Top Stories

NEW YORK CITY — Brookfield Properties Corp. has announced a plan to reposition itself as a global office property company. As part of the plan, the company will acquire an interest in an Australian office portfolio and divest itself of its residential land and housing business. Brookfield Properties is acquiring its stake in the office portfolio from Brookfield Asset Management for$1.4 billion (US). The portfolio contains 16 office buildings totaling 8 million square feet of space. Ten of the properties are located in Sydney, four are located in Melbourne and two are located in Perth. Portfolio occupancy averages 99 percent. The estimated value of the portfolio is $3.4 billion (US). Brookfield Properties plans to fund the transaction from $1.3 billion in available liquidity and from a $750 million subordinate bridge acquisition facility, which will be provided by Brookfield Asset Management. Brookfield Properties already has a presence in Australia's office market. It currently has a development pipeline of 15.6 million square feet, which includes City Square, a 926,000-square-foot office tower under development in Perth. The company also has the right of first offer to develop or purchase three development sites: The Foundry in Melbourne, Bathurst Street in Sydney and Bishops See …

EAST LANSING, MICH. — Birmingham, Ala.-based Capstone Development Corp. is developing a new off-campus student housing project in East Lansing that will serve students at Michigan State University. Known as The Lodges of East Lansing, the community will feature 220 one- to four-bedroom units with a total of 683 beds. It will be constructed in a lodge style that, as the developer describes, “is a unique blend of urban infill and English Tudor architecture.” Parking will be located behind the buildings, and parks and community spaces will be spread across the grounds to encourage students to gather. Amenities will include a clubhouse that features a study room, a fitness center, a tanning salon and a resort-style spa. Outdoors will be a heated pool, a plaza with a fountain, and volleyball and bocce courts. The Lodges of East Lansing is expected to be open to students by fall 2011. Capstone's in-house construction division, Cottage Builders, will serve as construction manager for the project. Other members of the team include Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Wolverine Building Group and Birmingham-based Dungan-Nequette Architects. Upon completion, Capstone Properties will lease and manage the property. Construction financing consisted of a senior construction loan from Birmingham-based BBVA Compass …

CHICAGO — Steven Douglas has resigned as president of Brookfield Properties Corp. to take the position of executive vice president and CFO/director of accounting and finance for General Growth Properties (GGP). Ed Hoyt will step aside as interim CFO for GGP but will continue to serve as senior vice president and chief accounting officer. “We are extremely pleased to welcome Steve to our management team,” said Adam Metz, CEO of GGP, in a statement. “His financial expertise and industry experience make him well qualified to lead GGP's finance operations as we enter a new stage in the company's history. We are nearing completion of our restructuring and emergence process and adding Steve to our team further enhances our position for long-term success. We are also grateful to Ed for his contributions surrounding our recent challenges and throughout this transition period.” Douglas was a member of Brookfield for more than 16 years. Prior to taking over as president in 2009, he served as senior managing partner with Brookfield Asset Management, which is currently helping recapitalize GGP during its bankruptcy restructuring. From 1996 to 2003 he also served as CFO of Brookfield Properties, during which time the company went public. The position …

MARBLE FALLS, TEXAS — Coral Gables, Fla.-based Southstar Development Partners is developing a new master-planned community on 1,030 acres in the Texas Hill Country town of Marble Falls. Known as Flatrock Springs, the project will be located at the intersection of State Highway 71 and U.S. Highway 281. Site work for the project will not break ground for several more months, but initial plans for the project call for 700,000 square feet of commercial and office space as well as 2,100 residences. “We understand that this is a rural area, albeit a quickly expanding rural area, that needs smart growth,” says Thad Rutherford, vice president of SouthStar Development. “When I say smart growth, I mean what do the people need in this area without creating sprawl or creating commercial districts that don't work.” Rutherford envisions power center-anchored retail with several, small supporting tenants. He believes one of the tenants will be a grocer, and a major discounter is also likely. With the Hill Country's reputation for outdoor recreation, an outdoor retailer is also not out of the question. With the project being developed on a 15- to 20-year timetable, there are numerous different directions development of Flatrock Springs could take. …

