverstone Properties Buys James Center Office Towers in Downtown Richmond for $108M

by Jeff Shaw January 23, 2017

RICHMOND, VA. — Riverstone Properties has acquired James Center, three office towers in the heart of Richmond’s central business district, for $108 million. The James Center comprises the 21-story One James Center, the 22-story Two James Center and the 14-story Three James Center, all developed in 1985. LNR Property, a subsidiary of Starwood Property Trust, sold the towers free and clear of existing debt. The three buildings include 986,000 square feet of Class A office space, a fitness facility, five restaurants, 1,600-car parking garage and a 50,000-square-foot retail atrium that connects to the Omni Richmond Hotel. Additionally, an outdoor area named The Plaza hosts activities, concerts and the Grand Illumination holiday lighting tradition. Situated on 3.4 acres at 901, 1021 and 1051 E. Carey St., James Center is located in downtown Richmond’s River District along the James River. The HFF investment sales team of Ryan Clutter, Dek Potts, Scot Humphrey and Christopher Lingerfelt represented LNR in the transaction. Starwood Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: STWD), an affiliate of global private investment firm Starwood Capital Group, claims to be the largest commercial mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. Riverstone Properties is the commercial real estate arm of the Riverstone …

January 23, 2017

California Office Retail Top Stories Western

Paramount Receives $975M Loan for Refinancing of One Market Plaza in San Francisco

by Kristin Harlow January 20, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO — Paramount Group Inc. has received a $975 million loan for the refinancing of One Market Plaza, a property featuring two landmark office towers in San Francisco’s South Financial District. The property consists of 1.6 million square feet of Class A office and retail space. The buildings, originally constructed in 1976, underwent a $25 million lobby and atrium renovation that was completed in 2015. The 43-story Spear Tower and 27-story Steuart Tower are bridged by a six-story office and retail annex. Amenities include two restaurants, subterranean valet parking, on-site banking and dry-cleaning, and 24-hour security. The seven-year loan has a fixed interest rate of 4 percent. The net proceeds from the refinancing were used to repay the existing $873 million loan scheduled to mature in December 2019. Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co., Morgan Stanley Bank, Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Bank PLC provided the loan. Eastdil Secured LLC arranged the financing. New York City-based Paramount Group is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates, manages, acquires and redevelops Class A office properties located in central business district submarkets of New York City, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. — Kristin Hiller

January 20, 2017

Connecticut Multifamily Northeast Texas Top Stories

Starwood Capital Group to Acquire Milestone Apartments REIT for $2.85B

by John Nelson January 19, 2017

TORONTO AND GREENWICH, CONN. — Milestone Apartments Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: MST.UN), a Toronto-based multifamily REIT, has entered into an agreement with an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group whereby Starwood will acquire all of Milestone’s subsidiaries and assets. The transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, is valued at $2.85 billion (USD). Milestone’s board of trustees has unanimously approved the acquisition and recommends that its shareholders vote in favor of the transaction. Milestone’s shareholders will receive $16.15 per share in cash upon closing, and the REIT expects to continue paying its monthly distributions in the normal course through closing. Milestone REIT’s portfolio consists of 78 garden-style apartment properties comprising 24,061 apartment units that are located in 16 major metropolitan markets throughout the Southeast and Southwest. Nearly half of the REIT’s holdings are in Texas. The transaction’s average price per apartment unit of approximately $120,000 compares favorably to Milestone’s current book value of approximately $109,500 per apartment unit. Starwood’s acquisition of Milestone’s portfolio of multifamily properties and operating platform of more than 1,200 employees will allow the firm to grow its multifamily footprint, especially in the Sunbelt region, where Starwood owns more than 67,000 …

January 19, 2017

Features Top Stories

Putting a Stop to the ‘Hidden Property Tax’

by Katie Sloan January 19, 2017

Owners should be delighted to see the value of their property increase, but in our current tax environment, higher property values have become synonymous with higher property taxes. School districts, municipalities, counties, and other taxing units have the power to limit property tax bills by lowering their respective tax rates as property values rise. Instead of doing this, however, many taxing entities opt for a tax revenue windfall. Remarkably, as they collect this additional revenue, these same taxing units claim that they have not raised taxes because they have not increased their tax rate. This distinction has afforded taxing units a convenient escape from the ire of taxpayers. But is it fair? The Texas property tax system has two components: appraisal districts and taxing authorities. First, appraisal districts assess the market value of taxable property within their boundaries. They then participate in protest hearings initiated by property owners about those values and subsequently certify appraisal rolls for taxing entities. Second, the governmental bodies that levy and collect taxes prepare budgets and, with their certified appraisal rolls in hand, adopt tax rates sufficient to meet those budgets. Then these municipalities, school districts and other institutions send out tax bills and collect tax …

