Westin Diplomat Sold for $460M

In a massive half-billion-dollar deal, the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Florida has sold for $460 million to Diplomat Hotel Owner LLC, an affiliate of Thayer Lodging Group of Annapolis, Maryland. The 998-unit hotel at 3555 S. Ocean Drive was sold by Diplomat Properties Limited Partnership, a company with ties to hotel owner United Association, a 370,000-member plumbers and pipefitters union based in Annapolis, according to a Sun Sentinel article.

In addition to the hotel, with spa and tennis courts on nearly 10 acres at 3555 S. Ocean Drive in Hollywood, Thayer also bought a neighboring 18-hole golf course for $20 million, and paid $55.5 million for several adjacent parcels at 3451-3690 S. Ocean Drive. Thayer made the deal through three affiliates, Diplomat Hotel Owner LLC, Diplomat Golf Course Venture LLC and Diplomat Landings Owner LLC, according to a deed recorded Thursday in Broward County, the Daily Business Review said. In total, Thayer paid $535.5 million to Diplomat Companies Limited Partner, linked to the plumbers' trade union.

"I think this is the biggest real estate transaction in Florida and one of the largest in the country this year," said Jack McCabe, CEO and founder of McCabe Research & Consulting, which did the market feasibility study for Thayer.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blackstone Selling Bryant Park Tower

The Blackstone Group, a NYC-based multinational private equity, investment banking, alternative asset management and financial services corporation, is preparing to sell New York's 1095 Avenue of the Americas, a 42-story office tower that may fetch one of the highest prices ever for a U.S. skyscraper, according to a GlobeSt.com report. Blackstone has reportedly hired Eastdil Secured to market the tower, which serves as the headquarters of Verizon Communications Inc. The 1.2 million-square-foot tower was purchased in 2007 by Blackstone as part of its takeover of Sam Zell's Equity Office Properties Trust. According to a Bloomberg report, Blackstone is seeking as much as $2.25 billion for the 42-story office tower.

"If they were to hit this number, it would show the market is still extremely strong for these assets," commented Ben Thypin, director of market analysis at Real Capital Analytics. "If you want to buy an office building of this size, you only have so many choices." A spokesperson for Blackstone declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.

Constructed from 1972 to 1974 as headquarters of New York Telephone, 1095 Avenue Of The Americas received a $260 million renovation which upgraded the office space from Class B+ to Class A office space from 2006 to 2007. Originally, restoration was intended to be limited to structural maintenance, but later the building's developer, Equity Office Properties Trust, decided to upgrade the Class B+ property to Class A office space. The tower holds primarily office space, but some of the upper floors contains telecommunications equipment.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

CNBC “I want to show you this one thing: How big is this show? You're seeing the Egyptian Minister of Supply who has come to Iowa to further a multi-billion dollar deal to buy secure storage bins from Blumberg Grain for their grain. Egypt is the biggest wheat importer in the world, but loses as much as 40% to spoilage. The delegation right now is in Chicago to figure out how they can have a commodities exchange in Cairo, and Blumberg, which is a real estate investor out of Florida, got into this secure storage business, and this is its first huge deal, billions of dollars."

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in a CairoScene article this month titled "US TYCOON: USE YOUR LOAF, EGYPT", which proclaims that Egypt's bread crisis could soon be resolved by Blumberg, which is launching a new venture in Egypt to introduce new nationwide storage facilities that are set to prevent spoilage and reduce price volatility. An excerpt follows:

It was Marie Antionette who once said let them eat cake – well now a US business tycoon could soon have Egyptians scoffing some of the best loaf on the planet.

Philip Blumberg, head of Blumberg Capital Partners, has launched the tasty new venture after successive politicians failed to solve the riddle of lowering bread prices despite the relatively high cost of purchasing grain, thanks to the country’s poor credit rating.

He said: "Egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world, but they have to buy it on the spot market. It’s crazy. The largest wheat buyer in the world is constrained by storage."

