Mayor Bloomberg Reveals Plans for Brooklyn Cultural District

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this week that the city is moving forward with its initiative to revitalize and develop the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District at the edge of Fort Greene. In a press release from the Mayor's office, Bloomberg outlined plans to begin the construction of 600 new housing units and a new mixed-use development that would create 50,000 square feet of new cultural and community space along with a new iconic public plaza. The Gotham Organization and DT Salazar will develop the housing units, half of which "will be affordable to low- , moderate- , and middle-income New Yorkers." Additionally, a multi-faceted proposal by Two Trees Management Company to develop 50,000 square feet of new creative, cultural and community space, along with a dynamic new public plaza, has begun the public review and approval process. The City Department of Housing Preservation and Development also released a Request for Proposals for the last development parcel in the district, which is the key remaining piece of the multi-site plan to bring affordable housing, new commercial space, and space for cultural activities to this growing community.

"Downtown Brooklyn has very quickly become one of the City's most vibrant cultural destinations and an exciting place to live," said Mayor Bloomberg. "These projects – which will bring more affordable housing and community space to the neighborhood – are more proof of the confidence that the real estate industry has in New York City and in downtown Brooklyn."

"Fort Greene has historically been home to countless artists who are in need of affordable housing," said Council Member Letitia James. "This plan will provide additional arts space for those creative forces in this community, and affordable housing to address the demand. It is a mix that reflects the needs of a creative and diverse district."

Downtown Brooklyn was rezoned in 2004 in part to help facilitate the growth of the new cultural district centered in the Fort Greene neighborhood and its legacy of cultural activity. Since 2004, the City has committed over $100 million in capital funding to further enliven an already vibrant neighborhood of arts organizations and support the development of the Downtown Brooklyn area as a whole. This includes the Mark Morris Dance Center, the James E. Davis 80 Arts Building, the newly opened BAM Fisher Building, the BRIC Arts | Media House and the UrbanGlass Renewal project currently in construction, and construction of a new home for Theatre for a New Audience which is also underway.

"It's difficult to put into perspective how impactful today's announcement will be on the future of Downtown Brooklyn," said Tucker Reed, the President of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. "Active uses on these vacant sites will provide critical connections between our commercial and residential assets and world class cultural and entertainment attractions, fostering a cohesive and attractive Downtown experience. These sites were a critical missing piece."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Cole Buys New Encana Office Tower for $120M

Cole Real Estate Investments announced this week that it had acquired a newly built Class A office tower in Plano, Texas that was completed earlier this year for $120 million. Cole was represented by Boyd Messmann, senior vice president of acquisitions, office and industrial, in the transaction. Gary Carr, vice chairman in the Dallas office of CBRE Group, brokered the sale. "We didn't widely market the property," Carr said. "There was a tremendous amount of interest because of the quality of the tenant, building and location."

"This latest transaction further illustrates our active portfolio management strategy," said Thomas Roberts, executive vice president and head of real estate investments for Cole Real Estate Investments. "Available proceeds from recent property sales are being invested in a high-quality asset under a long-term lease, providing a strong yield and enhancing portfolio diversification. Those factors, combined with the strategic importance of this facility, attractive location and recent construction, make this an ideal investment while adding a prominent energy sector organization to our growing roster of diversified tenants nationwide."

Located in the Legacy Business Park in Plano, TX, Cole's newest acquisition sits at 5851 Legacy Circle. The 318,600 square foot, 12 story office tower is 100% leased to Encana Oil & Gas Inc., a leading North American energy producer, and serves as the regional headquarters for their Texas and Louisiana operations. The property includes a seven story parking structure, attached by a sky bridge. In May, investor KBS Real Estate paid $113 million, or about $217 per square foot, for three Legacy Town Center office buildings, according to a Dallas Morning News report.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Digital Realty Pays $16.8M for Metro New York Redevelopment Property

Digital Realty Trust, a San Francisco-based provider of data center solutions, announced yesterday that it had acquired a 271,000 square foot redevelopment property in Totowa, New Jersey for approximately $16.8 million from an undisclosed seller. Records from PropertyShark.com indicate that 701 Union Boulevard, which once served as the printing center for Hoffman La-Roche, previously changed hands in 2004 for $1 million. Digital Realty said that they will be redeveloping the 271,000 square foot building on just over 34 acres of land, and bringing in 15.75MW of power and eventually a 50MVA onsite substation for later expansion. CBRE's Kevin Welsh and Tom Mallaney orchestrated the trade according to a GlobeSt.com article.

