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SAN FRANCISCO — Loews Hotels & Resorts, a wholly owned subsidiary of Loews Corp. (NYSE: L), has entered into an agreement to purchase the 158-room Mandarin Oriental, San Francisco hotel. The purchase price was undisclosed. “We are excited to find a property that is consistent with the Loews brand,” Paul Whetsell, president and CEO of Loews Hotels & Resorts, told REBusinessOnline.com. “This will be our first entree into San Francisco, a major gateway market and a very important location for Loews’ core customer base,” he added. The acquisition is expected to close in late March, at which time Loews will rebrand the hotel. Whetsell declined to comment on plans for the rebranding. Located in San Francisco’s Financial District, the hotel, which is currently managed by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, is situated on the top 11 floors of San Francisco’s third-tallest office building, 345 California Center, located at 222 Sansome St. The hotel, located one-half mile from iconic Union Square, features unspoiled views of San Francisco and its bay, 158 guest rooms, the Brasserie S&P restaurant, more than 5,000 square feet of meeting space and a new 8,000-square-foot spa and fitness center. The Mandarin Oriental, San Francisco hotel is the seventh …

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Transwestern Development Co. and its partners have broken ground on a 445,952-square-foot mixed-use project at 1621 and 1645 E. 6th St. in Austin. The two-building project will occupy a 4.2-acre site at the intersection of East 6th Street and Comal Avenue. The development’s first building is a 94,500-square-foot office facility, which is scheduled for completion in January 2016. The second building, called The Arnold, is slated for delivery in July 2016 and consists of 346 apartment units with 9,600 square feet of specialty retail. The cost of development was not disclosed. Amegy Bank of Texas and Comerica Inc. provided construction financing for the project. Kirksey Architecture designed the office portion, and Wilder Belshaw Architects designed The Arnold. The general contractors are Harvey Cleary for the office portion and Andres Construction for the mixed-use building. KimballBruehlGarciaEstes is the civil engineer for both buildings. “We are very pleased to get started on this exciting development,” says Josh Delk, associate vice president of Houston-based Transwestern Development. Delk is leading the project team. “This location is in the center of one of Austin’s most culturally rich and defining neighborhoods, and we are thrilled to be bringing a project of this caliber …

NEW YORK – Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI) and SJP Properties have sold a 45 percent interest in Eleven Times Square, a 1.1-million-square-foot office and retail tower in Midtown Manhattan. The sale to Norges Bank Investment Management was based on a gross value of $1.4 billion. The partnership will continue to own and control the building, while operating partner SJP Properties will continue to manage, lease and operate the property. SJP’s headquarters are also located within tower. “This transaction is reflective of Eleven Times Square’s position as a premier destination for leading global and local companies,” says Jeff Schotz, SJP’s executive vice president. “Given the success of our leasing program and robust demand for our remaining premium tower space, we believe that now is an appropriate time to recapitalize the building as we continue to look for opportunities to further expand our New York metropolitan area market presence.” The tower was completed in 2010. It is situated at the intersection of Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street. The building is 90 percent leased to tenants like Microsoft Corp. and Proskauer law firm, along with a variety of other companies within the finance, technology, legal and media industries. “The strength of the …

CHEVY CHASE, MD. — Capital One Bank (NYSE: COF) has served as lead arranger, administrative agent and bookrunner for loans totaling $150.6 million for the acquisition of nine Class A medical office buildings in North Carolina and Georgia. CNL Healthcare Properties Inc., a Florida-based real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on acquiring and developing properties in the seniors housing and healthcare sectors, was the buyer. Five of the properties are located in and around Charlotte on three Novant Health campuses. Of the remaining four, one is located in Asheville, N.C., on a Duke LifePoint campus; another is in Rome, Ga., at Floyd Medical Center; and two properties near Atlanta are satellite offices for Southern Regional Medical Center. Together they total 907,300 square feet of rentable space. Certain properties have ground leases that prohibit cross-collateralization. As a result, Capital One financed them through individual term loans, consolidating the remaining properties into a single loan. “This transaction highlights the structural flexibility we offer clients across the country, as well as our capacity to accommodate a deal of this size,” says Todd Gordon, managing director of Capital One Bank. “CNL Healthcare is one of the premier organizations in the industry, and we are pleased …

MCLEAN, VA. — Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HLT) will acquire five landmark hotel properties with proceeds from its recent $1.95 billion sale of the Waldorf Astoria New York to Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd., a Chinese company. The properties include Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek in Orlando, Fla. (1,001 rooms); Waldorf Astoria Orlando in Orlando, Fla. (498 rooms); The Reach, A Waldorf Astoria Resort in Key West, Fla. (150 rooms); Casa Marina, A Waldorf Astoria Resort in Key West, Fla. (311 rooms); and Parc 55 in San Francisco (1,024 rooms). The Parc 55 will be a new addition to the Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand, which Hilton Worldwide will manage. Hilton Worldwide currently manages the other acquired hotels. The five hotels are expected to be part of a 1031 like-kind exchange. The total purchase price of these five hotels of $1.76 billion represents approximately 13 times the midpoint of the five properties’ combined full-year projected 2015 adjusted EBITDA of between $132 million to $138 million. As part of its long-term relationship with Anbang, Hilton Worldwide will continue to operate the Waldorf Astoria New York under a 100-year management agreement. Anbang also plans to complete a major renovation to restore the …

MENLO PARK, CALIF. — Prologis Inc. (NYSE: PLD) has sold a 21-building, 56-acre industrial park in Silicon Valley to Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB). Menlo Science & Technology Park is located on Willow Road between Highway 101 and the Dumbarton Bridge in Menlo Park. Prologis has owned and managed the property since 1998. “Land constraints and increased urbanization pressures in markets such as Silicon Valley support the monetization of select infill assets,” says Michael Curless, chief investment officer of San Francisco-based Prologis. “This project and others in our portfolio benefit from our dedicated team who understand how to identify and unlock the intrinsic value in our value-added conversion properties.” The sales price was not released, but the Silicon Valley Business Journal estimates that the asset traded for roughly $400 million. As part of the transaction, Prologis will provide ongoing management services on behalf of Facebook. Social networking heavyweight Facebook has roughly 890 million daily active users and roughly 1.4 billion monthly active users, according to its fourth-quarter 2014 earnings report. The Menlo Park-based company invested roughly $1.8 billion in property and equipment in calendar year 2014. “Our team has spent the past several years planning the conversion of this site for …

FORT WORTH, TEXAS – RadioShack (NYSE: RSCH) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday after years of struggling with sluggish sales and competing against online retailers. General Wireless agreed to acquire between 1,500 and 2,400 RadioShack U.S. company-owned stores. This acquisition facilitated the bankruptcy filing from RadioShack and some of its U.S. subsidiaries. General Wireless is an affiliate of hedge fund Standard General L.P. It is also Sprint’s biggest shareholder. The sale agreement is subject to court approval and other conditions. RadioShack’s foreign subsidiaries and its franchisee-owned stores are not included in the filing. Other parties will also have an opportunity to submit offers for RadioShack’s assets in a court-approved process. General Wireless has partnered with Sprint to create a new dedicated mobility “store within a store” retail presence in up to 1,750 of the acquired stores. RadioShack currently has about 4,000 company-owned stores in the U.S. The stores that aren’t purchased by Sprint and its affiliates will close through a deal with liquidation firm Hilco Merchant Resources. The 94-year-old RadioShack was suspended from the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. It was known for selling break-out successes, such as the all-electronic calculator and one of the first mass-marketed computers back …