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JOPLIN, MO. — McCarthy Building Cos. has topped out the new 875,000-square-foot Mercy Hospital Joplin for Mercy, a Chesterfield, Mo.-based Catholic health care system. The company broke ground on the seven-story, 260-room hospital in January 2012 with a construction budget of $335 million. The facility replaces the former St. John’s Mercy Regional Medical Center, which was demolished in an EF-5 tornado on May 22, 2011. Members of Mercy and the Joplin community, along with the design and construction team, signed the final steel beam in honor of the former hospital. McCarthy and Mercy began working together just days after the tornado struck, establishing a temporary 60-bed field hospital so that Mercy could continue to serve the residents of the community. “McCarthy has given us what we’ve really needed most. They know how to make things happen,” says John Farnen, executive vice president of planning, design and construction for Mercy. “We went from the initial design to breaking ground in just five months.” The hospital will include medical, surgical, critical care, women’s, behavioral health and rehab facilities. The lower three floors of the development include hospital space, with a seven-story patient tower and four-story clinic tower located above. A separate 30,000-square-foot …

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hines, an international real estate developer, has increased its ownership of the $700 million, mixed-use CityCenterDC project in Washington, D.C., after buying the ownership interest of its partner Archstone. Hines announced the acquisition a day after apartment owners AvalonBay Communities Inc. (AVB) and Equity Residential (EQR) said they completed their purchase of Archstone in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $16 billion. The total deal included the assumption of approximately $9.5 billion in debt. “We have enjoyed working with Archstone and are proud to complete and manage this momentous development for D.C.,” says Jeff Hines, president of Houston-based Hines. “The project's momentum in office leasing, strong residential condominium sales and widespread interest among retailers and restaurants make CityCenterDC an excellent vehicle for further investment.” The CityCenterDC project includes a mix of condominiums, apartments, offices, public spaces, restaurants, shops and a hotel. Neil Brown, Archstone's chief development officer, adds, “Archstone and Hines have worked together hand-in-glove on this project for the last decade, and there is no better outcome for the project than for Hines to assume full oversight of this massive mixed-use development.” In addition to increasing its ownership in the mixed-use project, Hines will assume development responsibility …

ARLINGTON, VA. — AvalonBay Communities Inc. (NYSE: AVB) and Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) have completed their $16 billion acquisition of Archstone Enterprise from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The total deal includes cash and stock and the assumption of approximately $9.5 billion in debt. Equity, the largest publicly traded U.S. apartment landlord, which is controlled by real estate billionaire Sam Zell, now owns 60 percent of Archstone, or 78 apartment properties. AvalonBay, the second-biggest, owns the remaining 68 complexes. The companies have stated that the deal will help them grow quickly in coastal cities, such as New York and San Francisco, where expansion is difficult due to the scarcity and high cost of land. The properties are mostly located in Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Southern California, Denver and Jacksonville. Equity's cash and equity portion of the transaction, which included approximately $2 billion in cash and the issuance of 34,468,085 shares, was funded by the sale of non-core assets. “By funding a portion of this acquisition with proceeds from the sale of our non-core assets, we have nearly completed the total transformation of our portfolio,” says David Neithercut, CEO and president of Chicago-based Equity Residential. “Going forward, our future earnings and shareholder …

NEW YORK CITY — Colliers International has brokered the sale of a two-building office portfolio in the Midtown South submarket of New York City for $115 million. Colliers arranged the sale on behalf of Yeshiva University, a private research university with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. “Yeshiva University owned a portfolio of well-located, in-demand office properties,” explains James Murphy, executive managing director of Colliers International. “They felt that current market conditions provided an ideal time to sell, taking advantage of Midtown South’s record rents and lack of new product.” The 12-story buildings, located at 24 & 28 W. 25th St. and 40 W. 25th St., total approximately 250,000 square feet. The buildings are located between Broadway and Sixth Avenue in Chelsea’s technology sector. Penn Station and various subway and bus lines are within walking distance. The Midtown South submarket is the nation’s tightest office market, according to Colliers. The vacancy rate in the fourth quarter of 2012 was at 3.9 percent, a decrease from 4 percent in the third quarter and 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. Colliers attributes the low vacancy rate to job growth in the professional services and high-tech industries, which …

DALLAS — CBRE Capital Market’s Debt & Equity Finance group has arranged multiple loans totaling more than $1 billion to finance the acquisition of a 27-property multifamily portfolio. The properties are located in eight markets across the United States. The first 10 properties closed on February 12 and the rest will close in late March. CBRE worked on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Greystar, to arrange the 27 individual Freddie Mac loans. The seven-year loans are non-crossed and float over 30-day Libor. The joint venture purchased the portfolio from Equity Residential for $1.5 billion. “The acquisition of the EQR portfolio provides Goldman Sachs and Greystar with an incredible value-add opportunity in some of the leading apartment markets in the United States,” says Mike Bryant, vice chairman of CBRE Debt & Equity Finance in Dallas. “The high-end quality of the entire portfolio is something you don’t see every day.” The portfolio includes a total of 8,010 units, with properties located in Phoenix, Southern California, the San Francisco Bay area, Denver, Washington, D.C., Orlando South Florida and northern New Jersey. Properties that were closed on Feb. 12 include: Windsor Fair Lakes and Ellipse in …

