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ABINGTON, PA. — After a lengthy approval process, construction has begun for Switchville Crossing, a mixed-use redevelopment project located in the Philadelphia suburb of Abington. The property, which is located at the intersection of Highland Avenue and Wharton Road, was formerly the home of sheet metal fabricator Willard Inc. but has been vacant for several years. Duke Real Estate Partners purchased the property in 2005 with the intent of redeveloping it into a commercial retail project. Countless meetings with local officials and citizens groups refined the idea, and in November 2009, Duke was approved to construct a mixed-use retail and office project. The first retailer at the new Switchville Crossing project will be LA Fitness, which is scheduled to open in late 2010. The next component to be built will be a three-story office building with ground-floor space for retail and restaurants. Completion of this building will come in 2012. Finally, a 3,000-square-foot outparcel will be developed at a later date. Demolition of the current industrial building has already commenced, and vertical construction will follow soon after. “This exciting new project will bring life to a property that has been vacant for 8 years,” said Stan Casacio, principal of Duke …

NEWARK, N.J. — Newark's Prudential Center will soon see more activity with the announcement of a new hotel and retail project to be constructed adjacent to the arena. Plans call for a new 150-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Both components will connect to the Prudential Center, greatly increasing the draw of this downtown entertainment destination. “This hotel project will bring more to Newark than 150 new downtown hotel rooms — it will create jobs for our residents and bring foot traffic to our small business owners,” said Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, in a statement. The Marriott hotel will be developed by Robert Finbarb Cos. and managed by Marriott International. It will utilize the company's new prototype hotel and will feature meeting space, a lounge, a swimming pool and a fitness center. The retail space will be leased and managed by Tucker Development Corp. Groundbreaking is expected to occur later this year. “This new hotel and retail development will continue our downtown's transformation into a vibrant, mixed-use, 24/7 community,” said Stefan Pryor, Newark deputy mayor for economic and housing development, in a statement. Prudential Center was constructed in 2007. Known best as …

SPRING, TEXAS — Construction is under way in Spring for one of the greenest schools in the Houston area. Gloria Marshall Elementary School is being built to LEED-Gold specifications and has already been approved for the EPA's Energy Star award. The project will also meet the criteria for the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, the nation's first green building rating program designed specifically for K-12 schools. Designed by the Houston office of SHW Group, the school will rise two stories and contain 105,000 square feet of space. One of its most innovative features is a geothermal HVAC system expected to save the school 25 percent in energy consumption over a traditional HVAC system. Classrooms will feature south-facing windows that will take advantage of daylight harvesting, and light sensors will dim and brighten the room's lights depending on the level of sunlight present — which is expected to keep classrooms lights turned off 75 percent of the time. Renewable energy options for the school include an on-site wind turbine and photovoltaic solar panels located on the roof. The building's roof will also be a reflective white to lower the amount of solar heat absorbed by the building. The exterior of the …

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Birmingham-based Bayer Properties has announced plans for the renovation of downtown Birmingham's historic Pizitz Building. The $60 million project will convert the building, which has stood vacant for more than two decades, into Class A office and retail space. The seven-story structure, which is located at 1821 Second Avenue North, will include approximately 169,000 square feet of office space, 23,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space, and 20,000 square feet of building amenities and storage space. Construction is anticipated to begin this summer, with the building reopening in 2012. Some of the building's original features, including its terra cotta façade, first-floor mezzanine and storefront display windows, will be preserved or restored as part of the project. Bayer is applying for LEED certification as well as Historic Preservation Certification. KPS Group is the project architect. Two tenants have already signed on for the building's office component. Bayer Properties will move its corporate headquarters to the building upon completion. Joining the company will be law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. The Pizitz Building was designed by local architect Henry Wheelock and constructed in 1923. It originally served as the flagship location for the Alabama department …

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis was witness to a blockbuster deal this week as Bank of America Plaza was sold for $47.85 million. While both parties involved were undisclosed, the buyer was a Los Angeles-based private investor that was able to close on the deal quickly. The buyer's representatives were Geoff Tranchina and Scot Tiano, who represent the Investment Sales Group of Southern Caolifornia-based Wilson Commercial Real Estate. The 30-story, Class A trophy tower is located in the heart of St. Louis' central business district. The property totals 749,857 square feet. It was 90 percent occupied at the time of closing by a tenant roster that includes Bank of America, Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Ralcorp Holdings. Amenities include a Bank of America retail branch, a full-service cafeteria and a connected parking garage. With the decreased number of investment sales closing lately, valuing assets has become increasingly challenging. Many sellers do not know what the price of a property should be to get it sold, and buyers, always hungry for a deal, are on the lookout for the next distressed asset or seller trying to unload a property at any cost. Deals such as this provide guidance. “This deal will help, moving …

