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NEW YORK CITY — Strategic Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BEE) has entered into an agreement to purchase the 518-unit Essex House Hotel, located at 160 Central Park S. in Manhattan, from Dubai Investment Group for $362.3 million. Additionally, Strategic Hotels has signed a 50-year management agreement with Marriott International to rebrand the hotel as the JW Marriott Essex House New York. “The Essex House is one of New York City’s most recognized high-end hotels, and I am pleased that we are able to reacquire this landmark asset and convert it to the first JW Marriott in Manhattan,” says Laurence Geller, president and CEO of Strategic Hotels & Resorts. The 40-story iconic hotel, which was built in 1931, includes 509 hotel rooms and nine condominiums. An affiliate of Strategic Hotels previously owned the property, which sold to Dubai Investment Group in 2005 for approximately $440 million. At the time, the hotel contained 605 hotel rooms and 10 condominium units, until it underwent a $90 million renovation in 2007. Upon closing, Strategic Hotels plans to invest $18.3 million in property improvements, including renovations of the common areas, system upgrades as well as new signage and other branding efforts in conjunction with the …

LOS ANGELES — Developer BRE Properties and Bernards, a commercial builder with five offices in the Southwest, have broken ground on a $105 million mixed-use project in Los Angeles. The groundbreaking follows three years of pre-construction at the site, which is located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. When complete, the 800,000-square-foot community will include 480 residential units atop 44,000 square feet of retail space. The building will also feature two-and-a-half levels of underground parking. Amenities will include two pools, fitness facilities and themed facades on the street-facing sides of the structure. According to Steve Pellegren, vice president of preconstruction services for Bernards, the community is the first residential development in the region to go under construction since the housing crisis began four years ago. “This is a high-density project, directly in the middle of one of the city's hottest areas and we are excited to have the opportunity to work on such a unique and spectacular project,” says Pellegren. The property site is comprised of an entire city block of the Los Angeles Miracle Mile, and includes 3.3 acres. The community is also one of the first projects to take advantage of the city's new …

ATLANTA AND DALLAS — Cushman & Wakefield has entered into an agreement to acquire the third-party client services group of Atlanta- and Dallas-based Cousins Properties (NYSE: CUZ). “This move marks a key milestone as we begin the next phase of our strategic growth plan,” says Glenn Rufrano, president and CEO of Cushman & Wakefield. “Integrating such a quality group into our platform enables Cushman & Wakefield to continue to balance our service mix across our global platform and provide consistent quality service to our clients.” Cousins’ client services group provides third-party services to owners of Class A office buildings in Atlanta and Dallas, including leasing, property management and project management services. Approximately 128 professionals will join Cushman & Wakefield’s corporate occupier and investor services group, and will provide immediate enhanced capabilities for clients supported by the company’s investor services and leasing groups. The transaction is expected to close by year’s end. “We are very excited about this transaction. We really consider it a partnership, and view this as a win-win for Cousins, Cushman & Wakefield and most importantly, our clients,” says Larry Gellerstedt, president and CEO of Cousins Properties. “This not only ensures that our clients will be part of …

LAUREL, MD. — A partnership between Greenberg Gibbons, Somera Capital Management and AEW Capital Management has begun construction on Towne Centre at Laurel, a $130 million mixed-use development at the site of the existing Laurel Mall site in Laurel. The joint venture is demolishing the 31-year-old mall to make way for the open-air center, which will feature 400,000 square feet of retail space and 435 residential units. “It’s exciting to begin transforming this property into a first-class destination,” says Brian Gibbons, chairman and CEO of Greenberg Gibbons, a retail and mixed-use developer operating in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., region. “The time is right to breathe new life into this prime location, making way for the kinds of high-quality retailers and restaurants that the Laurel community deserves.” Town Centre at Laurel will include a grocery anchor, sporting goods tenant, movie theatre and other merchants and restaurants in a Main Street setting. Greenberg Gibbons has managed Laurel Mall for more than a year and had been creating plans for its redevelopment during that time. The developer was also finalizing the partnership between Somera and AEW as well. Greenberg has developed similar mixed-use destinations such as Hunt Valley Towne Centre and Annapolis Towne Centre. …

BALTIMORE — Beech Street Capital has secured $371 million in Freddie Mac CME loans for the recapitalization of nine multifamily properties, located in the Baltimore metro area and one property located in the Washington, D.C., region. The communities include two- to four-story, garden-style and townhome-style apartment buildings. Under the recapitalization, Kushner Cos. acquired approximately 25 percent in the ownership group from a Rockpoint Group Partnership, which retained the remaining interest. Westminster Management, an affiliate of Kushner Cos., will manage the properties. According to commercial real estate services firm Transwestern, the average apartment effective rent in Baltimore in the second quarter grew by 5.7 percent on a year-over-year basis. Meanwhile, the Class A vacancy in the second quarter registered 3.2 percent, down 130 basis points from this time last year. Meridian Capital Group originated the 10-year, fixed-rate loans with partial interest-only payments. Beech Street financed the transaction as part of its correspondent relationship with Meridian. The funds will pay off the remaining existing debt and preferred equity on the 5,517-unit portfolio, as well as fund immediate capital expenditure reserves and budgets. New York City-based Kushner Cos. has owned more than 35,000 apartments in the company’s 30-year history. In 2011, Kushner Cos. …