PROVIDENCE, R.I. AND PRINCETON TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC has closed two loans totaling $89.5 million for multifamily properties in Rhode Island and New Jersey. The two assets include the 444-unit Regency Plaza in Providence and the 220-unit Barclay Square at Princeton Forrestal in Princeton Township. Regency Plaza has received a $48 million loan to refinance an existing mortgage on the property. The complex includes three high-rise buildings that offer studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The apartment community is 96 percent occupied. Robert Lipson with Berkadia’s Red Bank, N.J. office secured the 10-year, fixed-rate loan on behalf of the borrower, Chestnut Hill Realty, through Freddie Mac. Berkadia secured the original loan on the property, which Freddie Mac provided in 2008. “Berkadia has a longstanding relationship with Chestnut Hill Realty, and with the help of Freddie Mac, we were able to secure historically low interest rates in a short period of time,” says Lipson. “We were pleased to work on this transaction, especially with the recent renovations to the common areas of the property and the continued unit upgrades.” Lipson also arranged a $41.5 million loan for Barclay Square at Princeton Forrestal in Princeton Township through Freddie Mac. …

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, MD. — Picerne Military Housing, a division of the Corvias Group, has broken ground on the U.S. Army's first on-post apartment project for unmarried, junior-level service members at Ft. Meade in Maryland. The $72 million project will give 1,400 service members from all branches of the military the choice to live on post in a garden-style community called Reese Crossings. Reese Crossings will include 432 apartments, ranging from 1,126-square-foot one-bedrooms units to 1,186-square-foot two-bedroom units. The apartments will feature large kitchens with a breakfast bar, full-size appliances, a laundry room, free cable and high-speed Internet. “Today adds to the dramatic transformation of the housing here at Fort Meade as we recognize the Army's commitment to significantly improve the quality of life for our service members,” Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment said at Thursday's groundbreaking ceremony. Units will also offer master suites with individual bathrooms, walk-in closets, personal climate controls and private, climate-controlled secure storage for military gear. Each unit will be furnished with a sofa, media cabinet, barstools and coffee table, as well as a queen-sized bed, desk and nightstand in every bedroom. “This new community will improve the …

WORCESTER, MASS. — Construction of a state-of-the-art biomedical research and education facility on the University of Massachusetts Medical School campus in Worcester, which will serve as the centerpiece of the state’s life sciences initiative, is complete. Suffolk Construction Co. built the $400 million Albert Sherman Center, a 512,000-square-foot development. The new facility effectively doubles the medical school’s research capacity. The LEED-Gold certified Albert Sherman Center serves as the hub of the Worcester campus, physically connecting to existing buildings with landscaped exterior plazas and two elevated pedestrian bridges. The development stands 11 stories high, with nine occupied floors topped by a two-story mechanical penthouse. The facility features research laboratories, six learning community centers, a 350-seat auditorium, conference rooms, a full-service café and dining area, and a fitness center. Designed by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge Inc., the interdisciplinary, research and education facility was created to maximize collaboration among researchers, educators and students to encourage innovation and learning across disciplines. The project also included construction of a nearby 1,411-space, seven-level parking garage. According to Suffolk Construction, a key component to delivering the project on time and within budget was its use of building information modeling, or BIM. BIM is a new way of approaching …

SAN FRANCISCO — Tishman Speyer, a developer and manager of Class A real estate, and China Vanke Co., a specialized residential property developer based in China, have formed a joint venture to construct a high-rise condominium project at 201 Folsom St. in San Francisco. The 655-unit project will consist of two connected residential towers spanning 37 and 42 stories. The project is China Vanke’s first North American investment. China Vanke is the world’s largest developer, with more than 400,000 units delivered in the People’s Republic of China. The firm has also provided property management services to approximately 200 residential communities. “China Vanke has always been a company with a global view, good at learning from excellent peer enterprises,” says Shi Wang, chairman of China Vanke. “We are entering the U.S. market to continue this learning process, to understand business models in a mature market and accumulate management experience through project cooperation.” New York-based Tishman Speyer will manage the development upon completion. As of Sept. 30, 2012, Tishman Speyer has acquired, developed and/or managed more than 125 million square feet of real estate with a total value of more than $61.3 billion since the company’s founding in 1978. “This landmark joint …

NEW YORK CITY — Real estate investment trust SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG) has closed on a $900 million mortgage refinancing for 1515 Broadway, a 2 million-square-foot office tower in Times Square. The new 12-year, 3.93 percent fixed-rate mortgage financing replaces the former $775 million mortgage loan. The refinancing follows the April 2012 lease renewal by Viacom of 1.6 million square feet at the tower through 2031. SL Green will recognize approximately $116 million in net proceeds from the deal. “Our ability to execute long-term, fixed-rate financing at historically low rates is a significant achievement and reflects both this property’s strength as well as the continuing positive evolution of Times Square,” says Andrew Mathias, president of SL Green. 1515 Broadway has towered above Times Square since 1972 and is the world headquarters for Viacom, which owns MTV. A $60 million renovation of the 56-story office tower was completed in 2010. The new design includes a stainless steel storefront and canopy, with new gray Pietra di Bedonia stone paving. The new lobby features a custom-glass art wall. “The long-term renewal of the Viacom lease, coupled with our redevelopment of the building’s lobby, common areas, retail space, and the introduction of …