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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A partnership between locally based Trinity Capital Advisors and Philadelphia-based Rubenstein Partners has purchased downtown Charlotte's NASCAR Plaza. The acquisition price was not disclosed, but the partnership purchased the debt and equity in the property, which is located at 550 South Caldwell St. NASCAR Plaza has had a challenging time since its completion in early 2009. Its developer, an affiliate of Carmel, Ind.-based Lauth Property Group, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy shortly after the building's completion. Lauth then defaulted on its mortgage for the property and Wells Fargo & Co., the managing lender, initiated foreclosure proceedings. The 20-story, 390,000-square-foot office tower has struggled to attract tenants. NASCAR is the building's anchor tenant, occupying approximately 120,000 square feet. It is joined by six other smaller tenants including the FDIC and the Charlotte Regional Partnership. However, approximately 60 percent of the building remains vacant. Trinity Capital and Rubenstein's purchase may just signal a turning point for the Class A trophy tower. “In short, I think the asset may have had a stigma due to the financial distress of the previous ownership,” says Walker Collier, managing director of Trinity Capital Advisors. “It is important for prospective tenants to know that …

LAKE GROVE, N.Y. — Manhattan-based Prestige Properties has purchased a Long Island retail center from Centro Properties for $48 million. DSW Plaza is a 251,222-square-foot property located on Middle Country Road. It is directly opposite Smith Haven Mall, a 1.4 million-square-foot shopping center and one of Long Island’s primary retail draws. DSW Plaza was fully leased at the time of closing by a tenant roster that includes anchors Toys “R” Us, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Staples and Michaels. Additional tenants include Golfsmith, Tuesday Morning, Lenscrafters and Houlihan’s Restaurant. Approximately half of the center is leased through 2018. As part of the deal, Prestige assumed $27 million in debt. The mortgage carries an interest rate of 4.75 percent and interest-only payments. Gary Gabriel, Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut and Jared Zimmel of Cushman & Wakefield’s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group arranged the transaction. The same group was also responsible for arranging the sale of the property to Centro in 2003. “Retail investment opportunities have been scarce throughout the tri-state area this years, and even more so on Long Island,” Gabriel said. “That being the case, this property’s fantastic location made it a very compelling purchase. We received a significant number of offers from …

ORLANDO — Orlando-based CNL Lifestyle Properties has acquired a 29-property senior housing portfolio for $630 million. CNL purchased the portfolio in a joint venture with McLean, Va.-based Sunrise Senior Living, which most recently owned the property in a joint venture with Arcapita. The communities in the portfolio are located across 12 states, primarily in metropolitan areas. They contain a total of 2,082 units. The average age of the communities is approximately 10 years. As part of the agreement, CNL will own a 60 percent interest in the joint venture, and Sunrise will own the remaining 40 percent. Sunrise will also operate the communities under a long-term agreement. The transaction marks CNL’s entry into the senior living market. The REIT specializes in the ownership of lifestyle properties that include ski resorts, mountain lifestyle properties, attractions, golf communities and marinas. “With this transaction, CNL Lifestyle Properties has created a $3.1 billion portfolio of assets that appeal to individuals at all stages of life, from families with young children to people in retirement,” said Byron Carlock, president and CEO of CNL, in a statement. “This acquisition further enhances our investment thesis at a time when demand for senior living communities is increasing.” Goldman …

MOUNT POCONO, PA. — Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Silagi Development & Management has purchased the former Liz Claiborne apparel distribution facility in Mount Pocono. The 615,000-square-foot property is located on 80 acres in Mount Pocono Industrial Park. It is a short distance from interstates 80 and 380. The distribution facility features 38-foot clear ceilings, 45-foot by 45-foot column spacing, 52 dock-high loading doors, three drive-in doors, rail access and 25,000 square feet of office space. Silagi purchased the property for $7.3 million. It plans to lease the facility as a logistics center. It will increase the number of truck doors in the near term. Michael Treacy of Philadelphia-based Binswanger negotiated the deal. The seller’s name was not disclosed. The purchase is Silagi’s first in Pennsylvania. — Coleman Wood

BETHESDA, MD. — Walker & Dunlop has provided a $104.7 million acquisition loan to Ark Holding Co. for the purchase of 18 skilled nursing facilities in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. The financing was funded utilizing the HUD 232/223(f) loan program that provides low-interest rate, non-recourse financing with flexible prepayment requirements. There were several critical aspects to this deal including accounts receivable financing, a master lease and a hard close prior to year end, notes Steve Ervin, senior vice president and co-head of Walker & Dunlop's FHA Group. “The most unique aspect was that the loan was a purchase and closed pre-year end after getting all the commitments,” says Ervin. “Additionally, the loan was executed seamlessly with 18 loans closing on the same day, which is very difficult with HUD.” This transaction represents Walker & Dunlop's second large-scale skilled nursing financing in 2010 exceeding $100 million. In August 2010, the company funded a 16-facility refinance of the IBHSAR facilities in Florida for $162.2 million. — Amy Bigley

