Top Stories

Mid-America Apartment Communities to Acquire Post Properties in $4B Multifamily REIT Merger

by Nellie Day August 15, 2016

MEMPHIS, TENN., AND ATLANTA — Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE: MAA) has agreed to acquire Post Properties (NYSE: PPS) in an all-stock deal that values Post, a developer and operator of upscale multifamily communities, at nearly $4 billion. The merger will create a Sunbelt-focused, publicly traded multifamily REIT. The acquisition brings together two multifamily portfolios totaling approximately 105,000 multifamily units in 317 properties. The combined company plans to focus on urban and suburban locations in large and secondary markets within the Sunbelt region, which stretches from coast to coast along the southern United States. The combined company’s 10 largest markets by unit count will be Atlanta; Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and Houston, Texas; Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.; Orlando and Tampa, Fla.; and Washington, DC. Each share of Post common stock will be converted into 0.71 shares of newly issued MAA common stock, per the agreement. Former MAA equity holders will maintain about 67.7 percent of the combined company’s equity, while former Post equity holders will hold the remaining 32.3 percent on a pro-forma basis. The all-stock merger is intended to be a tax-deferred transaction. The combined company is expected to have a pro-forma equity market capitalization of about $12 billion, as …

August 15, 2016

Multifamily New York Northeast Retail Top Stories

Extell Development, SMI to Develop 131-Story Central Park Tower in Manhattan for $3 Billion

by Christina Cannon August 12, 2016

NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between Extell Development Co. and SMI USA, the US subsidiary of Shanghai Municipal Investment, has unveiled plans to develop Central Park Tower, a $3 billion residential and commercial tower in Manhattan. When complete, it will be the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere, according to the developers. The 131-story building will feature condos and retail space, including Nordstrom’s first full-line location in New York. The retail space will serve as Nordstrom’s flagship store and will be its second largest location. The seven-story store will total 285,000 square feet, according to Bloomberg. Central Park Tower will be located along Billionaire’s Row on 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan and is slated to open in 2019. “We believe the superb location, views, design and quality of Central Park Tower will make it the most important residential building ever to be built in New York City and expect it to be a great success for Extell and SMI,” says Gary Barnett, founder and CEO of Extell Development Co. Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, which designed the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and the future world’s tallest building, Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia, will serve as the architect …

August 12, 2016

New Jersey Northeast Office Top Stories

Korean Investor Buys 760,000 SF Office Campus in New Jersey for $305M

by Nellie Day August 11, 2016

PLAINSBORO, N.J. — Hana Asset Management Co., a Korean investor, has purchased a 762,000-square-foot office campus in New Jersey for $305 million. The Class A campus is located in Plainsboro, approximately midway between Philadelphia and New York City and nearby to Princeton University. The 58-acre property was originally built for Merrill Lynch in 1985. Novo Nordisk currently occupies 563,000 square feet of the campus, with expansion rights through April 2031, no termination rights and a 10-year renewal option. The pharmaceutical company has occupied the campus since 2013, when the property underwent a full redevelopment. The acquisition marks the largest single-asset sale in New Jersey so far in 2016, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group, which represented the seller. The firm’s Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel and Brian Whitmer executed the transaction on behalf of a partnership between Ivy Equities, LCOR Inc. and Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. Ken Lorman of Lee & Associates represented the buyer. John Alascio, Alexander Hernandez and Alex Lapidus of Cushman & Wakefield Equity, Debt & Structured Finance’s team arranged acquisition financing and future funding for Novo Nordisk’s planned expansion at the campus. The campus is situated in the Princeton Forrestal Center …

