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WAPPINGERS FALLS AND POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — Summit, N.J.-based The Solomon Organization has acquired a 1,196-unit multifamily portfolio from Denver-based AIMCO. The purchase marks Solomon's entry into New York's Hudson Valley as well as the company's first acquisition from a REIT. Chelsea Ridge Apartments is an 838-unit property located in Wappingers Falls. It features a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom residences. Amenities include a clubhouse, a swimming pool, a tennis court, a playground, a dog park and laundry facilities. The community also includes Chelsea Ridge Mall, which contains a convenience store, a deli and pizza parlor, a pool room, a movie room, a lounge and a business center. The second property, Hudson Harbour Apartments, is a 352-unit community located in Poughkeepsie. It contains one-, two- and three-bedroom homes and features amenities such as a playground, a picnic area, abundant greenspace, a courtyard and laundry facilities. “This transaction is one of the many signs that suggests changes in the debt and equity markets, and Wall Street's view of where REITs should own multifamily properties, which has caused REITs to examine their size and composition,” said Marc Solomon, founder of The Solomon Organization, in a statement. “Additionally, in the last 10 years, …

POOLER, GA. — A joint venture between Orlando, Fla.-based H.J. Construction Co. and Atlanta-based Baston-Cook Co. has been tapped to build the $325 million Mitsubishi Power Systems Savannah Machinery Works in Pooler, a suburb of Savannah. The facility will consist of a 30,000-square-foot office and 150,000 square feet of manufacturing bays. Cleveland-based The Austin Company is designing the project. Rockford, Ill.-based Larson & Darby Group and Savannah, Ga.-based Hussey Gay Bell & DeYoung are also working on the development. “Our experience working with Mitsubishi, combined with Batson-Cook's familiarity with construction in Georgia, provided a natural compatibility for a joint venture,” said Robert High of H.J. High in a statement. — Jon Ross

ROMEOVILLE, ILL. — Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based RTC has signed a long-term lease for 503,200 square feet of warehouse and distribution space within Crossroads Business Park in Romeoville. The retail services provider will be occupying all of Crossroads 5, which is located at 801 N. Schmidt Road. The company will be relocating its distribution operations to the new building from its previous location at 31st Street and Kedzie Avenue in Chicago. The move will take place in April. The Class A industrial facility was developed this year by Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. It features 30-foot clear ceiling heights, 48 docks, four 12-foot by 14-foot drive-in doors, 110 car parking spaces and 71 trailer parking spaces. The industrial park features easy access to Interstates 55 and 355. RTC was represented in lease negotiations by the CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) team of Bill Frain, Todd Lippman, Jim Whalen and David Prell. Larry Johnson and Mike Mangan, also of CBRE, represented Duke. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The lease comes at a time when the Chicagoland industrial market is struggling to fill empty properties. According to CBRE, the industrial vacancy rate at the end of the third quarter totaled 11.4 percent—an increase …

NEW YORK — Principals who guaranteed construction financing of up to $192 million for two 25-story condominium towers in Florida in 2005 have been ordered to pay back the lender, HSH Nordbank, an amount laid out in loan documents. In a 24-page opinion, Judge Denise Cote of The Southern District Court of New York found the guarantors owe $40 million from a principal guarantee and an undisclosed amount to cover the payment guarantee on the loan. These payment costs typically involve lender advances to cover property shortfalls, unpaid interest and attorney fees. According to the opinion, the project ran into trouble in 2007 after a lawsuit alleging “material misrepresentations in promotional materials” was filed. The defendants had argued that the bank was at fault because it had refused to provide final funding for the development. The Holly Hill, Fla., property was to have comprised 486 units. “As the court laid out … there were a variety of reasons why the banks, who had absolute full discretion to decide whether to advance any of the funds but nonetheless had excellent reasons why they elected not to,” says Michael Barr of New York-based Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. Barr, along with Justin Kattan …

BOSTON — Construction is complete for the $68 million expansion of the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston. Construction consisted of a five-story, 95,000-square-foot addition to the school’s existing 10-story building, which is located at One Keeland St. in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood. The space includes two new clinical patient floors, an expanded simulation laboratory, teaching facilities, a continuing education conference center and administrative offices. The addition, which was designed by Architectural Resources Cambridge and built by Shawmut Design & Construction, features a glass and aluminum curtain wall with white metal panels, which contrast with the existing pre-cast concrete building. The building’s main entrance was also redesigned. The school will be seeking LEED certification for the project. “We provide care to more than 20,000 patients each year, totaling more than 95,000 visits annually, so staying on time and on budget was crucial to the continued operation of the school and clinics as we progressed through the project,” said Lonnie Norris, dean of the School of Dental Medicine, in a statement. — Coleman Wood