OKLAHOMA CITY AND LINCOLN, NEB. — Phoenix-based Cole Real Estate Investments has purchased two Midwestern office properties for a total of $51 million. The seller in the deal was KDC Real Estate & Investments. The first property is the CSAA Operations Center in Oklahoma City. The property was developed in 2009 as a build-to-suit for the California State Automobile Association (CSAA) Inter-Insurance Bureau, an affiliate of AAA of Northern California. The CSAA net leases the entire Class A building, which totals 147,107 square foot and is LEED-Silver certified. The second property is Dell Marketing's Lincoln facility. Constructed in 2009, the entire 150,000-square-foot, Class A building is net leased by Dell Marketing, which uses it for business operations including a call center. The building is also LEED-Silver certified. The purchase is part of Cole's strategy of acquisition mission critical properties with a focus on Class A assets that are under long-term net leases to high-credit tenants. Boyd Messmann, Cole's vice president of acquisitions, provided in-house representation on behalf of his company. — Coleman Wood

MIAMI — London Square, a 299,103-square-foot mixed-use property located in Miami, has traded in a $95.25 million deal. The buyer was RREEF, acting on behalf of a foreign client. The seller was an affiliate of Boca Raton, Fla.-based Woolbright Development. The deal was brokered by the National Retail Investment Group Florida Team at CB Richard Ellis. London Square is situated at the intersection of 137th Avenue and 120th Street. It consists of a 238,438-square-foot retail center and a 60,665-square-foot office building. The property is currently 99 percent leased by a tenant roster that includes Dollar Tree, Miami Children's Hospital, Party City, Ross Dress for Less, Sergio's, Starbucks and Tj Maxx/Homegoods. London Square also contains a 150,535-square-foot Costco that was not included in the sale. “The London Square sale is the largest transaction involving an open-air shopping center in Florida since 2008,” said Casey Rose, senior vice president for CB Richard Ellis, in a statement. “The buyer was interested in a stable, core-quality investment involving excellent real estate and London Square met that criteria. More broadly, the transaction solidly confirms that institutional capital has regained enough confidence in the market to make a major investment in Florida retail property.” — Coleman …

BOSTON — Boston Properties has purchased Boston's iconic John Hancock Tower for $930 million. The locally based REIT purchased the building from a joint venture between Normandy Real Estate Partners and Five Mile Capital Partners. Constructed in 1976, John Hancock Tower is a 60-story, approximately 2 million-square-foot office building located in the city's Back Bay neighborhood at 200 Clarendon Street. The Class A property was originally constructed for John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. and is the city's tallest building. Occupancy was 97 percent at the time of closing. The current tenant roster includes State Street Corp., Manulife Financial Corp., Bain Capital, Ernst & Young, CRA International and Berkshire Partners. The deal also included the tower's adjacent 2,013-space parking garage. Boston Properties already has a significant presence in the city's Back Bay submarket. It controls Prudential Center, a 3.2 million-square-foot mixed-use project that comprises 2.6 million square feet of office space and 620,000 square feet of retail space. The REIT is currently developing a mixed use project in the city's Waterfront submarket. Atlantic Wharf will include a 31-story, 750,000-square-foot office tower along with 30,000 square feet of retail space, 70 to 80 residential units, a 650-car parking garage, a waterfront …

QUINCY, MASS. — The Quincy City Council has approved the master agreement for the redevelopment of the city's Quincy Center area. The City has partnered with White Plains, N.Y.-based Street-Works Development LLC, a company with a history of urban redevelopment projects, to complete the $1.28 billion facelift to the downtown area, which has languished in recent years as retail and commercial users moved out to the suburbs. At full build-out, the New Quincy Center will contain 1 million square feet of new office space, 580,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, a cinema and entertainment complex, two hotels and more than 700 units of housing. Initial plans include a community college, a wellness center, and programming one of the hotels to business travelers and the other to visitors. In an effort to make the area more pedestrian friendly and encourage outdoor retail uses, sidewalks will be widened to approximately 20 feet. Several small parking garages will be constructed throughout the project. A 4-acre public green space connecting to a new historic and cultural center will also be constructed. Infrastructure improvements, which will total $277 million alone, are set to begin in mid-2012 and will be complete by 2013. After …

NEW YORK CITY — Google has closed on its acquisition of 111 Eighth Avenue, an approximately 3 million-square-foot office building located in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. While the acquisition price was not disclosed, reports earlier this month claimed the deal was worth more than $1.8 billion. Google has occupied the 15-story building since 2006 and is its largest tenant. The seller, a joint venture between Taconic Investment Partners, Jamestown Properties and the New York State Common Retirement Fund, has spent the past several years seeking to attract more high-profile tenants. The joint venture purchased the building in January 1998 and completed a $68 million renovation that repositioned the space from its previous reputation for back-office and warehouse users. The current tenant roster also includes WebMD, Nike, Deutsche Advertising, Lifetime TV and Armani AX. The building was originally constructed 1932 by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. According to local reports, the sellers originally put the building up for auction in September, and Google quickly entered into exclusive negotiations to purchase it, with a purchase agreement being signed earlier this month. Taconic Investment's subsidiary, Taconic Management Co., will remain on board to manage the property for Google. “Google New …