August 11, 2016

Features Top Stories

Economists: Solid July Jobs Report Portends Future Good Times for Commercial Real Estate

by Jeff Shaw August 11, 2016

For the second month in a row, U.S. nonfarm payroll employment experienced a big increase, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In June, employers added 287,000 net new payroll jobs, beating economist forecasts by more than 50 percent. The job gains in July generated more positive headlines, as employers added 255,000 new payroll jobs, once again blowing away economist forecasts that predicted 180,000. These numbers are especially welcome after a disappointing May, where job growth of 24,000 fell well short of predictions. REBusinessOnline asked two economists — Robert Bach, director of research for Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, and Ryan Severino, senior economist and director of research for Reis — what this news means for the commercial real estate industry as a whole. REBusinessOnline: The employment data has looked fairly healthy in the last few months. Yet, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a 1.2 percent annual rate in the second quarter (subject to revision), which isn’t terrific. What are we to make of these seemingly mixed signals about the health of the economy? Ryan Severino: GDP has never been the best measure of the health of the economy. That’s not really what it was intended to do, though …

August 11, 2016

adidas-speedfactory-atlanta-cherokee-county

Georgia Industrial Southeast Top Stories

Adidas to Open Shoe Factory in Metro Atlanta, Move Production from Asia

by Haisten Willis August 10, 2016

ATLANTA — German sportswear brand Adidas has announced plans to open a new footwear production site in the Atlanta area in 2017, eventually bringing part of the company’s manufacturing from Asia to the United States. The facility, which will be known as adidas Speedfactory, is designed to allow the company to create products more quickly and closer to U.S. consumers using a highly automated process. The 74,000-square-foot facility will be located in Cherokee County, a suburban area roughly 30 miles northwest of Atlanta. It is scheduled to open in the second half of 2017 and will produce 50,000 pairs of shoes a year while employing 160. The U.S. factory will complement another Speedfactory facility operating in Germany. Adidas’ strategic partner Oechsler will operate both the U.S. and German facilities. Adidas is headquartered in a small town in Bavaria. The company is publicly traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol ADS. Its parent company, Adidas Group, includes several other sports-goods brands such as Reebok and TaylorMade. — Haisten Willis

August 10, 2016

California Hospitality Mixed-Use Top Stories Western

Waldorf Astoria to Anchor 2 MSF Mixed-Use Complex in San Francisco

by Katie Sloan August 9, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO — Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts — Hilton’s (NYSE: HLT) luxury hotel arm — has unveiled plans for the new Waldorf Astoria San Francisco, which will anchor a 2 million-square-foot, mixed-use complex located on Mission Street in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood. The hotel will occupy the first 21 stories of a mixed-use tower designed by architecture firm Foster + Partners. Hirsch Bedner Associates will be in charge of designing the interior. Amenities at the Waldorf Astoria San Francisco will include a spa and “Peacock Alley” restaurant offering San Francisco-inspired cuisine and libations. Development costs and a completion date for the project have yet to be announced. The new development will be located at the center of a vast redevelopment project surrounding the Transbay Transit Center. The Transbay Center District and Redevelopment Plans include more than 6 million square feet of new downtown office space; 4,400 units of new housing, 1,200 of which will be affordable; approximately 100,000 square feet of new retail space; and nearly 1,000 new hotel rooms. The redevelopment of the Transbay area will also incorporate more than 11 acres of new public parks and open space, including a 5.4-acre rooftop park at the Transit Center …

August 9, 2016

The 807,137-square-foot CNA Center in Chicago.

Features Loans Top Stories

Lending Community Remains ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ in Approach to Underwriting Deals

by Christina Cannon August 9, 2016

Commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations during the first quarter of this year were flat overall compared with the same period in 2015, reports the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The MBA’s Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations also shows that the first quarter saw a 44 percent year-over year increase in the dollar volume of loans for retail properties and an 18 percent increase for office properties. Meanwhile, the dollar volume of loans for the hotel and multifamily sectors — two of the hottest property types among investors in recent years — rose only 3 percent and 2 percent respectively during the first quarter. On the flip side, the dollar volume of loans for healthcare and industrial properties during the first quarter plunged 57 percent and 56 percent, respectively. “In the aggregate, commercial real estate borrowing and lending started 2016 in a similarly strong fashion to 2015,” says Jamie Woodwell, MBA’s vice president of commercial real estate research. “Borrowing backed by retail, office, hotel and multifamily properties picked up, as did lending by banks. Disruptions in the broader capital markets pushed originations for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) down. Across property types and investor types, changes in regulation and broader market conditions …

