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SAN FRANCISCO — LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE: LHO) has purchased the Hotel Vitale in San Francisco for $130 million. The 200-room hotel is located at 8 Mission St. at the intersection of the Embarcadero Waterfront and the Financial District, across from the Ferry Building Marketplace. Newly constructed in 2005, the hotel has undergone $6.5 million in subsequent capital expenditures including restaurant upgrades and new guestroom furniture. Hotel Vitale’s 200 guestrooms average 375 square feet. LaSalle funded the acquisition through its senior unsecured credit facility. “We are thrilled with this acquisition,” says Michael Barnello, president and CEO of LaSalle Hotel Properties. “Hotel Vitale is outstanding physically and in terms of its location. The hotel is surrounded by demand generators that attract corporate and leisure business, and the views from the hotel are breathtaking.” The hotel was purchased subject to a ground lease with the City & County of San Francisco, Municipal Transportation Agency, which expires on March 8, 2070. The hotel is within walking distance of San Francisco’s office towers in the Financial District and South of Market (SoMa) area. There is roughly 21 million square feet of existing office space and 3.5 million square feet of new office development within …

SAN FRANCISCO AND PALO ALTO, CALIF. — Essex Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: ESS) and BRE Properties Inc. (NYSE: BRE) have completed the merger of the two multifamily REITs, forming a new entity with a total market capitalization of approximately $16.2 billion. Going forward, the combined company will trade under the ticker symbol ESS on the New York Stock Exchange. The REIT’s equity market capitalization totals approximately $11.1 billion. “We are excited to consummate the merger and move forward to combine these two great organizations to form the leading West Coast multifamily REIT,” says Michael Schall, president and CEO of Essex. “The integration effort is proceeding as planned, which we believe will result in a stronger platform for sustainable growth, superior service for our residents and expanded career opportunities for our employees.” With the merger complete, former Essex stockholders hold approximately 63 percent of the combined company’s stock, while former BRE stockholders hold approximately 37 percent. Each share of BRE common stock was converted into 0.2971 shares of the new common stock, plus $7.18 in cash per share. “We are pleased that our stockholders have expressed overwhelming support and approval for this merger,” says Constance Moore, CEO of BRE. “The combined …

PHILADELPHIA — Cedar Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: CDR) has acquired Quartermaster Plaza, a 456,000-square-foot retail property in Philadelphia, for $92.3 million, including the assumption of $53.4 million in fixed-rate debt. A publicly traded REIT, Cedar Realty will initially fund the purchase through the company’s credit facility, pending anticipated proceeds from asset sales. Constructed in 2004, the shopping center was 98 percent leased at the time of the sale and anchored by BJ’s Wholesale Club. With this purchase, Cedar Realty owns five shopping centers in Philadelphia totaling more than 1.3 million square feet, as well as the largest share of open-air retail space within the city of any publicly traded REIT. “We are excited about the acquisition of Quartermaster Plaza,” says Bruce Schanzer, president and CEO of Cedar Realty. “Our now dominant presence in the South Philadelphia submarket allows us to leverage our operating and leasing expertise to continue to serve the needs of this large and growing urban population.” Quartermaster Plaza is located on more than 43 acres and has already been approved for expansion of up to 98,000 square feet. The property is adjacent to South Philadelphia Shopping Center, a 283,000-square-foot, grocery-anchored center also owned by Cedar Realty. Other …

TUNICA, MISS. — Full House Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ: FLL) has entered into a definitive agreement to buy the 53-acre Fitzgerald’s Casino in Tunica from The Majestic Star Casino LLC for $62 million. Majestic Star, based in Indiana, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009, leaving the “Fitz Casino” available for purchase, according to the Memphis Business Journal. Las Vegas-based Full House, which owns five casinos in Nevada, New Mexico, Indiana and Mississippi, also purchased the Silver Slipper Casino in Bay St. Louis, Miss., in 2012 for $70 million. The Fitz Casino features 38,000 square feet of gaming space, including approximately 1,100 slot and video poker machines, as well as 20 table games. The site also includes a 506-room hotel with 68 suites, a fine dining restaurant, buffet, two casino bars and an 8,100-square-foot event center. “This transaction is consistent with our long-stated growth strategy,” says Andre Hilliou, chairman and CEO of Full House Resorts, “and we believe it will create long-term shareholder value. We believe we can leverage our knowledge and proven track record of managing properties catering to local customers to further improve the profitability of Fitz Casino.” According to a press release, Macquarie Capital was Full House’s …

