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NEW YORK CITY — Hines has announced that a subsidiary of the Hines U.S. Core Office Fund LP has selected buyers for 499 Park Avenue and 425 Lexington Avenue, two trophy office buildings in Manhattan. The individual sales prices weren’t disclosed, but the combined sales price totals more than $1 billion. Hines has entered into purchase and sales agreements with each of the buyers and is anticipating closing both transactions in the summer. “We are very pleased with the outcome of this competitive sales process,” says Sherri Schugart, senior managing director, as well as president and CEO of Hines’ Core Fund. “These trophy assets will deliver exceptionally strong returns to our investors.” Hines’ Core Fund selected an institutional fund managed by American Realty Advisors as the buyer of 499 Park Avenue, a 28-story, 300,000-square-foot boutique office building. American Realty Advisors has more than $5 billion in assets under management. The firm’s portfolio includes office, industrial, multifamily, retail and other properties nationwide. “499 Park is a one-of-a-kind asset, as is evidenced by the diversity and strength of bidders in this extremely active bidding process,” remarks Darcy Stacom, vice chairman and head of the Investment Properties group for CBRE’s New York office. …

NEW YORK CITY — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT), with its owner and developer partners, have invested more than $400 million to revitalize its New York City portfolio of hotels. Newly renovated properties include the Sheraton brand’s flagship hotel Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, W New York–Times Square, W New York–Union Square, W New York, The Westin New York at Times Square and The Westin New York Grand Central. Starwood, which has 21 hotels in New York City, has also expanded its New York City portfolio with the addition of three hotels, including The Chatwal hotel, Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel and W New York–Downtown. “We have not only made a significant investment in our New York City hotels, but have also added even more breadth to our portfolio through strategic conversions in many of the city’s most dynamic neighborhoods,” says Mary Casey, senior vice president of sales, North America, of Starwood Hotels & Resorts. The Sheraton brand’s flagship hotel, Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, completed its top-to-bottom renovation in March. Its fitness center, all 1,781 guestrooms and suites, public areas and meeting facilities have been renovated. The hotel’s 60,000 square feet of fully renovated …

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Multi Housing Advisors (MHA) has brokered the sale of five apartment communities, which total 1,060 units throughout Alabama, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $68.2 million. Jimmy Adams and George Bacon of MHA’s Birmingham office represented an affiliate of Continental Properties in the sale of two Class A multifamily properties in northern Alabama. The complexes include the 360-unit Springs at Madison, which Somerset Partners acquired for $34.9 million, and the 276-unit Springs at Huntsville, which was acquired by Panther Properties for $25.5 million. Adams also represented a special servicer in the $1.25 million sale of the 152-unit Barrett in Mobile to JW Adcock Properties. Additionally, Bretwood LLC acquired the 130-unit Barrington Park and the 142-unit Manchester Park, both of which are located in Mobile, for a total of $6.5 million. Adams represented the seller, another special servicer, in the transactions. “These transactions demonstrate our proven ability to take a wide range of multifamily listings — from REO properties to Class A assets — and find the right private-capital buyers for them,” says Adams, a managing director of MHA who heads the firm’s Birmingham office. “The sales also highlight the significant increases in private-capital investments in the …

SIOUX CITY, IOWA— The Sioux City Hotel & Conference Center, a 12-story structure that includes 193 hotel rooms, 13,300 square feet of meeting space and what is believed to be the best views in town from the top-floor ballroom, is for up for sale. Investment sales specialist HVS Capital Corp. will market the hotel, which is located at 707 Fourth St. between the Historic Fourth Street entertainment district and the site of the planned $118.5 million Hard Rock Casino that is slated to break ground this July and open in September 2014. A list price for the hotel — which is connected via skyway to the convention center and Mercy Medical Center — was not disclosed. “The Hard Rock Casino development is the piece de resistance in Sioux City's downtown renaissance and will become an anthem for continued economic development efforts,” says Bill Sipple, executive managing director of Denver-based HVS Capital Corp., which brokers the sale of hotels and also finances the properties. “The Sioux City Hotel & Conference Center is poised to take its place in the revival,” Sipple continued. “An opportunistic buyer can acquire this hotel asset at significant discount to replacement cost, undertake renovations and affiliate the …