"With our current portfolio in the New York Metro market nearing capacity, this new site enables us to add inventory to meet future demand for highly reliable data center space in this key corporate enterprise market," said Michael Foust, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty. "Its location also adds geographic diversity for customers looking to deploy mission critical business applications outside of Manhattan."

"Based on our conservative underwriting, we expect to generate attractive risk adjusted returns on this investment," added Scott Peterson, Chief Acquisitions Officer of Digital Realty. "With the redevelopment opportunity of the existing building coupled with the additional land available for new development, we believe this investment has considerable upside potential."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Lehman Estate Selling Archstone Property Firm for $6.5B

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s estate agreed on Monday to sell apartment-building owner Archstone Enterprise LP to Equity Residential, a company run by the investor Samuel Zell, and AvalonBay Communities for about $6.5 billion in cash and stock. According to a New York Times article, the sale will dispose of the Lehman estate's single biggest asset as it continues efforts to wind itself down and pay off the firm's legions of creditors; it will also end the estate's plans to take Archstone public, which had been expected to raise $3.45 billion in an offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

Englewood, CO-based Archstone operates apartment communities across the country with a stake in 181 developments covering 57,948 apartment units, as of Sept. 30. Equity Residential will acquire about 60% of Archstone's assets and liabilities while AvalonBay will acquire about 40%. In return, the Lehman estate will become the single biggest shareholder in each company, holding a 9.8% stake in Equity Residential and a 13.2% stake in AvalonBay.

"Archstone is a highly sophisticated and very well thought-of manager of apartment assets," said Craig Leupold, the president of Green Street Advisors, a research firm. "If it's not the highest-quality portfolio around, it's certainly up there."

"The sale of Archstone to Equity Residential and Avalon Bay is a very positive outcome for our creditors," Owen Thomas, the chairman of Lehman's board of directors, said in a statement.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Soo Line Building Gets $82M from U.S. Bank

Village Green, a Farmington Hills, Michigan-based apartment development and management company, announced this month that it had received $82 million in financing and incentives through U.S. Bank to redevelop the Soo Line Building at 501 Marquette in Minneapolis. According to an Equities.com article, the bank is providing a $40 million construction loan, a more than $19 million bridge loan, and a $23 million federal and state Historic Tax Credit commitment through its St. Louis-based community development subsidiary U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corp. U.S Bank is the lead lender and Associated Bank is the joint lead arranger for both the construction loan and bridge loan. U.S Bank previously provided $5.7 million in acquisition financing for Village Green to purchase the property in September 2011.

"U.S. Bank is very proud to be a part of this project in downtown Minneapolis," said John Besse, executive vice president of commercial real estate with U.S. Bank. "The Soo Line Building is an impressive, historic structure and this redevelopment will enable it to become a premier multi-family property in our downtown core."

Jonathan Holtzman, chairman and CEO of Village Green, said the Minneapolis core has more than 36,000 residents, as well as more than 160,000 employees working downtown. "By transforming a historic building into a mixed use luxury rental community, restoring existing architecture and preserving features and materials – that combination of new and existing materials creates a truly green building," he said in a statement.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Walters Group Creates Division to Help Rebuild After Hurricane Sandy

The Walters Group announced this week that it had created a new division of its development firm to assist with the efforts to rebuild the Jersey Shore in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Working with VanDyk Group, a real estate and insurance services firm, the company is helping with permitting issues, procuring architectural plans, and financing for resident whose homes were destroyed or damaged during the storm.

"Our team wants to help the people who live in our community recover and rebuild," said Ed Walters, Jr., founder and partner of Walters Group. "We want to do our part to get this region back on its feet."

Throughout the Northeast, the trail of destruction from Superstorm Sandy could result in 200,000 claims for wind damage and another 200,000 claims for flood damage, according to estimates from Consumer Federation of America. Economic damages could run as high as $50 billion, according to the catastrophe-risk-modeling firm Eqecat, Inc., and $10 billion to $20 billion in insured losses. More than 1 million homes have been evacuated.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

KBR Tower in Houston Sold for $174.6M

Downtown Houston's KBR Tower has a new owner this week as Brookfield Office Properties, along with joint venture partner KBR Inc., sold the office building to Corporate Property Associates 17-Global, a public non-traded REIT affiliate of W. P. Carey Inc. for $174.6 million. Brookfield originally acquired its stake in the tower as part of the Trizec portfolio in 2006. A team led by Richard Rudd and Kent Peters of Allied Advisors represented Brookfield on the building sale, according to a Houston Chronicle article. The company also represented the buyer in negotiating and structuring acquisition financing with UBS Real Estate Securities.

