SANTA ANA, CALIF. — Grubb & Ellis has announced that it has retained JMP Securities to explore strategic alternatives for the future of the company. In a release, the company mentioned this could include its potential sale or a merger. “While the management team has made progress restructuring the business and driving top-line growth, we believe now is the time to explore opportunities on how to best leverage the broad platform and capabilities of the company into an improving market for the benefit of all stakeholders,” said C. Michael Kojaian, chairman of Grubb & Ellis' board of directors, in a statement. “We have received unsolicited inquiries and decided that a formal process is in the best interest of all our constituents.” Shares of the company (NYSE: GBE) opened the day trading at $1.04. Further information could not be obtained by press time. — Coleman Wood
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CHICAGO — New York City-based The Georgetown Company has acquired a 60,000-square-foot retail building in downtown Chicago for $23 million. Located at 35 N. State St., the building is net-leased to Old Navy, which uses it as the retailer's Chicago flagship location. “This was a rare opportunity for the buyer to acquire an iconic retail building in the heart of the city,” said Ariel Schuster, executive vice president with Robert K. Futterman Associates and one of the brokers that helped arrange the deal. “State Street is a dominant retail corridor and is anchored by Macy's and Block 37. Target will be opening a 124,000-square-foot city store at the corner of State Street and Madison Street, which affirms the strength of this market.” Ariel partnered with company head Robert K. Futterman as well as Director Brian Segall to represent Georgetown. Eric Maletsky of Malet Realty represented the seller, South East Corner Associates. — Coleman Wood
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Cassidy Turley has arranged two big office deals in Washington, D.C. between Chevy Chase, Md.-based JBG Companies and local firm ICG Properties. JBG purchased a two-building property outright from ICG and acquired an equity stake in another of the company's office buildings in a deal valued at $101.5 million. JBG purchased Georgetown Center, a two-building, 293,845-square-foot office property located at 2115 and 2121 Wisconsin Ave. The property was 92 percent leased at the time of closing and is anchored by Georgetown University and MedStar Health, which take advantage of the property's close location to the Georgetown campus and its hospital. JBG became ICG's equity partner in 1600 K Street, an 86,606-square-foot office building located two blocks from the White House. The property was 87 percent leased at the time of closing, and restaurant PJ Clarke's recently signed a lease for ground-floor commercial space within the building. The Cassidy Turley team of Bill Collins, Paul Collins, Drew Flood, Jud Ryan and James Cassidy represented ICG Properties in the deal. — Coleman Wood
TYLER AND SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — Red Capital Group has arranged $50 million in Fannie Mae DUS financing for three luxury multifamily communities in Texas. The borrower was Western Rim Investment Advisors, which also developed the properties. The Mansions at The Cascades is located at 4055 Hogan Drive in Tyler within The Cascades, a master-planned community that features an 18-hole championship golf course. The other two properties are located in San Antonio at the entrance to the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort, which also features the TPC Champions golf course. The two communities include The Estates at TPC, which is located at 5707 TPC Pkwy., and The Towers at TPC, which is located at 5505 TPC Pkwy. All three communities feature luxury amenities that include clubhouses and golf course views. The financing for each property includes a 10-year term and a 30-year amortization schedule. The proceeds will be used by Western Rim to refinance construction debt. The interest rates were not disclosed. Western Rim's multifamily portfolio presently consists of more than 4,900 apartment, affordable housing and senior housing units. It has properties located throughout Texas including the cities of Dallas, Forth Worth, Grapevine, Grand Prairie, Houston, Hutto, McKinney, …
CHICAGO — Chicago-based Equity Capital Management (ECM) has entered into an agreement to sell a portfolio of net-leased office, industrial and retail properties for $625 million. The buyer or buyers were not disclosed, but reports indicate the portfolio was sold to two parties, an institutional firm and a REIT. The portfolio contains properties that are a part of two ECM investment funds: Diversified Income & Growth Fund and Income & Growth Fund III. The properties in the poirtfolio are institutional quality and subject to long-term leases. A majority of them are office and industrial buildings comprising corporate/regional headquarters as well as regional/critical hub distribution facilities. The tenants are primarily investment grade. The portfolio is expected to close during the first half of the year. “The corporate real estate market is a large, fragmented and growing market,” said Shelby E. L. Pruett, co-founder and managing partner of the company, in a statement. “Corporations and build-to-suit developers have reduced access to capital, and the investment-grade net-lease sector is underrepresented in the public and private markets, all of which we believe will create significant opportunities in the future.” — Coleman Wood
