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NEW YORK CITY — Construction is under way on the world's tallest Holiday Inn — a 50-story hotel at 99 Washington St. in New York City. Designed by Gene Kaufman Architects (GKA), the 400-room hotel is situated just three blocks south of the World Trade Center site and is slated to play a role in the ongoing recovery of Lower Manhattan. McSam Hotel Group is developing the property. “Ten years after 9/11, with the Memorial recently opened and forecast to be the number one tourist attraction in the entire nation, breaking ground in Lower Manhattan on the tallest Holiday Inn in the world is clear evidence that this is a renaissance of the newest, biggest and best,” said Gene Kaufman, founder of GKA, in a prepared statement. Holiday Inn will join the growing hotel landscape in Lower Manhattan, said Elizabeth Berger, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York, in a statement. According to a 2011 report by the alliance, the number of hotels in Lower Manhattan has tripled since 2001, going from six to 18. The number of hotel rooms rose to 4,029 from 2,300. Tourism continues to thrive in the district. With about 10 million visitors last year, …

AUSTIN, TEXAS — American Campus Communities' Bill Bayless and EdR's Randy Churchey, CEOs of the two largest companies in the student housing sphere, weighed in Wednesday on emerging industry trends during the fourth annual InterFace Student Housing Conference in Austin that has attracted more than 700 attendees. The two publicly traded REITs have been growing by leaps and bounds, but most public attention has been on EdR, which secured an agreement with the University of Kentucky (UK) to develop and manage all of the university's on-campus housing. It is the first such deal to be struck where a large, land-grant public university chose to outsource its entire stock of on-campus housing. The 50-year ground lease was signed in February, and ground has been broken for a brand-new, 600-bed honors college. Eventually, EdR will add 3,000 beds to the campus and drive the on-campus bed total to 9,000. This agreement has the industry wondering what this deal could mean going forward. Moderator Dorothy Jackman, managing director of the National Student Housing Group for Colliers International, asked the CEOs if more colleges like UK will soon make similar deals. “Those types of major initiatives take longer to transact,” Bayless told the attendees …

NEW YORK CITY — JCJ Architecture, a Hartford, Conn.-based commercial design firm, has completed Phase I of the 1 million-square-foot Resorts World Casino New York City, the city’s first casino, located within the Aqueduct Racetrack complex in Queens. The construction costs are estimated at $510 million. JCJ served as the architect and interior design firm for the project. Malaysian-based Genting Group developed the casino and will handle operations. Genting and JCJ repositioned an existing building and added approximately 736,000 square feet of space for the new casino. The project added about 1,200 new construction jobs. Sylmar, Calif.-based Tutor Perini served as construction manager. The complex will contribute $350 million annually to the State of New York to support education, and will also feature gaming, dining and entertainment options. “Resorts World is an extraordinary example of creative repositioning and adaptive reuse. Working with Genting, we have transformed an aging landmark into a vibrant and energetic entertainment destination,” said Peter Stevens, president of JCJ Architecture, in a prepared statement. “Not only will Resorts World donate one percent of pre-tax profits to the local community, it has also created more than 1,350 permanent jobs for the city’s residents.” JCJ has designed each floor …

HARTFORD, CONN. — CityPlace LLC has sold the 884,669-square-foot UnitedHealthcare Center in downtown Hartford at the intersection of Asylum and Trumbull streets for $99 million, or approximately $112 per square foot. The 39-story office tower, which is formerly known as CityPlace I, is the tallest building in the state of Connecticut. “The sale of UnitedHealthcare Center marks the largest in Hartford in more than 2 years,” said Michael Smith, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Boston office, in a prepared statement. “The high-quality, investment grade tenants, including anchor tenant UnitedHealth Group, along with its excellent location, high-quality construction and consistently high historical occupancy made this property extremely compelling and we received numerous offers for the property,” Smith said. According to the Hartford Courant, Smith, along with Scott Jamieson of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Boston office and Chris Ostop of the firm’s Hartford office, represented the seller in the transaction and procured the buyer, Newton, Massachusetts-based CommonWealth REIT. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the Class A property, which was built by Urban Investment and Development. The tower has undergone significant renovations during the past 5 years. UnitedHealthcare Center is currently 98 percent leased to a variety of tenants, which include Bank of …

BOSTON — Scottsdale, Arizona-based Healthcare Trust of America (HTA) has purchased the 13-property Steward Portfolio, a medical office portfolio totaling 371,551 square feet, for $100 million. The properties are located on the campuses of the Steward Health Care network in the greater Boston metro area. “The Steward Portfolio acquisition continues our investment strategy of acquiring quality on-campus medical office buildings with strong health care systems in a strategic market,” said Mark Engstrom, executive vice president of acquisitions for HTA, in a prepared statement. “HTA is proud to continue working with one of the largest emerging integrated community-based healthcare systems in the Northeast.” The portfolio is fully leased on a triple-net basis to Steward Health Care System, the largest fully integrated community care organization in New England, until 2024. Steward Health Care System is the third largest employer in Massachusetts with more than 17,000 employees serving more than 1 million patients in 85 communities. Healthcare Trust of America is a fully integrated, self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust. Since January, HTA has deployed approximately $214 million for high-quality medical office buildings. HTA’s portfolio is comprised of approximately 12.4 million square feet of space in 245 medical office buildings, 10 hospitals and …