IRVINE, CALIF. — Goodman Group and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) have launched Goodman North America Partnership (GNAP), a logistics and industrial joint venture with a targeted equity amount of $890 million. “This latest partnership broadens CPPIB’s successful relationship with Goodman, with whom we hold investments in Australia, Hong Kong and China,” says Peter Ballon, vice president of real estate investments in America for Toronto-based CPPIB. “We believe that this joint venture will provide significant opportunities to invest in prime logistics and industrial locations across key American markets.” The partnership will initially focus on development-led opportunities, with value-add and stabilized assets to be considered over time. Targeted markets include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, however, other key logistics hubs based around inland ports, intermodals and tier-one ports will also be considered. “GNAP further builds on our relationship with CPPIB and reinforces our strategy of matching third-party capital with our development pipeline, enabling us to enter North America in a measured way,” says Greg Goodman, CEO of Sydney, Australia-based Goodman. “We will continue to work closely with our global customers to deliver high-quality logistics and industrial space, consistent with our prudent development approach.” …

NASHVILLE, TENN. — Harbor Group International (HGI) has made its fourth multifamily purchase in the past 15 months, acquiring a four-property apartment portfolio in Nashville for $130.5 million. The portfolio includes 1,593 apartments and HGI plans to spend $4.69 million, or about $2,900 per unit, in various exterior and interior upgrades. The deal reflects HGI's strategy of buying well-located apartment portfolios in improving markets, explains T. Richard Litton, Jr., HGI's president. “All four properties have occupancy levels above 90 percent and are poised to realize increased revenues as we implement our capital program and the Nashville market continues to improve,” says Litton. HGI's acquisition includes 627 units at Cherry Creek; 346 units at Arbors of Brentwood; 360 units at Cambridge at Hickory Hollow; and 260 units at Preakness. The transaction, HGI's fourth in the past year, follows the company's acquisition of a 1,218-unit apartment portfolio in Florida in June. In July 2011, the Norfolk, Va.-based private real estate and management firm purchased a 1,984-unit portfolio of six multifamily properties in Baltimore. “HGI is uniquely positioned to complete portfolio transactions thanks to our equity resources, a strong track record with similar acquisitions and the company's overall success rate,” says Litton. “We …

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Children’s of Alabama’s new $400 million, 760,000-square-foot Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children (BRHFC), has opened for patients. The hospital, which is the largest single medical facility expansion project in Alabama’s history, is located one block north of the existing facility in Birmingham. The completion makes Children’s of Alabama the third-largest pediatric hospital in the U.S. in terms of square footage. Children’s is also the state’s only freestanding pediatric hospital. BRHFC is named after Alabama entrepreneur Benjamin Russell (1876-1941), whose grandson and grandson’s wife, Ben and Luanne Russell, recently provided a $25 million endowment to the hospital. BRHFC’s opening allows Children’s to increase its licensed bed total from 275 to 332, with an additional 48 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) bassinets. The combined bed/bassinet count ranks Children’s of Alabama in the Top 10 pediatric medical centers in the U.S. based on bed count. The new hospital offers something new to Children’s: all-private rooms in critical care units. These rooms feature a sleeper sofa, large wardrobe, safe and a special patient education/entertainment system. The new hospital also offers private, acute care rooms that are 30 percent larger than the rooms in the existing Children’s building. Each patient floor offers …

RICHMOND, VA. — Apartment Trust of America (ATA) has arranged a $536.5 million recapitalization that includes the acquisition of 21 apartment communities, valued at $485 million, as well as the issuance of $50 million of preferred stock and $1.5 million of common stock. Elco Landmark Residential Holdings (ELRH) and its affiliates and partners, including DeBartolo Development and the Florida Value Funds, are contributing the multifamily properties in exchange for $187 million of partnership interests in ATA’s operation partnership, $16 million in cash and the assumption of $282 million in debt on the properties. “Over the past six years, we have worked to create a high-quality portfolio that produces strong returns for stockholders and a fiscally prudent balance sheet,” says Stanley Olander, CEO of ATA, a publicly registered, non-traded real estate investment trust. In conjunction with the transaction, the company has been renamed Landmark Apartment Trust of America (LATA). Joseph Lubeck, CEO of ELRH, will become the executive chairman of LATA’s board of directors. Upon completion of the 6,100-unit portfolio, LATA will own a total of 36 properties totaling 10,000 units in the southern U.S. “We are pleased that our investors will now also benefit from the larger, more diverse group …