Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Mercantile Capital Corp. Closes Seven Commercial Loans to Fund Projects Valued at More Than $19.1 Million in January


ORLANDO, FL --- Mercantile Capital Corporation, which provides U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities, reported it closed commercial loans in seven states in January to finance projects valued at $19,173,411.

Chris Hurn (top right photo), Chief Executive Officer of Mercantile Capital Corporation, said the firm financed projects in Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee, California, Louisiana, Texas and Illinois in January.

Geof Longstaff (lower left photo), Chairman of Mercantile, said the firm’s largest single loan in January helped finance the $5.1 million acquisition of a Comfort Inn & Suites in Midland, Texas.

For more information about this press release, contact:

Chris Hurn, Chief Executive Officer, Mercantile Capital Corporation, ChrisHurn@MercantileCC.com, 407-786-5040
Geof Longstaff, Chairman, Mercantile Capital Corporation 407-786-5040 Glongstaff@Mercantilecc.com
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142

Paul King Appointed Director of Business Development for McCarthy San Diego Division


SAN DIEGO, CA – McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. (http://www.mccarthy.com/), one of the nation's leading general contractors, has appointed Paul King (top right photo) as director of business development for its San Diego operations, announced Robert Betz, executive vice president – southern California division.

 King brings to McCarthy eight years of experience in the construction-marketing arena. 

In his new role with McCarthy, he is responsible for identifying and pursuing new business opportunities within all San Diego vertical market sectors, specifically healthcare, science and technology, education, commercial and parking structures.
 
He will participate in industry organizations and events, as well as oversee the division’s marketing, public relations, and community outreach efforts.

 Most recently, King served three-and-a-half years as director of business development and marketing for Suffolk-Roel in Irvine and San Diego, where he was responsible for business development within the education market and oversaw all the company’s business development managers and its director of marketing.  While there he helped the company break into southern California’s education market, generating more than $300 million in sales.

 Prior to that, King was business development manager for HBI Construction in Newport Beach.  He also served three years as business development manager for Messer Construction in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was instrumental in landing the $200 million Greenfield Hospital project in West Chester and the $70 million Care Source office tower project in downtown Dayton.

 King holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Cincinnati, where he majored in marketing and minored in international business. 

 More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.

Contact:

Bonnie Kutch
Director
619-299-1010
Kutch & Company
3904 Groton Street | Suite 203 | San Diego, California 92110



HFF closes sale of value-add multi-housing community in Aurora, IL

                   



CHICAGO, IL – HFF announced today that it has closed the sale of Aspen Place Apartments (above centered photo), a 416-unit, value-add multi-housing community in Aurora, Illinois.

HFF marketed the property on behalf of Kensington Realty Advisors.  A unit of Friedkin Realty Group (San Francisco) purchased the asset on a free and clear basis.

Aspen Place Apartments is located at 826 Terrace Lake Drive near the intersection of Eola Road and Ogden Avenue (US Route 34) in the western Chicago suburb of Aurora.

The 96 percent leased property has 50 residential buildings with one- and two-bedroom apartment homes and townhome units averaging 1,061 square feet each. 

All homes have washer/dryers as well as fireplaces.  Townhomes all feature direct access garages.  Community amenities include an outdoor heated pool, business center, fitness center and clubhouse. 

The HFF investment sales team representing Kensington Realty Advisors was led by managing director Marty O’Connell (top right photo), executive managing director Matthew Lawton (middle left photo) and managing director Sean Fogarty (lower right photo). 

Kensington Realty Advisors is a real estate investment management firm based in Chicago.  The company invests capital on a private direct basis on behalf of major pension funds, insurance companies and high net worth individuals. The firm specializes in in apartment, industrial, student and senior housing investments.

Friedkin Realty Group is a full-service real estate firm that provides in-house investment management, construction management and asset management services throughout the United States.


Contacts:   

  MARTY O’CONNELL                            
  HFF Managing Director                           
  (312) 528-3650                                          

 KRISTEN M. MURPHY
 HFF Associate Director, Marketing
 (713) 852-3500

HFF named to market for sale Capitol Towers in Sacramento, CA

                                        

IRVINE, CA – HFF announced today that it has been named to market for sale Capitol Towers (top left photo), a 409-unit high-rise multi-housing community in Sacramento, California.

HFF is marketing the property on behalf of the seller, Bond Companies, for an undisclosed amount free and clear of debt. 

