Foster Conant completes landscape architectural contract for Texas project

ORLANDO, FL— Foster Conant & Associates has completed its landscape architectural services contract for Cypress Campus at Denton Station, a privatized off-campus student apartment complex recently completed in Denton, Texas, in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

Under its contract with project’s owner, Cypress Denton Station Ltd., Foster Conant provided design, construction documents and construction observation for landscape and hardscape for the 19-acres site.

The project is composed of 14, three-story buildings supported by a gated guardhouse, clubhouse/leasing office, recreational amenities and surface parking. The $30 million project provides 348, one- to four-bedroom, fully furnished apartments serving students of nearby University of North Texas and Texas Women’s University.

Jordan Construction Services of Dallas, Texas, was the general contractor. Forum Architecture of Altamonte Springs, Fla., was the architect. Allison Engineering Group LP of Denton, Texas, provided civil engineering.

Celebrating 40 years in business, Foster Conant & Associates is an award-winning, site-specific landscape architectural firm that practices throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Public and private clients afford the firm a varied portfolio of expertise that includes hotels, resorts and themed entertainment complexes, timeshare resorts, airports, large-scale residential land developments, mixed-use complexes, office buildings, business parks and apartment complexes.

Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., the 12-person firm is managed by principals Richard R. “Rick” Conant, (top right photo) FASLA, Keith Oropeza, ASLA, René A. Ramos, RLA and John P. Sullivan, III, ASLA.

For an extensive presentation of projects, please visit http://www.fosterconant.com/.

Contact: Elaine Ingra, PR WORKS!, PH: 407 384-1344,
elainei@pr-works.com, www.pr-works.com

Energy & Infrastructure Advisors Contracts with Christenberry Collet & Co.

SANTA ANA, CA (Aug. 4, 2009) – Energy & Infrastructure Advisors, LLC, a joint venture between Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE: GBE) and the Meridian Companies, announced today the signing of an agreement with Christenberry Collet & Company, Inc., an independent investment banking firm based in Kansas City, Mo.

Christenberry Collet will work with Energy & Infrastructure Advisors to facilitate transactions with various electric utility companies.

“Christenberry Collet’s track record, expertise and industry focus make it a very attractive partner for us,” said Brendan Fitzgerald, president of Energy & Infrastructure Advisors. “The firm has a depth of industry knowledge and client relationships that materially differentiate it from its peers.”

Energy & Infrastructure Advisors was formed in May to create investment opportunities in the electric, water, oil and gas and renewable energy sectors. Founded in 1994, Christenberry Collet & Company has client relationships with more than 50 electric utility companies and has successfully completed transactions totaling nearly $2 billion in the electric utility sector.

Since its founding in 1981, various Meridian affiliates have completed equity transactions totaling in excess of $15 billion with more than 150 institutional clients, including approximately $5 billion of alternative energy projects in the biomass, coal bed methane gas, coal-based synthetic fuel, solar, geothermal and wind sectors. Meridian’s client base includes major money center banks, national insurance companies, global financial services firms and both investor-owned as well as cooperative utilities.

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

D & A Building Services wins two new contracts with Texas DOT

LONGWOOD, FL., Aug. 4, 2009 — D & A Building Services Inc. has secured two facility maintenance contracts with the Texas Department of Transportation.

For the Fannin County facility located in Bonham, Texas, D & A is providing full-service janitorial, carpet cleaning, floor refinishing and window cleaning services for the one-story, 4,840-square-foot building.

The same services are being performed by D & A cleaning specialists at the one-story, 5,877-square-foot Lamar County facility in Paris, Texas.

Since opening its Dallas, Texas office in 2008, D & A Building Services has hired a staff of 15 and secured contracts with the Texas Department of Transportation, Garland Independent School District, City of Huntsville and the Marriott Hotel at Legacy Town Center.

D & A Building Services Inc. provides facility maintenance services to property managers, building owners, and local, state and Federal governments.

Founded in 1985 in Central Florida, D & A performs full-service janitorial and specialized interior and exterior facility maintenance, landscape maintenance, full-service lawn and ornamental pest control, waterproofing, construction clean-up and communications services.

The veteran-owned company is an Hispanic-Owned Business Enterprise. The Company has offices in Longwood, Fla., Jacksonville, Fla., Tampa, Fla., Kansas City, Mo., Madison, Wis., Dallas, Texas, and Detroit, Mich.

For additional information, please visit http://www.dabuildingservices.com/.

Contact: Elaine Ingra, PR WORKS!, PH: 407 384-1344,
elainei@pr-works.com, http://www.pr-works.com/

Robert Vaughn Promoted to Vice President/Commercial Division at Palmer Electric Co.

