Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Faris Lee Investments Completes $1.23 Million Sale of Jiffy Lube Property in Phoenix Area




 IRVINE, CA – Faris Lee Investments, the nation’s largest retail-specialized investment advisory firm, has completed the $1.23 million sale of a single-tenant property occupied by Jiffy Lube (top left photo).

 Built in 2005, the 1,947 square foot property is located at 115 E. Van Buren Street in Avondale (Phoenix area).

Jeff Conover (middle right photo), senior managing director with Faris Lee Investments represented the seller, Los Angeles-based Camden Holdings. The buyer who paid all-cash was Graham Real Estate Two LLC from Tacoma, WA and was represented by Steve Brown of Lake Chelan Real Estate.
 
“Faris Lee’s marketing strategy for this NNN leased property was to obtain mass market exposure across the nation through our proprietary database of buyers and sellers,” said Conover. “We identified an all-cash investor from out of state and made the sale at 99 percent of list price. The transaction also sold at a high price per square foot of $632.”

Jiffy Lube is the largest system of franchised and company operated service centers in the fast-lube industry, servicing approximately 27.5 million customers each year, with more than 2,000 service centers in North America. The tenant (Phoenix Lubrication Services, Inc.) and its affiliates, own/operate 50 plus Jiffy Lube facilities throughout the Phoenix metro area.

“The property has more than ten years remaining on its long-term lease and with rental increases every five years, which helps the owner hedge against inflation,” said Conover. “Single tenant properties in densely populated areas such as this offer an investor a passive return as they can own a tangible asset and feel they are taking on less risk than other more variable investments such as stocks and bonds.”

The property is located at the very busy intersection/southeast corner of Van Buren St. and Central Ave. (over 44,000 vehicles per day). Jiffy Lube is strategically located adjacent to a Circle K and a car wash and has unobstructed street visibility on Van Buren Street.

A 99¢ Only-anchored shopping center and Wells Fargo Bank are located directly across the street. The densely populated market area has more than 72,000 people plus another 44,000 daytime/employee population within three miles of the Jiffy Lube property.

Conover also noted that Faris Lee Investments has recently put two more oil change properties on the market in Arizona including Valvoline Oil Change located in Lake Havasu for $1,454,000 and Jiffy Lube in Avondale (Phoenix) for $1,300,000.

 Contact:             

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


Manhattan Apartment Sales Prices Up Slightly from a Year Ago



New York, NY -- According to the second quarter Manhattan residential market report released today by Brown Harris Stevens, the average Manhattan apartment sale price of $1,451,155 was up just 1% from same period in 2011.

The number of closings rose 5% when compared to the second quarter of 2011.

The average price for cooperatives sold during the second quarter of 2012 was slightly below the same period last year, at $1,197,949. The average condominium price was $1,811,957, up 8% from a year ago with all size categories seeing an increase in their average price.

“Continued steady growth in activity and stability in both the average and median prices achieved was bolstered by record low interest rates and limited inventory this quarter,” said Hall. F. Willkie (top right photo), president of Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales.

 “Employment in New York City continues to best most predictions with over 70,000 private-sector jobs created through May; this bodes well for the City’s economy in the coming months.”

Report highlights include:

·         The average condominium price increased  8% over the second of 2011 due in large part to a $70 million deal at 50 Central Park South.

·         The average price for 3 bedroom and larger cooperatives was up 15% over the same period last year helped by 2 sales over $40 million.

·         Average time on the market for apartments sold this quarter was down 5% from the second quarter of 2011.

·         On the East Side, the number of sales of 3 bedroom and larger apartments for over $10 million was more than double the second quarter of 2011.

·         While the East Side saw price decreases for all size apartments except 3 bedroom and larger, the West Side experienced the opposite.

·         In the Downtown market, the average condo price per square foot rose 9% over the past year to $1,280.

  For a complete copy of the report, please contact:

 Jennifer Little
Rubenstein Public Relations
212.843.8364

$5 million refinancing of Meridian Crossing arranged by HFF in Carmel, IN



INDIANAPOLIS, IN – HFF announced it has arranged a $5 million refinancing for Meridian Crossing (top left photo), a 155,003-square-foot office building in Carmel, Indiana.

HFF worked on behalf of the property’s manager and owner, REI Real Estate Services, LLC, to secure the 10-year, fixed-rate loan through Aviva Investors for Aviva Life and Annuity Company, an HFF exclusive correspondent relationship.

Originally completed in 1982, the six-story building has undergone $4.3 million in capital improvements over the past several years, most recently in 2011.  The property is situated in central Carmel with close proximity to Indiana University Health North Hospital.

The HFF team representing REI Real Estate Services, LLC was led by managing director Jon Everson (middle right photo). 

“REI’s commitment to the property via capital improvements, along with the property’s location in the heart of Carmel and proximity to Indiana University Health North Hospital made this an attractive investment for Aviva,” said Everson.

REI Real Estate Services, LLC is a real estate services company based in Indianapolis, Indiana.  The company owns approximately one million square feet of office space and operates more than 2.8 million square feet in the Indianapolis area alone and has decades of experience working on major development and construction projects across the nation. 

