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ORLANDO, FLA. — Orlando-based CNL Healthcare Trust, through a joint venture with Sunrise Senior Living (NYSE:SRZ), has purchased seven seniors housing communities valued at approximately $226 million. Sunrise will continue to operate the communities under a long-term management agreement. “This joint venture with Sunrise strengthens CNL Healthcare Trust’s senior housing portfolio and is consistent with our strategy of partnering with leading operators in attractive markets across the country,” says Stephen H. Mauldin, president and CEO of CNL Healthcare Trust. “As our nation’s demographics continue to shift, there is a growing demand for quality seniors housing and healthcare real estate, which continues to drive our attraction to these types of investments. With our team’s deep and broad healthcare operating and investment experience, CNL Healthcare Trust is well positioned to take advantage of opportunities.” The seven communities include Sunrise of Santa Monica in Santa Monica, Calif.; Sunrise on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C.; Sunrise at Siegen in Baton Rouge, La.; Sunrise of Metairie in Metairie, La., near New Orleans; Sunrise of Gilbert in Gilbert, Ariz., near Phoenix; Sunrise of Louisville in Louisville, Ky.; and Sunrise at Fountain Square in Lombard, Ill., near Chicago. The seven communities have an average age of less …

ELLICOTT CITY, MD. — Home Properties (NYSE: HME) has acquired the 1,350-unit Howard Crossing, a multifamily property located at 8730 Town and County Blvd. in Ellicott City, for $186 million. The sale price equates to approximately $138,000 per unit. “This newly acquired property is located less than one mile from Charleston Manor, an 858-unit property we acquired in September 2010 that has exceeded our underwriting expectations,” says Edward Pettinella, president and CEO of Home Properties. “Based on our familiarity with this submarket, we expect Howard Crossing will achieve similar success.” The property is 92.6 percent leased, with an average monthly rent of $1,111. The property offers 680 one-bedroom units and 670 two-bedroom units, with an average size of 854 square feet. Ninety-one percent of the units offer stacked washers and dryers in the units. Amenities include two pools, a business center, fitness center, basketball courts and tennis courts. Home Properties funded the purchase with proceeds from the issuance of $40 million on unsecured senior guaranteed notes, which are due on June 27, 2019, and have a 4.16 percent interest rate. Additionally, a line of credit and a $100 million unsecured bank demand loan with the same terms and rate at …

GREENWICH, CONN. — Greenwich-headquartered Starwood Capital Group has completed the acquisition of a 90 percent majority interest in seven shopping centers from Westfield Group. The malls, which total more than 6.6 million square feet, include Gateway Mall in Lincoln, Nebraska; Metreon in San Francisco; Solano Mall in Fairfield, California; SouthPark Mall in Cleveland; Westland Mall in Miami; and Chicago Ridge Mall and Louis Joliet Mall in Chicago. Westfield Group will still own a 10 percent minority interest in the properties. CBL & Associates has been selected for management services at six of the assets, including accounting, specialty retail, branding, marketing, maintenance and security. “It is a compliment to our organization to have Starwood’s endorsement of CBL’s management expertise,” says Stephen Lebovitz, president and CEO of CBL. “Within our own portfolio of market dominant regional malls, we have been successful in generating improved performance by utilizing our operational capabilities and we look forward to applying that knowledge to the Starwood portfolio.” Additionally, Starwood has formed a new subsidiary, Starwood Retail Partners, which will be based in Chicago and manage the newly acquired assets. Scott Wolstein has been retained as CEO. “We are very excited about the opportunity to bring Starwood’s best-in-class …

NEW YORK CITY — Nordstrom Inc. plans to open its first full-line department store in New York City, following a site search that lasted more than a decade. The Seattle-based chain will occupy 285,000 square feet at the base of planned skyscraper at Broadway and West 57th Street, near Columbus Circle. The store is part of a deal with Extell Development Co., which owns the site. The seven-story store is expected to open in 2018. “It makes perfect sense that Nordstrom — one of the premier names in retailing — would want a flagship store in New York, the world's premier city for retailing,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during a news conference Thursday. “This is very exciting news for New Yorkers and the millions of tourists who come to our city to shop each year, and this new addition to the West Side of Manhattan is another sign of the private sector's confidence in New York City.” Extell reportedly plans to construct a 1 million-square-foot tower, with a hotel and apartments, on the site of a former Hard Rock Cafe. Extell President Gary Burnett assembled the 40,000-square-foot site during the period of a decade. According to Barnett, excavation work on …

SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Los Angeles has chosen Turner Construction Co. to build the $160 million, 216,000-square-foot Fort Irwin Replacement Hospital, located in San Bernardino. The hospital will provide tertiary care, emergency medicine and clinical support, and will take the place of the Weed Army Community Hospital. A joint venture between Ellerbe Becket and RLF designed the property to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The project will also include a 9,000-square-foot renovation of the Mary Walker clinic and construction of a helipad, ambulance shelter, central utilities plant and photovoltaic farm, which will provide sustainable energy to the hospital and ancillary buildings. “The Fort Irwin Replacement Hospital is a significant win for our company because it builds upon Turner’s outstanding reputation as the leading builder of premiere healthcare facilities for the government,” says Chris Jahrling, vice president and general manager of Turner’s federal services group in Washington, D.C. “We are excited and honored to partner with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and contribute to its mission to provide world-class care to service members and their families.” Turner, which is headquartered in New York City, completes $8 billion annually of construction. Recently, the company completed …

