Sunday, December 2, 2012

MetLife’s MetWest International Named Best Mixed-Use Project by NAIOP Tampa Bay; Taylor & Mathis Named Best Developer



MetWest International, Tampa, FL
 TAMPA, FL – MetWest International, MetLife’s 32-acre, mixed-use development, garnered two Best of the Best Awards this month from the Tampa Bay Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. 

 The development was named Best Mixed-Use Project while Taylor & Mathis earned Best Developer honors for a second time for their role in the project’s development. Taylor & Mathis handles office leasing, marketing and management responsibilities on behalf of MetLife.

Chuck Davis
"A key part of MetLife’s real estate investment strategy includes acquiring, retaining and maximizing the value of high-quality real estate assets in top-tier domestic and international markets, and MetWest International is a prime example,” said Chuck Davis, regional director of MetLife’s Tampa real estate investment office.

 “It has been extremely satisfying to see our plans for one of MetLife’s flagship developments come to fruition. MetLife has been active in the Tampa Bay real estate market for over 50 years and greatly values this recognition by our peers at NAIOP Tampa Bay.” 

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

Angela Odell,
Taylor & Mathis,
(813) 875-7950

Drew Guthrie,
MetLife,
 (212) 578-2826


HFF arranges financing for newly constructed northern New Jersey office property




Summit Executive Center, Florham, NJ
FLORHAM PARK, NJ – HFF announced it has arranged financing for Summit Executive Center, a 62,188-square-foot, newly constructed office property in Summit, New Jersey.

                HFF worked on behalf of MRY Associates and Normandy Real Estate Partners to secure the 10-year, fixed-rate permanent loan through Cantor Commercial Real Estate (CCRE).  Loan proceeds are taking out an existing construction loan that HFF had previously arranged.

Jon Mikula
Completed in 2012, Summit Executive Center is a LEED Certified office building with a two-level, 196-space parking garage.  The property is fully leased to tenants including one of the world’s leading consulting companies, Pennant Capital Management, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Callan Associates and Amlin.

 Located at 1 Deforest Avenue, the property is close to Interstate 78, Route 4 and The Summit Train Station in downtown Summit, about 22 miles west of Manhattan.

                The HFF team representing MRY Associates and Normandy Real Estate Partners was led by senior managing director Jon Mikula.

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

Kristen M. Murphy
Associate Director
HFF | 9 Greenway Plaza, Suite 700 | Houston, TX 77046
tel 713.852.3500 | cel 617.543.4873 | fax 713.527.8725 | www.hfflp.com


HFF secures construction financing and joint venture equity for Bell Del Ray in Alexandria, VA


  
Bell Dell Ray rendering, Alexandria, VA
 WASHINGTON, D.C. – HFF announced it has secured construction financing  and joint venture equity for the development of Bell Del Ray, a 276-unit, Class A multi-housing community in Alexandria, Virginia. 

HFF was engaged by a joint venture between Woodfield Investments, Arsenal Real Estate Partners, LLC and The Davis Companies to secure equity and debt capitalization for development of the project.  The debt for the project was secured through Sovereign Bank while the equity was provided by Bell Partners Fund IV. 
David Nachison

In addition to the 276 apartment homes that average 843 square feet each, the five-story community will include 3,513 square feet of ground-floor retail.  Community amenities will include a courtyard swimming pool, outdoor fireplaces, state-of-the-art fitness facility, club room and gaming/theatre room.

 Bell Del Ray will be located at the south end of Alexandria’s 167-acre master-planned Potomac Yard, a mixed-use community that when complete will include more than four million square feet of office space, 1.1 million square feet of retail and dining, 3,200 residential units, a 300-room hotel and more than 60 acres of park land. 

Alan Davis
The HFF team representing the borrower was led by senior managing directors Dave Nachison, Alan Davis and Sue Carras, and managing directors Walter Coker and Brian Crivella.

“Located within the already successful Potomac Yard project, Bell Del Ray will enjoy unique advantages including its location within easy walking distance of both the Braddock Road Metrorail station and the very desirable Del Ray neighborhood, which provides access to an appealing assortment of independently-owned specialty food shops, art galleries, cutting edge restaurants and coffee houses,” said Nachison. 

Sue Carras
“Location and market-proven sponsorship are vitally important in capitalizing development sites today and the market clearly responded to the strong examples of these elements at Bell Del Ray,” added Coker.

Woodfield Investments is a premier developer of Class A multifamily communities in the Mid-Atlantic region.  The partners at Woodfield Investments share more than 140 years of experience and have developed 38 apartment communities representing 11,506 units at a value exceeding $1.4 billion.

Arsenal Real Estate Partners, LLC, is a private real estate investment management firm serving a variety of clients that include pension plans, foundations, endowments and high net worth individuals.

Walter Coker
 The Arsenal partners have a successful track record of investing as fiduciaries in all property types, including multifamily, office, retail, industrial, self-storage facilities, and land.  

Arsenal invests in cash-flowing core properties as well as in ventures with leading operating partners to develop, redevelop and reposition real estate in major markets in the United States.  The Arsenal partners have invested in 78 residential projects across 17 states and in the District of Columbia.  These investments represent more than $2.5 billion in gross investment.

Brian Crivella
Founded in 1976, The Davis Companies (www.thedaviscompanies.com) has earned a reputation for integrity, creativity and excellence, making it one of the premier real estate investment, development and management firms in the Northeast U.S.  

Through the years and across multiple real estate cycles, the company has applied a disciplined and value-oriented investment approach.    Today, The Davis Companies, together with its affiliates, owns and manages a real estate portfolio of approximately seven million square feet.

Bell Partners Inc. is a private real estate company focused primarily on the acquisition and management of high-quality apartment communities located in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest United States.  

