Buchanan Buys Stapley Corporate Center for $33M

Buchanan Street Partners, a Newport Beach-based national real estate investment bank, completed the purchase of the Stapley Corporate Center in Mesa, Arizona for $32.5 million. Buchanan purchased the two-building Class A office complex from The DESCO Group, which originally developed the property in 2007. Chris Toci and Chad Little of Cushman & Wakefield of Arizona represented the seller in the transaction, while Buchanan Street represented itself. Mark Gustin of Jones Lang LaSalle will handle leasing for the property, according to a press release.

"This property will continue to attract top tenants seeking high-image office space in the East Valley, based both upon the quality of the building and the continued Phoenix recovery," said Brian Payne, Vice President of Buchanan Street Partners. "The project benefits from a location adjacent to executive housing in Gilbert and is in close proximity to more than 2 million square feet of retail services in the immediate area."

The two buildings at 1840 and 1920 South Stapley Drive cover 180,000 square feet of rentable space with immediate access to Highway 60. The property was 90% leased at the time of sale, with major long term leases in place with tenants including Cigna Healthcare and Wells Fargo.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Kennedy Wilson Pays €855M ($12B) for London & Ireland Portfolio

Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate plc, a subsidiary of the global real estate investment and services firm Kennedy Wilson, announced this week that it had acquired the Fordgate Jupiter Portfolio for an aggregate consideration of approximately £685 million (including approximately £202 million of assumed non-recourse debt). Following completion of these acquisitions, the company has invested, or committed to invest, over 85% of the net cash proceeds raised through its IPO carried out in February, according to a PropertyEU article.

"This transaction illustrates our unique ability to invest across asset class, capital structure and different instruments to access and control quality real estate assets," said Mary Ricks, President and CEO of Kennedy Wilson Europe. "The highly visible and secure income, complemented by strong underlying tenancies, together with a number of asset management plays, including leasing efforts, which we have already identified in the portfolio, make this an extremely attractive investment for us."

The mixed use Fordgate Jupiter Portfolio includes 21 properties located across the UK, including nine offices, two mixed, five car showrooms, three leisure, one retail and one warehouse, where the top seven assets represent 84% of the total value of the portfolio. Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate, which invests primarily in real estate and real estate loans in Europe, said its overall portfolio now consists of seven portfolios of property made up of offices and mixed-use developments, and one loan portfolio comprising five real estate loans under receivership secured against five properties located across England.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Asian CRE Lows Spur Buying Shift

With commercial real estate yields at their lowest in Asia, with yields for centrally located office buildings just 2.2% in Taipei, 2.8% in Hong Kong and 3.5% in Tokyo and Singapore, investors are taking on more risks, and even considering purchases outside of their regions. A new Wall Street Journal report titled Sinking Yields in Asia Spur a Property-Buying Shift examines the current international markets, and their hot spots. An excerpt follows:

Pension funds, sovereign-wealth funds and other institutional investors have been willing to accept such low returns because they look attractive in a low interest-rate environment. But it also means that buyers are exposed to a loss in value if interest rates rise and demand for such low yields cools.

Yields have fallen so far in Taiwan that financial regulators last year instituted a new rule that limits domestic insurance companies' investments to properties that offer a rental yield of 2.875% or above. Authorities also have allowed insurance companies to buy real estate outside the country's borders for the first time.

Investors are modifying their strategies. Terence Loh, executive director at China-focused investment fund CDH Investments, said he has been investing in development projects in cities such as Beijing, Hangzhou and Xi'an rather than buying existing buildings. "The risk-reward is more compelling," he said.

Also, if interest rates rise faster than inflation, owners could get squeezed, especially if they have floating-rate debt, experts say. "These tight [yield] rates will have a very small margin of error," said Nicholas Wilson, research manager for capital markets in Asia Pacific, at JLL.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

GSA Releases Renderings for DC Homeland Security HQ

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced this week that it had begun its search for contractors to build a new Department of Homeland Security headquarters and released renderings of the new project for review. The GSA posted a request for qualifications Monday to FedBizOpps.gov outlining plans to renovate the Center Building on the St. Elizabeths campus on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Southeast D.C., a design-build project estimated to cost between $100 million and $140 million, according to a Washington Business Journal article. GSA expects to award the contract in August, with a completion date set for July 1, 2017. The cost of the renovation of the building that dates back to the late 1800s has been pegged at between $100 million to $140 million, reports GlobeSt.com.

