Monday, August 10, 2009

HFF secures $47M financing for New York regional shopping center

NEW YORK, NY – The New York office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) announced today that it has secured $47 million in financing for Cortlandt Towne Center, (top left photo) a 640,000-square-foot, regional shopping center in northwestern Westchester County, New York.

Working exclusively on behalf of Acadia Realty Trust, HFF senior managing director Mike Tepedino (middle right photo) and director Steven Klein (bottom left photo) arranged the three-year, adjustable-rate loan with Bank of America.
Cortlandt Towne Center is located at 3131 East Main Street located on U.S. Route 6 in Mohegan Lake in Westchester County, New York. The property’s major tenants include Wal-Mart, A&P Food Market, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy and PetSmart.

The site is shadow-anchored by a 133,243-square-foot Home Depot.

“Being the dominant shopping center with limited competition of critical mass in northwestern Westchester County made this asset attractive to investors,” said Tepedino.
Acacia Realty Trust currently owns, or has ownership interests in, and operates 77 properties totaling in excess of 10 million square feet located primarily in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest United States.

Contacts:
MICHAEL J. TEPEDINO, HFF Senior Managing Director , (212) 245-2425
STEVEN J. KLEIN, HFF Director, (212) 632-1838, sklein@hfflp.com
KRISTEN M. MURPHY, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, (713) 852-3500krmurphy@hfflp.com

Leading Real Estate Brokerage Firms -- CB Richard Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield, Voit Commercial Brokerage and Collins Commercial – Adopt Online Auction


MARINA DEL REY, CA.--(Business Wire) With a vast number of distressed commercial properties hitting the market, auctions are increasingly becoming a proven method of bringing buyers and sellers together to determine market price.

The flaw, however, with the traditional auction model is that it excludes or limits participation by the broker – the one party that best understands the local real estate market and buyer pool.

Because of this, CB Richard Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield, Voit Commercial Brokerage and Collins Commercial have selected AuctionPoint.com, a new online broker-centric auction platform, to sell commercial properties in Southern California.

Using the AuctionPoint platform, these brokerage firms have created unique online auction sites – each site dedicated to a specific property auction – which will open for bidder registration on August 10 with auctions taking place in September.

“It’s been frustrating trying to bring buyers and sellers together in this market, and while I believe in the value of the auction model, I haven’t been able to utilize existing auction platforms until now because they disengage the broker,” says Gary Stache, (top right photo) Executive Vice President of CB Richard Ellis.

“We chose AuctionPoint because it gives the broker – the market expert – control over the entire auction process, including marketing the auction to the right pool of buyers.

"For commercial real estate, holding the auction online instead of in a hotel ballroom makes perfect sense, and we believe that AuctionPoint’s technology will be the next wave solution for sellers of distressed properties.”
“AuctionPoint will change the way the commercial real estate industry does business," says Joseph Tang, (middle right photo) co-founder of AuctionPoint.

'This technology solution was developed specifically for use by brokerage firms, to address current market conditions. It creates an efficient sales process for brokers while leveling the playing field for all bidder-participants so that a fair market value is achieved.

"Keeping the brokers at the center of the process is the key to running successful auctions, and having several leading brokerage firms on board utilizing AuctionPoint is a testament to the advantages of our model."

AuctionPoint’s robust functionality takes into account the complexities of commercial real estate transactions, accommodating everything from detailed property information to extensive due diligence materials, says Keith Yang, (middle left photo)

During the registration period, brokers can review the list of registered bidders and qualify bidders to participate.
On auction day, brokers know which bidders are in the virtual auction room, when they entered and can view the full bidding history.

Each bidder is also aware of the current high bid, creating a completely transparent process. “Unlike other auction models, AuctionPoint empowers local brokers to run their own auctions,” said co-founder of AuctionPoint," says Yang. "Brokers understand their own markets and are best suited to find the right buyers to participate in the auction.”

Below are details on the September commercial property auctions:

---September 15: 3,774 square foot, turn-key, flex-industrial condominium located at 1382 Valencia Avenue, Unit J, in Tustin, California. Minimum bid for this property is $375,000, or $99 per square foot. This property is being auctioned by Chris Bates, David Bolt, Andrew Morrow and Matt Christensen of CB Richard Ellis.


---September 16: 7,405 square foot, turn-key, flex-industrial condominium located at 16782 Von Karman Avenue, Unit 24, in Irvine, California. Minimum bid for this property is $715,000, or $97 per square foot. This property is being auctioned by Walter Frome and Bill Livesay of Voit Commercial Brokerage.