ATLANTA — The Government Services Administration has leased the 406,989-square-foot Airport Distribution Center II from Principal Life Insurance Co. for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The property is located at 3780 Southside Industrial Court in Atlanta. FEMA signed a 10-year lease for the space and will take occupancy in March. “It will be the Southeast hub,” says Luke Pope of Atlanta-based Republic Property Co. “If there’s another Katrina, they would service that through this facility.” Pope represented the landlord in the lease. Gainesville, Ga.-based Schair & Associates represented Nitelines USA, the prime contractor. According to Pope, GSA chose the location because it liked the close proximity to the airport. Security was also a main concern when searching for a suitable property. The Airport Distribution Center II features a fenced perimeter and is sealed off from other buildings. “Everything they do now with government is very concerned with terrorism,” Pope says. It took everyone 9 months to get the lease signed and all the government paperwork complete, but in the midst of the recession, every deal that takes a significant amount of industrial space off the market is worth the effort. “It takes away the nicest 400,000-square-foot cross-docked building in …

CHICAGO — Chicago-based General Growth Properties (GGP) has reached a preliminary agreement to restructure approximately $9.7 billion in secured mortgage loans related to 92 regional shopping centers that will help the REIT emerge from bankruptcy. Provisions of the agreement include maturity date extensions and a continuation of interest at the current non-default rate. Of the loans covered by this agreement, the average loan maturation date is no sooner than 2016 and the weighted average contract interest rate is 5.35 percent. The all-in interest rate after amortization of fees paid in connection with the loans is 5.54 percent. The agreement is subject to approval by the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York as well as GGP's creditors. The REIT hopes to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of 2009. In a statement, Thomas Nolan, Jr., president and COO of GGP, said, “We are extremely pleased to reach this consensual agreement with lenders representing more than half of the mortgage debt covered by the bankruptcy proceedings. We believe that these agreements provide a basis for consensually completing a restructuring of the debtors' remaining approximately $6 billion of secured mortgage loans, and we are hopeful that our other secured mortgage …

CHICAGO — This past Friday, a Cook County Circuit Court judge appointed CB Richard Ellis the receiver for Chicago's Block 37 retail project. This comes at the same time that the city issued a partial certificate of occupancy for the project. The project's developer, Joseph Freed & Associates, has been fighting its foreclosure since last month, when lender Bank of America claimed the developer defaulted on $128.5 million in construction loans. In a statement, Larry Freed, president of Joseph Freed & Associates, said,” We strongly disagree with the court's ruling. We are the only developer in two decades to move Block 37 forward. We are very suspicious of [Bank of America's] motives just as Block 37 is opening and beginning to generate revenue. We still own Block 37 and will fight to protect our rights, reputation and investment.” At the beginning of the month, Freed & Associates announced 13 signed leases for the 278,000-square-foot retail component, including PUMA, Zara, Anthropologie and Swarvoski. With the partial certificate of occupancy issued, some retailers already had plans to open over the weekend. Freed & Associates claims the project is currently 70 percent complete. Freed & Associates took over the retail and transit components …

ONTARIO, CALIF. — Denver-based REIT ProLogis has announced plans to develop a new distribution center in Southern California for The Home Depot. The 667,000-square-foot project will be located on 55 acres owned by ProLogis within Crossroads Business Park in Ontario. Construction is expected to begin next month, with completion scheduled for fall 2010. The project will be pursuing LEED certification, but additional details about the building could not be released as of press time. In a statement, Larry Harmsen, president of ProLogis in the United States and Canada, said, “Our project in Ontario is the first project we've started in the United States since the fall of 2008, when we announced a halt on all new construction. We are thrilled to start this project, as it fits in line with our new approach to development, and it enables us to meet our customer's needs.” Harmsen cites an increase in requests for build-to-suit proposals and signs of market stabilization as reasons the REIT is resuming construction projects. ProLogis has created a plan for future develop that allows it to build projects utilizing less capital while helping generate returns from currently unproductive land. So far this year, the REIT has monetized more …

ATLANTA — At Arnall Golden Gregory’s Fall Breakfast Briefing, four office executives reported they felt the market was at or approaching bottom and that they had renewed optimism for activity over the next 18 months. The panelists — Rudy Prio Touzet, CEO of Eola Capital; Casey Wold, senior managing director of Tishman Speyer; Don Miller, CEO and director of Piedmont Office Realty Trust; and Chris Port, senior vice president of CBRE — focused on Atlanta during the 40-minute panel, but gave national perspective as well. When questioned on a national overview by AGG Partner Phil Skinner, Miller said he believed that the office sector in growth markets, like Atlanta and Dallas, is still in somewhat of a downward slide. Touzet believes that there will be continued erosion of net operating income across portfolios, but added he is seeing early signs of debt in the marketplace for office acquisitions and refinance. Wold reported that his team is getting out 2 years ahead of maturation on key loans and renegotiating now, as it takes about 10 months to negotiate with banks. Both Wold and Touzet feel that there will be no big disaster in the commercial real estate sector; they contend that …