St. Elizabeths was established by Congress in 1855 as a government hospital, divided into two campuses. The West Campus is presently owned by the federal government and is under the custody and control of GSA. The development of St. Elizabeths is the consolidation site for the Department of Homeland Security, with Congress having already approved $155 million for the GSA to bring more than 14,000 employees to the campus. DHS's current facilities are spread among more than 40 buildings in the Washington, DC area; DHS's new headquarters will allow for more efficient incident management response and command-and-control operations. The first phase of the consolidation – the new Coast Guard headquarters – was completed and occupied by the Coast Guard last year, according to a Federal Times report.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

IndCor Buys Texas Industrial Portfolio

IndCor, a Chicago-based real estate company focused on the ownership and management of industrial properties, announced this week that it had purchased a 1.1 million square foot industrial property portfolio, known as the 10/375 Industrial Portfolio. The portfolio sold by an institutional seller, who was represented by CBRE, according to a GlobeSt.com article. No price was released for the recent purchase, but the seven buildings have a tax-appraised value of $25.95 million, according to data from the El Paso Central Appraisal district.

"The El Paso market is thriving, and we are very excited to be a part of it," said Stephen Bryan, IndCor's Co-Chief Investment Officer. "These bulk, high-clear height, Class A industrial buildings in the El Paso market boost IndCor's portfolio substantially in Texas."

The portfolio includes warehouse and distribution facilities leased by Handgards Inc., El Paso manufacturer of gloves, food bags and other products, at 12375 Pine Springs; Electrical Components International, a St. Louis-based maker of electrical components for a variety of products, at 12415 Rojas; and ProTrans International, an Indianapolis-based logistics company, at 12425 Rojas. Two of the buildings are at 12420 and 12430 Mercantile. CBRE officials reported that 83% of the seven buildings in the portfolio are currently occupied. Only one building, at 12435 Rojas, is vacant.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in a World Grain article today titled Blumberg Grain Links with The Corporate Council on Africa. An excerpt follows:

Blumberg Grain said that it has joined The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), a organization developing and strengthening business relationships between the United States and Africa.

In its release, David Blumberg, CEO of Blumberg Grain – West Africa said, “CCA is a very effective organization, with breadth and depth of experience in Africa. We appreciate how effective participating in CCA conferences and events has been for our company and staff, and look forward to a continued close working relationship.”

Added Philip Blumberg, Chairman of Blumberg Grain’s parent Blumberg Capital Partners, “With our company’s plans to expand manufacturing into Egypt and Nigeria this is a particularly appropriate time to join CCA. The Council and its members are committed to the betterment of Africa by identifying and helping create business opportunities and strengthening ties between the US and Africa.”

To read the full article, click here. For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

1155 Market in SF Sold for $73M

1155 Market Street, an 11-story office building at the center of the revitalized Mid-Market District in San Francisco, traded hands this month as Laurus Corporation sold the property to Patson Cos. for $72.6 million. Laurus, a U.S.-based private real estate investment and development firm, originally purchased the property in 2011 $27 million when it was essentially empty. Laurus was able to quickly re-lease more than 75% of the building for a 10-year term to the City and County of San Francisco and implement tenant improvement renovations Dave Terzolo, Josh Peterson and Mark Geisreiter of CBRE represented Laurus Corp. on both the sale of the building and the lease with the city. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"When we acquired 1155 Market St., the San Francisco mid-market location was in the early stages of revitalization. We were able to capitalize on the momentum, executing a focused business plan and aggressively pursuing targeted goals, efforts that ended up achieving over three times (3x) equity multiple for our investors," said Philip Cyburt, Chief Executive Officer of Laurus Corporation.