SACREMENTO, CALIF. — The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension plan in the U.S., has purchased a one-third stake in Bentall Kennedy, a Toronto-based real estate investment advisory firm, and is now a partial owner. The remaining two-thirds of the limited partnership ownership is evenly split between the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. (bcIMC) and Bentall Kennedy’s senior management team. Founded as a small construction company in 1911, Bentall Kennedy now serves the interest of more than 500 clients with U.S. and Canadian real estate holdings totaling $28.7 billion as of March 2012. “Bentall Kennedy has a track record of fiduciary excellence and is a global leader in environmental, social and governance practices,” says Rob Feckner, president of the CalPERS Board of Administration. “This relationship will allow our real estate team to further expand on trends and opportunities in real estate investment and management.” Victoria, British Columbia-based bcIMC handles a global investment portfolio valued at $91.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2011. The firm’s clients include public sector pension plans, public trusts and insurance funds. “CalPERS is a complementary and welcome addition to the Bentall Kennedy Group,” says Doug Pearce, CEO and chief investment officer of …

SYDNEY — Sydney-based DEXUS Property Group has sold a 65-property industrial portfolio, located in the central U.S., to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII (NYSE: BX) for $770 million. The sale is the largest single industrial real estate portfolio transaction in the country so far this year. “The settlement of the central portfolio is a good result and allows our U.S. team to focus on the remaining West Coast portfolio and to leverage our local industrial real estate management and development enterprise going forward,” says Darren Steinberg, CEO of DEXUS. DEXUS now owns and manages 24 industrial properties in the U.S., valued at approximately $550 million, which total 6.8 million square feet. Additionally, the company manages $200 million in properties on behalf of U.S. third-party clients. “Since being established in June 2010, DEXUS’s U.S. team has assumed direct asset management control of the West Coast portfolio and taken an active role in leasing and managing the central portfolio,” Steinberg says. “This active approach resulted in significant improvement in occupancy of the central portfolio from 79 percent to 90 percent prior to its sale.” Included in the sale are three recently completed Class A distribution facilties leased to Whirlpool Corp. Eastdil Secured’s …

NEW YORK CITY — JD Carlisle and DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners (DLJ RECP) have sold the 301-unit The Beatrice, a luxury apartment property located in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, to Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) for $280 million. The property includes the top 29 floors of a 54-story, mixed-use tower located at 105 W. 29th St. “The sale of The Beatrice is testament to our development team’s consistent ability to deliver premier properties of the highest caliber,” says Jules Demchick, chairman of JD Carlisle. “EQR recognizes the tremendous long-term value this proven property offers. New York City Class A multifamily is a highly sought after asset class delivering solid returns to institutional investors. The Beatrice is just one example of the premium quality, institutional-grade product that JD Carlisle and DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners have been successfully developing together for years.” The remaining portion of the building includes the 292-room Eventi Hotel and a 529-space parking garage. The Beatrice includes wall-to-wall windows, ceiling heights that range from 9 to 12 feet, hardwood oak floors, Caledonia granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, Textura Coquille porcelain, deep soaking tubs and Lacava, Grohe and Kohler fixtures. Amenities include a private residents’ lobby, landscaped …

DENVER — Bill Hoffman’s business goes up as the performance of commercial real estate loans goes down. With more than $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans slated to mature between 2012 and 2015 and many borrowers still underwater, the CEO of Trigild, a San Diego-based distressed real estate, loan recovery and receivership specialist, fully expects his business to continue thriving. Unlike lenders and investors, Hoffman doesn’t lay awake at night worrying about the euro debt crisis or the ripple effects of an economic slowdown in China. “I hate to say that because we sound like an undertaker. I prefer that you think of us as an emergency doctor. You’ll never want to see us, but when you need us we’re there,” Hoffman said half-jokingly during a panel discussion Thursday morning at the National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE) Conference in Denver. Hosted at the historic Brown Palace Hotel downtown, the panel discussion was titled, “Commercial Real Estate: The Crash That Never Happened?” Hoffman outlined a scenario that he believes will cause a relapse in the recovery of commercial real estate prices. If the mortgage on a property is 120 percent of the value and the loan is coming …

SKOKIE, ILL. — Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII (NYSE: BX) and DDR Corp. (NYSE: DDR) have completed the $1.4 billion acquisition of Skokie-based EPN Group’s 46-property shopping center portfolio. The properties include open-air, value-oriented power centers totaling 10.6 million square feet in 20 states. Top tenants by base rent include the TJX Cos., Kohl’s, PetSmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, JoAnn’s, Old Navy, Walmart and The Home Depot. The portfolio is 90 percent leased. Additionally, the joint venture has assumed $635 million of senior non-recourse debt and has originated an additional five-year, $320 million non-recourse loan facility. Blackstone owns 93 percent of the common equity of the joint venture and an affiliate of DDR owns 5 percent. DDR will continue to lease and manage the properties, and has the right of first offer to acquire 10 of the shopping centers under specified conditions. To read the initial article regarding the announcement of the acquisition, click here. Blackstone’s share price closed at $12.3 per share on Wednesday, down from $15.94 a year earlier. DDR’s share price closed at $14.26 per share, up from $13.51 a year ago. — Savannah Duncan