"These dispositions continue our active capital recycling program over the past two years in which we have sold seven mature or non-strategic assets and reinvested proceeds into higher-yielding strategic opportunities," said Dennis Friedrich, chief executive officer of Brookfield Office Properties.

"Houston's Central Business District's major office towers are a very much sought-after investment for all types of investors," said Richard Rudd, president of Allied Advisors. "KBR Tower represents investment maturity. Investors want quality, stability and security of cash flow. The fact that the building is located in Houston is a very good thing right now."

Located at 601 Jefferson Street, KBR Tower boasts over one million square feet of headquarter and office space, with KBR occupying about 900,000 square feet in the tower, along with an adjacent 1,500-space parking garage. At the time of the sale, which closed Nov. 16, the property was 99.8% leased to seven tenants, according to a Houston Business Journal article.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Gateway Plans New $82M Urban Campus

Gateway Community and Technical College in Kentucky has released its plans for a new Urban Campus in downtown Covington, a project estimated to cost $81.5 million over the next decade. Already being called a "game-changer", the prospect of thousands of students, plus teachers and staff, flooding downtown streets makes the Gateway urban campus the city's most important development project since Corporex Cos. developed the RiverCenter office complex in the early 1990s.

"Today's announcement has been 10 years in the making. It is the culmination of many hours of collaboration, negotiation, discussion, and visioning by dozens and dozens of community leaders, government officials, concerned citizens, Gateway's board of directors, faculty, staff and students, the Gateway Foundation board, and our planning consultants,” said Gateway President and CEO Ed Hughes. "We were encouraged early by the community to think big."

It's expected that the new campus, which will be created primarily in a six-block area from 4th to 7th Streets and from Greenup to Madison Avenue in Covington, will serve an additional 2,500 urban students per year by 2014.

"The increase in students, faculty and staff will boost the local economy with more jobs, retail and restaurants. It will invigorate Covington's Madison Avenue corridor and restore it to the vibrant district it once was," said Covington Mayor Chuck Scheper.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Arlington County Expands Court House Area With $27.1M Purchase

The Arlington County Board in Virginia voted unanimously over the weekend to purchase 2020 14th St. North for $27.1 million from Brookfield Asset Management. County Manager Barbara Donnellan first mentioned the County's interest in the property last year and, in a Washington Business Journal article, stated that if a a "voluntary purchase" was unsuccessful, "then the County may acquire the property by eminent domain." After the County acquires the property, which is set to close on November 20, it will engage in a separate use permit process for consideration of the Comprehensive Homeless Services Center and the County Board directed the County Manager to formulate a robust public process to include all stakeholders.

"This purchase meets a number of long-standing County space needs, including continuing our 20-year practice of providing services to homeless persons in the Courthouse area," commented Arlington County Board Chair Mary Hynes. "We look forward to working with the community to develop a Use Permit for the Homeless Services Center to meet the needs of all who live and work in Courthouse."

Most of the floors at 2020 14th St. North will be dedicated to county office space, but two floors will offer about 50 beds for single adults, five medical respite beds and another 25 spaces during winter months, as well as space for programs intended to get people into permanent housing, according to a Washington Post article. The seven-story building near the courthouse currently has three street-level retail stores that will be offered leases to stay while the 18 offices above them will eventually have to move. The county set aside $2.5 million to help relocate those tenants.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Oxford, Crown Purchase Interest in Olympic Tower with $250M Wells Fargo Loan

A joint venture between Oxford Properties Group, the real estate arm of the OMERS Worldwide Group of Companies, and Crown Acquisitions Inc. announced a joint acquisition of a "significant interest" in New York's Olympic Tower. The JV purchased the interest in the Midtown property from Williston SA, a company controlled by the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation. According to a Commercial Real Estate Direct report, Wells Fargo provided the $250 million loan against the 500,000-square-foot Olympic Tower mixed-use complex on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The fixed-rate loan was used to refinance a $250 million mortgage that had been provided by Deutsche Bank earlier this year.

"The acquisition of Olympic Tower is consistent with Oxford's U.S. investment strategy," said Blake Hutcheson, President and CEO, Oxford Properties Group. "We seek large scale, world class mixed use assets with long term partners and we are very excited to join Crown Acquisitions and the Onassis Foundation in this exceptional opportunity. We believe in New York, We believe in this real estate and we believe in our partners."

