Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Marcus & Millichap Sells Vintage Bank Building in Chicago's Lincoln Park for $3M


CHICAGO, IL– Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, the nation’s largest real estate investment services firm, has arranged the sale of a 15,000-square foot vintage bank building (top photo) in Chicago’s trendy Lincoln Park neighborhood.

The sales price of $3,050,000 million represents $203 per square foot. The property was listed at $2,850,000 and a small parcel of adjacent land to be used for parking was negotiated into the final sales price.

Michael Marks, Shaun Buss and Sean Lyons, senior associates in the Chicago Downtown office of Marcus & Millichap, represented the seller, Mirro Development.



“The new owner has acquired a classically designed building in an excellent Lincoln Park location with multiple development possibilities,” says Marks.

Located at 1421-25 West Fullerton Ave., the three-story bank building is served by a freight elevator and features a dramatic entrance with split staircase.

Built in 1927, the building still houses the original bank vault and cage in the lower level, which belonged to the building’s original occupant, Fullerton State Bank. Since its development more than 80 years ago, the property has been used for a variety of purposes, including as an office building and antiques shop. Most recently, a previous owner had unveiled plans to convert the property into residential units, but decided to forego the conversion process because of the softening housing market.

This asset has a famous sister building in New York City called the Bank Building (Old New York Savings Bank) (photo at left) on the southwest corner of Eighth Avenue and 14th Street in the West Village.

CONTACT:
Stacey Corso
Public Relations Manager
Marcus & Millichap
2999 Oak Road
Suite 210
Walnut Creek, CA 94597
Office: 925.953.1716
Mobile: 415.672.6460
Fax: 925.953.1710
http://www.marcusmillichap.com/

HFF Arranges First Mortgage Financing for USPS Circle City Station in Downtown Indianapolis


INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The Indianapolis office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) has arranged first mortgage financing for the United States Postal Service (USPS) Circle City Station Building in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana.


HFF associate director David Ross and managing director Jon Everson worked on behalf of Park Meridian Associates, LLC to secure the 10-year, fixed-rate loan through American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company. The loan will be serviced by HFF. Park Meridian Associates is a multiple-asset entity that has owned the property since 1978.


The USPS Circle City Station is located at 456 North Meridian Street close to University Park in downtown Indianapolis. The property is a 54,000-square-foot three-story building that is fully leased to the USPS and is managed and maintained by Acorn Group, a related entity of the borrower.

Contacts:
Laurie Fish McDowell
Associate Director HFF
One Post Office Square, Suite 3500
Boston, MA 02109
tel 617.338.0990

fax 617.338.2150

J. David Ross
HFF Associate Director
317 630 3191

Lane NE Division Partner Bill Brown to Seek Development Opportunities in Philly and Baltimore



ATLANTA, GA, March 11, 2008-- Bill Brown (photo top right) has joined Lane Northeast, a subsidiary of multifamily real estate firm Lane Company, in the newly-created position of Division Partner.
He will be responsible for new development in an area spanning the metro Philadelphia market, southern New Jersey, Delaware and northern Maryland, including Baltimore.

"Bill has a long standing track record as a successful developer of quality multifamily
developments in the Philadelphia and Baltimore markets, as well as other areas," said Jeff Price, (photo at left) Lane Company's Northeast Regional Partner and President of Lane Northeast. "Bill will help Lane Northeast reach into the Philadelphia market while expanding our platform in Maryland," he added.

Brown was most recently a Development Partner with Oxford Properties. Over his career, he has participated in the development of almost 14,000 units, and held high-level posts with leading firms including Toll Brothers, The Morgan Group and Summit Properties. He lives in the Philadelphia area, where he recently completed two projects.

For over a decade, he lived in Baltimore; he developed a number of properties there, as well as in Wilmington, Delaware and the Philadelphia area."Philadelphia and Baltimore are both excellent, highly-rated markets for continued investment and steady growth," Brown said. "Like much of the Washington to New York corridor markets, these areas are defined by niche opportunities and high barriers to entry."

