NEW YORK CITY — Last week, a bankruptcy auction was held in Manhattan, New York City, for Burlington, Mass.-based Filene’s Basement. The off-price retailer was purchased following a 9-hour auction by K&G Acquisition Corp., an affiliate of retailer Men’s Wearhouse, for $67 million. The bid is subject to a hearing in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., on June 10. If the deal is approved, K&G will acquire 17 of the retailer’s 20 store leases; inventory from all 25 existing Filene’s Basement locations; the leases for the company’s Burlington headquarters and Auburn, Mass., distribution center; and the Filene’s Basement trade name. The purchase price also includes approximately $5 million for potential litigation associated with the retailer’s lease at Downtown Crossing, a currently inactive redevelopment project located in Boston. Stores that were not acquired as part of the auction — which include locations in Baltimore; Hyannis, Peabody and Saugus, Mass.; and Elizabeth and Paramus, N.J. — are expected to be closed by mid-June. FB Acquisition II, an affiliate of Agoura Hills, Calif.-based Buxbaum Group, purchased Filene’s Basement in April from Retail Ventures, then soon after filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize the company. In a statement, Scott Rusczyk, president …
ATLANTA — Larry L. Gellerstedt, III, has been appointed CEO of Atlanta-based Cousins Properties by the firm’s board of directors. On July 1, the former president and COO will succeed current CEO Thomas D. Bell, who is retiring from the company. S. Taylor Glover has been appointed as non-executive chairman of the board. Gellerstedt joined Cousins in 2005 when the firm acquired his company, The Gellerstedt Group. He has also previously worked as chairman and CEO of Beers Construction Co.; he has held the same role with American Business Products and The Integral Group. Bell was appointed CEO of Cousins in 2002 and was elected chairman in 2006. Cousins is currently developing the 10-acre Terminus project on the corner of Peachtree Street and Piedmont Avenue in Atlanta. “Just as it has for 50 years, our leadership team will continue to move Cousins forward, doing so with an unwavering commitment to our stakeholders, our communities and to excellence each day,” Gellerstedt says in a statement. — Jon Ross
DENTON, TEXAS — Feldman Mall Properties is currently negotiating with its lender for a forbearance on a loan that is partially secured by Denton’s Golden Triangle Mall. According to a release from the Great Neck, N.Y.-based shopping mall owner, the company has a $30 million line of credit, which is secured by some of its properties up to $24.6 million, and a guarantee by one of the company’s direct subsidiaries for any outstanding balance over that amount. The company states that its current outstanding balance is $27.8 million and it has also violated certain financial covenants. It is looking for a forbearance through the end of this year. Last year, Feldman attempted to complete a deal with Inland American Real Estate Trust in which Feldman would repurchase 2 million shares of preferred stock from Inland and receive $9.25 million from the company in exchange for Inland receiving the titles to Golden Triangle Mall; Stratford Square Mall, located in Bloomingdale, Ill.; and Northgate Mall, located in Cincinnati. Inland terminated the agreement in January 2009. At the time, Feldman state that it would need to find another way to raise the capital to retire $28.5 million in secured and unsecured, fixed and …
ATLANTA — Orinda Corp. is planning a $35 million upgrade at 222 Mitchell St. in Atlanta, transforming the former Nations Bank/Bank of America Operations Center into a mixed-use space. Atlanta-based Orinda and Charlottesville, Va.-based Octagon Capital Partners purchased the 350,000-square-foot property from Bank of North Georgia for an undisclosed amount. The firms are already moving ahead with a new look for the office building, outlining a project consisting of 205 lofts and more than 70,000 square feet of commercial space. Orinda has had previous success mixing residences with commercial condominium space at the Studioplex development in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward. “We think there’s an underserved small loft office need downtown,” says Dillon Baynes, president of Orinda, adding that 222 Mitchell St. is “the right project for the times.” In addition to downtown workers, the firms are expecting interest from area students. Georgia State University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and Georgia Tech are all located near the property. Baynes says Georgia State will increase its enrollment by 4,000 students during the next 4 years. Completion of the retooled tower is expected in January 2011. The first major task is finding construction financing for the project. Baynes says he’s …
ATLANTA — 100 Peachtree Street Atlanta LLC, an affiliate of Horsham, Pa.-based Capmark Bank, has purchased the 615,122-square-foot building at 100 Peachtree St. in Atlanta at auction for $29.5 million. Capmark Bank had foreclosed on the property, known as the Equitable Building, in early April. The owner, Equa-stone 100 Peachtree, had failed to pay back a loan of up to $52 million. The loan’s outstanding balance was $42 million, according to William Rothschild, an attorney with Sutherland who represented Capmark in the proceedings. 100 Peachtree Street Atlanta LLC was the sole bidder at the auction.