Anthony Papadimitriou, president of the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation, said: "This partnership will enhance the positioning of our retail and office interests along Fifth Avenue and will most certainly add value over time. This transaction falls within our strategy of diversification of our real estate portfolio and I look forward to working with Crown and Oxford."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

CT Realty Investors Sells City Center in Ventura

CT Realty Investors, Inc., an Aliso Viejo, CA-based real estate investment, development and management company, announced this week that it had sold the City Center office property in Ventura for $15.5 million. 5700/5720/5740 Ralston Street LLC purchased the three-building City Center with representation from Timothy Foutz of NAI Capital, while CT Realty was represented by Mark Perry and Carlene O'Neill of CBRE. The property was reportedly 95% leased at the time of sale with major tenants including Crowell Weedon, ReMax Gold Coast Partners and the County of Ventura.

Located at at 5700, 5720 and 5740 Ralston St. in the heart of Ventura, City Center offers 111,000 square feet of office space. CT Realty purchased the property in 2008, then known as the Ventura Professional Center, and made improvements on the property during the rebranding to include rebuilding larger spaces into smaller offices, replacing HVAC units, and updating interior corridors and lobby areas. "We busted up all the pieces because it was tough to find that big corporate tenant again," said Roland Dolendo, a transaction closer for CT Realty. "Nobody needs 15,000 square feet. You gotta fill it with people who don't need that large space."

According to James "Watty" Watson, president and CEO of CT Realty, "City Center was transformed into one of the most desirable business locations in the region through an aggressive renovation program, typifying CT's strategy of acquiring under-valued yet well-located properties and repositioning them to compete in the current marketplace. We are very pleased with the performance of the City Center and how receptive the market has been to this premier office project."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

DSW Acquires 810 AC for $72M

DSW Inc., a footwear and accessories retailer with 363 stores in 41 states, announced this week that it had acquired 810 AC LLC, the holding company that owned DSW's corporate headquarters and distribution center. DSW paid $72 million in cash for the headquarters at 810 DSW Drive in Columbus, Ohio, as well as its 700,000 square foot distribution center and trailer lot on its home office campus. DSW had previously leased approximately two thirds of the property included in the purchase.

"Today's acquisition reflects our continued commitment to growing DSW in the future by opening stores, expanding our DSW.com business and by adding new accounts to our Affiliated Business Group (formerly the Leased Business Division)," stated Mike MacDonald, President and Chief Executive Officer of DSW Inc. The company recently completed the $15 million installation of an automatic sortation facility in the distribution center to support its size replenishment program. Mr. MacDonald continued, "Purchasing the property secures our investment and ensures our ability to expand into additional office space to support DSW's continued growth."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

1290 Avenue of the Americas Gets $950M Loan

Vornado Realty Trust, a fully integrated equity real estate investment trust, announced this week that the partnership that owns 1290 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan has completed a $950 million refinancing of the property. Reportedly Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, UBS Securities and the Bank of China financed the loan with commercial mortgage-backed securities.
Vornado owns 70% of the property, while Donald Trump's organization owns the remaining 30%.

The Master Servicer and Special Servicer will be Wells Fargo Bank, National Association rated 'CMS2' and 'CSS2-', respectively, by Fitch. The net proceeds from the refinancing were approximately $522 million after repaying the existing loan and closing costs.

The 43-story, 2.1 million square foot office building is approximately 95% leased by 27 tenants as of September 2012, and owned and managed by affiliates of Vornado Realty Trust. 1290 Avenue of the Americas is currently undergoing major renovations, to include new turnstile access systems, and upgrades to the cooling tower, chillers, restrooms and telecommunications spine, and new tenant-proprietary back up generators.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Waikiki Harbor Project Gets Approval

The Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources approved plans on Friday for a $20 million redevelopment project in part of the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor in Waikiki. Waikiki Landing (previously referred to as Kalia Marketplace), first introduced in early 2010, is a project from Honey Bee USA Inc., led by Japanese developer Hideaki Shimakura, that would privatize the harbor and generate money for the state, according to an NBC News report. "We are trying to get the project up and running by August of next year. It is steel construction, so this thing will come up very fast," said Keith Kiuchi, spokesman for the developer.