Blumberg has now reached a deal with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to build 164 grain-storage facilities designed to prevent spoilage, reduce price volatility and eventually lead to a local commodities exchange.

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

PointPark Pays $690M for Czech Warehouse Portfolio

PointPark Properties (P3), a European logistics specialist owned by TPG private investment group and Invanhoe Cambridge real estate company, has purchased a portfolio of logistics parks in the Czech Republic for €523 million, or $690 million. P3 bought the portfolio from VGP real estate company and its joint-venture partner Tristan Capital Partners. According to a P3 press release, the portfolio includes 58 logistics buildings with a total of 627,000 square metres of lettable space spread across the Czech Republic in strategic locations such as Plzen, Liberec, Hradec Kralove and Olomouc. The logistics parks also benefit from good transport connections to Germany, Poland and Slovakia and are occupied by a diverse range of tenants, many of whom are leading suppliers to the European automotive industry. VGP has been retained by P3 to continue providing property and facility management services to the disposed portfolio.

"This investment continues our expansion strategy as it strengthens the company´s position in the top rank of European logistics warehouse owners," said Ian Worboys, P3 CEO. "The Czech Republic is a strategic market for us because it sits at the crossroads of the main transport routes between Western, Central and Eastern Europe. The assets we acquired in this transaction are situated in prime logistics locations and are amongst the most modern facilities in Europe. Combining the acquired facilities with our existing holdings means P3 now owns one of the largest networks of logistics parks across Europe and we can offer our extensive customer base even more real estate options."

"As we have been recording an increasing demand for high-end and modern industrial properties in Germany and eastern Europe, now is an optimal time to sell and to re-invest the sales proceeds in new greenfield development projects," VGP Chief Executive Jan Van Geet said in a statement. VGP indicated that it will primarily reinvest its part of the sales proceeds in VGP's core markets located in the mid-European region and especially Germany.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Harrison Sells $283M Portfolio

Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, the Chicago-based private investment firm, announced this week that it had sold a portfolio of 12 healthcare properties across the United States for $283 million. Terms of the deals and named buyers were not disclosed. The portfolio is comprised primarily of newly constructed Class A buildings in Florida, Texas, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Indiana, and were, on average, 99.6% leased at the time of sale to health systems, physician groups and hospitals. Harrison Street assembled the portfolio through single-asset acquisitions and development with four operating partners using capital from Harrison Street Real Estate Partners III, the third private vehicle in its opportunity fund series. That fund closed on $595 million in June 2011.

"The landscape of healthcare delivery is changing," said Brian Mutchler, co-head of Harrison Street’s asset management group, in a GlobeSt. article. "The traditional hospital is not necessarily the setting for acute care as evidenced by the advent of properties designed for and dedicated to the treatment of specialized conditions. It is anticipated that an integrative approach: partnerships with strong health systems coupled with specialized services easily accessible to the local community will continue since it presents a convenient and cost effective approach to healthcare delivery."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Report Shows Healthy Outlook for CRE Markets

A new report from Auction.com was released this week, Q2 2014 Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Market Monitor Report, which reflects year-over-year growth in all major sectors as real estate transactions trend in a positive direction with volume and pricing moving upward. According to the report, the total combined commercial volume in the office, retail, apartment, industrial and hotel sectors reached $81.6 billion in the second quarter of 2014, up nearly 14% from one year ago. Office and apartment transactions combined to account for more than 55% of the five-sector total, similar to one year ago, though the apartment sector's portion of that volume has shrunk. Meanwhile, retail transactions made up 16% of the total.

"The picture continues to brighten for the commercial real estate market, as more investors take advantage of the current low-interest rate environment and drive transaction volume and pricing upward across all of the major sectors," said Auction.com Executive Vice President Rick Sharga. "Even the sectors that are beginning to level out in terms of transaction growth are performing better than they have in the past five years."

