NEW YORK CITY — The Macerich Co. (NYSE: MAC) has agreed to purchase two malls in the New York metropolitan area — Kings Plaza in Brooklyn and Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream — for $1.25 billion. “These transactions are consistent with our investment strategy of acquiring assets in the major markets where we have our best assets and selling non-core assets and recycling capital,” says Arthur Coppola, chairman and CEO of Macerich, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based retail REIT Kings Plaza spans 1.2 million square feet and is 95 percent leased to tenants such as Aeropostale, American Eagle, Armani Exchange, Forever 21, H&M, MAC, Pink, Swarovski and Victoria’s Secret. Macy’s, Lowe’s and Sears anchor Kings Plaza, which is the only enclosed super regional mall in Brooklyn. The mall’s annual sales production is $650 per square foot. Macerich is acquiring the mall from a subsidiary of Alexander’s Inc. for approximately $751 million. Macerich plans on placing secured debt on the property at the closing of the transaction, which is slated for late 2012. The balance of the purchase will either be funded from cash on hand or Macerich’s line of credit. The 1.8 million-square-foot Green Acres Mall is located on the …
The Charlotte multifamily market continues its strong recovery and shows no signs of slowing down. All facets of the multifamily market are improving with tightening apartment fundamentals, increased transactional volume and the announcement of several high-profile development projects. According to RealPage MPF Research, the Charlotte market has experienced 6.8 percent rent growth during the past 12 months, which ranks third in the country behind only San Francisco and San José, California. The market has also absorbed more than 3,300 units in the same time period, lowering the overall market’s vacancy to approximately 6.5 percent — the lowest vacancy figure seen in Charlotte in more than a decade. Transaction volume in the Charlotte metro, while only half of the activity level in the Triangle market, has been relatively strong with approximately $800 million in sales during the past 12 months. Capital sources continue to flock to the highest-grade assets, particularly infill locations, where historically low interest rates boost investor returns. A recent illustration of this trend was Atlanta-based Post Properties’ purchase of the 360-unit Circle at South End from Crescent Resources for $74 million or $205,556 per unit, a record per-unit price for a garden-style community in the Carolinas. On the …
San Antonio’s multifamily market has historically been exempt from the fluctuations typical of other Texas cities. While San Antonio has had its share of new deliveries over the years, the multifamily stock has not increased in step with its Texas contemporaries. The traditional engines of the city– hospitality, health care and the military–provide a rock-solid foundation, but do not offer the types of high-paying wages that drive rent growth and new construction. New construction has also been inhibited by a lack of institutional capital flowing to San Antonio because it was perceived as a “low growth” market. Things, however, are changing. Job growth in industries such as energy, manufacturing, and the financial sector are drawing families to the region like never before, just as long-time San Antonio organizations such as USAA, the Medical Center and the University of Texas—San Antonio (UTSA) continue to expand. As a result of new jobs and a nationwide regression of home ownership rates to more historic levels, San Antonio’s multifamily market is seeing a rapid increase in demand. Developers, both local and national, have begun planning new developments… As of August 2012, San Antonio multifamily properties boast an overall occupancy rate of 92.9 percent. As …
WOODSTOCK, GA. — Northside Cherokee Towne Lake Medical Office Building broke ground recently at 900 Towne Lake Pkwy. in Woodstock, approximately 25 miles north of Atlanta. Northside Hospital will lease the entire four-story, 100,817-square-foot medical office building that will house outpatient healthcare services and physician practices. Indianapolis-based Duke Realty is developing the medical office building as well as a three-story, 350-space parking garage that will complement surface parking spaces. Duke Realty Towne Lake Development LLC, a wholly owned entity of Duke Realty LP, will own the medical office building when completed in August 2013. Lyman Davidson Dooley Inc. is the project architect and Brasfield & Gorrie is the general contractor.
NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — North Miami Beach-based Equity One Inc. (NYSE: EQY) has acquired or is in agreement to acquire four commercial properties in Bethesda, Md., New York City and Norwalk, Conn., for $260 million. The company is under contract to acquire the Westwood Complex, a 22-acre mixed-use development located in Bethesda, for $140 million. The development features 214,767 square feet of retail space, a 211,020-square-foot apartment building and a 62-unit assisted living facility. The transaction is slated to close by the end of 2013. Giant Food has anchored Westwood’s main retail center since the center opened in 1959. The lease expires in 2019 with no term remaining. The assisted living facility is leased to Manor Care Health Services through 2015, also with no term remaining. Westwood’s apartment property is leased to a division of Montgomery County, Md., and it is subject to a purchase right in 2017, which is expected to be exercised. Equity One has also acquired the 78,820-square-foot Clocktower Plaza, a shopping center located in Queens, for $56 million. Pathmark anchors the center, which is fully leased. The property is located on seven acres of land that has opportunities for future development and expansion. The company …
NEW YORK CITY — Hotel operator Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE: HOT) has sold the 665-room Manhattan at Times Square Hotel in New York City for $275 million. The buyers — Rockpoint Group, Goldman Sach's Real Estate Principal Investment Area and Highgate Holdings — have decided to operate the hotel as an independent property managed by Highgate. Starwood executives say the sale was in line with an ongoing strategy to make the company more “asset light.” “As we continue our transition to an asset-light model, we continue to look for opportunities to sell our owned hotels at attractive prices to best create value for our shareholders, and this sale of a non-strategic asset is consistent with that strategy,” says Simon Turner, Starwood's president of global development. In 2010, Starwood removed the Sheraton flag from the hotel. With the sale completed, the hotel will no longer be affiliated with Starwood. “With all nine of our brands already well-represented in New York City across approximately 9,000 rooms, we believe this sale presented the best value to our shareholders,” says Turner. The property is located on Seventh Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets. The building is minutes from sites such as Central …
NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. — Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II Inc. has acquired three Los Angeles-area hospitals and three medical office buildings located in Frisco, Texas and Jasper, Georgia for approximately $108.7 million. With the latest acquisitions, the REIT’s portfolio totals 121 buildings valued at approximately $1.1 billion, based onpurchase price, spread across 26 states. The co-sponsors of the non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) include Newport Beach-based American Healthcare Investors, an investment management specializing in the acquisition and management of healthcare-related real estate, and Los Angeles-based Griffin Capital Corp., a privately owned real estate company. Non-traded REITs are considered public companies, but their shares are not listed on any stock exchange. “Reaching the $1 billion mark in aggregate portfolio value, based on purchase price, is a key milestone for Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II,” says Danny Prosky, a principal of American Healthcare Investors and president and COO of the REIT (pictured at left). “Size and scale can be very important in terms of real estate portfolio operations, efficiency and potential enhanced value of the REIT as a whole,” adds Prosky. “The REIT has now grown to the size where it is one of the largest and most significant owners of healthcare-related real …
PHILADELPHIA — Beech Street Capital has arranged a $10.9 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of a four-property apartment portfolio, totaling 230 units, in Philadelphia. Avi Weinstock and Chaim Tessler of Meridian Capital Group originated the seven-year loan. The properties were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s and major renovations have been completed in the past five years. Each property is fully occupied.
With tenant demand increasing and retailers looking to expand in Cleveland, positive net absorption and limited development have created a balanced retail market that will lead to improvement and growth in 2012, according to Marcus & Millichap. The construction levels are relatively low with only 260,000 square feet of shopping center space scheduled to be completed this year, more than doubling last year’s 121,000 square feet. By comparison, 2008 saw 1 million square feet in retail completions. “When you look at it and put it in perspective versus construction levels seen during the last 10 years, it’s significantly below the levels we saw at the height of the market,” says Scott Wiles, a director and vice president within Marcus and Millichap’s National Retail Group. “It was an expected trend that last year was the low point for construction levels in the submarket, and that stems from 2009 and 2010 being very inactive leasing markets,” Wiles says. This year’s limited construction will aid Cleveland’s retail growth, however, in light of an uptick in leasing. “The positive thing about Cleveland is that we never see the construction levels that some of the sexier markets see, so it doesn’t throw our supply and …
SIOUX FALLS, S.C. — Summit Hotel Properties (NYSE: INN), a real estate investment trust, has entered into three agreements to acquire 10 hotels, including eight properties from Hyatt Hotels Corp., for a total of $114.6 million. Included in the Hyatt portfolio is the 127-room Hyatt Place-Arlington in Arlington, Texas; the 151-room Hyatt Place-Lombard in Lombard, Ill.; the 127-room Hyatt Place-Phoenix in Phoenix; the 127-room Hyatt Place-Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Ariz.; the 123-room Hyatt Place-Owings Mills in Owings Mills, Md.; the 127-room Hyatt Place-Park Meadows in Lone Tree, Colo.; the 126-room Hyatt Place-Denver Tech Center and the 135-room Hyatt House-Denver Tech Center in Englewood, Colo. The sale price of the Hyatt portfolio is $87.4 million. “We continue to see terrific opportunities to grow our portfolio,” says Dan Hansen, president and CEO of Sioux Falls-based Summit Hotel Properties. “This acquisition is a result of our great relationship with Hyatt and we look forward to exploring future opportunities and continuing to grow that relationship.” The company plans to enter into an agreement with Select Hotels Group, a Hyatt affiliate, to operate the hotels. Summit Hotel Properties has also agreed to acquire the 98-room Hilton Garden Inn in Fort Worth, Texas, for $7.2 million, as …