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BRENTWOOD, TENN. — Brookdale Senior Living Inc., a Brentwood-based senior living owner and operating firm, has acquired nine seniors housing communities for $121.3 million. The properties include a total of 1,295 units. Brookdale previously operated the nine properties under long-term leases. At the request of the seller, the names and locations of the properties were not disclosed. The transaction comes at a time when there is uncertainty in the seniors housing market due to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ruling to cut hospital reimbursements by 11 percent, or $3.87 billion, in fiscal year 2012, which began Oct. 1, 2011. Although the ruling may have bridled sales of seniors housing in the short term, the long-term demand for these facilities is expected to grow. According to Marcus & Millichap’s most recent market report on seniors housing, persons age 65 and older makes up 13 percent of the U.S. population. During the next 10 years, that age cohort is estimated to reach 17 percent of the general U.S. population. Brookdale’s acquisition fulfills a stance made in the Marcus & Millichap report, which stated, “Uncertainty surrounding the Medicare ruling will temper sales velocity … but trading will persist as regional …

COLLEGE STATION — The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has approved a $120 million classroom building and small animal hospital expansion project for the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medical & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) in College Station, Texas. “Our goal is to build a premier teaching and research facility that complements our world-class faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the far-ranging impact they have on both animal and human health,” said R. Bowen Loftin, president of Texas A&M, in a prepared statement. “At this point, the building will be one of the largest construction projects in the history of the university, which speaks volumes about the importance veterinary medicine plays in our state’s economy, as well as in our daily lives.” The new building will include a state-of-the-art classroom and teaching laboratory space, which will provide opportunities for innovations in teaching and will nurture collaboration and creativity. The administrative team of the CVM will begin the planning and design process with a completion date to be predicted in the near future. Funding will be provided solely from the Permanent University Fund, which was established in the Texas Constitution in 1876 as a public …

ATLANTA — Multifamily development is expected to ramp up in the U.S. in the next few years, but are some markets in danger of becoming overheated? Construction lenders weighed in on this question at a panel focusing on bank porftfolio lending appetites during the Mortgage Bankers Association's commercial/multifamily finance conference in Atlanta on Feb. 6. Panelist Ken Broussard, regional executive of the income property group of KeyBank, said the bank has internally discussed the possibility of too much apartment development and whether it may cause a bubble in the sector. “All of our regions are seeing a lot of requests for new construction and financing in multifamily.” According to the National Multi Housing Council’s quarterly survey of apartment market conditions released in October, 67 percent of respondents noted considerable activity, either in the planning stage or actual new construction. In particular, 20 percent said developers are breaking ground on new projects at a rapid clip. Yet even with this increased activity, more than half (54 percent) think new development remains considerably below demand. Indeed, MPF Research reports that national apartment demand continues to outstrip supply by a wide margin (see chart). One market to keep a close eye on is …

Have CMBS lenders learned from their mistakes that led to today’s high default rates, or will they lapse into making irresponsible loans again as the commercial real estate recovery gains momentum? Brian Furlong, managing director of New York Life Investments, who oversees the company’s CMBS investments and structured whole loan activities, raised the question Tuesday during a panel discussion at MBA’s commercial/multifamily real estate finance conference in Atlanta. The delinquency rate for CMBS multifamily loans in January stood at an unhealthy 15.39 percent, according to Trepp LLC. In sharp contrast, the delinquency rates were well under 1 percent for multifamily loans originated by life companies and loans held or insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “The question becomes what led to that difference among industries, and has it been addressed and has it been fixed?” asked Furlong. There is no doubt that CMBS lenders are making more responsible loans today than they were at the peak of the real estate market in 2005-2007, said Furlong. He believes that’s largely because lenders are proceeding with caution during the early stages of this real estate recovery. “But fundamentally some problems of the business — in terms of it being a throughput …

ATLANTA — A steep recession is typically followed by a steep recovery. So what happened this time? Tom Cunningham, vice president and associate director of research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, suggests that financial regulation reform, a lack of consumer confidence, rising oil prices and the European debt crisis have all played a role. “It has been a very disappointing recovery by the standards of recoveries,” said Cunningham. “If you were relying on [traditional] econometric models to predict the path of the recovery, you were really wrong.” His comments came Wednesday during the closing session of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual commercial/multifamily finance conference in Atlanta. The uncertainty over financial regulation reform can’t be overstated, said Cunningham. “Problems emerge [after a financial crisis], and it seems like a good time to address the root causes of those problems. But changing the rules of the game in a period when everyone is uncertain in the first place isn’t really conducive to immediate economic growth,” Cunningham said, referring to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. When times are good, there is no incentive to do reforms, and when times are bad, it’s not a good time to …

