Hampton Hotels Opens 14 Properties in March

BRAND MARKS FIRST OPENING IN ENGLAND

BEVERLY HILLS, CA— Hampton Hotels (www.hampton.com), the international brand of nearly 1,700 mid-priced Hampton Inn® and Hampton Inn & Suites® hotels, announced that it opened 14 properties during March 2009, aggregating 1,224 new rooms.

The new openings include two Hampton Inn hotels and eleven Hampton Inn & Suites properties, as well as one Hampton by Hilton which marks the brand’s first location in England.

All openings are franchised, newly constructed hotels.

“Not only is 2009 shaping up to be a record year for domestic development growth, but we also are making meaningful headway internationally, as our first entry into England with the Hampton by Hilton Corby/Kettering attests,” said Phil Cordell, (top right photo) Global Head, Hilton Focused Service and Hampton Brand Management.

“Guests appreciate our bundled amenities and price sensitivity, while developers like working with a well established hotel franchisor with such strengths as a central reservation system and the Hilton HHonors loyalty program.”

Hampton Hotels is one of the fastest growing brands for value-oriented and quality-minded travelers. Finding a Hampton Hotel is easy—they’re in urban chic locations, near shopping malls, beaches, roadside attractions—they’re everywhere, offering friendly service and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.

Contacts:

Charmaine Easie-Samuels, Hampton Brand Communications, (901) 374-6462

Chris Daly, Daly Gray Public Relations, ( (703) 435-6293

Grubb & Ellis Awarded 618,000 SF Management Assignment by Tesoro in San Antonio, TX

SAN ANTONIO, TX – Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE: GBE), a leading real estate services and investment firm, today announced that it has been awarded a 618,000-square-foot management assignment by Tesoro Corporation, an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products.

The assignment will be at Tesoro’s new company headquarters on San Antonio’s north side, which the company is expected to occupy in June.

“Grubb & Ellis won this significant management assignment after a competitive bid among multiple contenders,” said Eric Forshee, executive managing director of Grubb & Ellis Management Services.

“Tesoro is a leader in the refining and marketing industry, highlighted by their efficient, state-of-the-art new headquarters. Grubb & Ellis is pleased to partner with Tesoro and to manage this impressive facility.”

Located on 15-acres within the new Ridgewood Park business center, (top right photo) the recently constructed Tesoro campus includes the 618,000-square-foot complex, complemented by a 2,400 car parking garage.

The facility is split between two buildings connected by a main lobby, a 14-story office tower offering approximately 451,000 square feet of space and a six-story office building providing roughly 167,000 square feet of space.

The campus is being constructed to achieve LEED-New Building certification, which indicates the buildings meet the highest green building and performance measures as indicated by the U.S. Green Building Council. Both towers incorporate advanced HVAC design and equipment technologies to minimize utility consumption.

The Grubb & Ellis property management team is led by Forshee and Daryn Mieure, assistant vice president and senior portfolio manager in the firm’s San Antonio office.

The team also includes Kris Weideman, director of operations, and Mark Upton, regional engineering director.

Tesoro Corporation, a Fortune 150 company, is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products. Tesoro, through its subsidiaries, operates seven refineries in the Western United States with a combined capacity of approximately 660,000 barrels per day.

Tesoro's retail-marketing system includes over 880 branded retail stations, of which more than 390 are company owned under the Tesoro®, Shell®, Mirastar® and USA Gasoline™ brands.

Contact: Damon Elder, 714.975.2659, damon.elder@grubb-ellis.com

Commercial Real Estate Veteran Cyndie O’Bryon Joins Grubb & Ellis Company’s Cleveland Office

CLEVELAND, OH – Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE: GBE), a leading real estate services and investment firm, today announced that Cyndie O’Bryon, (top right photo) SIOR, one of the market’s leading office leasing professionals, has rejoined its Cleveland office as senior vice president, Office Group.

“We’re thrilled to have Cyndie back in the Grubb & Ellis family,” said Bob Nosal, executive vice president and managing director, Cleveland. “She has amazing depth of experience both as a landlord representative and on the tenant representation side of the business, and she has tremendous knowledge of the marketplace. She is an outstanding addition to our office brokerage team.”

O’Bryon joins Grubb & Ellis from Stark Enterprises Inc., where she was vice president of office properties and was responsible for the leasing of all existing and planned office buildings in company’s portfolio.

Prior to joining Stark Enterprises in 2008, she was a vice president at Trammell Crow Company, which acquired Brandon Wiant Converse in 2006.

From 1991 to 2001, O’Bryon was vice president and director of office leasing at Ohio Savings Management. During the same period, she was a principal of O’Bryon Larkman and Associates, a boutique commercial real estate brokerage and management firm she founded in 1991.

O’Bryon began her career in 1981 at Adler Galvin Rogers, which was acquired by Grubb & Ellis. During her 10-year tenure there, she rose to the level of senior vice president.

Contact: Erin Mays, 312.698.6735, erin.mays@grubb-ellis.com

Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty Launches Rental Lifestyles Residential Property Management Services

ORLANDO, FL --- Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty has launched Rental Lifestyles, a five star property management service that will focus on leasing luxury and executive homes, town homes and condominiums.

Roger Soderstrom, (bottom right photo) owner and founder of Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty, said he appointed Peter Voigt (top right photo) performance director of Rental Lifestyles. (http://www.cflrentals.com/)

Voigt, a licensed real estate broker who majored in Marketing at the University of Central Florida, has more than nine years of experience.

He was formerly affiliated with Orlando Rental Store, LLC, and Big Apple International Realty in Longwood.

“Rental Lifestyles will bring an entirely new rental concept to Central Florida that will offer clients a manner of living that reflects their values and attitudes,” said Soderstrom.