The City of San Francisco moved 400 city staffers into 1155 Market in early 2013, including those who work departments such as treasurer/tax collector, assessor-recorder, public works, and the Mayor's Office of Disability. "This location is terrific — you are right on top of the Civic Center BART exit," said John Updike, the city's director of real estate. "It's certainly worked out well for us."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Rockwood/Jamestown Partnership Buys Fifth Ave Tower for $595M

A partnership between Rockwood Capital, Jamestown, Murray Hill Properties, and Crown Acquisitions announced this week that it had agreed to purchase 530 Fifth Avenue in NYC from a partnership led by Thor Equities for $595 million. While full terms of the partnership and deal were not disclosed, Eastdil represented the selling group in the transaction, expected to close in September. The 26-story contains roughly 480,000 square feet of office space with another 55,000 allocated for retail. Major tenants include Desigual, JPMorgan Chase, Fossil, Massachusetts Mutual, Diageo North America, Cablevision, Lionsgate and Athyrium Capital.

Joe Gorin, Managing Director at Rockwood Capital, said, "530 Fifth's dynamic location and architectural features have provided a strong foundation from which to reposition this building as a top tier asset. This property epitomizes Rockwood's strategy of investing in well-located real estate that provides an opportunity to outperform over the long term."

"Fifth Avenue will always serve as an iconic location in NYC for retail and office space," said Michael Phillips of Jamestown. "Once we repositioned the 530 Fifth Ave property with a renovated lobby, internal upgrades and amenities it was with Eastdil's guidance we saw an opportunity to monetize the asset."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Latest CCRSI Shows Property Price Gains

CoStar has released its latest Commercial Repeat Sale Indices (CCRSI), offering a review of commercial real estate pricing for April, which reflected strong property price gains as the price gap narrowed between buyers and sellers. The CCRSI measures the movement in the prices of commercial properties by collecting data on actual transaction prices. Some hilights from the report include:

The general commercial segment remains on an upward trajectory, despite recent price volatility. The equal-weighted U.S. Composite Index's General Commercial segment declined by 1% in April 2014. Despite the volatility in the monthly data, the overriding trend over the past 12 months for this segment has been outsized pricing gains as capital expanded into secondary markets. The 13.2% year-over-year increase in April 2014 was the largest such gain among the four major indices.

Increased investment activity reflects a healthy market for transactions. Repeat sales transaction volume year-to-date through April 2014 increased 25% from the same period in 2013, and is approaching 2006 transactions levels.

The price gap between buyers and sellers continues to narrow. The delta between sale prices and asking prices closed by more than one percentage point in the 12-month period ended in April 2014. This gauge of liquidity varies by region and property type, however. In the West region, sellers are achieving over 90% of asking prices, while in the Midwest this ratio is 82%, the lowest of the four regions. Multifamily properties are driving much of this improvement in liquidity. In the core coastal markets of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and New York, for example, multifamily sale prices relative to asking prices are back to, or above, 2006-07 peak levels.

Other liquidity measures have also improved. The average time on market for for-sale properties fell 3% in the 12 months ending in April 2014, and the share of properties withdrawn from the market by discouraged sellers declined by more than two percentage points during the same period.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Citigroup Buys $700M Hong Kong HQ

In what's been reported as the largest single-block office purchase in Hong Kong, Citigroup has committed to pay HK$5.425 billion (or $700 million US) for a twenty-one story building to be completed next year. Wheelock Properties developed and sold One Bay East at 83 Hoi Bun Road, Kowloon East to Citi; full terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed. CBRE Group Inc. acted as adviser on the sale. The purchase price marks a 20% appreciation as compared to the price of the property's twin West Tower, adjacent to the East Tower, which was sold for HK$4.5 billion to Canada-based insurer Manulife last April, according to a report from The Standard.

"We are delighted that two leading global financial corporations have chosen One Bay East as the strategic base for their business operations. The significant and long term investments by top class multinationals show their continual deep confidence in Hong Kong," said Steward Leung, Chairman of Wheelock Properties.

"Our decision to purchase the East Tower of One Bay East underlines our belief and confidence in Hong Kong's continued growth as a leading global financial center and hub for some of our core regional businesses," Stephen Bird, chief executive officer for Citi in Asia Pacific said in a statement.

