NEW YORK CITY — Northwind Group and Newmark Holdings have acquired 40-42 Exchange Place, a 20-story office building with ground-floor retail in Lower Manhattan’s Financial District. Eastern Consolidated arranged the $115 million sale. The office building was on the market for the first time in 25 years. “This office building is a great value-add opportunity in Lower Manhattan, which is undergoing a significant renaissance and has become a thriving, 24/7 live/work/play neighborhood,” says Jason Marin, director of Eastern Consolidated. Marin and former Eastern broker Lipa Lieberman represented the seller, Weiss Realty, in the transaction. Lieberman and former Eastern broker Abie Kassin represented the buyer. Gary Meese, senior director of financial services at Eastern, was the analyst for the deal. At one point the tallest building in Lower Manhattan, the 250,000-square-foot property is located at the southeast corner of Exchange Place and William Street, one block from Wall Street. The corner property includes 18-foot ceilings on the first floor, 14-foot ceilings on the 2nd floor and more than 11-foot ceilings throughout the rest of the building. Originally built as a neo-Renaissance residential building in 1896 and ultimately converted to office, the building has two primary entrances — one on Exchange Place and one …
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All but one of the 10 largest office markets in the country can expect to see improvement in real estate fundamentals in 2016, according to a third-quarter report titled “Top Office Metros Snapshot” from Colliers International. The report measures absorption, rents and vacancy rates in 10 major U.S. metro areas — Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle. In the third quarter of 2015, vacancies declined in all of the top 10 metros except Houston. Overall vacancy across the markets decreased to 12.9 percent, which is 30 basis points lower than the second quarter and 60 basis points lower than a year prior. Absorption trends were mixed overall. Only half of the metros saw more office absorption in the third quarter than in the second quarter, but the report notes that all but Los Angeles still recorded positive absorption. For example, Dallas saw less absorption in the third quarter, but still managed to absorb more than 5.6 million square feet of office space. “With construction restrained in most markets, even this moderate leasing has helped reduce the backlog of vacant space, enabling vacancies to continue to track downward,” according to the Colliers report. …
BETHESDA, MD. AND STAMFORD, CONN. — Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) has agreed to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE: HOT) for $12.2 billion. The acquisition will create the world’s largest hotel company with 30 brands under its belt. The combined company will tout 1.1 million rooms in more than 5,500 hotels throughout more than 100 countries. The fee revenue for the 12 months that ended Sept. 30 totaled more than $2.7 billion across both companies. Efficiency, savings and growth are the three main goals behind the merger, according to Marriott. The company expects to deliver at least $200 million in annual cost savings in the second full year after the transaction has closed. It is attempting to accomplish this by leveraging operating and general and administrative (G&A) efficiencies. Marriott also plans to accelerate Starwood’s growth by leveraging its worldwide development organization, as well as its owner and franchisee relationships. “The driving force behind this transaction is growth,” says Arne Sorenson, Marriott’s president and CEO. “This is an opportunity to create value by combining the distribution and strengths of Marriott and Starwood, enhancing our competitiveness in a quickly evolving marketplace.” Per the agreement, Starwood shareholders will receive 0.92 shares of …
SUNNYVALE, CALIF. — Wells Fargo Bank has provided a $256 million loan for the construction of a fourth office building in Moffett Place, a 1.9 million-square-foot office campus under development by Jay Paul Co. in Sunnyvale. The loan includes the cost of constructing the building and land financing for the remaining undeveloped portion of the project now in its second phase. The entire 55-acre Moffett Place campus is leased to Google. The campus is centrally located alongside Silicon Valley’s Highway 237 corridor and near Highway 101 and is a 45-minute drive from San Francisco. Moffett Place will contain a total of six LEED Gold certified buildings when complete. In addition to obtaining the construction loan from Wells Fargo for the second phase of the project, Jay Paul Co. has received a $501 million loan from Barclays and a $149 million mezzanine loan from a Korean sovereign wealth fund for long-term financing on the three completed buildings in the project’s first phase. Each building on the sprawling campus will include energy-efficient, floor-to-ceiling windows, while on-site amenities include a café, outdoor meeting spaces, a rooftop garden, 15 acres of green space with various amenities and a fitness club. The 50,000-square-foot fitness club …
CINCINNATI AND MILWAUKEE — The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) and Roundy’s Inc. (NYSE: RNDY) have announced a definitive merger agreement under which Kroger will purchase all outstanding shares of Roundy’s for $3.60 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $800 million, including debt. The transaction price represents a premium of approximately 65 percent to the Roundy’s closing share price on Nov. 10. “We are delighted to welcome Roundy’s to the Kroger family,” says Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO. “With a team of 22,000 talented associates, outstanding store locations and a shared commitment to putting customers first, we are excited about Roundy’s future growth.” The merger increases Kroger’s presence in the Midwest with 151 stores and 101 pharmacies in new geographies for Kroger, including Milwaukee, Madison and northern Wisconsin, which are served under the Pick ‘n Save, Copps and Metro Market banners. The merger also expands Kroger’s presence in the Chicagoland area, where Roundy’s operates 34 stores under the Mariano’s banner. “We admire what Bob Mariano has done with the Mariano’s banner in Chicago, where he has created an urban format that is resonating with customers and we expect to apply Roundy’s experience to our stores in …