Soderstrom said Stirling Sotheby’s Rental Lifestyles will provide residents personal contact with a professional Lifestyle Consultant that will assist them in finding the right neighborhood, amenities and the lifestyle they’re looking for, as well as ongoing services and support they may require in the future.

“It is our commitment to provide every customer with five star service and place them in a property that fits their budget,” Soderstrom said.

“With our marketing scope and Sotheby’s International Realty affiliation, we are in a unique position to offer rental property owners an enormous market base that includes U.S. and international clients,” Soderstrom said.

For more information, please contact
Roger Soderstrom, Founder/Owner Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty, 407-588-1260

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142

Arbor Closes $8,775,000 Fannie Mae DUS ® Loan for Brampton Court Apartments in Bellingham, WA

Uniondale, NY - Arbor Commercial Funding, LLC (“Arbor”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC, announced the recent funding of a $8,775,000 loan under the Fannie Mae DUS® product line for the 171-unit complex known as Brampton Court Apartments (top right photo) in Bellingham, WA.

The 10-year loan amortizes on a 30-year schedule and carries a note rate of 5.86 percent.

The loan was originated by Jon Red, (bottom left photo) Director, in Arbor’s full-service Spokane, WA lending office.


“The borrower wanted to secure a long-term, low-interest rate and minimize escrows for the property,” said Red.


“With several lenders competing for the deal, Arbor provided several options to structure the loan and it was our flexible approach that won us the business.”


Contact: Ingrid Principe, P: 516.506.4298, F: 516.542.2555, http://www.arbor.com/

RealtyTrac Reports Foreclosure Activity Increases 9% in First Quarter

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Up 24 Percent From Q1 2008

March Activity Up 17 Percent From February, 46 Percent From March 2008

IRVINE, CA, April 16, 2009 – RealtyTrac®, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for Q1 2009.

The report shows foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 803,489 properties in the first quarter, a 9 percent increase from the previous quarter and an increase of nearly 24 percent from Q1 2008.

One in every 159 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 341,180 properties in March, a 17 percent increase from the previous month and a 46 percent increase from March 2008.

The March and Q1 2009 totals were the highest monthly and quarterly totals since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in January 2005 despite a decrease in bank repossessions (REOs), which were down 13 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008 and 3 percent from February totals.

“In the month of March we saw a record level of foreclosure activity — the number of households that received a foreclosure filing was more than 12 percent higher than the next highest month on record.

" Since much of this activity was in new foreclosure actions, it suggests that many lenders and servicers were holding off on executing foreclosures due to industry moratoria and legislative delays,” said James J. Saccacio, (top right photo) chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

“It’s also likely that the drop in REO activity can be attributed to these processing delays, rather than to any of the foreclosure prevention programs currently in place. It’s very likely that we’ll see the number of REOs increase again now that most of the moratoria have been lifted.”

“On a positive note, it appears that demand is up in some of the harder-hit areas, particularly on bank-owned REO properties that first time homebuyers and investors see as bargains,” Saccacio continued. “But it’s unlikely that this increased demand will be enough to offset the growing number of foreclosures in the pipeline, accelerated by rising unemployment rates.”

Nevada, Arizona, California post top state foreclosure rates in first quarter

Nevada continued to document the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate in the first quarter, with one in every 27 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — more than five times the national average.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 41,296 Nevada properties during the quarter, an increase of 19 percent from the previous quarter and an increase of nearly 111 percent from Q1 2008.

Bank repossessions in Nevada were down 3 percent from the previous quarter, but defaults increased 27 percent and auction sale notices increased 35 percent.

Arizona posted the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate for the first quarter, with one in every 54 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, and California posted the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 58 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 in the first quarter were Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Idaho, Utah and Oregon.

Five states account for nearly 60 percent of nation’s first quarter total

California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Illinois accounted for nearly 60 percent of the nation’s foreclosure activity in the first quarter, with 479,516 properties receiving foreclosure filings in the five states combined.

With 230,915 properties receiving foreclosure filings during the quarter, California accounted for nearly 29 percent of the nation’s total.

The state’s foreclosure activity increased 35 percent from the previous quarter and 36 percent from Q1 2008, and the first-quarter total was state’s highest quarterly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in the first quarter of 2005.

Despite a 12 percent decrease from the previous quarter, Florida’s first quarter total was still second highest in the nation.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 119,220 Florida properties, a 36 percent increase from the first quarter of 2008.

The state posted the nation’s fourth highest state foreclosure rate during the quarter, with one in every 73 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 49,119 Arizona properties in the first quarter of 2009, the third highest total among the states, and 41,296 Nevada properties received a foreclosure filing in the first quarter of 2009, the fourth highest total among the states.

Illinois posted the nation’s fifth highest total, with 38,966 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the first quarter — a 32 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 68 percent increase from the first quarter of 2008. With one in every 135 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, the state’s foreclosure rate also ranked fifth highest among the states.

Rounding out the states with the 10 highest foreclosure activity totals in Q1 2009 were Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Texas and Virginia.

Contact: Tammy Chan Atomic PR
Direct: 212-699-3646
Mobile: 408-802-8682
tammy@atomicpr.com

SchenkelShultz Promotes Krueger to Partner

FORT MYERS/NAPLES, FL – Gary F. Krueger, (top right photo) AIA, Principal-in-Charge of SchenkelShultz Architecture’s Fort Myers and Naples offices, was promoted to Partner.

Krueger will continue in his role of management of the Southwest Florida offices of SchenkelShultz.

A Registered Architect, he has been with SchenkelShultz for 20 years and holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Oklahoma as well as a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. He is also a member of the American Institute of Architects.

Contact: Kenneth H. Cristol, 407-774-2515