Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James B. Lockhardt III (top right photo) and Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan (middle left photo) are among the public policy and industry leaders who will speak during the conference.
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Friday, October 31, 2008
Economy and Election are Hot Topics as Realtors(R) Meet in Orlando
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James B. Lockhardt III (top right photo) and Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan (middle left photo) are among the public policy and industry leaders who will speak during the conference.
Wyndham Worldwide Outlook Revised To Negative
New York, Oct. 31, 2008--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has revised its outlook on Parsippany, NJ-based Wyndham Worldwide Corp. to negative from stable. At the same time, we affirmed the 'BBB-' corporate credit rating on the company.
The negative outlook revision reflects:
Lower-than-expected EBITDA generation in 2008 and 2009.
This is primarily due to a reduction in expected timeshare segment EBITDA to flat in 2008 compared to up nearly 10%, and for an expected decline in that business in 2009 compared to modest growth previously.
We expect Wyndham's lodging franchise business will exhibit a low-single-digit decline in EBITDA driven by a modest decline in revenue in 2009 as revenue per available room declines of 5% or more (our current expectation for the U.S. lodging industry) offset low-single-digit room growth.
We also have a moderately lower view of expected EBITDA at the RCI timeshare exchange and vacation rental businesses, although we expect that business to maintain relatively stable cash flow characteristics; and
A meaningful increase in total lease-and-captive-finance adjusted debt balances over the intermediate term due to a decrease in the expected advance rate Wyndham would receive for selling its timeshare receivables.
While we are pleased that investor appetite likely remains for lending against timeshare paper, it will be at a price that is adjusted for intermediate-term risk assessments.
As a result, lower current and expected advance rates over the intermediate term have led us to revisit the appropriate level of debt to be removed from the balance sheet in our captive finance adjustment, and to lower this amount to the equivalent of 60% of net securitized receivables from 80%.
The net effect is to raise adjusted debt balances in our credit measure calculations.
"The rating on Wyndham reflects the company's leading market positions in each of its business units and the stable cash flow characteristics of the lodging and RCI vacation network businesses," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Emile Courtney.
We view Wyndham's business profile as investment grade, incorporating Standard & Poor's positive view of management as prudent business operators and a good level of business diversity.
High levels of capital intensity in the timeshare development industry and the company's participation in highly competitive markets offset these positive factors somewhat.
Another key rating factor is our expectation that the company will maintain investment-grade financial metrics, with lease-and-captive-finance-adjusted leverage at around 3.5x or less on average over the economic cycle.
We also expect the company to maintain access to the securitization markets as a source of funding during the long term, even if the cost of financing is likely to increase materially over the intermediate term.
Media Contact: Mimi Barker, New York (1) 212-438-5054, mimi_barker@standardandpoors.com
Analyst Contacts:
Emile Courtney, CFA, New York (1) 212-438-7824
Liz Fairbanks, New York (1) 212-438-7459
Thomas D. Wood & Co. Brokers $7.5M on Three Loans
MIAMI, FL— Thomas D. Wood and Company, a Strategic Alliance Mortgage LLC member, secured financing in the amount of $2,300,000 for the Midtown Professional Center (top right photo) in Tampa, Florida.
The 21,382 square-foot medical office is home to major tenant Amsurg Tampa, and was built in 1967. Midtown Professional Center is located at 4809 N. Armenia Avenue, Tampa, Florida.
Alan R. Cohen (305) 447-7820 acohen@tdwood.com
Jessica Gurtowski (407) 937-0470 jgurtowski@tdwood.com
ORLANDO, FL— Thomas D. Wood and Company, a Strategic Alliance Mortgage LLC member, secured financing in the amount of $1,666,500 for Tatiana’s Apartments and Cypress Gardens RV Park. (middle right photo)
For further information, please contact:
Jeff Schnupp (407) 937-0470 jschnupp@tdwood.com
John Worrell (407) 937-0470 jworrell@tdwood.com
Jessica Gurtowski (407) 937-0470 jgurtowski@tdwood.com
Steven Hayes Wood (305) 447-7820 swood@tdwood.com
Jessica Gurtowski (407) 937-0470 jgurtowski@tdwood.com
Cousins Properties Corrects Erroneous AP Wire Story
The wire story had erroneously assumed the Goldman report included Cousins Properties as a company with major refinancing concerns in the near term when Cousins was included in the report as a REIT with "development exposure."
Grubb & Ellis|Commercial Florida Executive Jeff Sweeney projects 2009 will mirror image of 2008 in Central Florida: Slow but broad recovery
Sweeney, who presents his annual market overview for the Central Florida Council of Bankruptcy Attorneys in Orlando, said 2008 began slow and is ending stagnant.
“Central Florida’s commercial real estate market in 2009 will be just the reverse,” Sweeney explained. “We expect it to start out stagnant and end with a pulse.”
The good news is the recovery should span all sectors, Sweeney said.
We think we’re going to see a broad-based return of the office, industrial and retail markets in Florida. Currently we have a broad-based downturn in all of those markets,” Sweeney said.
Job growth---a leading indicator in the commercial real estate markets---is likely to be anemic for the first half of the year and improve in the second half, Sweeney added.
“In an aggregate comparison, job growth in 2009 will be similar to 2008,” Sweeney said.
“It was slow and getting worse this year, next year it will be slow and getting better. I expect to see a lot more optimism in 12 months,” he said.
Contacts:
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Shaw Mechanical Services secures contract with Welbro Building Corp. for Haines City, FL park
ORLANDO, FL, Oct. 30, 2008 — Welbro Building Corp. has awarded a $900,000 contract to Orlando, Fla.-based Shaw Mechanical Services LLC for mechanical contracting for new buildings and additions currently under construction in Lake Eva Park, (top right rendering) a 28-acre park being renovated and expanded by Haines City under the Haines City Community Redevelopment Agency in Polk County, Fla.
