ATLANTA — BVT has finalized the sale of an 842,255-square foot retail portfolio to Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT), a $4.7 billion real estate equity fund. The deal included 10 grocery-anchored shopping centers valued at $130 million and located throughout the southeast and Texas. The transaction closed less than 60 days following contract execution. Chris Decouflé with CB Richard Ellis’ National Retail Investment Group in Atlanta represented BVT. Bentall Kennedy, one of North America’s largest real estate investment advisors, provided advisory services to MEPT. BVT retains the management contract for all properties within the portfolio. “The sale of this retail portfolio provided our fund investors with a sound return on their investment,” says Scott Farber, Vice President, BVT Management Services, Inc. “This portfolio includes quality retail properties in strong markets with dominant grocers that will continue to be great long-term assets.” More than half of the portfolio is located in metro Atlanta, with those five neighborhood centers encompassing more than 426,250 square feet: Bethany Village, Alpharetta, Ga. (pictured above) Dean Taylor Crossing, Suwanee, Ga. (pictured below) Kedron Village, Peachtree City, Ga. Tree Summit Village, Duluth, Ga. West Cobb Marketplace, Marietta, Ga. The remaining five properties, totaling 416,005 square feet, are situated …
Top Stories
CHICAGO AND DALLAS — Chicago-based Brennan Investment Group, LLC and Dallas-based TriGate Capital, LLC have formed a programmatic joint venture to pursue industrial real estate investments across the United States. Brennan Investment Group is a private real estate investment firm that acquires, develops, and operates industrial properties in major metropolitan markets throughout the United States, led by chairman and co-founder Michael W. Brennan, the former CEO of First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. TriGate Capital is a national real estate private equity firm that manages a fully discretionary real estate fund, TriGate Property Partners, L.P., comprising primarily institutional investors. “We entered into the joint venture with TriGate based on a compatibility of philosophy,” says Brennan. “We both believe that we will see a generational investment opportunity and avenues for investments with significant area to create value.” Because of the industrial marketplace’s size, and because rents have declined and construction is down significantly, Brennan expects more opportunities to open not only for significant volume, but also for value creation as rents rise and fundamentals improve where there’s very little to no construction. “There are certain areas to find inefficiencies in the market, and opportunities to purchase from banks, or to do partnership …
PALM BEACH, FLA. — On Friday, August 19, Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE: CLDT) and Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. terminated their commitment and obligation to acquire interests in 64 hotels owned by Innkeepers USA Trust and its affiliates. At that time, Chatham released a statement noting that the company and Cerberus jointly determined to terminate in accordance with terms and conditions of their May 16th agreement as a result of “the occurrence of a condition, change or development that could reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on Innkeepers' business, assets, liabilities (actual or contingent), operations, condition (financial or otherwise) or prospects.” On August 22, Innkeepers’ Chief Restructuring Officer Marc A. Beilinson contested the termination: “The company has no doubt that Cerberus/Chatham terminated the Commitment Letter inappropriately,” he said. “Accordingly, we are evaluating all legal and equitable remedies against Cerberus/Chatham.” According to the statement released by Innkeepers USA Trust and its affiliates, the notice of termination to purchase the equity in entities that own and operate 64 of the its hotels had no basis, and Beilinson contested the reasoning outlined in the statement from Chatham and Cerberus quoted above. “Throughout our restructuring process, Innkeepers has maintained normal business operations …
NEW YORK CITY — Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has agreed to acquire Zenta, a provider of residential and commercial mortgage processing services in the United States. In conjunction with the agreement, Accenture is launching Accenture Credit Services, a full-service consulting, technology and BPO capability that will expand its support for institutions in the residential mortgage, commercial real estate, leasing and automotive finance industries, of which Zenta’s mortgage processing capabilities will be a key component. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the acquisition is subject to closing requirements. “The wave of regulations and a changing credit environment are redefining the competitive landscape of the mortgage industry,” said Terry Moore, global managing director of Accenture Credit Services. “In the residential mortgage business, low customer satisfaction, rising fulfillment costs, and falling pull-through rates — coupled with slower refinancing and purchase activity — are undercutting profitability. On the servicing side, regulatory changes are forcing operational transformation.” The acquisition is intended to address these challenges by combining Zenta’s resources in mortgage processing with Accenture’s services to financial institutions for designing and executing complex, large-scale business transformations, expanding Accenture’s ability to help lenders, servicers and REITs retool and streamline their operations. Headquartered in Dallas, Zenta …
ANN ARBOR, MICH. – Ann Arbor-based McKinley’s Residential Client Services team recently was appointed receiver for a 14-asset, 3,709-unit multifamily portfolio spanning six states, which not only reflects the company’s track record as but also represents McKinley’s first expansion into the Texas market. A breakdown of units by city is listed below: This appointment represents the 107th court appointment of McKinley to workout distressed real estate since the beginning of the financial crisis. As part of the assignment, McKinley has been appointed Receiver by US District Court for the Southern District of Texas. “We have extensive experience in receivership and workouts, and we’re very well known in distressed real estate circles for our ability to fix problems,” says Ken Polsinelli, chief real estate officer for McKinley. “Before the most recent recession, we staffed up because we saw it coming, and we went from 5 or 6,000 units to 15 or 20,000 quickly.” This appointment is also is one of the five largest multifamily assignments in the CMBS market in 2011. To put that in context, Polsinelli says there are hundreds of busted real estate loans and billions of dollars of distressed assets, particularly in CMBS. “For all the negative publicity …
PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA. AND LONDON — URDANG, the real estate specialist for BNY Mellon Asset Management, released a report outlining opportunities for investors in commercial real estate based on the significant amount of maturing mortgage debt attached to properties across the industry. As such, the report notes that this debt provides an unusual opportunity for institutional investors to acquire properties on attractive terms from sellers who are overleveraged. “The ability to acquire these properties at attractive costs is possible because of the significant amount of commercial real estate debt that is scheduled to mature over the next 4 years,” said David Blum, managing director, portfolio management, at Urdang Capital Management and a co-author of the report. “Many of these properties have experienced deferred capital expenditures, which will require owners to invest additional equity or dispose of their assets.” Such acquisitions may give the acquirers the ability to offer properties to renters at lower rates and with more attractive features than comparable properties. “With banks increasingly willing to sell these properties and with commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) delinquencies at an all-time high, we believe there will be increasing opportunities to purchase or recapitalize over-leveraged assets at an attractive cost basis,” …
BOSTON — Avison Young has successfully repositioned and recapitalized three large commercial properties comprising 540,000 square feet, located in the greater Boston market. The institutional-grade assets, 299-301 Ballardvale St. in Wilmington/Andover, Mass., and 201-207 South St. (pictured at right) and 52-56 Roland St. in Boston (pictured on main page), were acquired between 2006 and 2007 and underwent capital improvement upgrades to reposition the properties during the initial phase of ownership. Each of the properties recently has benefited from a recovering market, new leasing activity and proactive management. “In the last 12 months we have executed new leases on more than 180,000 square feet, or approximately one-third, of the portfolio,” said John Fenton, Avison Young principal and managing director of the company's New England region. “In conjunction with the new leasing, each asset was recapitalized to provide a more competitive financial position in the marketplace.” The restructuring included new leasing activity, an infusion of fresh equity and term modifications on more than $50 million of first-mortgage loans to extend maturities and provide additional capital to fund the cost of new leasing.The portfolio benefited from an uptick in leasing activity in general, particularly in the high-tech, manufacturing and biotech sectors. Avison Young, …
NASHUA, N.H. — Nashua-based Net Lease Capital has closed on the $237 million sale of 49 CVS drugstores for an undisclosed client, providing the portfolio as replacement properties to be used in a 1031 exchange transaction. Pulling a transaction of this size together quickly can a challenge, due of the time limitations of 1031 where replacement properties must be identified within 45 days. So Net Lease went through the process to find out the particular dynamics of the situation, and worked through different options to zero in on a strategy that was both economically and practically feasible for the buyer. Net Lease analyzed different ways to solve the tax issue, and over a period of a couple weeks looked through the market for properties that fit the particular strategy. “There was a method to the madness, and the deal included two or three different criteria that we put into hierarchies,” says Carl Christensen, managing director with Net Lease Capital’s Advisory group. “At the very outset, all the properties involved needed to be investment grade because the investor wanted high certainty that whatever they purchased they wouldn’t have to rework in some period of time.” Specifically, the CVS properties located across …
NEW YORK CITY –– CB Richard Ellis’ (CBRE) Capital Markets group secured a $380 million loan in conjunction with the recapitalization of Chelsea Market, an iconic mixed-use property located at 75 Ninth Avenue in New York City on behalf of Jamestown. The property sits on 3.79 acres, encompassing an entire city block bounded by 15th and 16th Streets and 9th and 10th Avenues within the Chelsea submarket of Manhattan. “Jamestown was extremely satisfied with the debt execution, which was smooth, and the debt was a perfect match for our business plan,” said Shak Presswala, vice president and head of capital markets with Jamestown. Chelsea Market (pictured below) is a cluster of 15 former Nabisco Facility industrial buildings that were renovated and converted into a dynamic mixed-use office/retail property. The 1.18 milion-plus-square-foot development is contiguous to New York’s High Line Park, and anchored the Chelsea/Meat Packing Districts transformation. The buildings were originally constructed between 1890 and 1932 and were completely renovated between 1994 and 1997 with continuing architectural enhancements and modifications through 2011. At closing, the property was 99 percent occupied by tenants such as Major League Baseball, The Food Network, Time Warner, EMI, Google and Anthropologie. Jamestown has a 25-year …
SANTA ANA, CALIF. — Grubb & Ellis Co. has completed the sale of Daymark Realty Advisors, a joint venture entity controlled by Sovereign Capital Management Group and Infinity Urban Century. The sale marks Grubb & Ellis’ exit from the tenant-in-common business, which it entered at part of the company’s 2007 merger with NNN Realty Advisors. “Our corporate strategy is to focus on our real estate services and investment management business, specifically the non-traded REITS,” said Janice McDill, senior vice president of marketing and communications for Grubb & Ellis. “The sale of Daymark is extremely positive for our company,” said Thomas P. D’Arcy, president and CEO of Grubb & Ellis in a statement. “Daymark was noncore to our Real Estate Services and non-traded REIT businesses. This sale will allow us to focus our profitability and growth, while continuing to review our broader corporate strategic alternatives.” The sale involved the purchase of Daymark stock by the joint venture equity. FBR Capital Markets & Co. served as financial advisor to Grubb & Ellis for the transaction. Daymark is one of the largest real estate asset management companies in the country with a nationwide portfolio of commercial property totaling approximately 33 million square feet. …