ATLANTA — Greg Maloney, president of Jones Lang LaSalle Retail, has taken on receivership responsibilities for nine underperforming retail properties. Maloney now oversees leasing and management activity at The Macon Mall in Macon, Ga., and the Burlington Square Mall in Burlington, N.C. Other distressed properties under his care in the Southeast include three Maryland Boscov’s stores. The Reading, Pa.-based department store chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August. In the current economy, Maloney has seen an uptick in requests for his services. Six months ago, he answered the occasional phone call about receivership duties — more requests for information than calls for help. Ever since the slumping economy started affecting commercial real estate, he’s been getting close to a dozen calls per week. Maloney, who has served in a receivership role for 15 years, sees his court-appointed duty as just another option for lenders. “The receiver is really a fiduciary of the court,” he says. “It acts on their behalf and tries to solve the problems.” A receiver’s job is to make sure the value of the property doesn’t decline further until a seller can be arranged. In the case of the 1.4 million-square-foot Macon Mall, Maloney will …
PHILADELPHIA — A 58-story Waldorf=Astoria Hotel and Residences has been announced for Philadelphia. The $420 million mixed-use project will be developed by Ardmore, Pa.-based Mariner Commercial Properties, Brook J. Lenfest and Dallas-based Gatehouse Capital Corp. The property will be managed by an affiliate of Hilton Hotels Corp. Located at the northeast corner of 15th and Chestnut streets, the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel and Residences Philadelphia will feature 175 guest rooms, 136 residences, and retail and restaurant space. “The Philadelphia real estate market has seen a surge of new luxury housing in recent years,” says Tim Mahoney, president and CEO of Mariner Commercial Properties. “The Waldorf=Astoria Philadelphia will be the first vertically integrated mixed-use building that offers residents and guests alike the same five-star treatment and access to the hotel’s finest amenities.” The project will be the city’s sixth-tallest building and is to be designed by Cope Linder Architects of Philadelphia. Sustainability will be a priority, as the granite and glass tower will feature vegetative roof systems, and an active chilled beam HVAC system. Amenities will include 8,100 square feet of ballroom space, 3,500 square feet of pre-function space overlooking City Hall, and a sky lobby reaching 155 feet above street level. Residences …
SUGAR LAND, TEXAS — HOK Houston has completed the $296 million expansion of Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, located at 16655 Southwest Freeway in Sugar Land. The original 37-bed community health center was expanded by 341,000 square feet to include more than 180 beds, with the capacity to grow to 256 beds in case of emergency. This addition to the hospital, which was constructed independently of the original building, comes in response to the rapid population growth Sugar Land and Fort Bend County have experienced in the past few years. “Right at the time [HOK was selected for the project], Fort Bend County was one of the fastest growing counties in the country,” says Ron Smith, HOK Houston senior associate, healthcare. “For a couple of years, it was the fast growing county.” At a time when the community was growing, many people seeking medical treatment had to go elsewhere for services. So HOK designed a facility that would provide Fort Bend County residents with all of the medical services they would need. The 180 hospital beds in the expansion are divided between 168 acute care beds and 20 ICU beds. The expansion also includes three cardiac catheterization labs; additional labor and …
CHICAGO — Two independent directors at Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) have assumed senior interim management positions: Adam Metz will serve as interim CEO, replacing John Bucksbaum, and Thomas Nolan Jr. will serve as interim president, replacing Robert Michaels. Bucksbaum and Michaels resigned their positions effective Oct. 26, according to an 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. Bucksbaum will continue to serve as chairman of the company, and Michaels, who has given up his board seat, will serve as COO as well as a senior officer of the company. Metz is a founding partner of Polaris Capital LLC; Nolan most recently served as a managing director of Trefethen & Co. As a response to economic challenges facing General Growth, the company has placed its Las Vegas portfolio of retail properties up for sale. The portfolio includes Fashion Show Mall, Grand Canal Shoppes and The Palazzo. Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Eastdil Secured are responsible for the marketing effort, which is expected to begin immediately. Additionally, the company is working with its lenders to extend the November 28, 2008 maturity date of loans for Fashion Show Mall and The Palazzo. General Growth Properties continues to remain …
INDIANA — As many restaurant chains continue to downsize in the midst of economic uncertainty, HSG Restaurant Group has plans to expand by opening 40 Dunkin' Donuts stores throughout Indianapolis and central Indiana. Serving as project manager for the development areas, Colliers Corporate Solutions is helping HSG roll out the new stores quickly and efficiently. Located on the corner of Washington and Pennsylvania streets in downtown Indianapolis, the first turn-key store for HSG opened this summer. A unique aspect of the store that Colliers implemented on behalf of its client blends a retro Dunkin' Donuts feel with the current brand image. The 1,855-square-foot Dunkin' Donuts was completed in less than 3 months. “We opened the first store in downtown Indianapolis, the second store in Bloomington near Indiana University and the third store in Kokomo; and the fourth, fifth, and sixth stores are under construction to be completed this year,” explains Brian Ungles, senior vice president in Colliers Corporate Solutions, who is serving as account executive spearheading HSG's rollout of stores. “At this pace, we are on track to open at least one new store every month for at least the next 6 months.” Part of the teams' initial success can …