CINCINNATI — Phillips Edison–ARC Shopping Center REIT Inc. has acquired 15 grocery-anchored shopping centers for $261 million since the beginning of the year. The acquisitions added approximately 1.6 million square feet to Phillips Edison-ARC’s portfolio. The shopping centers expanded the REIT's presence in eight states: Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. The acquisitions also added three new grocery anchors to the portfolio: Market Street, Martin's and Sweetbay. Including this acquisition, Phillips Edison-ARC's portfolio consists of interests in 98 shopping centers anchored by 31 leading grocers located in 23 states. “We are very pleased to acquire these grocery-anchored shopping centers, as they further diversify our portfolio by geography, grocery anchor, industry, lease expirations and credit,” says Jeff Edison, chairman and CEO of Phillips Edison-ARC Shopping Center REIT. “Our acquisitions velocity continues to grow as our acquisitions team harvests opportunities in our pipeline.” The acquisitions include: · Fairacres Shopping Center, anchored by Pick 'n Save in Oshkosh, Wis. · Savoy Plaza, anchored by Schnucks in Savoy, Ill. · The Shops of Uptown, anchored by Trader Joe's in Park Ridge, Ill. · Chapel Hill North, anchored by Harris Teeter in Chapel Hill, N.C. · a portfolio of two Martin's …

LOS ANGELES — Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) has agreed to sell Beverly Connection, a 335,000-square-foot power shopping center in Los Angeles, for $260 million. Michael Alpert, president of Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., has confirmed that Ashkenazy is the buyer, according to the Los Angeles Times. The property, located at the intersection of La Cinega and Beverly boulevards in the Beverly Grove neighborhood, houses tenants including Target, Old Navy, Ross Dress for Less, T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. “We like to acquire trophy properties in major markets around the U.S.,” Alpert told the Times. “We expect to invest up to an additional $500 million in the Greater Los Angeles market. We have a very strong appetite for more local properties.” Ashkenazy, a private investment firm based in New York City, will acquire the property unencumbered of existing debt. Vornado, a Paramus, N.J.-based REIT, expects the sale to generate $40 million in net gain. Beverly Connection offers restaurants such as Baja Fresh Mexican Grill and Johnny Rockets, as well as smaller stores including Verizon Wireless and CVS/pharmacy, in addition to the aforementioned large retailers. The open-air center consists of several …

NEW YORK — NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. (NYSE: NRF) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a $1.05 billion healthcare real estate portfolio from investment partnerships owned and managed by Formation Capital LLC, Formation’s affiliated entities or Safanad Limited. The portfolio is comprised of 43 primarily private-pay seniors housing facilities and 37 skilled nursing facilities. Including this transaction, NorthStar, a New York-based real estate investment trust (REIT), has an approximately $1.6 billion healthcare real estate portfolio consisting of more than 160 properties. “We are very pleased to add a diversified, quality portfolio of healthcare properties that we expect will produce attractive current and overall returns,” says David Hamamoto, chairman and CEO of NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. NorthStar is acquiring the portfolio in a joint venture with Formation Capital, a leading private investment firm focused on senior care real estate and services and post-acute healthcare. NorthStar and its affiliates will contribute approximately 92 percent of the $430 million of equity to purchase the portfolio, and the joint venture will assume in-place financing for the remainder of the balance. The purchase price for the portfolio represents a cap rate of 9.4 percent. “This transaction represents an initial step toward our goal …