SECAUCUS, N.J. — Hartz Mountain Industries has procured an $85 million permanent mortgage from German lender Post Bank that will allow it to refinance an 828,000-square-foot mixed-use portfolio in Secaucus. The portfolio comprises five properties within Harmon Meadow, a 175-acre campus located at the interchange of the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 3 that is part of the Hudson Meadowlands. The properties include: • 100 Plaza Drive – a 264,973-square-foot, multi-tenant office building that is anchored by NBA Entertainment. • The ground lease for a 161-room Holiday Inn located at 300 Plaza Drive. • Atrium II – a 255,000-square-foot, multi-tenant office building located at 400 Plaza Drive that is also home to Hartz Mountain Industries' corporate headquarters. • 600 Plaza Drive – a 140,000-square-foot commercial property containing retail and restaurant space. • 700 Plaza Drive – A 27,000-square-foot data center. CB Richard Ellis Capital Markets arranged the financing. The Debt & Equity Finance group of James Gunning, Donna Falzarano and Michael Sherman worked on behalf of two Hartz Mountain subsidiaries, Harmon Meadow Plaza Inc. and 400 Plaza Drive Inc., though the financing is a single loan. The mortgage carries a 7-year term, a 25-year amortization schedule and an interest rate …
DES MOINES, IOWA — The Des Moines office of Opus Development Corp. has completed a long-term lease for a 300,000-square-foot build-to-suit industrial project in Des Moines. Opus will construct the building at 3440 Gannett Ave. for an undisclosed Fortune 100 company. The building will include 40-foot clear ceilings, 25 dock positions, 25 trailer parking spaces, 7,000 square feet of office space and 150 car parking spaces. The groundbreaking will occur this spring, with completion anticipated in February 2012. Opus Design Build and Opus AE Group will serve as the project's design-build team. “We are very pleased to be selected as a landlord and to build this project, which taps into our team's local presence and depth of experience in the industrial sector, said Mike Yungerman, vice president of real estate development for Opus, in a statement. “The industrial market is seeing signs of improvement as evidenced by projects of this type and companies making long-term real estate commitments.” — Coleman Wood
DALLAS — Dallas-based Ashford Hospitality Trust has formed a joint venture with an institutional partner to acquire the 28-hotel Highland Hospitality portfolio. The purchase and restructuring were completed through a mutual foreclosure for a total consideration of $1.277 billion. The total consideration of the portfolio, which includes 19 full-service hotels and nine select-service hotels, equates to an acquisition price of $158,000 per key. At closing, Ashford invested $150 million in the acquisition and will own 71.74 percent of the portfolio. Monty Bennett, CEO of Ashford, stated in a company release, “We are pleased to complete this strategic and accretive transaction. Of all the hotel transactions we have seen completed, we believe it would be hard to match the many benefits of this investment. We believe there is substantial opportunity to improve the hotels' performance with an aggressive asset management strategy similar to what we have accomplished with our existing hotels.” The 8,084-room portfolio consists of a variety of hotel brands, including Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Renaissance, Sheraton and Westin, scattered across Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Texas, Nebraska, California, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., Maryland and Illinois. Remington Lodging will manage 17 of the hotels, with Marriott managing six …
VIRGINIA — Harbor Group International has entered into an agreement to acquire an eight-property multifamily portfolio from Great Atlantic for $165.9 million. The portfolio contains 2,508 units and is located in the Hampton Roads submarket of Virginia. The portfolio includes: • Chase Arbor, a 430-unit property located in Virginia Beach; • Hampton Center, a 418-unit property located in Hampton; • The Birches, a 312-unit property located in Chesapeake; • The Oaks, a 300-unit property located in Norfolk; • Pembroke Lake, a 300-unit property located in Virginia Beach; • Aurburn Chase, a 272-unit property located in Newport News; • Bancroft Hall, a 244-unit property located in Virginia Beach; and • Heatherwood, a 232-unit property located in Newport News. Harbor Group plans to invest approximately $11 million in capital improvements to the properties. Two of the properties have already closed, and the remainder of the portfolio is expected to close in the coming weeks. The Cushman & Wakefield team of Drew White and Mike Marshall is representing Great Atlantic, a locally based apartment owner, in the deal. The buyer already has a significant presence in Southeast Virginia. Harbor Group currently owns more than 1,700 apartments in Hampton Roads as well as 1.5 …
NEWTON, MASS. — Newton-based REIT Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH) has entered into an agreement to acquire a senior housing portfolio for $304 million. The portfolio comprises 20 communities located in the South. The portfolio includes seven communities located in North Carolina, five in South Carolina, four in Florida, two in Virginia and two in Georgia. The communities contain a total of 2,111 units, which include 939 assisted living suites, 814 independent living apartments, 311 Alzheimer's care suites and 47 skilled nursing beds. SNH will lease 15 of the properties to one of its subsidiaries. Five Star Quality Care, a former SNH subsidiary in which SNH maintains a 9 percent stake, will manage the communities under a long-term agreement. The 15 communities currently have an average occupancy rate of 85 percent. The remaining five communities will also be leased to Five Star and will be added to one or more of the combination leases currently in effect between the management firm and SNH. The five communities have an average occupancy rate of 97 percent. SNH will fund the acquisition, which is expected to close in the second quarter, with a combination of $79 million in mortgage debt assumption, cash …