Taylor Wimpey Sells NA Holdings for $995M

Taylor Wimpey, operating as Taylor Morrison in the United States and Monarch in Canada, has agreed to sell its North American holdings to investment funds separately managed by TPG Capital and Oaktree Capital Management, as well as JH Investments for $995 million according to a San Francisco Chronicle article. Taylor Morrison CEO Sheryl Palmer would not disclose the ownership stake of each of the companies, but said collectively they will provide capital and expertise to maintain the company's profitability, which was accomplished in 2010 following the market turmoil of the last several years. The transaction is contingent upon shareholder approval in the UK and customary regulatory approvals, and is expected to close by the end of May 2011.

"We see this as a positive sign for the future of our business," said Morrison. "The commitment and tenacity of our team has helped pave the road for today's announcement." With homebuilding operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida and Texas as well as in Canada, Palmer said the objective for the past year has been for all U.S. divisions to return to profitability, something she said was accomplished in 2010.

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First Potomac Buys $90M Office Building in DC

First Potomac Realty Trust completed the acquisition of 840 First St. NE in Washington, DC for $90 million from the Stephen A. Goldberg Co. according to a Washington Business Journal article. The building was acquired at below replacement cost, said Nicholas R. Smith, Chief Investment Officer of First Potomac Realty Trust. The contract leaves room for an additional $10 million of consideration payable depending on the terms of any lease renewal by the existing tenant or re-tenanting of the property according to a GlobeSt.com report.

"This strategically located, fully leased office building is a very attractive investment opportunity for First Potomac," said Smith. "We were able to acquire 840 First Street in an off-market transaction at below replacement cost, once again demonstrating how our local market expertise and relationships allow us to execute on high-quality transactions that strengthen our portfolio and deliver long-term value to our shareholders."

The fully-leased Class A office building adjacent to Union Station boasts 248,576 square feet of space and was constructed in 2003. The property is leased to Group Hospitalization and Medical Services, Inc., an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. The health care insurer is the building's original tenant and has sole access and control of the building's facilities, including its 222 underground parking spaces and cafeteria.

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NorthPark Central Tower Sold for $64.4M

AREA Property Partners sold the Northpark Central office building in Dallas, TX for $64.4 million last week according to a Dallas Morning News article. Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors purchased the 491,083 square foot office building at 8750 N. Central Expressway; Transwestern was selected to lease and manage the property. AREA originally purchased the property through one of its funds from Connecticut General Life in 1996 for $53.8 million.

The 20-story mirrored-glass office tower is roughly 90% leased with major tenants including The Richards Group, Gilsa Products and CF & Co. The building was awarded an Energy Star label in 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2009 for its operating efficiency. The sale also included a six-story, 700-space parking garage that is directly adjacent to the property according to a CoStar report.

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Cole Real Estate Buys Phoenix Office Complex for $170M

In a sale-leaseback transaction, Cole Real Estate Investments has acquired Apollo Group's University of Phoenix office complex for $170 million according to a CoStar report. Apollo Group signed a 20-year lease with Cole; the deal requires Apollo to keep the company's corporate headquarters in the building for at least the next 20 years. The 20-year, triple-net lease expires in 2031. "It's a 20-year lease with five-year renewal options," Apollo spokesman Manny Rivera said. "So, the sale of the Riverpoint complex is pretty much a business transaction that allows Apollo to diversify our real-estate portfolio and really just to focus on our mission to provide quality education."

The Riverpoint complex covers three mid-rise office towers with roughly 600,000 square feet, including two parking structures. The facility was constructed from 2006 to 2007 and is located two miles south of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and four miles southeast of the Phoenix central business district.

"This sale-leaseback transaction is a strong fit with Cole's core investment strategy of acquiring high-quality, income-producing real estate, leased to creditworthy, industry leading businesses under long-term leases," said Thomas Roberts, executive vice president and head of real estate investments for Cole. "As a key, strategic operation for Apollo Group and University of Phoenix, the Riverpoint complex is a premier asset to add to our growing portfolio of corporate real estate."