RICHFIELD, MINN. — Best Buy announced Thursday that it plans to close 50 of its big-box stores in the U.S. by 2013 to shore up its balance sheet. The electronics retailer has suffered from eroding sales as a growing number of customers use its stores as a showroom, while turning to lower-priced products elsewhere, says John Bemis, executive vice president director of leasing at Jones Lang LaSalle's Montgomery, Ala. office. “Customers will go into a Best Buy store, scan a code into their mobile device and shop that item all over town and on the Internet,” says Bemis. “It's becoming more common at retail stores in general.” The announcement came during a conference call with analysts to discuss news of a fourth-quarter net loss of $1.7 billion, or $4.89 a share. This compares to $651 million in profit one year ago. Jeff Green, president and CEO of retail real estate consulting firm Jeff Green Partners, adds that the size of the company's products is also problematic. Televisions are becoming more slender and many of today's electronics are more compact. “The stores are simply too large for this environment,” says Green. To remodel the chain, Best Buy announced plans to shift …

LOS ANGELES — A partnership between Seattle-based American Life Inc. and Portland-based Williams/Dame & Associates plans to break ground this spring on a $172 million hotel development in Los Angeles. The 23-story, high-rise building will contain a 174-room Courtyard by Marriott, as well as a 218-room Residence Inn by Marriott. In addition, the property will include 11,754 square feet of meeting space and 5,100 square feet of restaurant space. Completion is slated for summer 2014. “We are proud to welcome Marriott’s two new hotels to the growing downtown revitalization,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in a prepared statement. “The project is expected to generate more than 1,000 new jobs once complete in 2014.” The hotel is the first dual construction of a Residence Inn and a Courtyard by Marriott on the West Coast. The 373,000-square-foot hotel project will be located at the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Francisco Street, adjacent to L.A. LIVE, the 4 million-square-foot sports, residential and entertainment district. “The property is optimally located within walking distance of the Los Angeles Convention Center and will drive convention and group business,” said Homer Williams, chairman of Williams/Dame & Associates, in a prepared statement. “Also, the influx of hotel guests will …

AUSTIN, ATLANTA AND LEXINGTON, KY. — DiamondRock Hospitality Co., a Bethesda, Md.-based hotel REIT, has closed on the sale of a three-hotel portfolio to affiliates of Inland American, an Oak Brook, Ill.-based non-traded REIT, for $262.5 million. The two entities entered into a purchase agreement in October 2011. The hotels in the portfolio include the 492-room Renaissance Austin in Austin, the 409-room Griffin Gate Marriott Resort & Spa in Lexington, and the 521-room Renaissance Waverly in Atlanta. All three hotels are subject to long-term management agreements with Marriott International Inc. “We are pleased to announce the completion of the sale of the three hotels to Inland American,” said Mark Brugger, CEO of DiamondRock Hospitality Co. “We believe the disposition achieves primary benefits for DiamondRock.” The sale will reduce the company’s debt by $180 million and increase corporate cash by approximately $93 million, and position DiamondRock to be an opportunistic acquirer of hotels this year. The sale also improves DiamondRock’s portfolio and market concentration, according to Brugger. As part of the sale, DiamondRock received approximately $10 million for hotel working capital and cash previously held in restricted escrow accounts, net of closing costs. Eastdil Secured advised DiamondRock on the sale. In …

GREGORY, TEXAS — Tianjin Pipe Corp. (TPCO) has plans to construct a $1 billion manufacturing facility in Gregory, located near the Port of Corpus Christi. Tianjin, China-based TPCO is a global leader for manufacturing seamless pipes. The facility, TPCO’s first major mill in the United States, will be delivered in phases between December 2012 and the end of 2014. Currently, the company has major manufacturing properties in China and Indonesia, and exports to more than 100 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE: JEC) has been selected to provide project management consulting services for the new pipe rolling mill. “We are very proud that TPCO has chosen Jacobs to provide project management consulting services for its first project in the U.S.,” said Tom McDuffie, group vice president of Jacobs, in a prepared statement. “This is a major investment in Texas and reflects the confidence in our reputation for successfully delivering large facilities anywhere in the world.” Jacobs’ Houston and Shanghai offices will assist TPCO with coordination and management of engineering, procurement and construction for the mill. Engineering, procurement and construction of the new facility is expected to be a multinational endeavor, including professional services, …

HERNDON, VA. — Norcross, Ga.-based Wells Core Office Income REIT Inc. has purchased South Lake at Dulle Corner in Herndon for $91.1 million, or $340 per square foot. Wells Core is a non-traded REIT. Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN), the seller, completed the development of the 10-story office property in November 2008. The Class A office building is fully leased to Time Warner Cable Inc., one of the nation's largest cable providers, which occupies 268,240 square feet. Brandywine, based in Radnor, Pa., plans to use the net sale proceeds after closing costs for general corporate purposes. The publicly traded REIT is selling the property as part of a larger strategy to maximize its existing portfolio's value, said Gerald H. Sweeney, president and CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust, in a prepared statement. “It strengthens our balance sheet by providing additional liquidity, provides additional capital for our investment activities and demonstrates our commitment to execute key components of our 2012 business plan,” Sweeney stated. Cassidy Turley marketed the property on behalf of Brandywine. Brandywine’s stock price closed Friday, March 23 at $11.22 per share, up slightly from $10.99 a year ago. — Liz Burlingame