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ORLANDO — Thought to be a permanent victim of the recession, Orlando's Mills Park project may finally begin development. The project's original developer, Heathrow, Fla.-based Pelloni Development Corp., has sold most of the pre-approved site to a joint venture between Tampa, Fla.-based companies DeBartolo Development and Forge Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount. Mills Park will be constructed on an approximately 14.5-acre site at the intersection of Mills Avenue and Virginia Drive — in between Downtown Orlando and Winter Park. The project's original groundbreaking was set for the summer of 2008, but a poor economy delayed construction. Now, the DeBartolo-Forge partnership, known as Community Reinvestment Partners II, plans to move forward with the development of Mills Park. The partnership will construct retail, multifamily and office space at the site. Pelloni will remain involved with the project and develop a medical component as well as additional office space. While efforts to reach DeBartolo and Pelloni to find out the new scope of the project were unsuccessful, original plans for Mills Park called for 425 residential units, 140,000 square feet of professional office space, 130,000 square feet of medical office space and 78,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. “The commercial …

CHICAGO — An affiliate of Israeli company IDB Group has purchased the Barney's of New York building located in Chicago for $117 million. The 94,600-square-foot building sold for a whopping $1200 per square foot. The six-story retail property is located at 1-15 E. Oak St. in Chicago's Gold Coast/North Michigan Avenue neighborhood. It was constructed in 2009 as a build-to-suit for Barneys. Citibank also leases space within the building. The Jones Lang LaSalle team of Guy Ponticiello, Bruce Miller and Dave Hendrickson arranged the deal. “We were able to capture a price that was well above what the bank valued the property at — just $100 million,” said Ponticiello in a statement. “This is a win-win for all parties, and it is a huge save for two of Chicago's key developers, for the bank that recovered more than its original investment, and for the Gold Coast retail community.” The retail property was developed by a two local firms in 2009 and was later foreclosed on by the lender, Anglo Irish Bank. At the time, the balance of the loan was $93 million. The transaction marks the second major acquisition for the Tel Aviv-based IDB Group, which is controlled by Property …

JACKSON, MISS., AND ORLANDO — Jackson-based Parkway Properties has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Orlando-based Eola Capital. Parkway will acquire a 2.5 million-square-foot office portfolio as well as Eola's property management business for approximately $462 million. The portfolio comprises six properties. They include Two Ravinia Drive in Atlanta; 245 Riverside in Jacksonville, Fla.; Bank of America Center in Orlando; Two Liberty Place in Philadelphia; and two Tampa properties: Cypress Center I, II and III as well as International Plaza Four. The portfolio's combined occupancy was 85.4 percent at the time of the closing. The property purchase will be completed for $380 million, equating to a 7.4 percent capitalization rate. The portfolio will be contributed to Parkway Properties Office Fund II, which will be 75 percent committed once the acquisitions are completed. Two of the properties, International Plaza Four and 245 Riverside, have already closed. The remainder of the portfolio is expected to close when the rest of the transaction is completed by the end of the second quarter. “We see a combination as an attractive alternative to pursuing an IPO,” says James Heistand, the current chairman of Eola Capital. In addition to acquiring Eola's property management business …

NEW YORK CITY — The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved the sale of Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center's Manhattan campus. A joint venture between the Rudin family and North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System acquired the campus for $260 million. The joint venture plans to redevelop and reopen the Greenwich Village hospital, which closed following the healthcare provider's April 2010 bankruptcy. The planned opening for the new medical center will be fall 2013. In addition to the campus, St. Vincent's is contributing the O'Toole Building, formerly the healthcare provider's primary care clinic, to the deal. The six-story, 160,000-square-foot building will be redeveloped into the North Shore-LIJ Center for Comprehensive Care. The $110 million project will contain a full-service imaging center as well as a ambulatory surgery center. North Shore-LIJ will be the primary developer for the property, with the Rudin family contributing $10 million to help offset the development costs. The Rudin family is seeking to redevelop the surrounding area, too. Four of the buildings that are part of the St. Vincent's campus will be adaptively reused for multifamily housing and retail. Plans released last month mentioned 590,000 square feet of new …