Additionally, pricing is on a steady upward trend across all sectors, with industrial pricing leading the way in terms of gains. A 15% year-over-year increase in May 2014 elevated the industrial sector's price growth to second among the sectors -- right behind hotel, which has averaged between 15 and 20% year-over-year growth since June 2013. The retail sector saw a surge in price growth in 2013, similar to what industrial is experiencing now, but year-ago gains have begun to decelerate in recent months as the sector continues to face headwinds including the rise of online shopping and shrinking space needs per customer.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

AEDC and Peloton Team Up for $190M TX Office Campus

Allen Economic Development Corp. and Peloton Commercial Real Estate are teaming up to develop Allen Central Park, a 190 million office campus that will include a 300-room hotel and conference center. Last week, the economic development group issued a request for quotation to find a hotel development partner to build a 300-room hotel and the 45,000-square-foot conference center near Watters Creek, a mixed-use retail shopping center in Allen, according to a Dallas Business Journal article.

"We've owned this land since the 1990s and we could've developed it into all sorts of things," said Dan Bowman, CEO of the Allen Economic Development Corp. "But we wanted to do something mixed-use with a focus on office space."

"This was good timing for everyone," said Murl Richardson, a partner at Peloton Commercial Real Estate. "I've been active along that part of Central for some time and I thought it would be a good time to invest in the area." The Class A office space will be marketed at about $27.50 per square foot, which is on par of newly developed space in North Texas; according to the latest CBRE research, the average market price for existing office space in the Richardson-Plano area is $18.59 per square foot. Peloton firm plans to lease the project as it gets developed.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

MRP to Develop Brookland Metro Station Complex

MRP Realty and CAS Riegler, both located in Washington, DC, have been selected to build a mixed-use development on the transit agency's property outside the Brookland station. The Metro's Board of Directors will still need to approve the team selected by the joint venture, but construction is expected to start as early as 2016. The joint venture will negotiate a development agreement with Metro for 2 acres at the Brookland Metro, to include 280 residential units and 9,000 square feet of retail for the Metro property, and must also include a new, 35-space Kiss and Ride lot, according to a Washington Business Journal report.

The site is attractive to developers in part because of the Red Line station and its location across the street from one of the biggest developments under construction in the District, the $200 million mixed-use Monroe Street Market, according to a Washington Post article. Developed by Jim Abdo, Pritzker Realty Group and the Bozzuto Group with Catholic University, Monroe Street Market is well on its way to becoming home to a bevy of new restaurants, a new book store for Catholic University and artists' housing. Some restaurants and stores are already open and artists are now occupying studios along a pedestrian Arts Walk.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Benjamin Moore Plans for New Distribution Center in Oakland

Benjamin Moore & Co. announced this week that it has plans to open new distribution center in Oakland, California, scheduled to open by early 2015. The new 374,725 square foot facility will support the distribution of all Benjamin Moore & Co. products and eventually serve as the key distribution center for the company's growing network of Asia Pacific retailers and distributors.

"Benjamin Moore & Co.'s business continues to grow, and with it the demand for increased distribution and fulfillment operations to deliver our best in class products to our network of independent retailers and customers," said Mike Searles, president and CEO of Benjamin Moore & Co. "We're committed to being the best partner for our retailers in every way and with this new distribution center customers can expect to see many new Benjamin Moore stores opening."

The newly constructed Goodman Logistics Center in Oakland will be leased to Benjamin Moore & Co. by Goodman Birtcher North America on behalf of the owner, Goodman North American Partnership, and is the first-ever Silver LEED certified site for Benjamin Moore & Co. The property is situated within the Port of Oakland's Oakland Airport Business Park, a business-friendly enterprise and eco-conscious industrial zone, located just east of the San Francisco central business district.

