MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — CIM Group has sold the SLS South Beach, a 140-room luxury boutique hotel in Miami Beach for $125 million. The hotel was jointly owned with sbe Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based hospitality company. According to the South Florida Business Journal, the buyer is 1701 Miami Owner, a company affiliated with Daniel Tain and Marco Ferri, based in Guernsey, an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. CIM and sbe redeveloped the former Ritz Plaza Hotel, a 13-story building, to create the SLS Hotel South Beach, which opened in June 2012. Designer Philippe Starck oversaw the redevelopment, which included 124 rooms located in the historic tower, a separate building with 10 villas, six bungalows, and the addition of a 14,500-square-foot pool deck. Other renovations included the addition of restaurants such as The Bazaar and Katsuya. The SLS South Beach, located at 1701 Collins Ave. with 100 feet of beach frontage, was originally built in 1939 by South Beach architect L. Murray Dixon. The SLS Hotel South Beach features a rooftop architectural design depicting a lantern reaching to the sky. It is the tallest art deco-style structure in South Beach. Since January, including the SLS South …
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SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — Hertz Investment Group has acquired a portfolio of six Class A office buildings in the Southeast for $417 million from Chicago-based Equity Commonwealth, according to media reports. The portfolio is comprised of more than 3 million square feet. The purchase of the buildings will introduce Santa Monica-based Hertz to three southern markets: Birmingham, Ala.; Columbia, S.C.; and Greensboro, N.C. The transaction is the largest acquisition in the company’s history. One of the properties included in the sale was One Shell Square, a 1.26 million-square-foot, 51-story tower in the New Orleans central business district, where Hertz already has a presence. Also included in the transaction were Inverness Central, a four-building complex with 475,895 square feet, located in suburban Birmingham; the Wells Fargo Tower, a 30-story tower with 514,893 square feet in Birmingham’s central business district; Meridian, a 17-story tower with 334,075 square feet in Columbia; 300 N. Greene St., a 21-story tower with 324,075 square feet in Greensboro; and 20th Place South, a four-story office building with 125,722 square feet, located in suburban Birmingham. Hertz plans to perform $2.2 million in renovations on the Wells Fargo Tower, $500,000 on 300 N. Greene and will spend $1 million …
Higher income seniors are now more likely to occupy seniors housing in their elderly years than those with moderate and low incomes, according to a study conducted by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). This is a reverse from two generations ago, when higher-income seniors were more likely to age in place and those with lower incomes were more likely to move into subsidized seniors housing or an institution sponsored by a religious organization. Similarly, the percentage of elderly people entering seniors housing has increased compared to past times when most older Americans remained in their home for as long as physically possible. “The growth of the overall senior housing sector, the shift towards facilities that offer higher levels of services and amenities and the changing relationship between wealth and residency in a senior facility suggest that members of the Baby Boom generation may choose to live in senior housing at a higher rate than did earlier generations,” according to the study. The study examined the demographic and financial determinants of housing choices of older Americans, and how they have changed over the past several decades. NAREIT used information from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), …
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Summit Hotel Properties (NYSE: INN) has agreed to sell 26 hotel properties throughout the U.S. to American Realty Capital Hospitality Trust for $351.4 million. The portfolio contains 2,793 rooms, or about 19.6 percent of the company’s pro-forma hotel EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). The hotels are located in Oregon, Louisiana, Texas, Indiana, Arizona, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, Florida, Washington and Colorado. The sale of the properties is scheduled to close in three separate tranches. The estimated sales dates are September and October of this year and January 2016. “We are very excited at the opportunity to recycle capital on a larger scale,” says Dan Hansen, Summit’s president and CEO. “This proposed transaction will enable us to continue to improve our asset mix and upgrade our portfolio with additional accretive acquisitions with strong growth profiles and diverse demand generators.” Adds Hansen: “Recycling capital to create long-term value for our shareholders is a proven strategy for us and one we consider to be a core strength.” The total sales price represents a cap rate in the mid-7 percent range based on trailing 12-month net operating income as of March 31. The 12-month revenue per available room (RevPAR) …
NEW YORK – HFF has arranged a $556 million construction loan for a full-block office development on Manhattan’s Park Avenue. The 47-story tower will be located at 425 Park Ave. in Midtown’s Plaza District. L&L Holding Company and GreenOak Real Estate are developing the 670,000-square-foot project. This will be the first full-block office development on Park Avenue in nearly 50 years, according to HFF. The new project will feature flexible floor plate sizes and layouts. All floors will contain views of Midtown. Central Park will be visible to floors 24 and higher. The development is also situated near Rockefeller Center. Project amenities include a private garage for tenants with a special car lobby, a private building entrance and a chauffeurs’ lounge. It will also contain a space dedicated to amenities on the 26th floor that will feature outdoor areas with views of Central Park, a wellness center, and dining, meeting and conference rooms. The lobby will contain an atrium with floor-to-ceiling glass. The building’s 56th Street and Park Avenue corner will boast a high-end restaurant, while the 55th Street and Park Avenue corner will house retail and gallery space. HFF’s Mike Tepedino, Michael Gigliotti and Jennifer Keller arranged the construction …