Welbro Building Corp. of Maitland, Fla., is the general contractor. Orlando, Fla.-based Rhodes + Brito Architects is the architect, and BCA-GAS Inc. of Maitland, Fla., is the mechanical engineer.
Contact: Elaine Ingra, PR WORKS!, PH: 407 384-1344,
elainei@pr-works.com and http://www.pr-works.com/
Starmer Ranaldi completes new Lake County fire station
(Joe Ranaldi, top right photo, is a principal at Starmer Ranaldi)
Under contract with the Lake County Board of County Commissioners, Starmer Ranaldi utilized its two-story fire station prototype for the architectural and engineering design of the two-apparatus bay, 7,700-square-foot facility.
Sited on 1.75-acres, the facility features masonry bearing walls with a brick veneer and a standing seam metal roof system. Along with two apparatus bays, fitness room, kitchen, dormitory, and administrative space, the new fire station houses a substation for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. The fire station was built by Aagaard-McNary Construction Inc. of Orlando, Fla.
Engineering design for this project was provided by the following Central Florida-based firms:
OCI Associates Inc., Altamonte Springs, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering; MITZO Engineering LLC., Orlando, structural engineering; and Klima Weeks Civil Engineering, Altamonte Springs, civil engineering.
Starmer Ranaldi Planning and Architecture Inc. is a consulting design practice dedicated to the design of public-use facilities for municipal and county governments, K through 12 schools, community colleges, universities and institutional buildings. Established in Central Florida in 1997, the firm is headquartered in Oviedo, Fla., and employs a professional and support staff of eighteen.
Please visit http://www.sriarch.com/ for additional information.
Contact: Elaine Ingra, PR WORKS!, PH: 407 384-1344,
elainei@pr-works.com, www.pr-works.com
Housing Market Suffers Biggest Drop Since World War Two
This marks the worst residential real estate bear market in price decline and duration since 1945.
While this is humbling news to millions of homeowners nationwide, not everyone is feeling the pain to the same degree.As can be seen in the table below, the greatest declines in home prices have been felt in the Western states.
Fortunately, while the current condition is bad it is not record setting.
The worst decline of U.S. new home prices in the last 150-years was the -68% decline from 1929 to 1932."When will this bear market end? Probably not for a while.
Past real estate bear markets ended when the average time it took to sell a new house dropped to 3 1/2 months.
Currently, it is taking over 9 months!" says Ken Winans, (top right photo) author of "Investment Atlas". The Winans International Real Estate Index (WIREI) measures U.S. new home prices from 1830 to present day.
Post Properties Sells Post Woods® in Atlanta for $52.8M
Oaks Development Group Closes on 2.1 Acres for Medical Office Building in Palm Coast, FL
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Military and Port Trafficc Support Strong Apartment Fundamentals in Southeast Virginia
Following are some of the most significant aspects of the Southeast Virginia Apartment Research Report:
· Asking rents are expected to increase 3.6 percent to $862 per month.
For a copy of the complete Southeast Virginia Apartment Research Report, as well as reports on other markets nationwide, visit our website at http://www.marcusmillichap.com/.
Wyndham Hotel Group Promotes Development Executive Don Li
He previously served the company as director of development in China and Japan, a position he was promoted to after serving two years as director of development in China.
Li was responsible for key development deals, including an agreement with Green Hospitality Management Co. of Tokyo to open nine hotels in Japan over the next five years under the Ramada and Days Inn brands.
Prior to joining Wyndham Hotel Group, Li served in operations positions for Marriott Hotels International, most recently as general manager of the Residence Inn by Marriott New Rochelle in New York. He began his career with Marriott in 1996.
Li received his master’s degree in organizational development in 2003 from Columbia University in New York. He is proficient in Mandarin and English and conversational in Cantonese. He is a certified hotel administrator by the American Hotel & Lodging Association and in 2008 received the Gold Vessel Award for outstanding hospitality professional by the China Hotel Association.
He is based in Wyndham Hotel Group’s Shanghai offices.
CONTACT:
Rob Myers, Communications Coordinator , Wyndham Hotel Group, 1 Sylvan Way Parsippany, NJ 07054. PH (973) 753-6590, rob.myers@wyndhamworldwide.com
Tri-City Electrical Completes $1.2M Job in Port Orange, FL
In Naples, FL, the Fort Myers division of Tri-City Electrical Contractors, Inc. completed $853,000 of work at the new 43,000-square-foot Ave Maria University Undergraduate Housing Building 8 in Naples, FL, under its contract with Suffolk/Kraft Construction Co., West Palm Beach, FL. The Fort Myers office of Tri-City is located at Airport Woods, Suite A-3, 12296 Matterhorn Road, phone (239) 768-5566.
Contact: Kenneth H. Cristol 407-774-2515
HFF arranges refinancing for Dairy Ashford Plaza in Houston
HFF managing director Tucker Knight (top right photo) and real estate analyst Steven Gautier exclusively represented the borrower, DAP Plaza, Ltd. in securing the fixed-rate, non-recourse financing through Ohio National Financial Services. The loan will be serviced by HFF.
Built in 1979, the properties are located at 2000 and 2020 South Dairy Ashford Road between Interstate 10, The Westpark Tollway and Beltway 8 in West Houston. 2000 Dairy Ashford is comprised of 105,419 square feet and 2020 Dairy Ashford is comprised of 107,890 square feet.
“Due to Houston’s strong office market, deal sponsorship and low loan to value, Ohio National was able to originate the loan with an appealing rate on a non-recourse basis,” said Gautier.
CONTACTS: