Thursday, May 8, 2014

Post Properties Increases Quarterly Dividend Payout to Common Shareholders by 11 Percent


Dave Stockert
ATLANTA, GA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Post Properties, Inc. (NYSE: PPS), an Atlanta-based real estate investment trust, today announced that at a meeting earlier today, the Board declared quarterly dividends on its common stock of $0.40 per share for the second quarter of 2014.

 The dividend is payable on July 15, 2014, to all common shareholders of record as of June 30, 2014.

Said Dave Stockert, CEO and President, “We are pleased to raise the dividend to common shareholders, to reflect the strength of our business, and consistent with our capital allocation plans. With today’s announcement, we expect our annualized rate of common dividends to increase to $1.60 per share.”

Post also announced regular quarterly dividends for its 8.5 percent Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock of $1.0625 per share for the second quarter of 2014. The dividend is payable on June 30, 2014, to all Series A preferred shareholders of record as of June 16, 2014.

The Company also announced that at its Annual Meeting held earlier today, shareholders elected the Board’s eight nominees, voted to approve, on an advisory basis, executive compensation, voted to adopt the 2015 non-qualified employee stock purchase plan, and ratified the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accountants for 2014.

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

Post Properties, Inc.
Chris Papa, 404-846-5000


Thomas D. Wood and Company Secures $14,250,000 for University Centre West III and Shoppes of Palm Bay


Patrick Harrington
Miami, FL – May 8, 2014 –Thomas D. Wood and Company, a Strategic Alliance Mortgage LLC member, secured financing in the amount of $14,250,000 for University Centre West III and Shoppes of Palm Bay.

Patrick Harrington, Vice President, secured $10,750,000 to refinance University Centre West III, a mixed-use development containing Class A office space over retail.

 Challenges included the fact that the leases for all three major tenants (representing 42% of the property) expire in the near term, and the borrower also wanted to remove a large rear parking area from the collateral.  

The permanent fixed-rate loan was secured through CMBS lender, LoanCore Capital, featuring a 10/25 structure at 5.42% interest and representing a 70% LTV.  

The 83,936 square-foot mixed-use development was built in 2001 and is located at 2702-2788 University Drive, Coral Springs, Florida.

Thomas Wood Jr.
Thomas Wood, Jr., President, secured $3,500,000 for the refinance of Shoppes of Palm Bay, a Publix-anchored retail center, through Thomas D. Wood and Company’s correspondent relationship with Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society. 

He combined efforts with Strategic Alliance Mortgage LLC member Pinnacle Financial Group.  Since Publix’s lease expires during the loan term, Wood had to find a lender that would underwrite around this issue. 

Due to the favorable historical operating income and the centers favorable location, the lender was able to provide a permanent fixed-rate loan with a term of 10 years, based on a 25-year amortization and an interest rate of 4.45%. 

The 76,886 square-foot shopping center contains major tenants Publix and Tire Kingdom, and is located at 1150 Malabar Road SE, Palm Bay, Florida.
  
For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Jessica Kinnee


Sale of DoubleTree Dallas – Campbell Centre closed by HFF


DoubleTree Dallas -- Campbell Centre, 8250 North Central Expressway, Dallas, TX

Bill Stadler
DALLAS, TX – HFF announced today that it has closed the sale of the DoubleTree Dallas – Campbell Centre, a 300-room, full-service hotel in Dallas, Texas.

                HFF represented the seller, a joint venture between GTIS Partners and Aimbridge Hospitality, in the sale of the property to Black Forest Ventures. 

                The DoubleTree Dallas – Campbell Centre is located at 8250 North Central Expressway within the Campbell Centre mixed-use development six miles north of the Dallas central business district. 

The property is proximate to numerous demand drivers including the NorthPark Center Mall, the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and Southern Methodist University.

 Originally built in 1980 and renovated in 2008, the property features 15,000 square feet of meeting space, a full-service restaurant, lobby lounge, fitness center, business center, gift shop and complimentary local shuttle. 

                The HFF investment sales team representing the seller was led by senior managing director Bill Stadler and managing director John Bourret.