Lane Northeast currently has an office in Towson, Maryland, where it is building the first phase of The Quarter, a residential development across from Towson Town Center Mall. The first residents are expected to move into Phase I, which includes 150 upscale condominiums and 280 upscale apartments, this fall. When fully complete, The Quarter will have a total of 900 residences for sale and rent.

"The Quarter is a great example of Lane's expanding commitment to the region," Price said. Lane Northeast maintains offices regionally in New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.Also, last year Lane Company acquired the Munsey, a historic 18-story apartment building in downtown Baltimore. The firm also manages several Maryland apartment communities.

Brown earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Washington & Lee University. He can be reached at bbrown@lanecompany.com.


About Lane Company
Lane Company (www.lanecompany.com) is a vertically-integrated, full-service multifamily real estate company. Its expertise extends to all areas of real estate including apartment and condominium development, investment, property management, construction, asset management, marketing and sales.

With over 30 years experience, Lane Company is recognized as one of the most innovative, efficient and technologically-advanced firms in the multifamily industry. Its goal is to make big things happen by connecting people and communities one home at a time.

Media Contact:
Terri Thornton,
Thornton Communications,
404-932-4347

Arbor Promotes Maria Elefante to Vice President, Treasury

UNIONDALE, NY--Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC (“Arbor”) has announced the promotion of Maria Elefante (photo top right) to Vice President, Treasury.

In her new role, Ms. Elefante will be responsible for the negotiation, closing and subsequent compliance of the various financing facilities entered into by both Arbor Commercial Mortgage and Arbor Realty Trust. She will also pursue new lending relationships, maintain existing ones and will continue to be actively involved with the day-to-day operations of the Treasury group. She reports to John Natalone, Executive Vice President.

“Maria has been a tremendous asset to the Treasury Department and has exhibited the qualities and leadership skills necessary to be effective in her new role,” said Mr. Natalone. “Based on her background and expertise, I am confident that Maria will continue to support Arbor’s future growth.”

Ms. Elefante joined Arbor in August 2004 as Director, Treasury and was promoted to Assistant Vice President, Treasury in February 2006. She received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and International Business from New York University and is a Certified Public Accountant. She is located in Arbor’s headquarter office in Uniondale, NY and resides in Hewlett Neck, NY.


Contact:
Ingrid Principe
Marketing Specialist
Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC
333 Earle Ovington Boulevard, Suite 900
Uniondale, NY 11553
Phone: 516-506-4298
Fax: 516-542-2555
Email: iprincipe@arbor.com
http://www.arbor.com/

Hampton Opens Eight Hotels in February

Florida home to the largest number of Hampton Hotels

MEMPHIS, TN, March 11, 2008—Hampton (www.hampton.com), the national brand of more than 1,450 mid-priced Hampton Inn® and Hampton Inn & Suites® hotels, opened eight properties in February 2008, representing 764 new rooms.


The new openings include two Hampton Inn hotels and six Hampton Inn & Suites properties. All openings are franchised, newly constructed hotels.


The Hampton Inn hotels are Charlotte/Belmont at Montcross, NC, 85 rooms (photo below), and Gainesville/Haymarket, VA, 95 rooms. The Hampton Inn & Suites hotels are Orlando/South Lake Buena Vista, FL, 125 rooms; Palm Coast-South, FL, 94 rooms; Seal Beach, CA, (photo top left) 110 rooms, Tampa/Wesley Chapel, FL 94 rooms; Lake Wales, FL 78 rooms; and Opelika, AL, 83 rooms.


“With the opening of four hotels this month, Florida is now home to 117 Hampton Hotels, more than any other state in the U.S.,” said Phil Cordell, senior vice president, Hampton Hotels. “We also have another seven hotels currently under construction in the state scheduled to open by year end 2009. Hampton plans to build on this development momentum as we expand across the U.S. and abroad in the coming months.”

For consumers who would like to take their hotel room experience home with them, Hampton has a new program available online at www.hamptonhomecollection.com, where many of Hampton Hotels’ guestroom amenities are available for purchase.