Capitol Towers is located at 1500 7th Street in downtown Sacramento three blocks from the Capitol Mall and offers views of the state capitol from select units. 
 
The property was renovated between 2003 and 2006 and has one-, two- and three-bedroom units averaging 701 square feet each. 

The property features six ground floor retail units to provide additional income and resident amenities.

 Community amenities include a clubhouse, fitness center, social lounge, business center, Olympic-size pool and sauna.  Capitol Towers is approximately 95 percent leased.  Additional upside exists as 8.6 acres of the site include multi-housing development entitlements for up to 1,290 units.

The HFF investment sales team representing Bond Companies is led by co-head of HFF’s national multi-housing group Sean Deasy (top right photo) and managing director Mark Petersen along with executive managing director Matthew Lawton (lower left photo).

Bond Companies is a national real estate company with offices in Los Angeles and Chicago that provides comprehensive real estate and investment services that improve communities.

Contacts:     
         
SEAN P. DEASY                                   KRISTEN M. MURPHY
Ca. Lic. #00914616                               HFF Associate Director, Marketing
HFF Multi-housing Group Co-Head      (713) 852-3500
(949) 798-4120                                       krmurphy@hfflp.com
sdeasy@hfflp.com                                      

Faris Lee Investments Breaks Sales Records with Two Inland Empire Retail Property Transactions totaling $5.527 Million



IRVINE, CA, Feb. 7, 2012 – Faris Lee Investments, the nation’s largest retail-specialized investment advisory firm, has completed a total of $5,527,000 in two record-breaking retail property transactions in the Inland Empire market of Southern California.

The first transaction was a $3,292,000 sale of a single-tenant property occupied by Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour Restaurant (top left photo) located at 10742 Foothill Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga.


The second transaction was a $2,235,000 sale of a property occupied by Big 5 Sporting Goods (top right photo)located at 16963 Sierra Lakes Parkway in Fontana.

For the Farrell’s transaction, Jeff Conover and Rich Walter (middle left photo) represented the seller, Bengard-Foothill LLC from Orange County, Calif. The buyer, 4021 LLC from San Diego, Calif., was represented by Acadia Corporation.

 The sale closed at a 7.5 percent cap rate which is the lowest cap rate for a sit down restaurant (non-fast food) in the Inland Empire over the past two years. The property, which totals 7,841 square feet and is situated on 1.25 acres, just recently opened its doors after an extensive building renovation that completed in late 2011.

“Farrell’s has been a top performer since expanding in the Southern California market. We knew that there was a great opportunity to focus on our proprietary database of buyers and brokers, especially sourcing private investors and 1031 exchange buyers who would appreciate this quality single tenant transaction,” said Walter. “This investment offered the buyer a well-performing restaurant chain with a long-term lease and no landlord responsibilities.”

 As the nation’s largest retail investment firm, Faris Lee has been able to capitalize on and engineer demand within the single tenant market. This transaction is indicative of how the firm applies its unique street-level marketing expertise to yield the best buyers and, in turn, create a record-breaking transaction for the Inland Empire market.

 “This property sale was done in a pre-sale environment where it was marketed and garnered offers prior to being completed,” said Conover.

Farrell’s is an old-fashion themed ice cream parlor and full restaurant.

The property fronts the 611,000 square foot Terra Vista Town Center (lower left photo) that is anchored by Target, Ross, Old Navy, Michael’s, Bally’s Total Fitness, and Terra Vista 6 Cinemas.

Farrell’s has excellent street visibility along Foothill Boulevard, a major east/west thoroughfare also known as Route 66 with traffic counts of more than 68,000 vehicles per day at the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Haven Avenue.

 “The Big 5 transaction is another example of how much demand exists in the single tenant market,” added Conover.

For the Big 5 Sporting Goods transaction, Jeff Conover and Matt Mousavi (middle right photo)  of Faris Lee represented the seller, PRP Investors Fontana, LLC who developed the property. The all-cash buyer, Kalmuk Trust from Los Angeles was represented by Opics Properties. The property generated ten offers.

“This sale closed at a 6.47 percent cap rate which is the lowest cap rate for a Big 5 sold in the United States over the past 12 months,” said Mousavi. “It is well located within a huge retail-rich area, providing a great cross-over synergy with the other nearby stores.”

The property totals 10,000 square feet and is situated on 1.3 acres of land. The property is located within the Shops at Sierra Lakes and is just north of Interstate 210 at the southeast corner of Sierra Avenue and Sierra Lakes Parkway.