"We are delighted to welcome Benjamin Moore & Co. as a new customer at our LEED certified Goodman Logistics Center Oakland," said Brandon Birtcher, CEO of Goodman Birtcher North America. "This Class A facility typifies Goodman Birtcher's approach to providing our customers with flexible, high quality industrial space in strategic locations, which is capable of meeting their unique operational requirements."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

High-Tech Drives Rent Increases

CBRE has released its latest research report, U.S. Tech-Twenty: Measuring Office Market Impact, which shows that high-tech companies have accounted for 20% of major leasing activity in the United States so far this year, up from 14% last year. The high-tech job growth has fueled the office market recovery, driving double-digit rent growth in eight U.S. markets over the past two years, including San Francisco, Austin, Manhattan and Silicon Valley. The accelerating rents was especially pronounced within tech-dominated submarkets, where rents have increased 30% over the past two years, Midtown South in Manhattan (up 29%) and River North in Chicago (up 26%).

"Within preferred submarkets, which, in many cases, are the neighborhoods of choice for millennials and high-tech companies, vacant space has become increasingly scarce. As a result, nearby submarkets may see increased leasing activity by tech companies," said Colin Yasukochi, Director of Research and Analysis for CBRE Global Research and Consulting.

Highlights of the report include:

• High-tech was the top industry leasing office space in the U.S., accounting for 20% of major leasing activity thus far in 2014, up from 14% in 2013.
• San Francisco topped the U.S. Tech-Twenty Office Markets list for the third straight year. Over the past two years, San Francisco's high-tech job base has grown by 51%, while average asking rents have climbed 35%. The key ingredient to this “tech-effect” on the office market is the concentration of high-tech employment in each market and how dominant new high-tech job creation is relative to overall office-using employment.
• The rent premium commanded by submarkets with heavy high-tech employment is increasing. The average office rent aggregate of the Tech-Twenty submarkets was 18% higher than the Tech-Twenty overall markets.
• From an investor's perspective, San Diego, Portland, and Orange County offer the greatest potential. These markets are also attractive to occupiers, although Raleigh Durham offers the best combination of low office rents and a growing high-tech labor pool.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Miami's b2 Sold for $57.5M

CRP/InSite Biscayne, a joint venture between Carlyle Group and InSite Group, announced this week that it had sold the b2 Miami Downtown and an adjacent retail building for $57.5 million. HHR EAT Downtown Miami, an affiliate of Arizona-based company Investment Property Exchange Services, purchased the property; terms of the deal were not disclosed. Property records do show that the CRP/InSite Biscayne purchased the property for $13.5 million in September 2011. The previous owner, a partnership between New York developers Aby Rosen and Ian Schrager, bought the hotel for $31 million in 2005 and operated it as the Continental Hotel Bayside, according to a report from The Real Deal.

Located at 146 Biscayne Blvd., the 243-room hotel was originally built in 1926. The building features the Biscayne Tavern restaurant and 1,000 square feet of meeting space. The property is minutes from the Port of Miami and directly across from Bayside Market Place.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Renard and Related Unveil Plans for FBI HQ

Renard Development Company and Related Cos. have revealed their plans for a site at the Greenbelt Metro in an effort to secure the FBI, which announced that it is considering moving its headquarters from the District to either Greenbelt, Landover, or Springfield. Greenbelt Station was recently shortlisted by the General Services Administration for the FBI headquarters solicitation, according to a GlobeSt.com report, and the partnership is hoping to set itself apart from its rivals in Landover and Springfield by releasing its plans prior to selection.

The 78-acre site near Interstates 95 and 495 and exit 24 in Greenbelt, Maryland would include a secured campus for the FBI as well as a 300-room hotel and conference center and additional office, residential and retail uses. Renard's design would pair a secure headquarters complex of five buildings with a mixed-use development of five additional buildings accessible to the public, all served by the Greenbelt Metro station, according to a Washington Business Journal article. The FBI employees would have their own parking garage, complete with solar panels on the roof, while current metro parking and Kiss and Ride facilities would be replaced with a parking complex next to the Metro entrance.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in a CNBC article today titled "The American who wants to save Egypt's bread", which explores the recent activity and advancements of Blumberg Grain in Egypt. An excerpt follows:

The rising price of bread was one reason Hosni Mubarak lost power in Egypt. Food inflation is one reason his replacement, Mohammed Morsi, also lost the job. "Egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world, but they have to buy it on the spot market," said Philip Blumberg of Blumberg Capital.