MINNEAPOLIS — Canadian company Artis Real Estate Investment Trust has completed two acquisitions in the greater Twin Cities area totaling $117.2 million. The deals include the acquisition of an office park and the closing of part of a previously announced industrial portfolio purchase. In the first transaction, Artis purchased Stinson Office Park, a five-building, 307,405-square-foot office complex, for $44 million. The properties are located at 323, 400, 500 and 601 Stinson Blvd. as well as 400 Roosevelt St. in Minneapolis. The campus also includes a 1,703-space parking structure. The property is 97 percent occupied by two tenants with leases expiring 2017 or later. Artis took out a $28.6 million loan to fund the purchase. It includes a 5-year term with a floating interest rate currently set at 3.25 percent. In addition, Artis closed on the second tranche of a previously announced portfolio acquisition. The $73.2 million transaction includes 9 properties totaling 1.5 million square feet of office, flex, warehouse and light manufacturing space. Occupancy is currently 88.5 percent. Artis is funding the purchase with cash on hand and through a $49.6 million mortgage that carries a 5-year term and a floating interest rate currently set at 2.5 percent. The portfolio …

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The long-in-waiting redevelopment of the former D.C. convention center site has finally gotten started. The groundbreaking ceremony has been held for the $700 million City Center DC mixed-use project. The project is being developed by a joint venture between Houston-based Hines and Colorado-based Archstone. It will be built on a 10-acre site bounded by New York Avenue and 9th, H, and 11th streets. Phase I construction will include six buildings surrounding a central pedestrian plaza. The buildings will collectively contain 520,000 square feet of office space, 458 rental apartments, 216 condominiums and 185,000 square feet of street-level retail space. They will sit atop 1,555 below-grade parking spaces. Substantial completion of the phase is slated for the end of 2013. A planned second phase of the project will add a 350-room hotel and 110,000 square feet of retail space. The developers, along with master plan designer Foster + Partners and architect-of-record Shalom Baranes Associates, have designed the project with sustainability in mind. The project will participate in the U.S. Green Building Council's new LEED-Neighborhood Development program. In addition, the office component of the project is pre-certified LEED-Gold, and the residential component is pre-certified LEED-Silver. Architectural renderings of City …

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Washington Real Estate Investment Trust acquired an eight-story, 130,434-square-foot office building located at 1227 25th St. in Washington, D.C., for $47 million from Vornado Realty Trust. The building is currently 72 percent leased to the GSA and law firm tenants, sits adjacent to another WREIT office building located at 2445 M Street, which was acquired in 2008. The building also contains a two level parking garage. WREIT hopes to lease out the rest of the building soon. Jim Meisel and Derek Potts of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler’s D.C. office brokered the deal on behalf of the seller. WREIT represented itself. The acquisition was funded using available cash and their line of credit. ?? This is not the first property WRIT has purchased in the D.C. area this year. In January the company bought another 12 story, 184,135-square-foot office building located at 1140 Connecticut Ave. for $80.25 million. ?? Currently, WREIT owns 87 properties, which consist of 27 office properties, 16 industrial/flex properties, 18 medical office properties, 15 retail centers and 11 multifamily properties. In 2010, WREIT announced it’s plans to sell off it’s 2.95 million square feet of industrial properties, preferably in a portfolio, in order to fund …

NORTH LAS VEGAS, NEV. — Irvine, Calif.-based Thompson National Properties has acquired a North Las Vegas retail center for $12.8 million. The property was purchased from an undisclosed seller at a 44 percent discount from the property's original loan balance. The purchase price equates to an 8.09 percent capitalization rate. Craig Promenade was constructed in 2005 and is located in the city's Craig Road corridor. It totals 109,250 square feet and was 77.5 percent occupied at the time of closing. Big Lots anchors the center; additional tenants include Party Pro, Carl's Jr., MetroPCS and Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen. In addition to the 91,750-square-foot building, the center contains 17,500 square feet of raw land that could be sold, ground leased or developed. Thompson National Properties plans to fund the purchase with proceeds from its 2010 public offering as well as from its existing line of credit with KeyBank. The acquisition was made on behalf of TNP Strategic Retail Trust, an investment fund that targets drugstore- and grocery-anchored, multi-tenant, necessity retail properties. Craig Promenade is the fund's fifth purchase. Thompson National Properties already has retail holdings in the Las Vegas market including Buffalo Square, a 176,508-square-foot center located at 7500 W. Washington Ave. …