John Bourret
                GTIS Partners is a global real estate investment firm headquartered in New York with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and São Paulo, Brazil.  Founded in 2005, GTIS Partners has 64 employees and currently manages approximately $2.4 billion of committed equity.  

The firm pursues opportunistic real estate investments through direct equity investment and non-traditional lending activities.  

To date, the firm has committed capital to residential, retail, industrial, office, hotel and mixed-use projects in the U.S. and Brazil, and is among the largest real estate private equity companies in Brazil.

Aimbridge Hospitality is one of the nation’s leading independent hotel investment and management firms, currently operating over 185 Hotels (25,000+ rooms) across 29 states and the Caribbean totaling more than $650 million in annual revenue.

Black Forest Ventures is a privately held asset management firm specializing in commercial real estate, hospitality, aviation and technology investments.

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

Kristen M. Murphy
Associate Director
HFF | One Post Office Square, Suite 3500 | Boston, MA 02109
tel (main) 617-338-0990 | (direct) 617-848-1572 | cel 617.543.4873 | www.hfflp.com

$1.125 billion sale of Vertex Pharmaceuticals headquarters in Boston by HFF

  
John Fowler

 BOSTON, MA - HFF announced it has closed the sale of the Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated global headquarters, a two-building, state-of-the-art property on Boston’s Fan Pier.

                HFF marketed the asset exclusively on behalf of the seller, The Fallon Company and an institutional investor advised by Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC.  Senior Housing Property Trust (“SNH”) purchased the property for $1.125 billion.        

Completed in December 2013, the Vertex Pharmaceuticals headquarters consists of two 16-story towers with office/research space, ground floor retail space and a 740-space garage. 

Vertex has leased the office/lab component of the property in its entirety through 2029.  The property is located at 50 Northern Avenue and 11 Fan Pier Boulevard directly on the waterfront on Boston’s Fan Pier in the growing Seaport District of Boston. 

Coleman Benedict
                The HFF investment sales team representing the seller was led by executive managing director John Fowler, senior managing director Coleman Benedict and director Ben Sayles.

                According to Benedict, “It was a thrill to work on this seminal transaction.   SNH purchased two world-class buildings in one of the hottest submarkets in the country. 

 "This transaction is a true validation to the exceptional impact that Fallon and Cornerstone have made on the city of Boston through the development of Fan Pier, which is one of the premier mixed-use developments in the country.”

The Fallon Company LLC (www.falloncompany.com) is one of Boston’s premier real estate investment and development companies. 

Founded in 1993, The Fallon Company LLC has been involved in a portfolio of notable projects that continue to define the Boston Skyline. 

In addition to Fan Pier, Fallon has been an owner and developer of several other projects on the waterfront including The Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel, Park Lane Seaport Apartments and the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.

Ben Sayles
                Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC, with subsidiary and affiliate offices in the U.S., UK,

Europe, and Asia, is one of the largest global real estate investment managers.  It provides core and value-added investment and advisory services, including a comprehensive suite of private and public real estate debt, equity and securities expertise and services, to institutional and other qualified investors around the globe. 

Cornerstone is a member of the MassMutual Financial Group.  For more information, please visit www.cornerstoneadvisers.com.

Senior Housing Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, which owns independent and assisted living communities, medical office buildings, nursing homes and wellness centers throughout the United States.  SNH is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.

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

Olivia Hennessey
Public Relations Coordinator
HFF | 9 Greenway Plaza, Suite 700 | Houston, TX 77046
tel 713.852.3403 | fax 713.527.8725 |

Ventura County, CA Best Buy Brings $11.2 Million


Mark Thiel
OXNARD, CA – Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), a leading commercial real estate investment services firm with offices throughout the United States and Canada, announced the sale of a 48,168-square-foot Best Buy store in Oxnard, Calif.

The $11,200,000 sales price equates to $233 per square foot. Mark Thiel, vice president investments in Marcus & Millichap’s San Diego office, represented the Orange County-based buyer and the seller, an investment group also based in Southern California.

            “With excellent visibility and frontage on U.S. Route 101, this property provides the new owner with strong long-term fundamentals and a proven tenant,” says Thiel. 

