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HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. AND INDIANAPOLIS — Sears Holdings Corp. and Simon Property Group Inc. have created a 50/50 joint venture valued at $228 million whereby Sears will sell and lease back several of its stores in Simon-owned malls. Sears Holdings has contributed 10 properties, including properties leased to outside parties, in exchange for $114 million in cash and a 50 percent interest in the joint venture. The deal is similar to the $330 million joint venture agreement that Sears Holdings Corp. and General Growth Properties announced on April 1. Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) will subsequently lease back and operate the existing Sears Holdings stores at those malls. The triple-net master lease agreements have a 10-year initial term and two five-year renewal options. Sears Holdings expects to pay initial base rent of $13.4 million under the master lease. “We are pleased to reach this agreement with Simon Property Group, which is an important step in Sears Holdings’ continued transformation to a membership company, without the significant asset intensity of its traditional retail business,” says Edward Lampert, chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings. “This transaction, taken together with our other initiatives to create shareholder value through our vast real estate portfolio, enhances …

NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO — Blackstone and Wells Fargo Co. have signed agreements to purchase most of the assets of GE Capital Real Estate in a transaction valued at approximately $23 billion. The transaction breaks down as follows: – Wells Fargo has agreed to purchase performing first mortgage commercial real estate loans valued at $9 billion in the United States, UK and Canada. – Blackstone’s latest flagship global real estate fund, BREP VIII, has agreed to purchase the US equity assets for $3.3 billion. These assets are primarily office properties in Southern California, Seattle and Chicago. – Blackstone’s European real estate fund, BREP Europe IV, has agreed to purchase the European equity real estate assets, for €1.9 billion. These consist of office, logistics and retail assets, largely in the UK, France and Spain. The logistics assets will be integrated into Blackstone’s European logistics platform, Logicor, and the retail assets into its European retail platform, Multi. – BREDS, Blackstone’s real estate debt fund, has agreed to purchase performing first mortgage loans in Mexico and Australia for $4.2 billion. – BXMT, Blackstone’s publicly traded commercial mortgage REIT, has agreed to purchase a $4.6 billion portfolio of first mortgage loans primarily in …

CARROLLTON, OHIO — Advanced Power, the Swiss energy giant, has secured $899 million in financing for a power plant in northeast Ohio set to begin operations in late 2017. TIAA-CREF, Chubu Electric Power Co., Ullico and Prudential Capital Group are providing $411 million in equity commitments, while BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and eight other commercial banks are providing $488 million in senior secured credit facilities for construction of the Carroll County Energy plant. The 700-megawatt plant will sell energy, capacity and ancillary services into all or part of 13 states in the eastern U.S., along with the District of Columbia. It will be powered by natural gas from eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale and could provide electricity to 750,000 homes. Plans for the project were first announced in July 2013 and site work has already begun. The facility will feature two General Electric 7F.05 gas turbines and a D602 steam turbine, which has the capacity to generate electricity for approximately 750,000 homes. Bechtel Corp. is building the project under a turnkey construction contract. EthosEnergy will operate the facility and Advanced Power will remain as the construction and asset manager. The new plant will be near Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline plus American Electric …

GLENDALE, COLO. — The city of Glendale has unveiled plans for a $175 million, 42-acre mixed-use development five miles southeast of downtown Denver to be named Glendale 180. The development will include 151,725 square feet of food and beverage space, 109,000 square feet of entertainment and 42,500 square feet of retail, according to The Denver Post. A mix of public and private financing will fund the project, with investment banks Stifel and DA Davidson handling the public financing and HFF securing the private financing. According to the Denver Business Journal, the city of Glendale issued bonds for about half of the $175 million cost of the project. The Laramie Company, which is overseeing leasing for the project, is expected to announce anchor tenants within the next few weeks. “We are very careful about the tenant mix we’re going after,” says Mary Beth Jenkins, president of The Laramie Company. “It’s a mix of traditional anchors, fine dining, and fun concepts you won’t find anywhere else in Colorado.” Adjacent to Cherry Creek, the project features outdoor green space in addition to the brick-and-mortar development, including bike paths, water features and a botanic garden. The outdoor space will be located south of Virginia …

CHICAGO — Ventas Inc. (NYSE: VTR), a seniors housing and healthcare REIT, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ardent Medical Services Inc. for $1.75 billion in cash. Ardent Medical, a subsidiary of Nashville-based Ardent Health Services, is one of the 10 largest for-profit hospital firms in the United States. The privately owned Ardent Medical will be entitled to distribute up to $75 million in excess cash to its existing shareholders as part of the transaction. Ardent Health Services is owned by private equity funds managed by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and currently generates approximately $2 billion in annual revenues, with more than 50 percent of its revenue derived from private pay. Ventas intends to separate Ardent Health Services’ hospital operations from its owned real estate and sell the hospital operations to one or more newly formed entities owned by current management of Ardent Health Services, other equity sources, and up to 9.9 percent owned by Ventas. As part of the transaction, Ventas will own 10 high-quality hospitals and related real estate operated by Ardent under the names BSA Health System in Amarillo, Texas; Hillcrest HealthCare System in Tulsa, Okla.; and Lovelace Health System in Albuquerque, N.M. These assets …

GREENWICH, CONN. — Starwood Capital Group, a private investment firm, has acquired a portfolio of Class A suburban offices properties from Duke Realty Corp. in an off-market joint venture transaction valued at approximately $1.1 billion. A joint venture between Starwood Global Opportunity Fund X, Vanderbilt Partners and Trinity Capital Advisors acquired the portfolio. “We’re very excited by this substantial investment in a terrific portfolio of office buildings in these important and growing markets in the United States,” says Mark Keatley, senior vice president at Starwood Capital Group. “We expect the transaction to meet our return expectations through a combination of consistent cash flow and longer-term capital appreciation.” The acquisitions total 6.9 million square feet across 62 properties in Raleigh, Nashville, St. Louis and South Florida. The transaction also includes 57 acres of undeveloped land. “With this investment, we’re buying a portfolio with significant current yield in strong suburban markets within high-growth cities,” says Casey Wold, managing partner of Vanderbilt Partners, a Chicago-based real estate investment manager. Since its inception, Greenwich, Conn.-based Starwood Capital Group has acquired more than 60 million square feet of office properties around the world, and currently manages approximately 35 million square feet. “We believe that we are at an attractive point in the …