CHICAGO — The number of new construction projects rose considerably in the third quarter of 2015 in markets across the country, according to data compiled by Chicago-based BidClerk, a leading provider of construction project data in the United States and Canada. The BidClerk Construction Index (BCI) reported more than 76,000 new projects valued at over $200 billion nationally in third quarter 2015; an upswing of 21,000 projects and $35 billion from third quarter 2014. Markets that saw spikes in new construction from second quarter numbers were Texas; Florida; Washington, D.C.; Pennsylvania; and the Southwestern U.S. In the third quarter, Texas recorded a 10 percent uptick in the number of actively bidding projects, with more than 3,800 projects at a combined contract value of $17 billion. High-profile projects out for bid in the third quarter included a $575 million addition and expansion of an educational facility in Fort Worth, and the $325 million Liberty Mutual offices at Legacy West in Plano. Areas in the report by BidClerk include Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston and San Antonio. More than 2,100 construction projects with a combined contract value over $8.4 billion were actively bidding in the state of Florida in the third …
SANTA CLARITA, CALIF. — Bernards has broken ground on a $110 million, six-story patient tower for Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in the Santa Clarita Valley, about 33 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Bernards is responsible for all aspects of the design-build project and has teamed with its primary design partner, HMC Architects. The project is scheduled for completion in May of 2018. The 160,000-square-foot tower will connect to the existing 238-bed nonprofit community hospital and trauma center. The expansion initially will add 112 private patient rooms and other hospital services. The facility will feature an entire floor dedicated to obstetrics services, which includes 22 antepartum/postpartum private rooms and seven labor, delivery and recovery rooms, as well as two operating rooms for C-section delivery. The new patient tower also will provide three floors of private rooms for patients, a new kitchen and dining area, and an outside dining garden. The roof of the tower will support primary trauma services with a heliport. One floor of the tower, approximately 21,500 square feet, will be left as an unfinished space, ready for build-out of up to 30 additional patient rooms when needed. Additionally, the project includes a new loading dock and central utility …
PORTLAND, ORE. — Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP (HFF) has arranged a $177 million loan for Lloyd Center Mall, a 1.27 million-square-foot regional shopping center with office space in Portland’s Lloyd District. Lloyd Center Mall was originally constructed in 1960 and underwent renovations in 1991 and 2006, prior to the current renovations, which began in 2014. The property features more than 130 tenants, including Macy’s, H&M, Marshalls, Barnes & Noble, PacifiCorp, Forever 21 and multiple office tenants. Dallas-based HFF worked on behalf of the borrower, Cypress Acquisition Partners Retail Fund, an affiliate of Cypress Equities, to secure the floating-rate loan through an affiliate of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. Loan proceeds will be used to finish executing a capital improvement plan and facilitate new leasing. Improvement plans for the center include converting space previously occupied by retail tenants into office space, enhancing connectivity to nearby office and multifamily developments, reconfiguring the ice rink and updating the food court, flooring, entrances and storefronts. Additional improvements to the lighting and mechanical systems will make the property more energy-efficient. Lloyd Center Mall is located in the mixed-use area known as the Lloyd District, a live-work-play neighborhood northeast of central Portland. The center is …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — After disappointing reports by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in August and September, hiring has surged with employers adding 271,000 new payroll jobs last month, far surpassing the 185,000 jobs forecasted in Bloomberg’s survey of economists. Revisions to the August and September reports were also minor, totaling only 12,000 jobs. While the hiring surge is positive in many ways for the commercial real estate industry, it may also prove to be a source of negativity, as it is likely to lead to a rise in interest rates. Many — including Ryan Severino, senior economist and director of research at Reis Inc. — were surprised by the findings in the October jobs report. “I was surprised not so much that the figure exceeded the forecasts, but by the magnitude by which it exceeded it,” says Severino. “I thought that the disruption of the past couple of months was a blip and this helps to confirm that.” While the hiring surge is unequivocally positive for commercial property leasing markets, as employers will take on more space to accommodate growing staffs, the report increases the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise the short-term federal funds rate — the interest rate at which banks and …
SunTrust Arranges $138M Credit Facility for Expansion, Renovations at MorseLife Community
by Nellie Day
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. — SunTrust Banks Inc. has arranged a $138 million tax-exempt senior secured credit facility for MorseLife Health System. The credit facility will fund the $77 million construction of The Tower at MorseLife, a 135-unit luxury independent living expansion to The Tradition of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach. It will also fund renovations to the existing community. “The senior population in Palm Beach County continues to grow and The Tower at MorseLife is meeting the greater demand for luxury independent living in our community,” says Keith Myers, MorseLife’s president and CEO. Construction on The Tower at MorseLife is scheduled to begin before the end of the year and the project is expected to be completed in mid-2017. The Tower at MorseLife will be a full-service, luxury senior living residence with one- and two-bedroom apartments. It will include amenities like gourmet dining, housekeeping, wellness spa, an outdoor pool, theatre, synagogue, medical clinic, and educational and entertainment options. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey acted as sole lead arranger on the transaction, which includes a $66 million tax-exempt construction line of credit for The Tower at MorseLife and a $72 million tax-exempt term loan to refinance existing bonds outstanding at the …