GAINESVILLE, TEXAS — Fort-Worth, Texas-based limited partnership Woodcrest Alliance has purchased Gainesville Factory Shops for an undisclosed amount. The 319,653-square-foot outlet retail center is located at 432 Interstate 35N in Gainesville, near the Texas-Oklahoma border. The property was built in 1993. It is tenanted by stores and outlet brands from Dress Barn, Gap Outlet, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Kasper, Oshkosh B'Gosh, Perfumania, Reebok, SAS, Sunglass Hut, Van Heusen, Rue 21, Zales Outlet and others. Jon McDaniel of Woodcrest Real Estate represented Woodcrest Alliance in the purchase. The seller was a group of 11 lenders led by Business Partners LLC. The group was represented by Greg McDonald of The Weitzman Group. — Coleman Wood

DORAVILLE, GA. — Following more than 18 months of negotiations, Orlando, Fla.-based New Broad Street Cos. has reached an agreement with General Motors to purchase and redevelop the automaker's former assembly plant located in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville. Terms of the deal are confidential, but it is expected to close in early summer. When production at the plant ceased in September 2008, many developers saw the potential of the 165-acre site. The location is ideal. The auto plant sits adjacent to a major highway, Interstate 285; a major thoroughfare into Atlanta, Peachtree Industrial Boulevard; and a train stop on Atlanta's MARTA public transit system. “This is the best urban infill site in the country for a large transit-oriented development,” said David Pace, president of New Broad Street, in a statement. “It will be clean and green, incorporating environmental remediation of the former industrial site with the best practices for sustainable development.” New Broad Street has a reputation for large-scale, mixed-use redevelopments. Its most notable project is Baldwin Park, a redevelopment of the former Orlando Naval Training Center into an 1,100-acre community containing more than 4,400 residential units, 1 million square feet of commercial space and 200 acres of parks. …

SAGINAW, MICH. — Grubb & Ellis has completed the sale of a 912,820-square-foot manufacturing facility located at 2328 E. Genesee Ave. in Saginaw. Approximately 682,000 square feet of the property is occupied by TRW Integrated Chassis Systems, which took over the space when its parent company, TRW Automotive, acquired the braking unit of the former tenant, Delphi, in 2008. The remainder of the property is vacant. Chris Dowell and Geoff Hill of the Industrial Group of Grubb & Ellis, along with Patrick Shannon of the firm's Investment Group, represented both parties in the deal. The buyer is a California-based private investor that is entering the Michigan market for the first time. No details were made available about the seller. The acquisition price was also not disclosed. Dowell has also been named exclusive leasing agent by the buyer for the remaining approximately 230,000 square feet of space. — Coleman Wood

ST. LOUIS — Effective March 1, eight commercial real estate brokerage firms will rebrand as Cassidy Turley Commercial Real Estate Services. The primary members of the group include five former Colliers firms that first merged in August 2008. They include Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers in Washington, D.C.; Colliers Turley Martin Tucker in the Midwest; Colliers ABR in New York City; and Colliers Pinkard in Baltimore, and Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C. The firms will be joined by three other companies: BT Commercial, a former NAI affiliate based in Northern California; BRE Commercial, a former Grubb & Ellis affiliate in Southern California and Arizona; and Colliers Houston & Co. of New Jersey. The three firms add 24 offices and 500 new brokers to the new company, which has 57 locations. Once the partnership is complete, Cassidy Turley will be one of the largest commercial real estate service firms in the country. “As one of the nation's largest commercial real estate services providers, the Cassidy Turley brand reflects expanding capabilities to service our values clients nationally,” said Mark Berkhart, CEO of Cassidy Turley, in a statement. “By expanding our service offerings, we broaden our business, increase our national geographic footprint and enhance our …

NEW YORK CITY — BlackRock and Tishman Speyer have agreed to hand over control of New York City's Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village to their lenders. The two companies will transfer control via a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure to CWCapital Asset Management, which is currently acting as special servicer for five CMBS trusts that previously held the property's $3 billion loan. The loan was transferred to the special servicer in November after the lenders filed a request for relief. Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village comprise 110 buildings located in Manhattan. The community's 11,000 units make up one of the largest affordable housing properties in the nation. They were built in the 1940s by Metropolitan Life, which sold them to BlackRock and Tishman Speyer in 2006 for $5.4 billion. Tishman and BlackRock planned to convert many of the rent-regulated apartments into luxury units, but the plan ran into a multitude of setbacks even before the recession hit. Fitch Ratings currently values the property at $1.8 billion — approximately 40 percent of the balance of the partnership's loan. In addition to the $3 billion senior loan, the property also has a $1.5 billion mezzanine loan, whose holders could delay or attempt …