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Groupon Expands in Chicago With New Lease

Groupon, the online daily deal coupon website, is expanding its space in Chicago with a new lease at 303 E. Wacker Drive in Chicago's East Loop according to a CoStar report. Groupon currently occupies 46,115 square feet in the office tower but will now take on 196,189 square feet total. Groupon will pay the building owners, Franklin Street Properties Corp., $441,425 per month until its lease expires on May 31, 2012, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Groupon plans to take three new spaces, including one on the first level of the complex's northern portion beneath the condominiums at 900 N. Kingsbury St., as well as on the third and seventh floors of 600 W. Chicago, to accommodate new growth. The spaces are expected to be ready in the next few months.

The company recently moved its 200-plus editorial team to a temporary location while awaiting completion of the expansion space at 600 W. Chicago. "Our intention is to move everybody back (to 600 W. Chicago)," a Groupon spokesman said. "It's definitely our preference that we'll all be in the same building."

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Boeing Begins Construction on Oklahoma City Building

The Boeing Company announced this week that construction had begun on a new 320,000 square foot building in Oklahoma City according to a BusinessWeek article. The building, designed by the Gardner Tanenbaum Group, is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2012 and will accommodate the move of selected Boeing groups from Long Beach, CA to Oklahoma City.

"By moving B-1 and C-130 AMP to Oklahoma City, we are able to lower our operating costs and extend an increased value to our customer," said Mark Bass, Boeing vice president and general manager of Maintenance, Modifications & Upgrades at Boeing. "Boeing appreciates the positive business environment created by the state of Oklahoma and its county and city governments. This environment contributes to our affordability, and the well-trained aerospace work force already in place will be key to our success."

Boeing currently employs 945 employees in Oklahoma, 745 of whom are located in Oklahoma City. Boeing will have nearly 1,500 employees in the state when the B-1 and C-130 transition is complete.

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Commerzbank Signs 15 Year Lease at Two World Financial Center

Commerzbank AG signed a 15 year lease this week for 173,000 square feet at 2 World Financial Center. Commerzbank has maintained its US headquarters at Brookfield Office Properties' World Financial Center since the 1990s. Brookfield said that the Commerzbank lease, when coupled with OppenheimerFunds' decision in February to stay at 2 WFC after its sublease from Bank of America Merrill Lynch expires, represents more than 400,000 square feet of Merrill sublease space that has been converted to direct at the 2.3-million-square-foot office property.

"We are pleased that these two respected financial services institutions have chosen to extend their tenancy at the World Financial Center and remain committed to Lower Manhattan," said Ric Clark, president and chief executive officer of Brookfield Office Properties.

2 World Financial Center is one of four office towers of the 8-million-square-foot commercial complex on the west side of Lower Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River.

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GSA Leases New Office Space in Phoenix

The U.S. General Service Administration (GSA) has signed a 10-year lease for 29,500 square feet of office space in Phoenix, AZ according to the Phoenix Business Journal. The GSA signed the deal on behalf of the Military Entrance Processing Station which will occupy the space at 2800 N. Central Ave. in mid-town Phoenix.

"We've really seen a significant activity increase," said Belinda Dabliz, vice president of leasing for Gaedeke Group, the building's landlord. "We are working four additional large deals that would take occupancy to 87%." New tenants to the building also include BCD Travel USA, Secore & Niedzialek PC, and The Never Again Foundation. Transwestern Phoenix handled the deal on behalf of Gaedeke.

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Investcap Advisors Acquired by Trepp

Trepp LLC announced that it has acquired Investcap Advisors LLC, a Waltham-based commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) firm according to a GlobeSt article. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Trepp has said that the new acquisition will expand its offering of commercial real estate loan and property surveillance products. Scott Barrie, Investcap’s founder, will be joining Trepp as a managing director.