The property is located on 5.7 acres at 2300 North Rose Ave. in Oxnard, Calif. with monument signage and accessibility on U.S. Highway 101. Approximately 234,804 people live within a five-mile radius of the store.


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

Gina Relva
Public Relations Manager
(925) 953-1716


Marcus & Millichap Arranges Sale of 234-Unit Apartment Property in Bradenton, FL for $9.36 Million


Belmont Park apartments, 4300 18th Street West, Bradenton, FL

Nicholas Meoli
BRADENTON, FL – Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), a leading commercial real estate investment services firm with offices throughout the United States and Canada, announced the sale of Belmont Park, a 234-unit apartment property located in Bradenton, Fla., according to Richard D. Matricaria, regional manager of the firm’s Tampa office. The asset sold for $9,360,000.

Nicholas Meoli, senior associate and Michael Donaldson associate vice president investments, both in Marcus & Millichap’s Tampa office, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, a private investor from Sarasota, Florida.

The listing agents also secured the buyer of the property a New York based private investor.

Belmont Park was built in 1971 and is located at 4300 18th Street West in Bradenton, Fla. 


Michael Donaldson
“The Belmont Park transaction shows the continued demand for value-add opportunities in secondary markets as competition has increased considerably in primary locations,” says Meoli.

“The buyer was a savvy out-of-state investor in a 1031 exchange and closed within 35 days from the executed contract,” adds Donaldson.
  
For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Richard D. Matricaria
Regional Manager
Tampa, FL
(813) 387-4700



Lee & Associates Arranges $24.2 Million Acquisition of Iconic Charleston, SC Cigar Factory


Cigar Factory Building, 701 East Bay Street, Charleston, SC


Amanda Reeves

 CHARLESTON, S.C. (May 8, 2014) — Lee & Associates has arranged the $24.2 acquisition of the 244,000-square-foot Cigar Factory building, located at 701 E. Bay St. in Charleston, S.C.

The buyer plans to invest significant capital to transform the five-story building into a mixed-use development that will include office, event, retail and restaurant space. Completion is slated for the first quarter of 2015.

 Taylor Smith and Austin Wilson of Lee & Associates’ Atlanta office, along with Amanda Reeves of Lee & Associates’ Charleston office, represented the buyer, which is a joint venture between Federal Capital Partners (FCP) and Roi-Tan Investments LLC.

The latter consists of a group of prominent investors led by William Cogswell of WECCO Development and Jay Weaver of Weaver Capital Partners. TSO Cigar Factory, LLC, sold the property. Ken Grimes of Patterson Real Estate Advisory Group raised equity for the transaction.

Taylor Smith
“The sale and redevelopment of the iconic Cigar Factory building show that investors are interested in spending significant capital in Charleston because of the strength of the market,” Weaver said. “With ample parking and close proximity to Interstate 26, the Cigar Factory building is sure to enjoy tremendous success as a mixed-use development.”

FCP and Roi-Tan will contribute equity capital for the redevelopment, and FCP will also provide mezzanine debt financing. The property is eligible to receive federal and state historic-property tax credits, as well as state tax credits for the rehabilitation of former textile mill sites. The total redevelopment is expected to exceed $55 million.

The Cigar Factory building, located in Charleston’s Historic District, was first constructed in 1882 as a cotton mill before it was sold to American Tobacco Co. in the early 1900s. The company transformed it into a cigar factory, which it remained until the 1970s. Currently, the building includes office and commercial space.


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

Stephen Ursery
The Wilbert Group
404-549-7150 (O) 404-405-2354 (C)

Mark VanStekelenburg to Lead NY Office of PKF Consulting LLC

  
Mark VanStekelenburg

NEW YORK, NY  – PKF Consulting, LLC (PKFC), a management consulting firm specializing in the hospitality industry, has announced the promotion of Mark VanStekelenburg to senior vice president and practice leader of the firm’s office in New York City.

VanStekelenburg replaces industry veteran John Fox who is retiring as the leader of the PKFC New York practice.  Fox joined the New York office of Harris Kerr Forster (predecessor to PKFC) in 1971, and became a senior principal of Pannell Kerr Forster in 1982.

