RXR Closes $1.65B Avenue of the Americas Acquisition

An affiliate of RXR Realty LLC announced the closing of the $1.65 billion acquisition of 1285 Avenue of the Americas, as well as the long-term lease renewal of more than 900,000 square feet to keep UBS's North American headquarters in the office building. The Real Deal first reported that Scott Rechler's RXR Realty was on the verge of a deal to acquire the 42-story office tower, and reports this week that it partnered on the deal with real estate investor David Werner, according to the Commercial Observer, noting that the duo financed the purchase with $1.2 billion in loans from AIG and Morgan Stanley. AXA Financial Inc. sold the property in partnership with JPMorgan Chase & Co.; AXA first put the tower on the market last fall along with 787 Seventh Avenue, which has since been sold to CalPERS; one source noted that both properties had been "institutionally owned for decades," and would likely fetch around $4 billion because they have "institutional-quality tenants [with] high credit and the in-place market rents are significantly below market."

Located between 51st and 52nd Streets and also known as the Equitable Building, 1285 Avenue of the Americas is a Class-A mixed-use tower featuring office, retail, and storage. RXR Realty plans to upgrade the building's lobby, modernize the elevator mechanical systems and make improvements to the plaza. "We are excited to close on the acquisition of 1285 Avenue of the Americas and simultaneously execute a long-term renewal with UBS," said Scott Rechler Chairman and CEO of RXR Realty. "It is only fitting that one of the city's most prestigious buildings will remain the home to some of the city's most prestigious companies for decades to come." In addition to UBS, the building is co-anchored by law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP in 550,000 square feet and Omnicom Group affiliate BBDO, a marketing and communications firm, in 325,000 square feet.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Kettering Tower Sold to Dunkirk Realty

The tallest office building in downtown Dayton, Ohio was sold this week to NY-based Dunkirk Realty, with an eye on more property in the area. "We're going to buy as much as we can (in the Dayton area)," said Albert Macanian, president of Dunkirk, in a Dayton Daily News article. "With its location in the center of the United States, Ohio — and Dayton in particular — is an ideal location for investment and opportunity. Dayton is a great market for investors, not only because of its location, but for its potential as well. We have a long-term interest in Dayton."

"This is a group of investors with experience in much larger markets, and we are confident they will be very successful in downtown Dayton," said Sandy Gudorf, president of the Downtown Dayton Partnership.

Dunkirk Realty purchased the building at 40 N. Main St. under Tower Partners LLC. The 29 story Kettering Tower claims 486,121 square feet of Class A office space, and has been Dayton's tallest office tower since it was constructed in 1971. Terms of the deal were not disclosed and no immediate deed could be found through the Montgomery County auditors office, according to a Dayton Business Journal article. Major tenants of the property include JPMorgan Chase, Ernst & Young, Merrill Lynch and the Dayton Racquet Club, with recently signed tenants including Sebaly, Shillito & Dyer, Johnson Investment Council, and the Dayton Development Coalition.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Crescent Sells 6 Properties to JPMorgan

Crescent Real Estate Holdings completed a transaction at the end of last month that didn't make many headlines but gave its stake in six Texas office properties to its partner, a unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to a Fox Business News article. The properties are valued at about $2 billion and include The Crescent, a 1,134,826 square foot office and retail complex in Dallas, and Houston Center, a major mixed-use urban real estate development covering four buildings and almost 4.5 million square feet of Class A office space.

Crescent, owned in a joint venture between Barclays Capital and Goff Capital, originally bought into the portfolio in 2009 for an undisclosed sum. Details of the current sale were not disclosed, but it's reported that Crescent will continue to operate the properties for its former JPMorgan partners. The total value of the Texas properties in the deal is approximately $1.85 billion, which means the value of Crescent’s stake was about $444 million according to a Houston Business Journal article.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Anglo Irish Bank Sells $9.5B US Loans

Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Lone Star Funds were the winning bidders on the $9.5 billion pool of U.S. commercial real estate loan sold by Anglo Irish Bank Corp. with debt related to some 250 properties, including marquee names ranging from the Apthorp, a landmark Manhattan residential building, to a Beverly Hills, Calif., shopping center to the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago according to a Wall Street Journal article. Other bidders included Blackstone Group LP, TPG Capital, Starwood Capital Group, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG. The sale marks one of the biggest since the downturn in U.S. commercial real estate four years ago.

Anglo Irish Bank had been looking to unload the portfolio since the Irish government took control of the bank in January 2009. The bank had reported last week that it lost €101 million in the six months ended June 30th, far below the €8 billion loss it recorded for the same period last year.

According to Bloomberg, the trio will take on the portfolio of $9.65 billion in U.S. loans. It wasn't disclosed what the consortium bid for the assets, though some speculate 80 cents on the dollar would be a good price. "If you're looking at quality assets in good, strong markets, I'd say 80 cents on the dollar sounds pretty reasonable," said Tom Craig, founder of TSC Realty Partners, a commercial-property broker in Seattle who wasn't involved in the sale. "One of the barriers to entry on a big deal like this is how many people can put the capital together to buy this and close quickly."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Colony Closes $74M Deal in Falls Church

Colony Realty Partners' subsidiary, Colony Capital LLC, finalized the purchase of an office building in Falls Church, Virginia for $74.23 million according to a CoStar report. PacTrust sold the 10-story, 231,928 square foot office building for roughly $320 per square foot; according to CoStar Group information, the average asking rent per year is approximately $36 per square foot.

The building at 3190 Fairview Park was originally delivered in 1990 and renovated between 2006 and 2008 with current major tenants including General Dynamics, JPMorgan Chase and DynCorp International. "The sale of this trophy office property is further evidence that investors are actively seeking quality, well-located and stable assets in one of the strongest markets in the country," said Collins Ege of Jones Lang LaSalle, which led the sales effort on behalf of PacTrust.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.