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

Kristen M. Murphy
Associate Director
HFF | 9 Greenway Plaza, Suite 700 | Houston, TX 77046
tel 713.852.3500 | cel 617.543.4873 | fax 713.527.8725 | www.hfflp.com


HFF secures $12.5 million financing for eight-property self storage portfolio in Ohio



LOS ANGELES, CA – HFF announced it has secured $12.5 million in acquisition financing for an eight-property self storage portfolio totaling 3,432 units in various Ohio locations.

                HFF worked on behalf of World Class Capital Group, LLC to arrange the 10-year, fixed-rate loan through Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.  The securitized loan was used to acquire the properties and will be serviced by HFF.

                The portfolio is comprised of five properties in the Dayton area, two in the Youngstown area and one in Cincinnati.  The properties, which were owned and operated by a national self-storage REIT, total 441,914 square feet.


 The HFF team representing the borrower was led by director Christopher Vittetoe and real estate analyst Benjamin Gallant.

World Class Capital Group, LLC is a leading private investment firm based in Austin, Texas.  The firm pursues opportunities in all U.S. markets and has a distinct focus on alternative investments, primarily real estate and private equity.

Contact:

Kristen M. Murphy
Associate Director
HFF | 9 Greenway Plaza, Suite 700 | Houston, TX 77046
tel 713.852.3500 | cel 617.543.4873 | fax 713.527.8725 | www.hfflp.com

Lincoln Property Co. Brokers $7.35 Million Sale of Suburban Atlanta Business Center



Parker Court Business Center, Stone Mountain, GA
 ATLANTA, GA– Lincoln Property Company Southeast has brokered the $7.35 million sale of Parker Court Business Center, a nine-building industrial park in Stone Mountain, Ga., that contains 243,096 square feet of flex and warehouse space.

MR Parker Center LP, a related entity to Janus Realty Advisors, purchased the property. Denton Shamburger, vice president for Lincoln Property Company Southeast, represented the seller, PEM Parker Court LLC, and was the only broker involved in the transaction. The buyer has retained Lincoln Property Company, which had served as a court-appointed receiver for the property before the sale, to manage and lease the industrial park.

Denton Shamburger
Built in the 1980s, Parker Court is located just off Highway78 near the entrance to Stone Mountain Park and serves as a convenient location for small and mid-size companies drawing employees from the eastside neighborhoods of Metro Atlanta. The park was 52 percent leased at the time of sale, and new ownership is intent on investing into the park to accelerate lease up of the asset.

“This is a perfect location and environment for smaller industrial tenants needing proximity to I-285 and the eastside suburban markets of Metro Atlanta,” Shamburger said. “With a renewed focus on leasing and an aggressive rate structure, Parker Court is an excellent value for any tenant ranging in size from 1,500 to 25,000 square feet.”

Tony Bartlett
As a court-appointed receiver for the property, Lincoln was able to bring together the right team to execute a clean up of the existing rent roll and physical property, and to maximize value through a broadly marketed sales process.

“Our teams have become particularly adept at working as a receiver to bring a full complement of services – management, leasing, construction management and investment sales – to find solutions for challenged real estate,” said Tony Bartlett, senior vice president for Lincoln Property Company Southeast. “We really enjoy the process of bringing stability to an asset while executing creative strategies to find value for our clients. This is a great purchase for the buyer, and we are excited about our continuing role in this property.”

Contact:

 Stephen Ursery
The Wilbert Group
Office: (404) 965-5026
Cell: (404) 405-2354



Due Diligence on Environment is Key to Buying Profitable Commercial Real Estate


  
Michael Bull
 ATLANTA (Nov. 27, 2012) – When it’s time to purchase commercial real estate properties, not performing due diligence on a site’s potential environmental issues can be a costly mistake for a buyer.

That was one of the many important points outlined by a panel of environmental-liability experts in the most recent episode of Michael Bull’s “Commercial Real Estate Show.”

The episode provided an enlightening look at the many environmental issues confronting buyers and sellers of commercial real estate, including Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessments, risk mitigation and vapor intrusion.

Robert Brawner
When considering purchasing a property, a potential buyer should always perform due diligence on potential environmental issues and give itself plenty of time to do so, the experts agreed. Otherwise, a property owner could eventually find itself saddled with exorbitant cleanup costs.

“There are horror stories out there,” said Robert Brawner, an environmental engineer and owner of One Consulting Group. “There’s a small Georgia town where a large industrial manufacturer bought a plant, didn’t do enough due diligence to find a problem and wound up with a $30 million environmental remediation issue.”

Ken Burrell
Lenders often require buyers to conduct a Phase 1 test to pinpoint any environmental-liability issues associated with a real estate asset; conducting the test also can provide Superfund liability protection.

A typical Phase 1 test takes about three weeks to complete and would cost the owner of a 2,000-square-foot commercial building about $1,500, Brawner said.

The discovery of an environmental issue doesn’t mean a buyer should automatically walk away from a sale, said John Spinrad, an environmental attorney with Arnall Golden Gregory. “There are very few problems that can’t be solved if you allow enough time for due diligence because there are enough tools that we can use for dealing with risk – whether it’s insurance or a brownfields program,” Spinrad said.

John Spinrad
An emerging environmental issue is “vapor intrusion,” said Ken Burrell, a managing partner of Synapse Services, a provider of environmental insurance. “Vapor intrusion” is the migration of volatile organic compounds from subsurface groundwater into the interior of a commercial building, where people can inhale them.

The entire episode on environmental issues and strategies is available for download at www.CREshow.com.

For More Information, Contact

Stephen Ursery
Wilbert News Strategies
404.965.5026