"We are thrilled to be joining the Trepp team," said said Scott Barrie, managing director of Investcap Advisors. "I look forward to helping Trepp expand the depth and breadth of its offerings and I welcome all of the additional benefits that Investcap clients will get given the talent and scale of the Trepp organization."

"We are constantly striving to increase the value of our services and I am confident that our acquisition of Investcap is aligned with that objective," said Annemarie DiCola, Trepp's CEO. "We have great respect and admiration for Investcap and I look forward to leveraging their great real estate and technology expertise."

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ECM Selling $625M in Assets

According to a CoStar report, Equity Capital Management (ECM) has signed definitive agreements to sell up to $625 million of single tenant office, industrial, and retail properties under long-term net lease agreements. The details of the agreements haven't been fully disclosed at this time; ECM did not name the properties under contract. ECM did indicate, however, that it expects the sales of these unnamed properties during the first half of 2011.

James G. Koman, co-founder and managing partner of ECM said: "The assets being sold are representative of the type of properties we are looking for moving forward. As has been the case historically, the majority of these assets were acquired through off-market transactions as a result of our deep relationships with developers, corporations, and other institutional investors."

"With investors paying premiums for stable in-place cash flows, this would seem to be an ideal time to recycle single-tenant assets with long-term leases in place," said Chris Macke, senior real estate strategist for CoStar Group.

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Tishman Speyer Buys DC Metro Office Building

Tishman Speyer Properties purchased 1300 N. 17th St., a 19-story office building in Rosslyn, VA, from Beacon Capital Partners for about $200 million reports a Wall Street Journal article. According to the article, the $500 per square foot price for the property is among the highest on record for an office building purchase in the District's Virginia suburbs.

"They've righted their ship to concentrate on what they do best, which is the office sector," said Ben Thypin, director of market analysis at Real Capital Analytics in Manhattan, regarding Tishman. "That makes sense. It reflects how forgiving the real estate market can be."

Beacon originally purchased the property in 2007 as part of its acquisition of an Equity Office Properties portfolio from Blackstone Group. Blackstone subsequently sold a 9.8 million square foot chunk of that portfolio in Washington DC and Seattle to Beacon.

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Arizona Center Sold for $136.5M

General Growth Properties (GGP) sold Arizona Center, a mixed-use project in Phoenix, to Commonwealth REIT for $136.5 million according to a CoStar report. CB Richard Ellis represented GGP in the transaction. The property was 93% occupied at the time of the sale, with one office tower fully leased to Arizona Public Services.

Arizona Center is centrally located to downtown hotels, the Phoenix Civic Plaza and is within walking distance of all of downtown’s major attractions. The property includes two office towers, parking structures, open space and a three story retail component with a movie theatre. Arizona Center was designed by the Rouse Company and opened in the fall of 1990.

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Top 10 LEED States Released by USGBC

The U.S. Green Building Council releases its 2010 list of top 10 states for LEED-certified commercial and institutional green buildings per capita, based on the U.S. 2010 Census information. USGBC’s LEED green building certification system is the foremost program for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of green buildings. Over 40,000 projects are currently participating in the commercial and institutional LEED rating systems, comprising over 7.9 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 117 countries.

"Using per capita, versus the more traditional numbers of projects, or pure square footage, is a reminder to all of us that the people who live and work, learn and play in buildings should be what we care about most," said USGBC SVP of LEED, Scot Horst. "2010 was a difficult year for most of the building industry, but in many areas, the hunger for sustainable development kept the markets moving."