That may change.

Blumberg recently reached a deal with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to build 164 grain storage facilities designed to prevent spoilage, reduce price volatility and eventually lead to a local commodities exchange.

"It's crazy," the American investor said. "The largest wheat buyer in the world is constrained by storage."

Blumberg, a Harvard Business School graduate who made his fortune in South Florida real estate, said his family has a history with agriculture, having farmed cotton and pecans in Alabama and tomatoes in Florida. He began to see the buildings he invested in as commodities, too.

"A building is nothing but a bundle of commodities, an assembly of copper, nickel, glass, steel and concrete," his son, David, told Africa Agribusiness.

Philip Blumberg began seeing the need for food security and storage in developing countries, and he decided to create a fund called Blumberg Grain to invest in projects.

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

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in a Medill Report titled "Climate change hits your fridge", examining problems for farmers and increasingly straining the global food supply. An excerpt follows:

"We came face-to-face with the issue of post-harvest losses, which is an issue that is sort of lost upon the American public," said food security expert David Blumberg, describing a 2010 trip to India that exposed first hand the enormity of food safety issues farmers face in developing countries against the weather.

Rain had washed grain into the streets, he said. When touring the rest of the country they found similar food storage problems in almost every other small town.

"There wasn't adequate storage infrastructure in place to hold onto the harvest of the farmers for that season," Blumberg said. "So food was getting eaten by birds, rodents, insects, or molding because the rain had fell on it."

Blumberg is the chief executive officer of Blumberg Grain, a company that installs technologically advanced grain and produce storage systems that enable farmers to protect their harvests from rot, climate and pests.

About 40 percent of food in the U.S. is lost in the transition from farm to fork, according to a 2012 paper by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The trend applies to developing countries as well, Blumberg said, and the company looks for ways to lessen losses by providing specialty warehouses featuring controlled atmosphere technology. It pumps nitrogen into the environment to delay expiration, such as extending the lifetime of a mango to five months, for example.

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

Blumberg in the News

An article was published by ONews Agency titled "Minister of Supply: 3 major projects for the storage of wheat at a cost of 3 billion and 206 million pounds" discussing the meeting between President Abdel Fattah Sisi with Dr. Khaled Hanafi, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, and Blumberg executive team members to discuss new projects in Egypt. An excerpt follows:

Dr. Khaled Hanafi Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, following the two meetings commented, that the first meeting was with President Abdel Fattah Sisi with the aim of a group of international investors to set up three major projects, the first project at a cost of one hundred million dollars for the construction of the first plant for storage technology and modern logistics warehouses to serve the domestic market and export to markets Arab and African countries.

The second project at a cost of one billion and one hundred and ten million pounds to create the ten modern logistics areas, as the first stage, for the storage and trade of perishable products from fruits and vegetables to reduce production costs, and thus prices, and preserving the rights of agricultural producers, so they can provide the goods and provide to citizens at discounted prices, which provides 40% of the costs as a result of avoiding wastage in the trading, transportation and storage.

The Minister of Supply and Internal Trade said that a third project at a cost of one billion and three hundred and eighty-one million pounds to bring one hundred sixty-four shounas to modern global standards. Instead of dirt barns will use modern technology to suit the conditions of the Egyptian environment, which includes operations of receiving and handling and storage of wheat and grain, and provides about 30% as a result of the cost to avoid wastage in wheat trading operations. Balhun exposed and dirt, as well as the classification of Egyptian wheat for the first time in order to preserve the rights of farmers and draw some wheat varieties are expensive and exported abroad.

To read the full article, click here (for the original Arabic version, use this link). For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in an article this weekend titled "Sisi with the Head of Blumberg for 3 projects for the storage of grain and fruit" which summarizes a meeting in which President Abdel Fattah Sisi met with Philip Blumberg, Dr. Khalid Al-Hanafi, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, David Blumberg, Managing Director of Blumberg Grain West Africa, and Christian Rath, Senior Vice President of the Blumberg Grain company. An excerpt follows:

The meeting was aimed at review and discuss three major projects, including the creation of the company's first factory for storage technology in the Middle East, which will serve the local market, and targets integration with the national project of the giant development axis at the Suez Canal, as well as providing opportunities to export to the Arab countries and African countries, where the project will the world's largest in its field, and direct investments worth 100 million dollars.

It also included discussions on project to replace the storage barns (dirt shounas) with Blumberg's modern and advanced technology, which are specially designed to suit the conditions of production and circulation, which is used to store grain and wheat, providing more than 30% of grain crops, ie, 1.2 million tons, which was being wasted due to the poor conditions of storage and handling, and a total cost of 1.7 billion pounds.

The third project would seek to establish a ten areas of logistics, as a first stage, for the purpose of processing, storage and preservation of agricultural products, grains, vegetables and fruits, to avoid wastage of 40% of these crops, as well as the opportunity to control prices by storing these products, and re-launched in the market to set prices and control expensiveness. Note that these three projects were under consideration at the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade, during the past three months.

To read the full article, click here (for the original Arabic version, use this link). For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Rockefeller Acquires UTA Plaza and the Ice House Properties

Rockefeller Group Investment Management, which coordinates the real estate investment activities for The Rockefeller Group, announced that it has acquired an office building portfolio in Beverly Hills, CA from Tishman Speyer for an undisclosed amount. The 236,000 square foot portfolio on Civic Center Drive includes UTA Plaza and The Ice House, consisting of 9336, 9346 and 9348 Civic Center Drive. Eastdil Secured was the sole advisor involved in the transaction.

"We remain focused on acquiring high quality assets in gateway markets, and we are very pleased with the strong fit offered by these properties in West Los Angeles," said Atsushi Nakajima, president and chief executive officer of The Rockefeller Group.

"These are distinctive properties in an established institutional market," said Dennis Irvin, president and chief executive officer of Rockefeller Group Investment Management. "They represent premier assets with prominent tenants, in a highly desirable submarket with supply constraints, all of which combine to offer stability, liquidity and good long-term prospects."

According to a Commercial Property Executive article, the property was 100% leased at the time of the sale, with major tenants including United Talent Agency, Playboy Enterprises, and Live Nation Worldwide.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Parmer 3.2 Breaks Ground in Austin

Parmer, a development to include 4 million square feet of Class A office, flex, value office, retail and multi-family real estate, broke ground this week in Austin, TX on a 192,000 square foot office building called Parmer 3.2. CBRE Group Inc. — primarily the team of Mark Emerick and John Barksdale — is handling the marketing of the property. Comprised of 8 Sectors, Parmer is Karlin Real Estate's 400-acre master planned technology and office park with master developer Trammell Crow Co. The $1 billion multi-use development is located between Parmer and Howard lanes a short distance east of I-35.

"When we bought our first industrial building at Tech Ridge (in 2011) we owned about 300,000 square feet total and were not a major player," said Matt Schwab, managing director of Karlin. "But the chamber sent teams of people to meet with us even though we were a small fish. That gave me great confidence and I couldn't be more grateful to them."

"After witnessing Karlin's early successes in the Austin market and getting to know their team, we were highly impressed with the caliber of their people, their vision for the site and their ability to get creative to make deals happen for their tenants," said Brad Maples, vice president of Trammell Crow's Austin office. "Right from the start we shared the vision for this site to become Austin's next major business park and this partnership has really turned out to be a great match."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.