VanStekelenburg moves from the Los Angeles office of PKFC where he has been since 2004.  While in the firm’s L.A. office, Mr. VanStekelenburg conducted and supervised numerous economic, financial, and operational analyses for hospitality and real estate related clients.

 “Mark is a 14-year lodging industry veteran and brings with him a wide range of consulting experience,” said Dave Arnold, C.E.O. - East for PKFC.  “Mark’s talents will prove invaluable assisting our clients with interests throughout the U.S. and around the globe.”

John Fox
VanStekelenburg graduated from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree. 

  Prior to joining PKFC in 2004, he held operational positions at the Palmera Plaza Grand Hotel in Spain and the Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Reynolds Plantation, Ga.

 He has held leadership positions with the Los Angeles chapter of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals, the American Hotel & Lodging Association Gateway Council and the Los Angeles chapter of the Cornell Hotel Society.  

VanStekelenburg has spoken at a number of hotel industry conferences and events.






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

Mark VanStekelenburg                                         
 Senior Vice President                                            
PKF Hospitality Research, LLC                           
Tel: 646 699 2865    
                                       

Chris Daly
Daly Gray Public Relations
Tel: 703 435 6293

Samuels & Associates and American Realty Advisors Announce Closing on Key Barry’s Corner Parcels Near Downtown Boston, MA

  
 Rendering of Barry’s Corner Residential and Retail Commons
Boston, MA


Kirk Helgeson
 Boston, MA -- Samuels & Associates, a Boston-based real estate development and management firm, its investment partner, Weiner Ventures, and American Realty Advisors, a leading provider of commercial real estate investment management services for institutional investors, announced the completion of project financing for the Barry’s Corner Residential and Retail Commons.

HFF worked on behalf of Samuels & Associates to secure joint venture equity with American and a construction loan through Northwestern Mutual for the project.

The Barry’s Corner development is situated at the intersection of North Harvard Street and Western Avenue, less than five miles west of downtown Boston.

The site will be redeveloped as a LEED Gold Certified mixed-use project for non-academic uses. The project, adjacent to Harvard University’s Allston campus, is the first private development undertaken on Harvard University land in Boston and is subject to a long term ground lease.

The completed project will include 325 rental apartment units, 35,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, approximately180 below grade parking spaces and 40 on-street parking spaces on two new streets created within the project site.

Joel Sklar
It will also include three open spaces within the project and a new park entrance to Smith Field. The new development reflects comprehensive input received during a nearly 18-month process of working collaboratively with the community to identify the best uses, size and scope for the parcel.

American’s EVP/Executive Managing Director, Kirk Helgeson, stated, “We are pleased to inaugurate our partnership with Samuels & Associates on this high profile project. 

"This is a terrific opportunity to invest in a residential and commercial development in a market with strong demand for housing. The proximity to Harvard University and easy access to technology, healthcare and financial services jobs in Cambridge and Boston will mean strong demand for the residential product.

" Barry’s Corner represents the opportunity to develop a quality asset in an outstanding location and create value for our clients over the long term.”

“Our partnership with American Realty Advisors and the closing on this parcel is the culmination of more than 2 years of collaboration with Harvard University and local residents to

Greg Labine
“The capital sources got comfortable with the vision Samuels has with the Barry’s Corner site as it mirrors the successful Trilogy project Samuels developed in the Fenway area a few years back,” said Greg LaBine, HFF managing director and lead on the team representing Samuels. 

“Samuels has a proven track record in creating developments that greatly enhance the neighborhoods in which they are situated. Both American Realty Advisors and Northwestern Mutual worked well together to ensure a smooth closing process in order to expeditiously commence development at the site.”

Site preparation and demolition work is complete and project construction is underway. Residential units will be available August 2015 and the ground floor commercial space is already being actively marketed to potential tenants.


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

Kristen M. Murphy
Associate Director
HFF | One Post Office Square, Suite 3500 | Boston, MA 02109
Main: 617-338-0990 | Direct: 617-848-1572 | Cell: 617-543-4873 | www.hfflp.com