JERICHO, N.Y. — Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE: GTY) has acquired 77 convenience stores and retail motor fuel stations for $214 million. Located in California, Colorado, Washington, Nevada and Oregon, the acquired properties operate under several brands, including 76, Conoco, Circle K, 7-Eleven and My Goods Market. “This acquisition… achieves several important objectives for our company including materially expanding our geographic reach primarily in high growth regions and adding a new institutional quality tenant,” says David B. Driscoll, Getty’s president and CEO. “We believe the addition of these properties, combined with other activity in our portfolio, has materially improved the overall credit quality of our revenue stream. In addition, we believe we are positioned to provide sustained cash flow growth for shareholders in the coming years.” The 77 properties were acquired from affiliates of Pacific Convenience and Fuels LLC and simultaneously leased to United Oil, a leading regional convenience store and gas station operator. United Oil is triple-net leasing the 77 properties acquired by Getty for an initial term of 20 years, with three five-year renewal options. The company expects to receive $16.7 million of annual revenue from the transaction. United Oil operates approximately 400 locations in the western United States …
Nearly two-thirds of potential office renters consider image and “cool factor” when looking at a new space, according to a report from Transwestern Tenant Advisory Services (Transwestern TAS). The report, “Quantifying the Cool Factor in Real Estate,” was compiled based upon quantitative and qualitative responses from the company’s tenant advisors. According to Transwestern TAS, the analysis underscores the importance of intangible variables in real estate decisions. Of the respondents, 63 percent said that in more than half of transactions they facilitate a company’s image is a significant factor in its location decision; 18 percent said image is a significant factor in all transactions. The report found that more and more often, perhaps due to the attention paid to firms like Google, Microsoft and others that have integrated unique features into their workspaces, “cool” is the image clients aspire to project via their space. “We hear regularly from our occupier clients that they want ‘cool’ space,” says Amber Strang, executive managing director of Transwestern TAS. “Our cursory look at this topic aimed to better define the term and measure how big of an influence this variable is in the final decision-making process. What we found is that physical space first and …
NEW YORK — Savanna, a New York-based real estate private equity and asset management firm, has sold 1375 Broadway to Westbrook Partners for $310 million. A 510,000-square-foot office building, 1375 Broadway is located on the northwest corner of 37th Street and Broadway. Savanna acquired the property in December 2010 and completed an extensive repositioning that included a redesign of the lobby and entrance and a renovation of the façade, roof and retail storefronts. Savanna leased over 190,000 square feet during its ownership. Average rents increased from $22 per square foot at acquisition to around $60 per square foot today. Marty Meyer, Eric Meyer and Michael Thomas of Colliers International represented Savanna in office leasing transactions, and Steve Baker of Winick Realty represented Savanna in retail leasing. “Savanna has transformed 1375 Broadway into a standout office property in the Broadway corridor through our intensive repositioning along with the Colliers and Winick leasing teams’ hard work, which has paid off with a great roster of new office and retail tenants,” says Cooper Kramer, managing director at Savanna. “These tenants represent major growth industries in New York including technology, beauty and fashion. Westbrook is acquiring a high-quality asset in a great location.” Tenants at …
WESTLAKE, OHIO — TravelCenters of America LLC (NYSE: TA) has agreed to sell 30 travel centers to Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE: HPT) to fund its continuing expansion program. The sale-leaseback transactions total $397 million. TA expects to receive net cash proceeds of approximately $352 million before transaction costs. TA, based in Westlake, Ohio, also will purchase from HPT five travel centers now leased by TA and subleased to TA franchisees for approximately $45 million. TA’s travel centers operate under the TA, TravelCenters of America, Petro and Petro Stopping Centers brand names and offer gasoline and diesel fuel, restaurants, truck repair services, travel and convenience stores, and other services at locations in 43 states. The centers are located primarily at exits from the U.S. Interstate Highway System and in Canada. TA also operates convenience stores and retail gasoline stations primarily under the Minit Mart trade name. The company highlights several benefits from the transaction. Among the advantages: A significant portion of the gains to be realized from these transactions will result from sales of travel centers that were developed, or acquired and redeveloped, by TA. TA believes these gains will be amortized as a reduction of rent expense during the lease …
Economic indicators should continue their upward swing through 2016, which is good news for property owners, according to the Commercial Real Estate Outlook Report recently released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The quarterly analysis, compiled by NAR’s research division, measures a variety of economic factors to predict the near future of the commercial real estate industry. All signs point to strong results over the next 19 months, the report suggests. “Net absorption rose across the property types, driving rents higher,” according to the report. “As employment gains are expected to continue into 2015, demand for commercial space is expected to advance.” In the office sector, the report predicts absorption will reach 51.8 million square feet in 2015 and over 60 million in 2016, lowering vacancy rates 20 basis points to 15.4 percent by the end of 2016. Rents in the sector should rise 3.4 percent in 2015 and an additional 3.7 percent in 2016. In the industrial sector, meanwhile, new supply is struggling to keep pace with the large amount of space getting absorbed. “Industrial markets — especially ports and intermodal distribution centers — have been positioning for the [expansion] of the Panama Canal,” says the report. “Demand …