January 19, 2017

California Retail Top Stories Western

Ellis Partners Breaks Ground on Renovation of Pruneyard Mixed-Use Center in Silicon Valley

by Nellie Day January 18, 2017

CAMPBELL, CALIF. — Ellis Partners has broken ground on the multi-phased renovation of The Pruneyard, a 27-acre mixed-use shopping center in the Silicon Valley city of Campbell. The Pruneyard contains 365,000 square feet of Class A office space, 253,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, and a 170-room Doubletree Hotel. The infill project has not been updated for nearly 20 years. It is located at 1875. S. Bascom Road in the West Valley community. Ellis Partners purchased The Pruneyard from Equity Office Properties for $280 million in 2014. “The Pruneyard has been a premier West Valley office location for businesses large and small for over four decades,” Jason Morehouse, partner and director of acquisitions at Ellis Partners, said at the time of acquisition. “With strategic investments in the site and the adjacent retail center, we believe we can further bolster the value proposition for our nearly 85 office tenants by creating an even more robust and dynamic retail and entertainment amenity package.” At the time of acquisition, the three-building office component had average in-place office rents that were about 30 percent below market value with substantial near-term rollover in a rising market. The hotel component previously operated as an independent …

January 18, 2017

California Civic Top Stories Western

Los Angeles County MTA to Begin Construction on $1.4B Subway Extension

by Katie Sloan January 17, 2017

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced plans to construct a second, 2.6-mile extension of the city’s Purple Line subway through Beverly Hills and Century City. The contract value of the recently announced extension, titled Westside Purple Line Extension Section 2, is anticipated to be approximately $1.4 billion. The project will include two new underground stations at the intersections of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, and Constellation Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars, a hub of office buildings frequented by an estimated 358,000 workers, according to reports by the Los Angeles Daily News. Construction is currently underway on Section 1 of the Purple Line extension, which will add stations at the intersections of Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, and Fairfax Avenue and La Cienega Boulevard. At completion, the Purple Line is expected to extend nine miles west of the current terminus at Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, adding a total of seven new stations. The total development is expected to cost $6.3 billion. A full map of the development can be found here. A contract for the second phase of the development will be awarded by the end of the month. Civil and building construction …

January 17, 2017

Features Top Stories

Food Halls, Experiences Lead Retail Trends for 2017

by Katie Sloan January 17, 2017

In retail, nothing remains the same for long. A century ago, America saw the rise of mega department stores as category killers. In the middle of the 20th Century, regional malls were beginning their rise. That was followed by the power centers and lifesyle centers of 1990s and 2000s. Today, experience is the name of the game; consumers would rather spend time doing what they enjoy than shopping for common goods. They strive to make every trip an experience. In some ways, it is akin to the original days of the department store and regional mall, where every turn was met with something unexpected and new. Like the entertainment industry, the shopping center industry now touts more “original content” than replication in its medium, the physical retail format. Every venue strives to be different, and in some cases chain retailers have strived to make their locations differ from one another. REBusiness Online’s sister publication Shopping Center Business recently spoke with Garrick Brown, vice president of retail research at Cushman & Wakefield, one of the foremost retail analysts in the industry, to see what trends he is watching as the industry enters 2017. Brown will be one of the keynote speakers at Entertainment Experience Evolution, February 7-8 in Santa Monica, produced by Shopping Center Business. SCB: What trends are you seeing as we move through the holiday season this year? Brown: We are definitely seeing another shift towards entertainment, …

January 17, 2017

Office Top Stories Washington Western

Schnitzer West Sells 291,000 SF Office Building in Seattle for $268.9M

by Jeff Shaw January 16, 2017

SEATTLE — Schnitzer West has sold Urban Union, a Class A office building in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, for $268.9 million, according to The Seattle Times. A joint venture between TriStar Capital and RFR Holding purchased the property. The building opened last year and recently underwent a $10.5 million alteration project for Amazon, the building’s main tenant, according to The Times. Totaling 12 stories and 291,000 square feet, Urban Union features a coffee shop, restaurant, rooftop conference deck, fitness center, locker rooms, bike lockers and concierge services. Seattle-based architecture firm CollinsWoerman designed the building. Just north of downtown, the South Lake Union neighborhood stretches from the Space Needle along the southern waterfront of Lake Union. The area is known for its restaurants, art galleries and museums. Schnitzer West is a real estate developer and manager of office properties, largely in the Seattle and Denver metros. TriStar and RFR are both New York City-based investment firms. — Jeff Shaw

January 16, 2017

Newer Posts

Older Posts