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Rutgers University has announced plans to develop a $215 million mixed-use project on its Livingston Campus in Piscataway. The project will contain 648,000 square feet of student housing and retail space. The student housing component will contain a total of 1,500 beds spread over three buildings. Most of the beds will be contained in apartment-style units contain four bedrooms each with shared living rooms and kitchens. Two hundred of the beds will be aside in two-bedroom units that will be reserved for graduate students. The graduate units will be in a separate wing with its own elevator access. A 20,000-square-foot retail plaza located at the base of one of the buildings will provide students with easy access to retail services and restaurants. Study lounges will be spread throughout the project's three buildings as well as in outdoor areas. A movie theater component for one of the buildings will be able to double as educational space, if needed. Two of the buildings will have landscaped courtyards with built-in seating and lawn areas. Groundbreaking for the project is scheduled for this fall and will be completed by fall 2012. Shelton, Conn.-based Fletcher Thompson is serving as the architect of …

FONTANA AND RIVERSIDE, CALIF. — Phoenix Realty Group has acquired a three-property apartment portfolio in California's Inland Empire for $31.5 million. In the first part of the deal, Phoenix purchased Cielo Vista, a 120-unit property located in Fontana, for $11.7 million. The community contains six buildings in a garden-style configuration. The purchase price amounted to a 35 percent discount on a distressed construction loan for the property, which was built two years ago. In the second part of the deal, Phoenix purchased Arlington and Evergreen, two communities located in Riverside, for $19.8 million. The properties contain a total of 304 units in 24 buildings. The purchase price represents a capitalization rate in the high 7 percent range. Alex Mogharebi of Marcus & Millichap's Ontario, Calif., office represented the sellers in the deal. All three properties will be financed through Freddie Mac. Phoenix completed the acquisition on behalf of its Genesis Workforce Housing Fund II, a $300 million institutional fund that focuses on multifamily investments in the greater Los Angeles area. “We see demand for Inland Empire retail resurfacing in 2011,” said Alex Saunders, senior vice president of Phoenix, in a statement. “As unemployment levels off, there will be less need …

PALTO ALTO, CALIF. — After a three-month search, Marcus & Millichap has found its new leader. John Kerin, formerly a senior vice president and the firm's managing director, will now serve as president and CEO. Kerin first joined the firm in 1981, and by 1986 was one of its top producers. In 1987, he was promoted to regional manager of the Los Angeles office and was promoted to first vice president in 1994. He has been managing director since 1996. In a statement, George Marcus, founder and chairman of Marcus & Millichap, said, “Marcus & Millichap is entering a new and exciting phase of growth, and John is uniquely qualified to lead our efforts to expand market share and improve our agent support and client services. The depth of John's experience and having supervised numerous operations throughout the country for the past several years gives him the knowledge and understanding essential to strengthening our value proposition.” Kerin replaces Harvey Green, who served as president from 2000 until April of this year, when he announced his retirement. At the time, Green commented that he felt that as the real estate industry emerged from the current economic cycle it was important to …

NEW YORK CITY — Thor Equities has acquired 693 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, also known as the Takashimaya Building, and plans to reposition the property with a significant retail component. The acquisition and the renovation are expected to cost Thor approximately $200 million. The 20-story building currently contains a mix of retail and commercial tenants. Chief among Thor's renovation plans is the transformation of the building's first eight floors into a luxury, flagship retail space. The ground floor of the building will be expanded from 3,500 to 6,000 square feet, and it's granite façade will be re-clad in glass up to the eighth floor. Floors nine through 20 will remain unchanged. Construction is expected to begin this fall and be complete by late spring 2011. Thor will be acting as its own leasing agent for the retail space. As part of its package, Thor is offering naming rights to the building. “As the old saying goes in real estate: location is everything, but that is just one of the reasons that this is such a special building,” said Joseph Sitt, president of Thor Equities, in a statement. “We have some very interesting plans for 693 Fifth Avenue that will be …

BALTIMORE AND AUSTIN, TEXAS — Memphis, Tenn.-based Education Realty Trust (NYSE: EDR) is developing two new on-campus student housing projects. The first project is located at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. EDR is partnering with local developer Otis Warren & Co. to construct a 20-story, 572-bed residence hall for graduate students at Johns Hopkins' new Science + Technology Park. The project is located across the street from a 3-acre green space and will contain 8,300 square feet of ground-floor retail. It will built to LEED-Silver specifications. The project team includes Marks, Thomas Architects and Clark Construction. The groundbreaking is scheduled for the third quarter, with an anticipated opening in the summer of 2012. Upon completion EDR will manage the project for a 10-year term. Johns Hopkins owns the land the new residence hall is being built on, but it is leasing it to a subsidiary of East Baltimore Development Inc. (EDBI), a nonprofit group dedicated to the city's urban revitalization. EDBI is partnering with Forest City Enterprises to redevelop 88 acres adjacent to Johns Hopkins' east campus. The residence hall will serve as the anchor for Phase I of the project, which is known as New East Side. It will …