BEMIDJI, MINN. — Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson Construction Co. has been selected to serve as construction manager for the new 185,000-square-foot Bemidji Regional Event Center (BREC) located in Bemidji. The $54.5 million project will be the largest arena ever built by the company; nevertheless, with a steadfast plan and a tight budget, Kraus-Anderson seems up to the challenge. “We are focused on getting the job done, and done right,” says Bob Fitzgerald, director of business development in the Bemidji office of Kraus-Anderson. “We welcome the opportunity to put our past experience, resources and marketplace relationships to work in delivering a value-driven construction program for the community of Bemidji.” With an arena, convention center and various support areas planned for the project, there is no doubt that the new event center will benefit the city in more ways than one. In addition to housing Bemidji State University’s (BSU) hockey programs, the building will provide a venue for a range of events. According to Fitzgerald, the project will have an estimated $13 million annual impact on the economy of north-central Minnesota. However, before the city can start reaping the benefits of the venue, Kraus-Anderson will have to utilize its multi-faceted approach in order to …
NEW YORK — After several days of negotiations, Citigroup has walked away from its efforts to secure portions of Wachovia. The New York-based bank said in a released statement, “The dramatic differences in the parties' transaction structures and their views of the risks involved made it impossible to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.” Citigroup also announced that it is no longer asking that the Wells Fargo-Wachovia merger be enjoined, but the banking giant plans to seek legal claims against Wachovia and Wells Fargo for breach of contract and for tortuous interference with contract. Wachovia has reaffirmed its intentions to acquire Wachovia as a whole, including all banking assets, its brokerage business and its investment management business, in a stock-for-stock transaction. Unlike the initial Citigroup offering, the Wells Fargo transaction will not require financial assistance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Wells Fargo has submitted an application to the Federal Reserve Board in hopes of expediting the approval of the merger. The combined company will have $1.42 trillion in assets, $787 billion in deposits, 48 million customers, $258 billion assets under management in mutual funds, 10, 761 stores, 12,227 ATMs and 280,000 team members.
STANFORD, CALIF. — The Graduate School of Business at Stanford University has broken ground on the Knight Management Center, a $350 million campus, in Stanford. Comprising eight buildings around three quadrangles, the 360,000-square-foot project will offer classroom space, breakout-study rooms, a 600-seat lecture hall, dining facilities, faculty and staff office space, and a parking garage. The facility is named after Philip H. Knight, founder and chairman of Nike, who earned an MBA in 1962. “If there was no Stanford Graduate School of Business, there would be no Nike,” Knight said, according to a press release. “The idea for a business really never took form until I took that small business management course. It was out of that I had the encouragement and enthusiasm to start Nike.” Built for environmental sustainability, the facility will seek LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The project also aims to: o Reduce water usage by at least 30 percent o Exceed current energy efficiency standards by at least 40 percent o Recycle 50 to 75 percent of non-hazardous construction debris from the previous site o Use non-volatile organic compound-emitting materials for excellent indoor air quality o Use rainwater to reduce potable water use …
NEW YORK CITY — Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to buy Wachovia Corp. for $15.1 billion, putting a wrench into a previously announced Citigroup deal. The deal will include acquisition of all of Wachovia’s assets — banking assets, its brokerage business and its investment management business. Wachovia’s board approved Wells Fargo’s offer Thursday night. Citigroup’s deal would have included the purchase of Wachovia’s banking operations, not its other divisions. “For Citigroup, this is a real loss,” says Cassandra Toroian, chief investment officer at Bell Rock Capital. “This was a deal that was going to save them as much as it was saving Wachovia.” Wells Fargo has been one of the few major banks who has remained profitable through the credit crisis, while Citigroup has posted more than $17 billion in losses in 2008. Wachovia shareholders will receive 0.1991 shares of Wells Fargo stock in exchange for each share of Wachovia stock. “This deal enables us to keep Wachovia intact and preserve the value of an integrated company, without government support,” said Robert Steel, chief executive officer with Wachovia, in a prepared statement. “The market presence and composition of our businesses, along with our service-oriented cultures, are extraordinarily complementary and …
NEW YORK CITY — SL Green Realty Corp. has refinanced two properties for a combined amount of $410 million. The first property, 717 Fifth Ave., was refinanced through The Royal Bank of Scotland, and the second property, 28 W. 44th St., was refinanced through DekaBank. Andrew Mathias, chief investment officer of SL Green, said the transactions demonstrate that even in an anemic lending environment, his company is attracting capital. “With this additional capital added to our reserves, we now have approximately $850 million in cash and other immediately available capacity to deploy opportunistically and we have eliminated a substantial portion of our near-term debt maturities,” Mathias says. The property at 717 Fifth Ave. is a retail condominium that is currently leased by Giorgio Armani, who will locate their North American flagship store to the property. It is scheduled to open in early 2009. The property at 28 W. 44th St. is a 21-story, 359,000-square-foot building, and was acquired by SL Green for $105 million in January 2005. SL Green currently leases the office space, which is 100 percent occupied. “Our ability to complete these transactions, demonstrates the Midtown commercial real estate market’s continuing strength, overall, as well as the lending …