The 512,000 square foot tower will serve as the Asian headquarters building for Citi in the Asian financial hub. The building is about 40 minutes via public transportation from the main business district in Kowloon, Hong Kong, known as Central, where Citibank Plaza and many of the bank's executives are now located.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in Yahoo! Finance this week under Food Safety and Security Leader Blumberg Grain Joins The Corporate Council on Africa. An excerpt follows:

Blumberg Grain, a global leader in food safety and security, has joined The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), the leading trade organization developing and strengthening business relationships between the United States and Africa.

Said David Blumberg, CEO of Blumberg Grain – West Africa, “CCA is a very effective organization, with breadth and depth of experience in Africa. We appreciate how effective participating in CCA conferences and events has been for our company and staff, and look forward to a continued close working relationship.”

To read the full article, click here. For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Gladstone Picks Up PA Warehouse for $39M

Gladstone Commercial Corporation, a Virginia-based REIT, announced this week that it had purchased a bulk distribution warehouse in Taylor, PA from Kane Properties for $39 million. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, Citizen's Voice reported that the deed is signed by Edward M. Kane, president of Kane Realty. The realty company is affiliated with Kane Is Able Inc., a warehousing and transportation concern based in Scranton. The property is occupied by a regional third-party logistics company under a ten-year absolute net lease.

"This acquisition is consistent with our strategic decision to focus our acquisition efforts on high-quality, functional properties in primary and strong secondary markets" said Matt Tucker, Managing Director of Gladstone Commercial. "The property is a high-quality front-loading distribution building, with 35-foot clear heights and 169 dock doors. We believe that this property, located in the Northeastern Pennsylvania submarket of the I-81 distribution corridor, a very strong primary distribution market, will provide stable long-term accretive returns to our shareholders."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

New Generation Office Tower Breaks Ground in Bellevue

Construction began this week on 929 Office Tower, a 19-story Class A office building being developed by Trammell Crow Company with its joint venture partner Principal Real Estate Investors in Bellevue, Washington. The 462,000 square foot tower at 929 108th Avenue North, expected to deliver in December 2015, is the first to be built under the new energy code in Bellevue, incorporating a broad range of sustainable design features and will achieve LEED Gold certification. According to a Puget Sound Business Journal article, the new building systems will lower operating expenses versus less responsive, older inventory and will create a more comfortable and productive workspace.

"Companies considering our building will find meaningful improvements in their work environment," said Craig Dobbs, Principal of Trammell Crow Company's Seattle Business Unit. "929 Office Tower is full of modern amenities including a welcoming and functional lobby with causal work areas to full featured meeting rooms, elite club level work out facilities and building control systems that enhance the work place experience."

"We are excited to be partnering with Trammell Crow Company on 929 Office Tower to expand our investment base in the Bellevue CBD where we have enjoyed recent and long term success," said Jay Fisher, Assistant Managing Director of Principal Real Estate Investors and head of asset management and investments for the Pacific Northwest region. "This development is attractive because it will be the first new Class A building delivered into an expanding Eastside market and offers an abundance of tenant focused amenities including many first to market engineering advances."

Tom Bohman, Senior Vice President, Pete Hollomon, Senior Vice President, and Lennon Atteberry, Associate with CBRE's Bellevue office have been appointed to lease and market the project. LMN Architects will serve as lead architect and Lease Crutcher Lewis as general contractor.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

JV Buys Santa Ana Office Building

A joint venture between Hines, the international real estate firm, and Oaktree Capital Management announced this week that it had purchased 1750 East Fourth Street in Santa Ana, California for an undisclosed price. The JV acquired the property in a sale and lease back deal with State Compensation Insurance Fund, California's largest provider of workers' compensation insurance. The seller was represented in the transaction by Rob Bickel, Patrick Inglis and Thomas Maloney of JLL.

Hines Managing Director Ray Lawler, who leads the firm's Orange County development and investment office, said, "Orange County is projected to be among the highest rent-growth markets in the U.S. over the next five years. This property provides us the opportunity to add significant value through leasing and the continuing improvement of Orange County's market fundamentals."

Oaktree Capital Management Managing Director Ambrose Fisher added, "We are happy to begin a long-term relationship with State Compensation Insurance Fund, and we look forward to adding 1750 East Fourth Street to our Orange County real estate holdings. This is our 10th project with Hines in Orange County and our 18th with Hines globally."

