Ivanhoé/Callahan Buy Out Beacon at 1211 Avenue of the Americas

Ivanhoé Cambridge and its partner, Callahan Capital Properties, announced this week that it has acquired the 49% interest in 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown New York City that it didn't already own from Beacon Capital Partners in a deal that valued the property at roughly $1.8 billion. Ivanhoé Cambridge and Callahan Capital Properties originally acquired a 51% stake in the office tower in October 2013 for $580 million. The deal was brokered by Eastdil Secured; terms were not disclosed.

"We are very pleased with the completion of our phased investment strategy for 1211 Avenue of the America," said Arthur Lloyd, Executive Vice President at Ivanhoé Cambridge. "This is a truly iconic property with exceptional locational and physical characteristics that offer tremendous value enhancement opportunities."

"1211 Avenue of the Americas is a significant asset in our 5.6-million-square-foot New York office portfolio and exemplifies our long-term approach towards owning quality assets in Midtown Manhattan," added Tim Callahan, Chief Executive Officer of Callahan Capital Properties. "With unparalleled transportation options and the largest concentration of retail, dining and cultural amenities Manhattan has to offer, Midtown continues to be among the most dynamic markets in which to live, work and play."

Built in 1973 and also known as the News Corp. Building, 1211 Avenue of the Americas is a 44-story, two-million-square-foot office tower that prominently stands among a row of skyscrapers known as "Corporate Row." The 45 story, Class A trophy building is centrally located on Avenue of the Americas between 47th and 48th streets, with direct access to the Rockefeller Center Concourse amenities and subway. The building is certified LEED® Silver and is also winner of the renowned BOMA 2008/2009 Operating Office Building of the Year Award and the BOMA 2010 Middle Atlantic regional Building of the Year Award. The property was 92% leased at the time of sale, with major tenants including Fox News, News Corp, Wells Fargo Advisors, and the headquarters of Dow Jones.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

CWCapital Marketing $2.1B in Assets

CWCapital Asset Management (CWCAM), a subsidiary of Bethesda, MD-based CW Financial Services, announced today that it's marketing a $2.12 billion portfolio of real estate and commercial mortgage loan assets in its capacity as special servicer. The portfolio covers properties throughout the country, many in major markets such as New York City, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles/Orange County, Houston and Phoenix with the balance located in secondary and tertiary markets. The assets securing the portfolio total nearly 4.7 million square feet of office space, 3.5 million square feet of retail, 1.1 million square feet of industrial plus 4,700 multifamily units and 2,100 hotel rooms; the remainder of the portfolio consists of mixed-use, hospitality and industrial assets.

According to a press release from CWCAM, brokerage firms including CBRE, Eastdil Secured, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, Mission Capital, and Marcus & Millichap, are overseeing the marketing of 20 assets with an unpaid principal balance of $1.38 billion. Additionally, 71 assets with an unpaid balance of approximately $740 million are currently being marketed via Auction.com.

In October 2013 when CWCAM marketed a portfolio of 134 assets with a unpaid principal balance of $3.43 billion, the vast majority of the assets eventually closed with overall recoveries averaging $0.66 on the dollar of the unpaid principal balance, according to a GlobeSt.com article.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

NYL's $507M Financing for 11 Times Square

New York Life Real Estate Investors, a division of NYL Investors under New York Life, provided a $507 million loan against 11 Times Square, a 1.1 million-square-foot office property in midtown Manhattan this week. Building owners Prudential Real Estate Investors, Norges Bank Investment Management and SJP Properties secured the financing through Eastdil Secured; terms of the ten-year loan were not disclosed. According to GlobeSt.com, SJP Properties, the operating partner, will continue to manage and lease the property and will maintain its New York City headquarters in the building.

"New York Life Insurance Company and our co-lender, Northwestern Mutual and New York State Teachers' Retirement System, are very pleased to provide financing for this outstanding asset," said Eric Becher, senior director at New York Life. "The property has an impeccable tenant roster and is conveniently located near numerous subway lines, Port Authority, Grand Central and Penn Station."

The latest loan was provided as part of the 40-story property's recapitalization, in which Norges Bank Investment Management bought a 45% stake for $401.9 million from a partnership of Prudential Real Estate Investors and SJP Properties, according to a Commercial RealEstate Direct report. The loan refinances one of equal size that MetLife and New York Life had provided in 2013.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

GIC Buys Blackstone AZ Portfolio for $140M

GIC Private Limited, formerly known as Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund established by the Government of Singapore, has purchased 14 commercial and industrial properties in Phoenix, Tempe and the West Valley for more than $140 million. GIC, which also owns the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, bought the 14 Valley properties as part of its acquistion of Blackstone Group's IndCor Properties 117 milion-square-foot portfolio, according to a Phoenix Business Journal article. Eastdil Secured (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company), Citigroup, Barclays and RBC Capital Markets acted as advisors to Blackstone.

IndCor's assets are principally located in desirable in-fill industrial markets, which benefit from proximity to key domestic and global transportation hubs, major logistics and warehouse/distribution networks, as well as large population concentrations.

Tim Beaudin, IndCor CEO, said: "We built IndCor through 18 acquisitions to be one of the largest industrial real estate companies in the United States. We are excited about the company's future prospects under new long-term ownership with GIC."