---September 17: 8,462 square foot, turn-key, office condominium located at 16782 Von Karman Avenue, Unit 12, in Irvine, California. Minimum bid for this property is $1,105,000, or $131 per square foot. This property is being auctioned by Jeff Chiate, Rick Ellison, Todd Martens and Peter Sowa of Cushman & Wakefield.


---September 18: 9,723 square foot, single-tenant, leased investment located at 16782 Von Karman Avenue, Unit 25, in Irvine, California. Minimum bid for this property is $1,165,000, or $120 per square foot, with a 12% cap rate. This property is being auctioned by Gary Stache, Pat Scruggs, John Read and Anthony DeLorenzo of CB Richard Ellis.


---September 18: 20,751 square foot, turn-key, flex-industrial condominium located at 7530 Jurupa Avenue, Units 101-103, in Riverside, California. Minimum bid for this property is $1,992,000, or $96 per square foot. This property is being auctioned by Mike Collins, Dan Foye and Noah Samarin of Collins Commercial.

Contact:
AuctionPoint, Inc., Catherine Finley, Chief Marketing Officer, 800-807-1688 x803, cfinley@auctionpoint.com

Marshall Hotels & Resorts, Inc. to Manage The Inn at Pocono Manor in PA

SALISBURY, MD, August 10, 2009 – Officials of Marshall Hotels & Resorts, Inc., a leading, Maryland-based hotel management and services company, today announced that the company has been retained to manage The Inn at Pocono Manor (top left photo) in Pennsylvania (http://www.poconomanor.com/).

The 3,000-acre mountain resort is consistently ranked one of the top three destination properties among resorts in the Pocono Resort Region.

Known as “The Grand Lady of the Mountains,” The Inn at Pocono Manor is a four-season resort listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

“We plan to continue the mountain resort’s 107-year-old tradition of welcoming guests with the highest quality accommodations, personalized services, facilities and amenities,” said Michael Marshall,(bottom right photo) president and CEO of Marshall Hotels & Resorts, Inc.

“We will build on that tradition with such modern conveniences as complimentary wireless Internet access, in a way that does not take anything away from the hotel’s period-designed rooms and public spaces.

“Marshall has extensive expertise in the successful operation of independent resorts,” Mike Marshall noted.

“We will implement our proprietary operating and marketing programs and take advantage of our economies of scale.

"In addition, we will focus on raising the bar on service levels to offer our guests a more leisurely experience. Our goal is to not only increase occupancy and guest loyalty, but to promote the region, as well. We plan to be very active in the community.”

Contacts:

Rick Day, Senior Vice President – Sales and Marketing, Marshall Hotels & Resorts (410)749-8464 rday@marshallhotels.com

Jerry Daly, media Daly Gray Public Relations, (703) 435-6293, jerry@dalygray.com

Forest City Announces Major Pittsburgh Office Tenants

CLEVELAND, OH, Aug. 10, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:FCEA)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:FCEB) today announced major tenant signings in the Company's Pittsburgh-area office properties.

Direct Energy Business will make Liberty Center (top right photo) its new headquarters and has signed a lease for approximately 52,300 square feet of space.

Direct Energy Business, a Direct Energy company, is one of North America's largest commercial retail energy suppliers.

Liberty Center is a 526,000-square-foot complex adjacent to the Pittsburgh Convention Center and incorporates the 616-room Westin Convention Center Hotel and the 27-story Federated Investors office tower.
Yellow Submarine Marketing Communications, Inc., a consumer, entertainment and retail ad agency, has signed a lease for approximately 13,100 square feet of space in the Bessemer Court building at the Station Square mixed-use development.
Station Square is a historic redevelopment area along 1.2 miles of Pittsburgh's riverfront and includes office, hotel, retail, entertainment and hospitality components.

In addition, the Company also has re-signed another existing tenant to space in the Commerce Court office building at Station Square.

"We're honored to welcome these new and renewing tenants to our Pittsburgh-area properties," said Charles A. Ratner, (bottom left photo) Forest City president and chief executive officer.
"These signings reflect the vitality of the Pittsburgh market as well as the quality of our area properties. They also are further evidence of the strength of our office portfolio nationwide, which continues to perform well, even under current economic and market conditions."

CONTACT:
Robert O'Brien, Executive Vice President - Chief FinancialOfficer, +1-216-621-6060,
Tom Kmiecik , Assistant Treasurer, +1-216-621-6060,or
Jeff Linton, Vice President - Corporate Communication, +1-216-621-6060, all of Forest City Enterprises, Inc.
Web Site: http://www.forestcity.net/