The top LEED states per capita, including the District of Columbia:

• District of Columbia: 25.15 square feet per person
• Nevada: 10.92 square feet per person
• New Mexico: 6.35 square feet per person
• New Hampshire: 4.49 square feet per person
• Oregon: 4.07 square feet per person
• South Carolina: 3.19 square feet per person
• Washington: 3.16 square feet per person
• Illinois: 3.09 square feet per person
• Arkansas: 2.9 square feet per person
• Colorado: 2.85 square feet per person
• Minnesota: 2.77 square feet per person

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Strategic Buys Four Seasons Properties for $95M

Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. announced the acquisition of two Four Seasons hotels in exchange for 15.2 million shares of common stock at $6.25 per share valued at $95 million to close the deal according to a CoStar report. Strategic purchased the Four Seasons Jackson Hole and Four Seasons Silicon Valley from The Woodbridge Company Limited. Strategic was advised by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Avington Financial Limited on the transaction.

In addition, Chicago-based Strategic separately will sell another eight million shares of its stock to Woodbridge for $50 million as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Because the two Four Seasons carry no debt of their own, adding them will lower Strategic's overall debt ratio. The company expects the Woodbridge deal to to close by March. It "is an amazing endorsement for the company," Strategic Chief Executive Officer Laurence Geller said. "And we get more stability in the stock" with 21% of it being held by two big investors.

Commenting on the transaction, W. Geoffrey Beattie, President of Woodbridge, said, "Strategic Hotels is the ideal acquirer for both of these properties given their deep knowledge of these assets, their proven investment expertise and longstanding relationship with the Four Seasons brand. We see an excellent growth opportunity in Strategic Hotels' long-term vision and near-term strategic plan."

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CBRE Releases New Report, Shows Office Market Recovering from Global Crisis

CB Richard Ellis has released its latest Global Office MarketView report examining the state of the office property market and featuring snapshots for each global region. According to the report, while commercial real estate and the global economy are recovering from the financial crisis, both are "doing so at a disjointed pace, with some regions and property types healing faster than others". CBRE forecasts that nearly 55 million square feet of new office developments will take place in Asia, or 62% of the global total.

"The decline in demand is over for most markets, but vacancy rates remain elevated and will impede the near-term performance of rental rates," said Dr. Raymond Torto, CBRE's Global Chief Economist. "Job growth also has a long path toward improvement in both the U.S. and European markets, albeit not Asia ex Japan, and will continue to slow the recovery of the global office market."

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Trump Building Two Towers in Georgia

Donald Trump signed a deal at a ceremony in New York this week to develope two towers in Georgia with an estimated worth of up to $300 million according to a New York Times article. The ceremony at Trump Tower in Manhattan attended by Mikheil Saakashvili, the president of Georgia, was held as Trump signed off on a development plan calling for construction of buildings nearly 40 stories tall, one on Rose Revolution Square in the Georgian capital of Tblisi and the other at the Black Sea resort of Batumi.

According to the report, Trump will license his name, and his company will manage the two properties. He will also work with Silk Road to line up financing for the projects and market the towers. Trump said that so far he had no plans to put his own cash into the deal. "We’ll decide whether or not we want to invest," he said.

Construction isn't expected to begin on the towers until 2013.

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EU Commercial Market Showing Signs of Recovery

A new article from the Wall Street Journal titled "Heavy Weather: The European property market is finally emerging from its recessionary deep-freeze, but there are still plenty of icy patches for investors to slip on" takes stock of the current commercial market conditions in Europe. The article notes that prices in the U.K. fell 44.2% between July 2007 and July 2009, according to Investment Property Databank. And according to CB Richard Ellis Group, investment volumes in Europe as a whole fell from the record high of €256 billion ($350 billion) in 2007 to €73 billion in 2009.

"Two years ago we were looking down the edge of a cliff," said Robert Noel, managing director of the London portfolio at Land Securities. "We are now buying into a recovery and there is not enough office supply to meet the demand."

"The market had been picking up, partly thanks to banks lending again," said Eric Sasson, who heads up the European operations at The Carlyle Group, the private equity firm. "But the Greece crisis put a hold to that. Having just got out of the freezing zone, banks went cold again – and some deals got delayed."