This location offers superb synergy with the 880,000 square foot Sierra Lakes Commercial Corridor, which includes Lowe’s, Costco, Petco, Office Max, Ralphs, Home Depot, Dollar Tree, Sierra San Antonio Medical Center and LA Fitness.

There are over 270,600 people within a 5-mile radius, with an average household income above $72,000.

For more information, please visit www.farislee.com.

Contact:              
Darcie Giacchetto,
949.278.6224
Spaulding Thompson & Associates
 For Faris Lee Investments

Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II Acquires Spokane Integrated Medical Plaza for $33 Million


 SPOKANE, WA (Feb. 7, 2012) – Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II (formerly known as Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II) announced today that it has acquired Spokane Integrated Medical Plaza (top left photo) for a purchase price of $32.5 million. 

The acquisition expands the size of the company’s portfolio to 71 buildings valued at approximately $663 million, based on purchase price.  The company has completed acquisitions totaling more than $224.1 million since the start of 2012.

Located at 601 W. Fifth Ave. in the midst of a flourishing medical corridor, Spokane Integrated Medical Plaza is adjacent to the 388-bed Deaconess Medical Center (middle left photo) one block east of Shriner’s Hospital for Children (lower right photo), and one-half-mile west of the 644-bed Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children’s Hospital (lower left photo) and St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute. 

 “Spokane Integrated Medical Plaza is strategically located between two hospitals and in the midst of a thriving medical community,” said Danny Prosky (top right photo), president and chief operating officer. 

“It is nearly fully leased to two creditworthy tenants, generates excellent net operating income, and is in superb physical condition.  We couldn’t be more pleased to add this exceptional facility to Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II’s nationwide portfolio of clinical healthcare real estate.”

 Built in 2004, the five-story medical office building totals approximately 96,000 square feet and is 97 percent leased to two tenants, a wholly owned subsidiary of Community Health Systems, one of the largest publicly-traded hospital companies in the United States, and Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists, the largest orthopaedic group in the Inland Northwest.

 A variety of medical services are provided at Spokane Integrated Medical Plaza, including: diagnostic and physical therapy, sports medicine, spinal surgery, orthopaedic surgery and diagnostics, as well as general surgery.  


Spokane Integrated Medical Plaza was acquired from Medistar Spokane Medical Center LLC, an unaffiliated third party represented by Philip J. Camp and Jay Miele of Hammond Hanlon Camp LLC.

 Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II financed the acquisition through the assumption of $14.5 million of existing debt, $19 million in borrowings under its line of credit with KeyBank, as well as net cash proceeds received from its offering.

As of Sept. 30, 2011, the company's property portfolio was 97 percent leased with a weighted average remaining lease term of approximately ten years and leverage of 25.6 percent.

 Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II has sold approximately 49,142,228 shares of its common stock, excluding the shares issued under its distribution reinvestment plan, for approximately $490,386,000 through its initial public offering, as of Jan. 27, 2012.

 For more information regarding Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, please visit www.HealthcareREIT2.com.

 Contact:

Damon Elder
Senior VP, Marketing & Communications
American Healthcare Investors
4000 MacArthur Boulevard
West Tower, Suite 200
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 270-9207 direct
(714) 356-1460 cell


Carter-Folkston Trust Brokers $4.9 Million Land Sale in Folkston, GA



ORLANDO, FL -- Daryl M. Carter, as Managing Member of Carter-Folkston Trust, recently sold a 2,400± acre tract along the St. Mary's River in Folkston, Georgia for $4,932,400 cash. 

The Buyer took title under two separate entities:  McB TL II, LLC (as to 2,185± acres) and McB Carter, LLC (as to 215± acres).

The property is located approximately 40 miles north of Jacksonville, FL on the north and south sides of State Highway 40 in Charlton County, Georgia.  It has 4± miles of frontage on St. Mary's River which is the Georgia / Florida border.

Daryl M. Carter with Maury L. Carter & Associates, Inc. represented the Seller and Christopher F. Mercer with Coastal Real Estate Services, LLC in Savanna, GA represented the Buyer.


Contact:

Joan M. Fisher
Maury L. Carter & Associates, Inc.
3333 S. Orange Avenue, Suite 200
Orlando, FL 32806-8500
(407) 581-6207 direct
(407) 422-3144 office
(407) 422-3155 fax