DiamondRock Acquires Blackstone Portfolio for $495M

DiamondRock Hospitality Company announced this week that it had entered into a purchase agreement to acquire a 4-hotel portfolio from affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI for $495 million. The portfolio includes the Hilton Boston, the Westin Washington D.C., the Westin San Diego and the Hilton Burlington, representing a sale price of approximately $339,000 per key. Blackstone is taking a $75 million stake in DiamondRock as part of the deal, which will help DiamondRock pay for the hotels, according to a CBS News report. Goldman, Sachs & Co. acted as financial advisor to DiamondRock in the transaction. According to a Bloomberg report, the hotels are from the Columbia Sussex portfolio that Blackstone seized in December 2010 after buying junior debt tied to the assets.

Mark Brugger, Chief Executive Officer of DiamondRock, said, "We are excited to acquire these four high quality hotels from affiliates of Blackstone in an off-market deal and equally pleased that Blackstone is taking a $75 million ownership stake in DiamondRock as part of this transaction. We believe that these four hotels with higher RevPAR and EBITDA margins than those of our existing assets will enhance the overall quality of our portfolio."

Jonathan D. Gray, Global Head of Real Estate at Blackstone stated: "We are pleased to announce this transaction with DiamondRock, a company with solid assets and a strong management team led by Mark Brugger. We believe in the continued lodging recovery and are excited about receiving an ownership stake in the company."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Wells Core REIT Acquires Four Parkway in Deerfield

Wells Core Office Income REIT (Wells Core REIT), a nontraded, public investment program sponsored by Wells Real Estate Funds, announced this week that it had acquired Four Parkway North in Deerfield, IL. John Buck Co.'s JBC Fund III sold the property for $40.9 million or $238 per square foot, according to a GlobeSt.com article. Wells was represented internally by Peter Mitchell, senior vice president, capital markets.

"Four Parkway North is a strong addition to the Wells Core REIT portfolio," said Joe Oglesby, chief investment officer of Wells Real Estate Funds, advisor to the REIT. "It serves as a headquarters location to three of our tenants — CF Industries, Lundbeck, and Randstad."

Built in 1999, the 172,000-square-foot Class A office building is situated just off of I-94 and the Tri-State Tollway, offering easy access to I-294, Chicago's Loop, and O'Hare International Airport. The building was fully leased to four tenants — CF Industries Holdings, Inc.; Lundbeck, Inc.; Randstad Pharma; and Amgen USA — at the time of sale.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

A&G Realty Partners Launched This Month

Andrew Graiser and Emilio Amendola, former founding partners of DJM Realty, announced that they had launched a new commercial real estate consulting, advisory and investment group called A&G Realty Partners. A&G will invest in real estate assets -- including retail, restaurant, warehouse, office and industrial -- and plans to purchase or co-invest in mortgages, with a focus on adding value to the overall portfolio.

Emilio Amendola, co-president of A&G, said "While the new firm will continue along the path Andy and I have pursued over the past 20 years, our ability to invest will have a distinct role in value creation, giving our clients alternatives and financial structures not otherwise available."

"Emilio can't wait to start practicing again," says Andrew Graiser of his partner. "He's by far the most sought-after real estate professional in the industry and I'm sure retailers, investors and landlords are looking forward for him to get back into the field."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Vornado Sells Mart Assets for $228M

Vornado Realty Trust announced this week that it had agreed to sell its Mart segment assets, including the Washington Design Center, the Boston Design Center, the L.A. Mart and the Canadian Trade Shows, for approximately $228 million. According to a CoStar report, the sale of the L.A. Mart has already closed at $55 million to PHR LA Mart LLC with 9-month seller financing. The 12-story structure includes 793,158 square feet and is a one-of-a-kind design center, office and showroom building in the downtown area.

As previously reported in January, Vornado sold the Mart segment's 350 West Mart Center for $228 million, resulting in a $55 million gain. Vornado also is in the process of transferring 7 West 34th Street to its New York segment. Vornado said that the sales of the Canadian Trade Shows had also closed, with the other sales expected to close in the third quarter. The company will recognize an $11.9 million loss in the second quarter and a $24.5 million gain in the third quarter from the sale of Canadian Trade Shows.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg Grain, a division of Blumberg Capital Partners, to Open 5 Manufacturing Plants & Export Hubs as Part of its Asia, Middle East-North Africa (MENA), Middle East-South Asia (MESA), and Sub-Saharan Africa Expansion Plans.