"There was a massive globalized real estate market in 2007," says Pierre Vaquier, chief executive of AXA Real Estate Investment Managers. "But then afterwards there was a 'flight to home' – as people wanted to go where they understand best."

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Amazon Leases More Space in Seattle

Amazon.com has signed a lease to occupy approximately 460,000 square feet of office space at 1918 Eighth Avenue in downtown Seattle according to a CoStar report. The 36-story office tower, built in 2009, is one of the largest new buildings in downtown Seattle and was designed by the Seattle-based architectural firm NBBJ. With Amazon added to the tenant roster, the building is now 94% leased with major tenants including RBC Wealth Management, Parametric Portfolio Associates and Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

Schnitzer West is the leasing manager for Schnitzer Investment Corp. which owns the property. "We are extremely pleased to have Amazon.com as a tenant at 1918 Eighth Avenue," said Dan Ivanoff, founder and managing investment partner for Schnitzer West LLC. A Seattle Times article this weekend noted Amazon's current push to hire new employees with about 1,900 staff openings in Seattle, at least twice as many as a year ago. Amazon began moving into its headquarters complex last spring and now occupies seven buildings covering 845,000 square feet.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Agar Secures $18M Loan

AGAR Supply Co., a New England-based foodservice distributor, has secured an $18 million loan from People's United Bank. The long-term, fixed-rate loan on its headquarters building in in Taunton, MA was arranged by Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP and replaces a maturing loan on the property according to a Boston Business Journal article.

About 15% of the Class-A industrial building leased by Agar is dedicated to office use and underwent a 54,000 square foot expansion last year. "Through this expansion, we are able to serve our customers better and build efficiencies for the future. This will go a long way in improving how we help our customers grow their business," said Karen Bressler, president and CEO of Agar.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Genesis HealthCare Sells Portfolio for $2.4B

Health Care REIT announced this week that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of Genesis HealthCare's real estate assets for $2.4 billion according to a New York Times article. Health Care REIT will acquire 147 facilities located in 11 states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic; under the terms of the deal, Genesis will lease the properties from Health Care REIT and continue to operate all facilities under a 15-year initial term. The acquisition is expected to close during the 2nd quarter of 2011. The long-term triple-net lease with Genesis will provide for rent in the first year of $198 million with an initial cash yield of 8.25%. Additionally, Health Care REIT will have an option to buy a 9.9% stake in Genesis for $47 million.

"We believe this transaction allows for Genesis HealthCare to significantly expand its premiere post-acute healthcare delivery system and infrastructure," said Arnold M. Whitman, Co-Chairman of Genesis. "We look forward to this next phase in Genesis' future as we work together with Health Care REIT to build a truly exceptional company in this changing health care environment," added Steven E. Fishman, Co-Chairman of Genesis.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Wells REIT Purchasing DC Office Complex for $615M

Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II, also known as Wells REIT II, announced this week that it had signed a purchase and sale agreement for a 679,710 square foot office complex in Washington, DC for approximately $615 million excluding closing costs according to a National Real Estate Investor article. The deal is expected to close early this month as Wells takes ownership of the property from an affiliate of Beacon Capital Partners.

Built in 1990, the thirteen-story office property known as Market Square is a class A office property located on Pennsylvania Avenue between the U.S. Capitol and the White House. The property is certified LEED silver and is ENERGY STAR rated, and serves as headquarters of leading global law firms, Fulbright & Jaworski, Shearman and Sterling and Mintz Levin. Renowned FORTUNE 500 companies represented on the tenant roster include Procter & Gamble, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Bayer Corporation, Florida Power & Light and Waste Management.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Scott Homa noted of the DC marketplace that "...year-to-date, the Metro DC market has tallied 21 transactions for $1.5 billion. Twelve of these deals accounting for $1.25 billion were concentrated in Downtown Washington, DC. In 2010, it took the metro area as a whole until June 2010 to reach the $1.5 billion it has registered in the first two months of this year."

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