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ATLANTIC CITY- N.J. — Caesars Entertainment Corp. has opened its Waterfront Conference Center at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City. The $125.8 million center has already booked meetings and conventions through 2019. Due to the addition of the conference center, there has been an increase of 90,000 advance room bookings for the upcoming 12 months at Harrah’s. This is an increase from the 7,000 advance room bookings for the previous 12 months. The 100,000-square-foot facility is now the largest conference-hotel complex from Baltimore to Boston according to Caesars. “For Atlantic City, this is an opportunity to attract a new type of customer to the city and significantly increase hotel occupancy, as well as drive revenue for local restaurants, retail outlets and other businesses,” says Mark Frissora, president and CEO of Caesars. Designed by Friedmutter Group and located in Atlantic City’s Marina District, the Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center can accommodate up to 5,000 attendees. The 100,000 square feet of flexible meetings space can be broken down into 56 separate small meeting rooms with up to 300 different configurations of reception, banquet and pre-function space. “We are excited to introduce Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City Waterfront Conference Center as a major player in not only …

NEW YORK — SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG), New York City’s largest commercial property owner, has reached an agreement to sell two Fifth Avenue retail development sites to a single, undisclosed buyer for $125.4 million, or $13,690 per zoning square foot. The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of this year and is subject to customary closing conditions. The sites, located at 570 and 574 Fifth Ave., were acquired by SL Green in November 2013 for a total of $78.7 million. The publicly traded REIT subsequently vacated the tenants in the existing buildings in preparation for a comprehensive retail development. “With this transaction, SL Green will realize returns on its original investment that are consistent with our original underwriting without having incurred any development risk,” says Brett Herschenfeld, managing director of SL Green. “In addition, the sale provides a source of equity capital that can be tax efficiently redeployed into Eleven Madison on an immediately accretive basis.” These sales are part of SL Green’s disposition and reinvestment strategy to help fund its previously announced $2.6 billion acquisition of Eleven Madison Avenue. SL Green Realty Corp. is focused primarily on acquiring and managing commercial properties in Manhattan. …

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) has raised $4.2 billion for its seventh U.S. real estate fund, Carlyle Realty Partners VII (CRP VII), reaching the fund’s hard cap. The CRP team of 85 investment professionals focuses on investments across all major real estate sectors and major metropolitan areas in the United States. Nationally, Carlyle has completed more than 500 real estate investments across its seven funds, seeking to identify investments that benefit from strong fundamentals across 11 sectors and 30 markets. Carlyle Realty Partners’ six prior funds have been active in both residential and commercial real estate. In residential, the group has invested in a total of 62,000 housing units, including 42,000 multifamily apartment units and more than 20,000 senior living, student housing and for-sale residential units. CRP has also invested in approximately 41 million square feet of office, industrial, data center and retail, including investments in the San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley, New York City and Washington, D.C. markets. “We believe the robust interest in CRP VII is acknowledgement of our successful focus on opportunistic investments in U.S. real estate, and we look forward to continuing to create value in our portfolio,” says …

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A joint venture consisting of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III Inc. and NorthStar Healthcare Income Inc. has agreed to acquire Trilogy Investors LLC, the parent company of Trilogy Health Services LLC, for approximately $1.1 billion. Griffin will own 70 percent of the joint venture while NorthStar will own the remaining 30 percent. Randy Bufford, Trilogy’s founder and CEO, along with other members of Trilogy’s management will maintain an investment of approximately $24 million in the company. Founded in 1997, Louisville-based Trilogy is an owner-operator of 96 seniors housing campuses throughout Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. The portfolio comprises more than 10,000 beds, and most campuses were built or renovated within the past 10 years. Trilogy’s communities offer a range of care, including assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing services. Griffin and NorthStar are both public, non-traded real estate investment trusts. NorthStar is based in Greenwood Village, Colo., and sponsored by NorthStar Asset Management Group Inc. Griffin is based in Irvine, Calif., and sponsored by American Healthcare Investors and Griffin Capital Corp.

MIAMI — Capital One has closed an $88.7 million refinance of ECI Group Inc. and Harbor Group International’s Shorecrest Club Apartments, a 467-unit, 20-story multifamily project located on the west shore of Biscayne Bay in Miami. Loan proceeds will be used to refinance a syndicated construction loan, also from Capital One, used to build the complex. As with the construction loan that preceded it, 50 percent of the current loan has been syndicated with SunTrust Bank. Capital One served as joint lead arranger, joint book runner and administrative agent for the syndicated loan. With the project still under construction, Capital One issued terms for a takeout loan that would close shortly after construction was completed. Located adjacent to the John F. Kennedy Causeway, the Shorecrest Club offers expansive views of Biscayne Bay, North Miami Beach and Bal Harbor from each of its two towers. Amenities at the complex include a waterfront restaurant, lap and resort pools, cabanas and a sundeck overlooking the bay. ECI Group is a privately owned development, construction, brokerage and management real estate company primarily focused on the multifamily sector. Harbor Group International is a diversified real estate investment and financial services company with a portfolio of …

NEW YORK — Paramount Group Inc. (NYSE: PGRE) has agreed to acquire the remaining 35.8 percent ownership interest in 31 W. 52nd St. in New York City from its joint venture partner for approximately $230 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015. The 29-story, 786,647-square-foot office building is located between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan. Paramount Group originally purchased the asset in late 2007 from Hines, Deutsche Bank and RREEF for $595 million, according to media reports. The company declined to name its joint venture partner. “The acquisition of the remaining ownership interest in this distinctive trophy asset offers Paramount an outstanding opportunity to execute on our embedded growth strategy,” says Albert Behler, chairman, CEO and president of Paramount Group. “We believe full ownership of the property is in the best long-term interests of our shareholders, as we continue to focus our efforts on driving NOI [net operating income] growth through strategic and creative leasing and other key initiatives.” The property is currently leased to a number of high-profile tenants including Clifford Chance, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Morgan Stanley, Centerview Partners and an upscale steakhouse, Fogo de Chao. …