The 229,989-square-foot, eight story Class A office building was originally developed in 1994 on 2.8 acres, with immediate access to the 5 and 55 Freeways. Under the terms of the deal, State Compensation Insurance Fund will lease back roughly 50% of the square footage via a long term lease, with the remaining 50% available for lease. Hines has assumed on-site property management responsibilities on behalf of the joint venture, according to a Commercial Property Executive article.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was recently mentioned in a Foreign Policy article titled Rock Star in a Hard Place which examines the achievements and struggles for Nigeria's Finance Minster, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. An excerpt from the article follows:

Less than a week later, Nigeria's high-powered finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was back in her old digs in Washington, D.C., for the World Bank's annual spring meeting. With the help of a handful of aides whose cell phones never stopped ringing, she was running a makeshift war room out of the Nigeria country director's office, speed-dating investors and reporters in between rendezvous with bigger fish, like International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. Having spent more than two decades as an economist at the World Bank, and having nearly beaten Kim out for the top job in 2012, she was clearly in her element.

"You just missed an investor who is thinking of investing in Nigeria," she said as we sat down at a round mahogany table overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue. Okonjo-Iweala, 59, was wearing a bright green head-wrap and matching cotton dress, the traditional garb of Nigeria's Igbo ethnic group. "Blumberg Grain," she said, adjusting her wire-rim glasses, "$250 million investment." A communications maestro who has managed to turn the international media — and the financial press, in particular — into a chorus of cheerleaders, Okonjo-Iweala was doing what she does best: selling Nigeria. "The private sector, internal and external, is very excited about this," she said of the new economic data. "It just makes them more determined to come in."

To read the full article, click here. For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

ARCP Picks Up Gateway Center Complex in KY for $82.6M

In what's being called one of the largest-ever commercial real estate sales in Northern Kentucky, ARCP Acquisitions LLC, a subsidiary of the New York-based real estate investment trust American Realty Capital, announced that they had purchased the Gateway Center and Gateway Center West in downtown Covington, Kentucky for $82.6 million. ARCP bought the property from Scott Street Land Co., a Wessels Construction affiliate, which originally developed the complex at 333 Scott Blvd. and 300 Madison Ave. in mid-1992. As a result of the sale, Fort Wright-based Wessels will diversify its real estate portfolio to include more multifamily and commercial office areas, according to a Cincinnati Business Courier article. Meanwhile, its affiliate, Guardian Management Co., will continue to provide property management services for the Gateway Complex under an agreement with the new owners.

"With over two decades of work on the part of our company…we felt the time was right to see what the value of the project was on the open market," said Rick Wessels, a spokesman for Wessels Construction. "It generated quite a bit of interest on the part of institutional buyers, and we feel we received maximum value in the end."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blackstone Breaks Ground on Waikiki Tower

Blackstone announced this week that it had broken ground on the development of a new 418-unit vacation ownership tower at Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, with an official ceremony that marked the construction launch of The Grand Islander by Hilton Grand Vacations Club®, slated for completion in early 2017. Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI, a Blackstone-managed fund, is providing capital for the 37-floor tower adjacent to the Tapa Tower along Kalia Road. The pricepoint of the project was not disclosed, but Blackstone did reveal that it appointed Hilton Grand Vacations, the vacation ownership division of Hilton Worldwide, to provide vacation ownership sales and marketing services, resort operations, timeshare homeowners' association management and loan servicing.

"We are thrilled to partner with Hilton Worldwide to bring a new timeshare offering to the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort," said Tyler Henritze, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone. "Combined with the quality of the Hilton Grand Vacations Club product and the Hilton brand, this destination will provide a fantastic vacation experience. We're pleased that Blackstone's investment will help create hundreds of jobs for the community, in line with our continuing commitment to Hawaii's tourism economy."

