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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 …

NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based Meridian Capital Group LLC negotiated $115 million in acquisition and construction financing for the purchase and redevelopment of the Flatotel, a 47-story vacant hotel in New York City. Meridian arranged the loan on behalf of the borrower, a partnership between Chetrit Group and Clipper Equity. Chetrit Group and Clipper Equity have previous experience with hotel conversions and renovations in the New York City metro area, including the Empire Hotel, Hotel Chelsea, BellTel Lofts and Columbus Square. The partnership purchased the vacant hotel from a venture between Rockpoint Group, Atlas Capital and Procaccianti Group. The Flatotel property is currently configured as a 288-room hotel with 14,000 square feet of meeting space. Chetrit and Clipper plan to convert the asset into a five-floor, 64,400-square-foot boutique office condominium property and a 37-floor, 173-unit luxury residential condominium property. The office component will span floors two through seven and the residential portion will span floors eight through 47. The buyer estimates the cost for the repositioning at $250 million. Ronnie Levine, managing director of Meridian Capital Group, and Emanuel Westfried, the firm’s vice president, arranged the loan. The three-year, nonrecourse, interest-only loan features a floating LIBOR-based interest rate …

ATLANTA AND FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Cortland Partners has continued its expansion in the multifamily sector with the purchase of five apartment communities totaling 2,237 units throughout the Atlanta and Dallas areas for $244 million. The apartment communities purchased include: the 360-unit Coventry at Cityview in Fort Worth, Texas; the 406-unit Promenade at Peachtree in Chamblee, Ga.; the 360-unit Lexington Farms in Alpharetta, Ga.; and the 268-unit Longwood Apartments in Decatur, Ga. Equity Residential sold Promenade at Peachtree, Lexington Farms and Longwood. The Atlanta-based multifamily investment firm also purchased the 843-unit Idlewylde Apartments in Duluth, Ga., from Associated Estates. Idlewylde was built in two phases, and Cortland intends to market the project as two separate apartment communities. The acquisition is part of Cortland’s strategic investment plan to expand its multifamily portfolio, which has grown from 1,900 apartment units to almost 13,000 in the last three years. “We have improved our economies of scale in Texas with the addition of Coventry at Cityview in Fort Worth, enhanced our allocation in the Atlanta market, which is poised to outperform the national economy, and continued to evolve the capital structure of the firm,” says Steven DeFrancis, CEO of Cortland Partners. Debt capital for …

GREENWICH, CONN. — Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD) and Starwood Capital Group, on behalf of Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund IX, have finalized their previously announced acquisition of LNR Property LLC. Starwood Property Trust acquired the LNR business segments — the U.S. special servicer, the U.S. investment securities portfolio, Archetype Mortgage Capital, Archetype Financial Institution Services, LNR Europe and 50 percent of LNR’s interest in Auction.com — for an aggregate purchase price of $862 million. Greenwich-based Starwood Capital Group is a private investment firm with a focus on global real estate. Since its inception in 1991, the firm has raised more than $16 billion in equity capital and has invested $13.7 billion representing more than $36 billion in assets. Starwood Property Trust focuses on originating, investing in, financing and managing commercial mortgage loans and other real estate-related debt investments. SPT Management LLC, an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, externally manages and advises Starwood Property Trust. The company’s stock price closed at $27.16 per share on Friday, up from $18.72 per share one year ago. Citigroup and Credit Suisse served as financial advisors to Starwood in the transaction and Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal counsel. — Brittany Biddy

DENVER — Rosemont Realty LLC has acquired the Denver World Trade Center office towers in the city's central business district from LaSalle Investment Management Inc. of Chicago, doing business as I & G Denver WTC LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Denver Business Journal reports that industry sources put the price tag for the two towers, which span a combined 770,221 square feet, at $229 per square foot, or about $176 million. The purchase of the towers, 1675 and 1625 Broadway, also known as World Trade Center Tower I and World Trade Center Tower II, was the city’s biggest real estate transaction so far this year. “Denver WTC is an iconic skyline property with a prestigious downtown address adjacent to the 16th Street Mall,” says Daniel Burrell, CEO of Santa Fe, N.M.-based Rosemont Realty. “This acquisition follows a broader strategy by Rosemont of migrating more of its portfolio into commercial business districts where tenant demand is improving and rates have the potential to grow rapidly in the coming years.” The complex is currently 95 percent leased to 55 tenants. Among the tenants are Noble Energy Inc., Schlumberger Ltd., KeyBank, Resolute Energy Corp., and Baker Hughes. The …

HOUSTON — Jones Lang LaSalle's capital markets team has arranged a $185.4 million acquisition loan for Williams Tower, a 1.4 million-square-foot Class A office tower in Houston's Galleria region. Mike Melody and Paul House led the Jones Lang LaSalle team on the transaction. Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. provided the loan on behalf of the borrower, Invesco Real Estate. “This was a very significant financing transaction that generated substantial interest from the top-tier institutional lending community,” said Melody. “Williams Tower is not only one of the most recognizable buildings in Houston, it is also an asset that has outperformed the market over the past five years, proving to be a very solid investment. We are confident Williams Tower will continue to deliver good returns for Invesco and perform favorably in the future given its high quality and position in the marketplace.” Invesco purchased the 64-story building from Hines REIT in early March 2013. Tom Melody, Michael Zietsman and Dan Bellow of Jones Lang LaSalle represented Hines on the sale. The team was assisted by Jones Lang LaSalle's tenant representation and international capital group. Completed in 1982, Williams Tower was designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee. The building received multiple awards, …

PLAYA VISTA, CALIF. — The legendary parcel of land that once gave rise to Howard Hughes’ aerospace empire is undergoing a $260 million transformation into Runway, a large-scale, mixed-use property located in the Playa Vista community, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. The development team, led by Lincoln Property Co., Phoenix Property Co. and Paragon Commercial Group, has begun construction on the project, which will include shopping, dining, entertainment and living space. Aided by a new $150 million construction loan through a syndicate of banks led by Bank of America, the project will include 221,000 square feet of retail, 420 apartments and 35,000 square feet of office space spread across three buildings. Construction is expected to last less than two years, with tenants opening their doors before the holiday shopping season in 2014. “This project has been a long time coming, so we are excited to be moving to the next stage in the development process and to be that much closer to injecting more energy into this already vibrant community,” says David Binswanger, executive vice president of Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. “We want Runway to be at the forefront of everything new in the worlds of fashion, art, design and …

BRADENTON AND ORLANDO, FLA. — Hendricks-Berkadia Real Estate Advisors has arranged the sale of three apartment communities, which total 1,130 units in Bradenton and Orlando, for a total of approximately $61.8 million. Situs LLC sold the 264-unit Braden Lakes Apartments on 50th Avenue West in Bradenton for $14.3 million. Lexsignia LLC acquired the property, which includes 16 two-story, garden-style buildings and a clubhouse. Situs LLC also sold The Cornerstone Apartments, situated on 27 acres along South Conway Road in Orlando, for $23 million. Robbins Property Associates LLC acquired the 430-unit complex. Additionally, Hendricks-Berkadia brokered the $24.5 million sale of Park Baldwin Palms, located at 2250 N. Semoran Blvd. in Orlando. Everglades Partners LLC sold the 436-unit multifamily property to Convenant Capital Group LLC. The community includes 38 two-story, garden-style buildings situated on 21.8 acres. Cole Whitaker, Hal Warren and Jason Stanton of Hendricks-Berkadia represented the sellers in each transaction. Hendricks-Berkadia, headquartered in Phoenix, is a real estate multifamily services firm with 68 offices across the country. — Brittany Biddy