August 9, 2016

Mixed-Use New York Northeast Top Stories

REIT Merger: Global Net Lease to Acquire American Realty Capital Global Trust II for $247M

by John Nelson August 8, 2016

NEW YORK — Global Net Lease Inc. (NYSE: GNL) has approved a definitive merger agreement to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of American Realty Capital Global Trust II Inc., a non-traded REIT, for approximately $247 million. Both REITs focus on acquiring single-tenant net leased commercial properties in sale-leaseback transactions. The property types include office, retail and industrial. The combined companies create a larger global net lease REIT with an expected enterprise value of $3.3 billion. The transaction joins two complementary U.S. and European net lease portfolios with a combined asset base of 345 properties in seven countries spanning 23 million square feet. The portfolio is currently net leased to 99 tenants. “We are excited about GNL’s combination with Global II, which represents another positive step in the evolution of our company and reinforces our efforts to grow accretively, creating shareholder value,” says Scott Bowman, CEO and president of GNL. Under the terms of the agreement, Global II shareholders will receive 2.27 shares of GNL for each share of Global II common stock they own, which implies $19.59 per each share of Global II. Upon closing, Global II shareholders will own approximately 14 percent of the combined company. The …

August 8, 2016

Delaware Healthcare Northeast Top Stories

Skanska to Build $178M Women and Children’s Health Building in Delaware

by Christina Cannon August 5, 2016

NEWARK, DEL. — Skanska USA will build a $178 million Women and Children’s Health Building for Christiana Care Health System. The facility, to be located in Newark, is slated for completion in January 2020. The eight-story, 387,500-square-foot facility will serve as an expansion to the existing labor, delivery and C-section facility on the Christiana campus. Skanska USA is the general contractor for the project. Work on the site has already begun. The building will feature a neonatal intensive-care unit with private rooms and sleep-in space for families; new and expanded labor and delivery suites; a new labor lounge; private rooms for families after delivery; an expanded triage area; separate admitting and discharge areas; and a continuing care nursery for babies born with health issues. The facility will also offer lab, pharmacy and dietary clinical and support services. The project will also include the expansion of an existing four-level parking garage “Together with Christiana Care Health System and HKS Architects, we will complete a major expansion that provides the Christiana Medical Staff with the resources and space that is required to deliver the highest quality care to patients and their families,” says Ed Szwarc, executive vice president and general manager for New …

August 5, 2016

Florida Retail Southeast Top Stories

Office Depot to Close 300 Stores Over Three Years

by Katie Sloan August 4, 2016

BOCA RATON, FLA. — Boca Raton, Fla.-based Office Depot Inc. (NASDAQ: ODP) announced Wednesday that the company plans to close an additional 300 stores over the next three years in an attempt to cut $250 million in costs by 2018. Office Depot closed 42 stores in the second quarter of 2016, completing the company’s previously announced “U.S. retail store optimization plan,” which called for the shuttering of 400 stores nationwide. The company now has a total of 1,513 stores open in the United States, with plans to close an additional 25 throughout the year. The company hopes to expand the pilot program for its smaller, 15,000-square-foot format to 24 stores by the end of 2016, with 100 stores targeted for 2017. The new, smaller footprint is designed to provide customers with easier shopping using a smaller, more curated assortment of products, while expanding in-store services. The announcement comes on the heels of the termination of a merger with Staples Inc. in May, which resulted in a cash payment from Staples of $250 million. As a result, Office Depot has initiated a dividend of 2.5 cents per share, payable on Sep. 15 to shareholders of record at the close of business …

August 4, 2016

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