Blumberg Capital Partners, a market leader in investment management and infrastructure development, is expanding Blumberg Grain, its food and grain safety and security systems division.
Blumberg companies are active in real estate and commodity investments, resource development, food and grain storage and security, and manufacturing.

Blumberg Grain provides public and private sector customers with food and grain storage and security systems and assists them manage their food supply through comprehensive network management services.

Blumberg Grain warehouses are prefabricated and pre-engineered to be the most effective and cost-efficient solution for food storage available on the market.

Blumberg Grain, has been engaged by countries located in East Asia, North Asia, the Middle East-South Asia (MESA), the Middle East-North Africa (MENA), and Sub-Saharan Africa to supply food and grain storage and safety systems as part of its plan to select 5 locations for its manufacturing and export hub expansion by the end of summer 2012 with an anticipated construction start date as early as the end of 2012. The 5 hubs will have an estimated employment of 6,000 people.

The initial focus of the manufacturing plants will be to produce prefabricated Blumberg Grain Storage Warehouses, each with 6,000 square feet (557 square meters) of storage.

Through increased trade activity and development, these manufacturing plants and export hubs have the capacity to manufacture 3,000 warehouse buildings annually or US $375M in output.

Currently, up to 50% of worldwide crop yields are lost annually due to lack of proper storage facilities. Accordingly, the demand for modern grain storage systems is a priority across the globe.

The Asian market, excluding China, has a demand of approximately US $80 billion for food storage warehousing systems and the MENA region a market demand of approximately US $22 billion.

Blumberg Grain offers a complete solution that begins with helping nations assess their food safety and security issues and progresses into the development of turnkey storage facilities with management support designed to bring post harvest crop losses to under 5%.

From basic dry storage unit for grains and dry goods to refrigerated and gas displacement systems for perishables including produce and meat, Blumberg Grain warehouses extend the useful life of perishables by up to 6 months. These warehouse units, designed specifically for developing world markets, are powered using an independent energy supply that insures primary or backup operation power.

By extending produce storage-life, users of Blumberg Grain systems can select and time the sale of its agricultural products into premium priced markets away from harvest peak supply periods.

Blumberg Grain's state of the art Network Management Services enables full turnkey systems and the most responsive solutions for food and grain safety and security including controlled access systems; interactive sensor monitors and controls for temperature, humidity, gas monitoring and other variables tied to mechanical and forced venting; controlled atmosphere through refrigeration and nitrogen displacement systems; an inventory management system which can track national food and grain supplies. Furthermore, the inventory management system can directly tie into national commodity markets allowing trading of food and grain supplies directly from the warehouse network. Blumberg Grain also provides strategic re-stockpiling of key food stuffs through hedged forward contracts assuring food supply and food inventory levels. Additionally, Blumberg Grain can also provide assistance in securing financing for the food storage systems.

For a video about Blumberg Grain's turnkey system please click here.

To download the storage unit and option brochure please click here.

For more information, please visit http://www.blumberggrain.com or contact Vicki Rosa atvrosa@blumbergcapitalpartners.com or 305-569-9500.

Heitman Sells Foundry Square IV for $184.5M

Heitman LLC, a Chicago-based real estate investment management firm, sold Foundry Square IV in San Francisco on behalf of Utah State Retirement System for $184.5 million. Brian Bollinger of Palmer Capital Inc. represented the seller, while the buyer was represented in-house according to a CoStar report. Heitman previously purchased the property from Cottonwood Partners.

Built in 2003, the 230,625 square foot building at 500 Howard Street was 100% leased at the time of sale with The Gymboree Corp. occupying most of the space. The property benefits from the new Transbay Terminal, which is known as the "Grand Central Station of the West."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Silver Spring Office Building Sold for $21.3M

11800 Tech Road in Silver Spring, MD traded hands this month as Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT), an office REIT, sold the property to a joint venture between Finmarc Management and the Goldstar Group, which previously owned the building. HFF marketed the property exclusively on behalf of the seller and closed the transaction free and clear of debt. COPT purchased the property in the fall of 2002 from the Goldstar Group for $27.3 million as its first building buy in Montgomery County according to a CoStar report.

The 228,179-square-foot flex office building was built in 1967 and renovated in 1997. The property was 82.5% leased at the time of sale to six tenants including the General Services Administration, Comcast Cable, Kaiser Foundation Health, BioCore Medical and Holy Cross Hospital. 11800 Tech Road is located in the North Silver Spring/Route 29 submarket of Silver Spring approximately 14 miles north of Washington, D.C.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.