About Hampton Hotels
Hampton Hotels is a part of Hilton Hotels Corporation, the leading global hospitality company, with more than 2,900 hotels and 490,000 rooms in 76 countries, including 100,000 team members worldwide. The More than 2,300 hotels are owned, managed or franchised in North America withcompany owns, manages or franchises a hotel portfolio of some of the best known and highly regarded brands, including Hilton®, Conrad®, Doubletree®, Embassy Suites Hotels®, Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites®, Hilton Garden Inn®, Hilton Grand Vacations®, Homewood Suites by Hilton®, and The Waldorf=Astoria Collection® hotels around the world.

For more information about Hampton Hotels, please visit hampton.com/pressandmedia.

Contacts:
Tori Roberson/Charmaine Easie-Samuels
Hampton Brand Communications
(901) 374-5534

Chris Daly
Vice President
Daly Gray Public Relations
ph: 703-435-6293

PKF-HR Revises 2008 Lodging Industry Outlook in New Report

Lower RevPAR Forecast Reflects Impact of Recession

ATLANTA, GA/PRNewswire/ -- PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) today announced that it has lowered its 2008 forecast for a key hotel industry metric, revenue per available room or RevPAR, from up 4.5 percent to up a below-average 3.0 percent.


The new RevPAR forecast appears in the firm's recently released first quarter 2008 Hotel Horizons(SM) report. The change was based on revised projections by Moody's Economy.com, PKF-HR's primary economic forecasting agency, which now is calling for a U.S. recession this year due to deteriorating economic fundamentals.


Declining economic fundamentals, fueled by the turmoil in the capital markets and the escalating price of oil, portend a much weaker domestic economy for the months ahead, according to Economy.com.


Its 2008 estimate of Real Personal Income Growth, a key measure of lodging industry performance, now is only 1.6 percent, down from an estimate of 2.6 percent as recently as the fourth quarter of last year. While this is certainly not good news for lodging industry participants, PKF-HR still believes that the typical U.S. hotel will enjoy increases in both revenues and profits, but at a more modest pace.


"Our econometric forecasting model focuses on Real Personal Income and Total Employment as the primary indicators for lodging demand," said Mark Woodworth, (photo top right) president of PKF Hospitality Research. "These economic measures are forecast to exhibit minimal growth during the first part of 2008, but start to climb back to their equilibrium levels during the latter months of the year.


"Accordingly, we are forecasting the demand for lodging accommodations to inch up 0.9 percent in 2008. This pace of demand growth is approximately half of the long-term annual average, but still represents a net gain in accommodated room nights for the year. When looking at 2008, we believe that U.S. hotel owners and operators will struggle to grow their revenues and profits, but market conditions will not be as damaging as we saw back in 1991 or 2001."


Woodworth noted that the 2008 first quarter is expected to be moderately positive for hotels, but added that lodging performance will deteriorate as the year progresses. He suggested that the downswing should be relatively short-lived, however, with a turnaround expected in the
2009 first quarter.


Hotel Horizons reports are prepared for 50 major U.S. markets, as well as six national chain scales. Each report contains a six-year forecast of supply, demand, occupancy, ADR, and
RevPAR, as well as other valuable economic and hospitality information.


To purchase Hotel Horizon reports, visit the PKF-HR website at www.pkfc.com/store, or call (866) 842-8754. PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR), headquartered in Atlanta, is the research affiliate of PKF Consulting, a consulting and real estate firm specializing in the hospitality industry.


PKF Consulting has offices in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Houston, Dallas, Bozeman, Sacramento, Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.


Contacts:
Mark Woodworth
President
PKF Hospitality Research
1-404-842-1150, ext 222
Web site: http://www.pkfc.com/ /
3475 Lenox Road, Suite 720
Atlanta, GA 30326

Media:
Chris Daly
Vice President
Daly Gray Public Relations or
Jerry Daly, President
ph: 703-435-6293
chris@dalygray.com
620 Herndon Parkway, Suite 115
Herndon, VA 20170