"It is our privilege to continue creating new ownership opportunities for our discerning clientele with a spectacular new Hilton Grand Vacations Club tower in Hilton Hawaiian Village," added Mark Wang, Executive Vice President, Global Sales and President, Hilton Grand Vacations for Hilton Worldwide. "This project combines the industry-leading sales, marketing and management expertise of Hilton Grand Vacations with the established development strength of Blackstone, and builds upon our history of strategic collaboration."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

KBS Selling Dallas Cowboy's Distribution Center

Invesco Advisers, Inc., an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Invesco Ltd., has purchased the Dallas Cowboy's Distribution Center, a 400,000-square-foot facility near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, from KBS Real Estate Investment Trust II for $22.3 million. KBS began marketing the single-tenant logistics facility earlier this year after owning the property's ground lease to the distribution center since July 2010, when it purchased the building and 40-year ground lease for $19 million. The sale of the building, which is 100 percent leased to the Cowboys, won't become finalized until after the real estate transaction closes, according to a Dallas Business Journal article. If the deal doesn't go through, Invesco could forgo $200,000 in earnest money.

The property sits on 21.2 acres of land at 2500 Regent Blvd. with major tenants including Aviall/Boeing, Amazon.com, Pratt & Whitney, DHL and DB Schenker. Jack Fraker, Josh McArtor, Jonathan Bryan, and Heather McClain Venegoni of CBRE will market the Cowboys Distribution Center along with the National Partners Team, local market experts in each location and Scott Lewis, an expert in CBRE’s Debt & Structured Finance group, according to a GlobeSt.com report.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Hurricane Preparedness for CRE Owners

With hurricane season for the Atlantic region starting on June 1, many commercial real estate owners take a careful look at their assets, knowing that while forecasters are predicting a quiet season with nine tropical storms and three hurricanes, it only takes one bad storm to devastate a property. In a GlobeSt.com interview titled What 2014's Hurricanes Could Cost You, Evan Seacat, a director for Franklin Street Insurance Services, offers some insights into what commercial property owners do from an insurance perspective to prepare for hurricane season. An excerpt follows:

What can building owners do now to try and save money on their policies?

The answers don't involve shopping around for a new policy. Policies written during, and even within months of the hurricane season, can be anywhere from 10% to 30% higher than those written outside of June through November.

Time is better spent reviewing your properties and policies. Be sure to have proper precautionary measures in place at each location—clean gutters, reinforce roofs—these efforts could avoid costly claims. Reviewing your policy and understanding your coverage also helps avoid any surprises that may arise when a claim is filed.

Can commercial property owners take advantage of mitigation credits?

Credits are based on a number of factors such as location, when your building was completed, when and how your roof was constructed and window protections. Start by obtaining a building inspection, which is inexpensive compared to the potential savings.

Compare the report to what you have on file with the insurer. For example, one property owner in South Florida lost 10 years' worth of savings because they did not conduct an inspection and correct the windstorm mitigations on his properties. After we updated the policy, our client saved nearly $150,000 in one year by providing their insurer with the correct portfolio information.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Empire World Towers Site in Miami Comes to Market

Commercial real estate firm Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (HFF) announced that it had been hired to market the site at 300 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, also known as the Empire World Towers site. A decision by the Florida Supreme Court made last summer allowed for the sale process to begin. The development originally fizzled when the developers went to prison for tax evasion, but another developer could now dust off the plans, tweak them and reuse them, according to a Miami Herald report. HFF was hired on behalf of the seller, a trust established for the benefit of CDR Creances S.A.S.

Designed by Kobi Karp Architecture and Interior Design and originally under development with Maclee Development, plans for the Empire World Towers project for a mixed-use complex included two Miami modern architecture inspired 93-story towers, surpassing the Four Seasons Hotel and Tower as the tallest buildings in Miami. With a height of 1,010 ft (366m) Empire World Towers would be one of the top 30 tallest structures in the world. When complete, the towers would offer 1,557 luxury residential units, commercial offices, retail shops and parking garage.

"Once built, the site will feature sweeping direct views of Downtown Miami and Brickell, Key Biscayne, Fisher Island, Miami Beach and the Atlantic Ocean," HFF managing director Jaret Turkell told GlobeSt.com. "The views are preserved to the east by the low rise Bayside Marketplace and to the north by land owned by Miami-Dade College. The project's height will allow the higher floors unparalleled 360 degree views of the entire city."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.