DETROIT — In the wake of General Motors filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, the company has announced plans to close or place on standby several of its manufacturing and distribution facilities. Most notable was the company’s announcement that it will cease operations December 31 at three of its parts distribution centers located in Boston; Columbus, Ohio; and Jacksonville, Fla. As a result of lower demand and the inevitable reduction of the company’s size, GM will also close several manufacturing facilities over the next 2 years. Assembly plants in Wilmington, Del., and Pontiac, Mich., will both be closed by the fall, and plants in Pontiac, Mich., and Spring Hill, Tenn., will both be put on standby capacity in September and November, respectively. Several stamping plants will also be shuttered. This month will see the previously announced closing of a Grand Rapids, Mich., plant, followed by the Mansfield, Ohio, plant in June 2010 and the Indianapolis plant in December 2011. The Pontiac, Mich., stamping plant will be put on standby capacity in December 2010. Finally, five manufacturing plants for powertrain components will close in 2010, including the company’s engine plant in Livonia, Mich. The other facilities are located in …
MARIETTA, GA. — Marietta-based WellStar Health Systems will break ground on a $100 million hospital in Hiram, Ga., next year, part of $800 million to be spent in the next 10 years on systems upgrades and facility expansions in Georgia. The proposal calls for $120 million worth of information technology improvements across the company’s hospital system, including a new data center, and a $14 million outpatient campus in Cobb County. The plan will be implemented in three phases. “That’s not $800 million that we’re going to chunk out in one check,” says Gregory Simone, CEO of WellStar Health Systems. The 100-bed hospital in Paulding County will be constructed to replace the WellStar Paulding Hospital in Dallas, Ga., which is adjacent to a fully occupied medical office building owned by the company. The global architecture firm HKS will construct the hospital using LEED Silver standards with an eye toward future expansion. WellStar is hoping to submit a deed request by the end of the year, which would set up a potential groundbreaking for December 2010. If everything proceeds as scheduled, Simone says, the company will open the hospital in April 2013. “It’s a 10-year plan, so we’re looking at the growth …
CHICAGO — Developer ECD Company and architecture firm Koo and Associates have completed theWit, a Doubletree Hotel, on the corner of State and Lake streets in downtown Chicago. The hotel, which opened May 27th, features 298 guestrooms in a new 27-story, 250,000-square-foot building. Its location positions theWit at the gateway to the city’s Theater District, which led to its unique “lightning bolt” design, an element that has garnered the building much-needed buzz leading to its opening. “We really wanted a design that highlighted the corner of State and Lake and had an exciting, almost theatrical, quality to it,” says Jackie Koo, founder of Koo and Associates. “The now well-known zig-zagging chartreuse glass on the building came about more from a programmatic sense and from the constraints of the site, but it has been a great thing for the identity and branding of the building.” The lightning bolt is a sliver of angled, laminated yellow glass, mimicking a bolt of energy that extends the full length of the building. At least one guestroom on each floor will offer this unique design element from which guests can enjoy views of the city. The hotel is situated on a small 9,500-square-foot (68’ by …
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Oncor, a locally based energy distribution and transmission company, has renewed its lease at The Oncor Building, a 300,000-square-foot office building located at 115 W. 7th St. in downtown Fort Worth. Oncor signed a new agreement to occupy 201,354 square feet of the building for a 10-year term. The company completed the renewal 3 years before its current lease was set to expire. As part of the renewal agreement, Oncor will immediately vacate the 22,000-square-foot ground floor of the building so that it can be converted into retail space. The building’s owner, White Plains, N.Y.-based Benbrooke Realty Investment Co., plans to install floor-to-ceiling windows and new canopies as a way to enhance the building’s streetscape. Local and national tenants will be targeted for retail and restaurant uses. George Ackerman and Mike Oestreich provided in-house representation for Benbrooke during lease negotiations. Local Benbrooke partner Craig Gutow will lead the retail redevelopment and leasing efforts. Mark O’Donnell, executive vice president of commercial real estate firm Studley, provided advising services to Oncor. Benbrooke first acquired The Oncor Building in September 2007. The renewal of the anchor tenant allows the company to secure its tenant roster before the company’s debt …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Starting in July, the Federal Reserve will include legacy commercial mortgage backed securities in its Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) program, a $1 trillion plan first announced last November. These securities can now be used as collateral when taking out new TALF loans. The news represents a gradual increase of the program’s scope. TALF was originally designed to increase liquidity in the market by providing loans for commercial real estate developers and owners using newly issued commercial and asset-backed mortgage securities as collateral. On May 1, the program was expanded to encompass loans starting with the June subscription. Now, CMBS issued before January 1, 2009, are included as well. “This is welcome news for the commercial real estate lending market, since it will allow a number of capital providers the opportunity to move these assets from their balance sheets and replenish capital,” says D. Scott Dixon, president of Atlanta-based RBC Capital Advisors. “As these lenders are able to replenish capital, we are hopeful that they will resume providing new loans to developers and owners.” To be covered under the new rules, securities must have two AAA ratings from DBRS, Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Realpoint or S&P. If …