Waikiki Landing was introduced via HB 1312 which encouraged public-private partnerships that would lead to harbor improvements. An excerpt follows:

"In these times of economic malaise and with the State facing a massive budget deficit over the next biennium, a further decline in the State's small boat harbors would be a huge loss that the State cannot allow. The purpose of this Act is to authorize the department of land and natural resources to use the request for proposals process to enter into a public-private partnership for the development of portions of Ala Wai boat harbor facilities that are presently underused, to maximize the revenue potential from those facilities."

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported earlier this year that the cost of the project grew from $9.7 million to $20 million, and that developer had expanded the project's scope from two buildings to three buildings on the state-owned site of the former Ala Wai Marine boat yard to include more boat repair space and retail and restaurant space.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Keystone Picks Up Moorestown Corporate Center for $20M

Moorestown Corporate Center on Strawbridge Drive in Moorestown, New Jersey traded hands this month as Mack-Cali Realty sold the complex to a fund sponsored by Keystone Property Group for approximately $19.9 million. "The sale of these buildings continues our plan of recycling our capital out of non-core assets," said Mack-Cali chief executive Mitchell Hersh.

Moorestown Corporate Center includes three buildings at:

224 Strawbridge Drive (74,000 square feet)
228 Strawbridge Drive (74,565 square feet)
232 Strawbridge Drive (74,258 square feet)

According to a NASDAQ report, the property was 61.4% leased at the time of sale. Mack-Cali was represented by Jones Lang LaSalle in the transaction, with Shaw Environmental, an engineering firm, occupying all 74,565 square feet of space in the building at 228 Strawbridge.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Chicago Approves New $150M Office Tower

The City of Chicago has approved the construction of a 20-story office building at 625 West Adams Street in Chicago's West Loop on land owned by Old St. Patrick's Church. The project, being developed by The Alter Group in partnership with White Oak Realty Partners, is expected to cost about $150 million and will be the first office building constructed in downtown Chicago in two years, according to a REJournals.com article.

Matthew Ward, senior vice president with The Alter Group, said in the statement that there are no large blocks of office currently available in the area. "The building is uniquely positioned to attract the sophisticated, cost-effective corporate user that understands the numerous economic benefits of being in a high-performance office building with large floor plates," he said.

"The project will include a 400-car parking garage and a community center serving Old St. Pat's, which will have the potential to seat as many as 800 people on the first two levels. The involvement of Old St. Pat's Church – a neighborhood landmark that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871 – assures a high profile for this project that is likely to appeal to prospective users," said Tom Saletta, Principal, White Oak Realty Partners. The building was designed by Martin Wolf, FAIA, Design Principal/Senior Vice President with Solomon Cordwell Buenz and Associates in Chicago.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Granite Westchase I and II Sold for $154.75M

Franklin Street Properties Corp., a Wakefield, MA-based investment firm specializing in real estate, announced this week that it had acquired Westchase I and II in the Westchase submarket of Houston, TX for $154.75 million. Franklin purchased the properties from Granite Properties Inc., which was represented by Russell Ingram of CBRE in the transaction according to a CoStar report.

Located at 10370 and 10350 Richmond Avenue, the two 14-story office buildings total approximately 629,022 square feet of rentable space on roughly 6.5 acres of land. Set equally between the residential growth corridors of I-10 and US 59 along the Beltway, the buildings were completed in 1983 and 2008, with Granite Westchase II designed by Kirksey. According to the Franklin press release the properties were approximately 95% leased at the time of sale.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

ARCT IV Acquires FedEx and CVS Locations

American Realty Capital Trust IV, Inc. (ARCT IV), a publicly registered, non-traded real estate investment program, announced this week that it had purchased two FedEx Ground distribution facilities and a CVS pharmacy for $8.6 million. The Independence, Kansas and Ottumwa, Iowa FedEx Ground distribution facilities contain approximately 23,400 and 29,300 rentable square feet and are 100% leased to a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, which carries an investment grade credit rating as determined by major credit rating agencies. The CVS pharmacy contains approximately 10,000 rentable square feet and is 100% leased to CVS Caremark Corporation, which carries an investment grade credit rating as determined by major credit rating agencies.