 Contact:

JON EVERSON                                                 
HFF Managing Directo
(317) 630-3191                                                  

MYRA MOREN
HFF Director, Marketing
(713) 852-3500
 mmoren@hfflp.com                                                                                         

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Fletcher Named Commercial Association of Brokers’ 2011 Industrial Broker of the Year



 PORTLAND, OR — Newmark Grubb Knight Frank  announced that Bradford H. Fletcher (top right photo), SIOR, executive managing director, was named the 2011 Industrial Broker of the Year by the Commercial Association of Brokers (formerly Commercial Association of Realtors) for Oregon and Southwest Washington.

This is the eighth time Fletcher has been recognized as the region’s leading industrial broker. 

 Broker of the Year honors are given to real estate professionals who stand out among their peers, recognizing the highest levels of production in the Portland Metropolitan area. In 2011, Fletcher representing his clients in the lease and sale of nearly 745,000 square feet of property valued at over $36.3 million.

 Included in Fletcher’s impressive resume of transactions were five leases for Nike totaling 351,616 square feet, which represented the market’s largest flex deals.

In addition, he continued his long-standing tenant representation of Intel and IBM, two of Oregon’s most prominent employers, and handled sale and lease transactions for a number of other corporate clients. The significant square footage transacted by Fletcher over a 12-month period resulted in a record drop in vacancy for the Sunset Corridor submarket.

For three decades, Fletcher has been one of the market’s top producers, concentrating on the sale and leasing of industrial, office, mixed use, investment real estate and land for corporate, public, institutional and individual clients worldwide.

A specialist in the high technology sector, he is a member of the Society of Industrial Office Realtors, the Urban Land Institute and a graduate of Dartmouth College.

 Press Contact:

Monica Sparreo
312.698.6709





 





  

Atlanta’s Commercial Real Estate Show Looks at the Success of Student Housing



 ATLANTA, GA (July 3, 2012) – While it may be one of the more low-profile sectors of the commercial real estate market, student housing has quietly been one of the industry’s steady success stories.

 That’s the opinion of host Michael Bull and his guests on the most recent episode of “America’s Commercial Real Estate Show,” which took an enlightening look at the student-housing sector.


 “I think [student housing is] performing very well,” said Jim Arbury (top right photo), president of student housing for the National Multi-Housing Council. “Really, it’s a town-by-town unique experience, but generally speaking, it’s doing very well.”

 Demographics appear to favor the student-housing industry, Arbury added. “We did a study a year ago that showed freshman applications were up 20 percent in spite of the recession,” he said.

Furthermore, “there’s plenty of financing out there for both new development and refinancing of existing properties,” Arbury said.

 One “potential negative on the horizon” is that student-body populations could decrease if more students become leery of assuming a hefty amount of debt to go to school and then graduating into a poor job market, Arbury added.

 Andy Feinour (top left photo), a senior vice president with Carter, echoed Arbury’s observations, noting, “From a national perspective, all the metrics are up. Vacancies are down. Rent growth is up. Net operating income is up.”

“There’s no question that student housing is one of the darlings of the real estate business right now,” Feinour added.

 Dennis Gulseth (middle right photo) a project manager for the BOKA Powell design firm, said modern student housing features many more individual bedrooms and bathrooms than in decades before.

Also, “residence halls we see today in student housing are more like hotels or country clubs … They have spacious hallways, are well-lit. They’ve got all these specialty rooms, lounges, game rooms. It’s quite a different experience from what it used to be,” he said.

 Despite the high level people of interested in providing both equity and debt financing, it can be still be difficult to get student housing deals done, Feinour noted. “Underwriting standards are very high,” he said.

 Other topics discussed included amenities, cap rates and the compressed leasing timeframe for off-campus, privately operated facilities. The entire episode on student housing is available for download at www.CREshow.com.

 The next “America’s Commercial Real Estate Show” will be available July 5 and will feature interviews with the CEOs of leading retail REITs.

Contact:

Stephen Ursery
Wilbert News Strategies
Office: (404) 965-5026
Cell: (404) 405-2354




George Smith Partners Arranges $15.2 Million in Debt and Equity Financing for a 107-Unit Multifamily High-Rise in Denver, CO




DENVER, CO– Commercial real estate investment banking firm George Smith Partners (GSP) has successfully arranged financing on behalf of its client, Bruckal Properties Inc., for the acquisition and rehabilitation of Wellshire Arms Apartments (top left photo), a 107-unit, upscale multifamily high-rise in Denver, CO, according to Vice President Malcolm Davies (lower right photo).

Davies was assisted by Vice President Michelle Lee in the transaction, which included $10.9 million in debt and $4.3 million in equity.

According to Davies, the financing George Smith Partners secured for its client funded not only the acquisition, but also extensive renovations, which Bruckal Properties will undertake in order to elevate the property to Class A status.

 The senior, non-recourse loan closed at one-month LIBOR +575 with a 6.5 percent floor for 36 months, and included an amortization of 25 years with a two year IO and a 74 percent loan-to-close ratio.

Wellshire Arms Apartments is located at 2499 South Colorado Boulevard in Denver, CO. The 12-story, high-rise apartment complex contains 107 units featuring one-, two- and three- bedroom floor plans and ranging from 800 to 1,500 square feet.

Additional information about George Smith Partners is available at, www.GSPartners.com

For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact: 

Corynne Randel/ Judith Brower
Brower, Miller & Cole
(949) 955-7940