Blackstone announced that funds affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI & VII have agreed to sell their wholly-owned U.S. industrial platform, IndCor Properties, to affiliates of GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, for $8.1 billion.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Willis Tower Sold for $1.3B to Blackstone

Blackstone and 233 South Wacker LLC announced that they had signed a definitive agreement for Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII to acquire the second tallest building in the country, the Willis Tower in Chicago, for $1.3 billion. The sellers of the 110-story skyscraper, formerly known as Sears Tower, are a group including New York-based investors Joseph Chetrit and Joseph Moinian, and American Landmark Properties Ltd. They paid $841 million for the tower in 2004, while Blackstone's purchase price of $1.3 billion is, according to Crain's Chicago Business, set to become the highest ever paid for a U.S. office building outside Manhattan. Douglas Harmon of Eastdil Secured LLC was the broker for the sale to Blackstone. Further terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"We are bullish on Chicago as companies expand within and move into the city and look for first-class office space," Blackstone managing director Jacob Werner said in a statement. "We see great potential in further improving both the building's retail operations and the tourist experience for one of the most popular destinations for visitors to Chicago."

The Willis Tower is a 3.8 million square-foot office building in downtown Chicago and, at 110 stories, is the second-tallest office building in the United States and the fifth-tallest office building in the world. The building also features a top Chicago tourist attraction in the Skydeck on the 103rd floor, which provides 1.6 million visitors per year with unmatched views of Chicago and the surrounding area including from the "Ledge", glass cubes which extend from the building. The New York-based company plans to spend as much as $150 million to improve the tower's retail portion and 103rd-floor observatory, according to a Boston Globe article.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

GLP, GIC Make $8.1B IndCor Purchase

Blackstone announced this week that Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI & VII agreed to sell IndCor Properties to affiliates of GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, for $8.1 billion. GIC's partner in the acquisition is Global Logistic Properties Ltd., one of the largest owners of warehouses and other industrial property in Asia, according to a Wall Street Journal article. GIC is estimated by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute to manage around $320 billion in assets; real estate accounted for 7% of its portfolio in the financial year to April 1, according to its annual report. Closing is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2015. Eastdil Secured, Citigroup, Barclays and RBC Capital Markets acted as advisors to Blackstone in the transaction.

Tim Beaudin, IndCor CEO, said: "We built IndCor through 18 acquisitions to be one of the largest industrial real estate companies in the United States. We are excited about the company's future prospects under new long-term ownership with GIC." As a result of this transaction, IndCor will no longer be pursuing an IPO. The sale is the latest in a string by Blackstone's real estate unit, which has returned more than $16 billion to fund investors since the end of the third quarter of 2013. This year the firm has sold five Boston office buildings totaling 3.3 million square feet, along with shares of hotel operator Extended Stay America Inc., shopping-center owner Brixmor Property Group Inc. and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., according to a Bloomberg report.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Colony Capital Moving Forward on $1.6B Industrial Deal

Santa Monica, California-based Colony Capital LLC is buying a 291-building industrial portfolio from Irving, Texas-based Cobalt Capital Partners according to several reports this week. Commercial Mortgage Alert reported Friday that GE Capital has agreed to provide $1.2 billion of the portfolio’s purchase price via a floating-rate loan for the 291-property industrial portfolio. The terms of the loan are now being finalized, with Colony weighing a menu of options from GE that include varying amounts of proceeds tied to the degree of leverage, according to people familiar with the process.

Colony has agreed to pay about $1.6 billion for the 29.5 million-square-foot portfolio, which contains mostly light-industrial buildings of less than 250,000 sf in 18 markets across the U.S. The 291 buildings are 85% leased by more than 650 tenants. Eastdil and CBRE are jointly brokering the sale on behalf of Cobalt, CM Alert reported. CoStar reported last week that Colony, which is about to see a merger of two affiliated entities, beat out such would-be buyers as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Blackstone Group and TPG. Blackstone is itself preparing to sell its IndCor Properties industrial platform, Bloomberg reported last week.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

John Buck Sells DC Office Building for $65.2M

The John Buck Company has sold an office building on L Street in Washington, DC to LaSalle Investment Management for $65.2 million, or $397 per square foot, according to a GlobeSt.com report; Eastdil Secured brokered the transaction. John Buck originally acquired the property in 2008 for $61 million from a joint venture of TIAA-CREF and Equity Office. The building was 77% leased at the time of sale wit major tenants including Greenstein Delorme Luchs, Corner Alliance and the Personal Care Products Council.

"The Washington, D.C., office market continues to attract institutional capital given the stabilizing effects of the U.S. government," said HFF's Stephen Conley of the building after it traded hands in 2008. "The property’s location in the heart of the nation’s capital places the new owner in an ideal position to capture upside value over the next five to seven years."

The 12-story property at 1620 L Street was designed by Smith, Segreti, Tepper, McMahon and Harned and originally developed in 1989. The building is also the 24th tallest building in Washington, tied in rank with seven other structures in the area.

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.

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.

City Center Bellevue Sold for $229M

American Assets Trust, a self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT), announced this week that it had entered into an agreement to acquire City Center Bellevue in Bellevue, Washington for approximately $229 million. The seller, Beacon Capital, listed the property earlier this month with Eastdil. Full terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but the transaction is being structured to accommodate a possible tax deferred exchange pursuant to the provisions of Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and applicable state revenue and taxation code sections.

"The greater Seattle area, Bellevue in particular, has been a target investment region for the Company and its predecessor for many years. We are extremely pleased with the pending acquisition of City Center Bellevue and our eventual entry into this highly constrained market. We expect that our efforts will enable us to continue to expand our presence in the area," said John W. Chamberlain, American Assets Trust's Chief Executive Officer and President.

City Center Bellevue consists of approximately 497,000 square feet over 27 floors, located in the heart of Bellevue's Central Business District at 500 108th Avenue NE, and is currently managed by Wright Runstad & Company. American Assets expects that the property will be roughly 92% leased at the time of closing with major tenants including HDR Engineering, Intelius, Sucker Punch Productions, Global Scholar, Cisco Systems and Morgan Stanley.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.