Michael Weil, ARCT IV's President and Chief Operating Officer said of the deals, "ARCT IV has added two more national credit tenants to its portfolio during its initial acquisition phase." Mr. Weil continued, "We couldn't be more pleased with these acquisitions as we build a strong net lease portfolio that is firmly in line with our investment objectives." The company acquired its first property last month with the purchase of build-to-suit Dollar General store located in Buchanan Dam, Texas for $1.1 million.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

City Center Plaza in Bellevue Sold for $375M

CommonWealth Partners, a fully integrated private real estate investment, development, management and operating company based in Los Angeles, California, has purchased City Center Plaza in Bellevue, WA for $374.7 million, or roughly $655 per square foot. According to a Seattle Times article, the purchase price is the highest ever on the Eastside and similar to what Amazon.com is paying Vulcan Real Estate for its 11-building South Lake Union office complex. Cole Real Estate Investments sold the 583,000 square foot office tower on behalf of Cole Credit Property Trust III, Inc. The trust had purchased the property in July 2010 for $310 million from Beacon Capital Partners of Boston.

"When our experienced real estate team brought this opportunity to us in the summer of 2010, despite industry naysayers, we felt this acquisition would be an excellent fit for our growing portfolio of mission-critical corporate properties," said Marc Nemer, Cole's president and chief executive officer. "Today, not only have we seen a 21% increase in the property's value, but we were able to deliver a return of 38% on the equity invested, creating significant value in the portfolio for the benefit of our shareholders."

Located at 555 110th Avenue NE, City Center Plaza was completed in 2008 and designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership. The 26-story Class A office tower serves as the headquarters for Microsoft Bing, which occupies 96.3% of the building.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

SF Financial District Building Gets $126M Loan via Starwood

Starwood Property Trust announced today that it had originated a $126 million first mortgage loan and mezzanine loan for 100 Montgomery in San Francisco on behalf of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII. Blackstone Group agreed to buy a 25-story building in downtown San Francisco for $165 million last month from a joint venture of Houston-based Hines and Sterling American Property Inc., which previously purchased the tower in January 2006 for $67.5 million from Equities Office Properties Trust. Starwood has said that it will sell the first mortgage "in the near term" to increase its investment returns. The total financing will have an initial funding of $115.5 million with $10.5 million of future funding for tenant improvements and leasing commissions.

"We are excited to complete another complex financing transaction with Blackstone," said Boyd Fellows, President and Director of Starwood Property Trust. "Similar to the $61 million Glendale transaction we announced earlier this quarter, we funded the entire capital stack with a flexible structure which meets Blackstone's exact financing needs. Our ability to act as a 'one stop financing solution' for borrowers looking to finance large transitional assets is a significant strategic advantage."

As of last month, the office building was 84% occupied, with the U.S. General Services Administration as its largest tenant, according to the people. Situated on the corner of Sutter and Montgomery Streets in the Financial District, the building offers more than 420,000 square feet of space including retail storefronts. 100 Montgomery, also known as the Equitable Life Building, has undergone $54 million in capital improvements redesigned by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, including a comprehensive renovation in 2009 that added a new glass facade and lobby.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Parkway Properties Buying NASCAR Headquarters for $100M

Parkway Properties, Inc. announced this week that it had entered into a purchase agreement for NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte, NC for a purchase price of approximately $100 million. A joint venture between Trinity Capital Advisors and Rubenstein Partners is selling the 390,000 20-story office tower located in the central business district, according to an Orlando Business Journal article. Parkway will own 100% of the asset and plans to assume the first mortgage secured by the property, which has a current outstanding balance of approximately $42.3 million with a current interest rate of 4.7% and a maturity date of March 30, 2016; Parkway intends to amend and restate the loan upon assumption to current market terms. Closing is expected to occur by the end of the fourth quarter 2012 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

James R. Heistand, Parkway's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "The purchase of NASCAR Plaza represents another off-market transaction that enables us to expand in one of our key, target submarkets with a high-quality asset. NASCAR Plaza has a strong tenant base and is the headquarters for several well-known companies, and we expect to create additional value through leasing and rent growth in a submarket that we believe will outperform during a recovery."

Walker Collier, Partner at Trinity Capital, notes that while it's bittersweet to sell the building after less than two years of ownership, he is proud of Trinity Capital's work that created such value for the asset. "Rubenstein Partners and Trinity Capital‘s partnership worked tirelessly with our leasing and property management stakeholders to shift NASCAR Plaza from the tremendous distress it was under before it was purchased, creating the stabilized asset it is today," Collier said. "NASCAR Plaza will serve as a good case study for Trinity Capital and the value creation that we work towards for our investors and partners." Anne Vulcano and Jessica Brown of CBRE handled the building's leasing duties and Trinity Partners managed the property for the ownership group.

NASCAR Plaza, created by renowned Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and built in 2009, sits adjacent to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and serves as the headquarters of NASCAR. The building is currently 88% leased, with 139,000 square feet leased to NASCAR through May 2021.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.