ATLANTA — David Brickman, senior vice president of Freddie Mac Multifamily, has some advice for business leaders. “If anyone comes along and gives you the option to put your company into conservatorship, don’t do it,” Brickman jokes. Brickman and Jeffrey Hayward, senior vice president of Fannie Mae’s National Servicing Organization, spoke Tuesday about their optimism and frustrations of working for Fannie and Freddie. Their comments came during a panel discussion focusing on agency lending at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual commercial/multifamily finance conference. Fannie and Freddie’s assets and operations have been under the control of the Federal Housing Financing Agency (FHFA) since 2008. The FHFA has put constraints on the agencies and is in control of the agencies’ operations for the foreseeable future. “There’s a significant layer of control put on us, and we simply can’t control our own destiny,” said Brickman. “It’s hard to provide great strategic direction when you can’t control (your future).” Despite the distractions, the agencies’ multifamily divisions posted exceptional years in 2011 from a production standpoint. Fannie Mae recorded approximately $24 billion of multifamily mortgage volume in 2011, a 46 percent jump from 2010, while Freddie Mac’s production tallied about $20.3 billion, a 32 percent …

ATLANTA — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that 10 percent of commercial and multifamily mortgages held by non-bank lenders and investors will mature in 2012, according to its annual Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Survey of Loan Maturity Volumes. The value of the maturities is estimated at $150.6 billion, according to MBA. The survey’s findings come in the midst of the four-day MBA CREF 2012 Conference, being held at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta. The MBA survey covers $1.46 trillion of mortgages held by life companies, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), CMBS trusts and other non-bank entities. The findings follow the downward trend of non-bank real estate commercial loan maturities since 2010. The $150.6 billion in maturities is down 3 percent from 2011 and 18 percent from 2010. “The volume of commercial and multifamily mortgages coming due has declined over the last 2 years, from $184 billion in 2010, to $155 billion in 2011, to $150.6 billion this year,” says Jamie Woodwell, MBA vice president of commercial real estate research, in a prepared statement. “That survey, and each one since, has shown that the volume of commercial and multifamily mortgages maturing each year represents only a small …

It’s premature to pop the champagne cork, say real estate economists, despite a healthy report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the U.S. economy added 243,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in January. A number of factors could still hamper the pace of employment growth, they believe. “While it is dangerous to extrapolate from a single month’s worth of data, the report suggests that the U.S. economy is building momentum despite headwinds to growth, which include a mild recession in the euro zone, a slowdown across much of the globe, rising home foreclosures and public sector layoffs,” said Bob Bach, chief economist for Santa Ana, Calif.-based Grubb & Ellis. The outlook for the economy and the real estate lending climate figures to be a hot topic at MBA’s Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily Housing Convention and Expo taking place in downtown Atlanta early this week. More than 2,200 industry professionals have registered for the event, which runs through Wednesday at the Marriott Marquis. The private sector generated 257,000 jobs in January, while the public sector slashed 14,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysts had expected nonfarm payroll employment to rise between 125,000 and 150,000, or about half the …

CHICAGO — Miami-based developer Crescent Heights has purchased Echelon at K Station — a 350-unit, Class A luxury apartment building in Chicago’s West Loop — for $104.5 million. The seller was Chicago-based Fifield Cos. and its joint-venture partner, Pacific Life Insurance Co. of Newport Beach, Calif. The building is part of a 2,100-unit, five-tower master-planned development called K Station, which Fifield Cos. broke ground on 8 years ago. Located just north of the Fulton River District and west of the Chicago River, K Station is one of downtown Chicago’s largest residential developments. Located at 353 N. Desplaines St., Echelon at K Station is 95 percent leased. The high-rise includes studio, one- and two-bedroom residences with one to two baths. Floor plans range in size from 572 to 1,111 square feet with rents ranging from $1,565 to $2,845 per month. “At a price of almost $300,000 per apartment, this is an outstanding deal for Crescent Heights on a high-performing building in one of Chicago’s hottest neighborhoods,” said Steven Fifield, president and founder of Fifield Cos., in a prepared statement. “With demand continuing to outpace supply in Chicago’s rental market, Echelon is a solid multi-housing investment that should provide an excellent return …

While more than $5 billion of loans within commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) became delinquent in January, the increase was largely offset by more than $3 billion in loans cured during the same period. The volume of resolved loans helped push the delinquency rate for CMBS loans down six basis points in January to 9.52 percent, according to a new report from New York-based analytics firm Trepp. A loan is considered delinquent if it is 30 days or more past due. “The CMBS market performance will be dictated by two trends going forward,” said Manus Clancy, senior managing director at Trepp, in a statement. “The pace of loan liquidations will compete against the growth of delinquent loans that emerge from the Class of 2007. If the rate of loan liquidations slows, the rate will climb. If the special servicers keep plowing ahead at the pace they did in January, the rate could manage to stay flat.” The first wave of loans originated in 2007 that reached their balloon dates in January performed poorly, with only 27 percent of these loans managing to pay off. While this should have pushed the delinquency rate much higher, this upward pressure was offset by the …