FLINT, MICH. — West Second Street Associates has selected Colliers International to market a 16-property office portfolio fully leased to federal agencies in six states. West Second is a Flint, Mich.-based limited liability company that specializes in real estate development and long-term management of high-quality General Services Administration (GSA) buildings. The portfolio has a combined value of $118 million. The properties total 273,000 square feet and are located in Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Texas, Colorado and Minnesota. A number of GSA tenants occupy the facilities, including the Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcements, Department of Veteran Affairs and Customs and Border Protection. The average remaining lease term is 10 years. Colin Cavill and Bob Cottle of GSAXCHANGE, a group within the Colliers Government Solutions team, and Raymond James Financial will market the portfolio on behalf of the owner. “We expect these single-tenant properties to attract a great deal of interest from a wide variety of investors,” says Cavill. “Investor interest in GSA-leased buildings is on the rise due to the stellar credit, long average lease terms and high renewal rates of U.S. government tenants.” Cavill adds the 16 properties “provide a steady income stream and consistent yields.” …

ATLANTA — Macfarlan Capital Partners, in a joint venture with an entity managed by Cole Real Estate Investments, has acquired a Class A trophy office campus leased to AT&T in Atlanta for $225 million. The campus includes the 16-story Midtown I and the eight-story Midtown II, which total 794,110 square feet. KanAm Grund, a German real estate investment company based in Frankfurt, was the seller. The campus is situated on 7.2 acres and was originally a build-to-suit for AT&T in 2001 and 2002. Macfarlan’s team worked with AT&T to extend its lease for 11 more years. The Midtown I office tower totals 512,101 square feet and the mid-rise Midtown II is 282,009 square feet. Bryan Larson of Macfarlan says the long-term lease coupled with property’s location in the heart of Atlanta’s Midtown submarket represented a “a great opportunity for Macfarlan to provide its investors with a strong current yield from a trophy asset backed by outstanding credit.” According to KanAm Grund’s website, the company acquired the two office buildings, located at 754 Peachtree St., in December 2007. “Cole’s partnership with Macfarlan provided an opportunity to jointly acquire a Class-A asset that meets our disciplined acquisition criteria,” says Thomas Roberts, executive …

MINNEAPOLIS — Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. has sold the 57-story IDS Center, an iconic skyscraper in Minneapolis, for $253 million. A joint venture between Beacon Investment Properties LLC, Tel Aviv-based Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. and Menora Mivtahim Insurance Ltd. acquired Minnesota’s tallest building. The tower, located at 80 S. 8th St., occupies an entire block of the Nicollet Mall in what is considered the center of downtown Minneapolis. The 1.4 million-square-foot property includes a 25,000-square-foot indoor park and fountain, and a two-story retail plaza known as Crystal Court, which is fully leased. Retail tenants include Banana Republic and Gap. The tower was originally built as the corporate headquarters for American Express-owned Investors Diversified Services, which is now independent and known as Ameriprise. The office portion of IDS Center is 93 percent occupied. Tenants include the law firms of Lindquist & Vennum; Merchant & Gould; Briggs and Morgan; the Minneapolis office of New York City-based Fulbright & Jaworski; and Gray, Plant, Mooty, Moot & Bennett. Four glass-enclosed pedestrian walkways connect IDS Center to surrounding buildings and retailers such as Macy’s and Off Saks department stores. “It is a stable asset with long-term tenants and a history …

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Cousins Properties Inc. (NYSE: CUZ) has acquired 816 Congress Avenue, a 434,000-square-foot, Class A office building located in downtown Austin. The company purchased the office tower for a net purchase price of $102.4 million, which equates to $236 per square foot. The acquisition was funded with cash proceeds from Cousins’ recent follow-on stock offering. “This represents another attractive acquisition for Cousins as we continue to target quality urban office assets in the best Southeastern submarkets at valuations below replacement cost,” says Larry Gellerstedt, president and CEO of Cousins. “We have a long, successful history in Austin and are very excited about the opportunity to create value at 816 Congress Avenue.” Cousins has played a prominent role in the Austin real estate market for more than 20 years, with a list of notable projects including Frost Bank Tower and Palisades West. 816 Congress Avenue is currently 78 percent leased to a diverse tenant base, including Teachers Retirement System of Texas, Lloyd Gosselink and AT&T Services. With overall office occupancy in the Austin CBD submarket at 89 percent, the building is well positioned for future occupancy growth, the company says. Cousins intends to utilize its market expertise and strong …