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 …
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Karlin Real Estate Funds $96 Million in Senior Debt on Resort Properties in Arizona and Colorado
by Scott Reid
LOS ANGELES — In two separate financings, Karlin Real Estate has funded $96 million in first mortgage debt to refinance resort properties in Arizona and Colorado. Los Angeles-based Karlin has provided Grand Heritage Hotel Group (GHHG) with a $46 million senior loan secured by The Historic Stanley Hotel, a 140-room resort property in Estes Park, Colorado. Built in 1909 by Freelan Oscar Stanley, co-inventor of the Stanley Steamer — a steam-driven automobile popular early in the 20th century — The Stanley is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a member of Historic Hotels of America. In 2010, GHHG completed a multimillion-dollar renovation and restoration program that included restoration of the concert hall and manor house referred to as The Lodge. In addition to refinancing the existing debt on the hotel, Karlin’s five-year interest-only financing features a delayed-draw component, which will be used by GHHG to fund the completion of a new 50,000-square-foot luxury lodging building adjacent to The Stanley Hotel under a new brand called Aspire Hotels and Resorts. The 50-room building will provide a luxury hospitality component to a proposed 15,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art wellness center being developed by Estes Park Medical Center and the University of …
The accelerating labor market is bound to stoke tenant demand for all types of commercial real estate, says Robert Bach, director of research for the Americas at brokerage services firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. The veteran economist’s assessment comes on the heels of a better-than-expected Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released last Friday that shows U.S. employers added 257,000 net new payroll jobs in January, beating the 230,000 jobs forecast by Bloomberg in its survey of economists. In another sign of momentum, the November and December totals were revised upward by a combined 147,000 jobs. Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses since the last published estimates and the monthly recalculation of seasonal factors, according to the BLS. The annual benchmark process also contributed to these revisions. The strong performance in January and revisions to the prior two months lifted the three-month moving average to 336,000, its highest level since November 1997, according to Bach. The annual benchmark revisions to the data, completed every January, raised 2014 job growth from 2.9 million to a 15-year high of more than 3.1 million jobs. “Job growth last month beat analysts’ forecasts, which was unexpected given that analysts had overestimated …
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 …
NEWARK, N.J. — Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. (PMCC) provided $15.2 billion in financing to the commercial real estate industry globally in 2014, exceeding expectations but down slightly from $15.8 billion in 2013. Despite the slight pullback overall, the company provided more than $3 billion in conventional agency loans in 2014, the highest production volume in the firm’s history. PMCC — the commercial mortgage lending arm of Newark-based Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU) — unveiled the results Tuesday during the Mortgage Bankers Association’s 2015 Commercial Real Estate Finance (CREF)/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. In addition to achieving a record year for agency lending in 2014, PMCC reported strong production in general account volume and CMBS transactions. The company — which exceeded its projected goal of $14 billion for 2014 — has as much as $15 billion available for financing in 2015. Among the highlights for PMCC in 2014: Portfolio lending in the U.S. totaled $7.9 billion, while portfolio lending internationally (Japan, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe) totaled $700 million. CMBS originations on behalf of PMCC’s Liberty Island conduit program reached nearly $900 million. International assets under management grew to more …
LIVERMORE, CALIF. — Trammell Crow Co., Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT), and real estate advisor Bentall Kennedy have announced that construction has begun on Oaks Logistics Center in Livermore, 38 miles southeast of Oakland. The project will consist of three Class A industrial logistics buildings totaling 1.3 million square feet. All buildings will be constructed simultaneously, and the project is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2015. The price of the development was not released. “We are excited to be working with MEPT, Bentall Kennedy and the city on a meaningful industrial opportunity in the Bay Area,” says Will Parker, principal with Trammell Crow Co.’s Northern California business unit. “Over the past 20 years, TCC’s work with MEPT and Bentall Kennedy has grown into a successful partnership and tackled complex transactions and delivered best-in-class industrial facilities. Oaks Logistics Center is a great example of our collaboration.” The new logistics/fulfillment center will be accessible from major transportation corridors. The three-building development is located on Highway 84 just south of Highway 580 via the Isabel Avenue/Highway 84 interchange. The site has direct access to I-580, proximity to the Port of Oakland and is positioned to serve the entire Bay Area and …
FRAMINGHAM, MASS. AND BOCA RATON, FLA. — Staples Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) will acquire Office Depot Inc. (Nasdaq: ODP) for $6.3 billion. The deal comes a little more than a year after Office Depot Inc. and OfficeMax Inc. merged in 2013. Staples will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Office Depot. Under the terms of the agreement, Office Depot shareholders will receive, for each Office Depot share, $7.25 in cash and 0.2188 of a share in Staples stock at closing. Each company’s board of directors unanimously approved the agreement. Based on Staples closing share price on Feb. 2, the transaction values Office Depot at $11.00 per share. This represents a premium of 44 percent over the closing price of Office Depot shares as of Feb. 2, and a premium of 65 percent over the 90-day average closing price of Office Depot shares as of Feb. 2. “This is a transformational acquisition which enables Staples to provide more value to customers, and more effectively compete in a rapidly evolving competitive environment,” says Ron Sargent, Staples’ chairman and CEO. “We expect to recognize at least $1 billion of synergies as we aggressively reduce global expenses and optimize our retail footprint. These savings …
NEW YORK — AvalonBay Communities Inc. (NYSE: AVB) has purchased the Manhattan home of the American Bible Society, located at 1865 Broadway in the Upper West Side, for $300 million. AvalonBay intends to raze the organization’s headquarters and use the 22,500-square-foot site to construct a 300,000-square-foot apartment tower, which will include retail at the base. The society will remain in the building through the third quarter of 2015. AvalonBay expects to begin construction on the tower in late 2016. The building currently located at 1865 Broadway is a 12-story, 156,000-square-foot Class C office building that was constructed in 1965. According to media reports, the American Bible Society, which has been located in the building since construction, will relocate to the Philadelphia area. The site is located within two blocks of iconic Manhattan locales such as Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center and Central Park. The retail component at the base of the tower could be comprised of nearly 60,000 square feet of leasable space, according to some media reports. AvalonBay has indicated that in the future it may enter into a joint venture or forward sale agreement with respect to the retail component. Helen Hwang, Nathaniel Rockett, Karen Widenmann and Brian Szczapa …
SAN DIEGO — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) projects that originations of commercial/multifamily mortgages will grow to $414 billion in 2015, an increase of 7 percent over the prior year. Furthermore, MBA expects total loan originations will rise to $430 billion in 2016. The loan originations outlook was released Monday during MBA’s Commercial Real Estate Finance (CREF)/Multifamily Housing & Convention Expo 2015, which runs from Feb. 1-4. There are 3,100 attendees at this year’s conference at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, up from 2,800 in 2014 and the highest attendance figure since 2008 when the conference drew 3,900 attendees. The MBA forecast is based on the expected level of deal volume among mortgage banking firms. “Commercial and multifamily real estate finance markets are strong,” says Jamie Woodwell, vice president of commercial real estate research for the MBA. “Rising property values, improving property fundamentals, lower interest rates and higher loan maturity volumes should all help boost mortgage borrowing and lending in the coming year.” Multifamily mortgages originated by mortgage bankers are forecast to total $152 billon in 2015. The commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding is expected to continue growing in 2015, ending the year at $2.7 trillion, up more than …