WINTER PARK, FL, Aug. 4, 2009 — Robert K. Vaughn (top right photo) has been promoted to vice president of the commercial division at Palmer Electric Company located in Winter Park, Fla.

Vaughn, who has been employed by Palmer Electric since 2002, most recently served as the Company’s vice president of commercial production.

In his new management roll, Vaughn is responsible for daily operations of the commercial division including customer service, business development, pre-construction services, field installations, quality control and project commissioning.

He is an experienced construction professional with more than 29 years in the industry. He remains on the board of directors for Palmer Electric, an employee owned company.

Vaughn is a licensed electrical contractor in Florida, and is certified by Clemson University’s business management training program. He serves as treasurer of the Academy of Construction Technologies, and is on the board of directors of the Central Florida Chapter of the Electrical Council of Florida.

Palmer Electric Company is a provider of electrical contracting for commercial institutional and residential customers. Additionally, the Company provides service and repairs to utilities, businesses and consumers.

Founded in 1951, the Company is headquartered in Winter Park, Fla., and has residential division offices in Lakeland and Jacksonville, Fla. The Company employs a staff of 350. For additional information, visit http://www.palmer-electric.com/.

Contact: Elaine Ingra, PR WORKS!, PH: 407 384-1344, elainei@pr-works.com, http://www.pr-works.com/

Thomas D. Wood Brokers $10.25M Loan for Fort Lauderdale, FL Mobile Home Park

MIAMI, FL, Aug. 4, 2009— Thomas D. Wood and Company, a Strategic Alliance Mortgage LLC member, secured financing on July 23, 2009, in the amount of $10,250,000 for Everglades Lakes Mobile Home Park in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Tom Wood, Jr., (top right photo) Company President, financed Everglades Lakes Mobile Home Park through Thomas D. Wood and Company’s correspondent relationship with Advantus Capital Management.

The permanent loan has an interest rate of 6.80% and a 10-year term, based on a 30-year amortization. The loan-to-value is 35%. The 90-acre mobile home park accommodates 485 pads and is located at 2900 SW 52 Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

For further information, please contact:
Tom Wood, Jr. (305) 447-7820 tomjr@tdwood.com
Jessica Gurtowski (407) 937-0470 jgurtowski@tdwood.com

Arbor Closes $1,732,300 Fannie Mae DUS® Small Loan for Ocean Park Apartments in Santa Monica, CA

Uniondale, NY (August 4, 2009) - Arbor Commercial Funding, LLC (“Arbor”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC, announced the recent funding of a $1,732,300 loan under the Fannie Mae DUS® Small Loan product line for the 7-unit complex known as Ocean Park Apartments in Santa Monica, CA.

The 10-year loan amortizes on a 30-year schedule and carries a note rate of 6.25 percent.

The loan was originated by John Kelly, (top left photo) Vice President, in Arbor’s full-service Boston, MA lending office. “This transaction was for an asset in an A+ location that had undergone a substantial rehabilitation,” said Kelly.

“After the client decided to switch from a for-sale condo approach to a long-term rental plan, Arbor went ahead and quickly closed the deal.”

Contact: Ingrid Principe, P: 516.506.4298, F: 516.542.2555, www.arbor.com
Follow us on Twitter @ arbor1

Fitch: Large Hotels Lead Loans of Concern for U.S. CMBS

NEW YORK, NY-- Eight newly defaulted loans greater than $100 million have entered special servicing, according to Fitch Ratings in the latest edition of it's 'What's in Special Servicing' U.S.CMBS report.

Recent defaults include two hotel portfolios, Red Roof Inn andExtended Stay.

Since Fitch's last update in April, $17.4 billion in Fitch-rated loans have entered special servicing, which does not include the Extended Stay Portfolio, which on its own totals over $4 billion.

'Four of the 10 largest delinquent loans have experienced appraisal reductions as a result of value declines, indicating that losses may be significant in their respective deals' said Managing Director MaryMacNeill. 'Of over 2,000 specially serviced loans, 64 have balances in excess of $100 million.'

Property performance has not deteriorated significantly since Fitch's last update among loans of concern such as the Riverton Apartments and PeterCooper Village/Stuyvesant Town.(top right photo)

However, 'Cash flow from Riverton and PeterCooper Village/Stuyvesant Town still requires significant reserves to cover debt service obligations, and these reserves will likely be depleted by the end of the year,' said MacNeill.

Fitch has classified over $75 billion or 18% of its rated U.S. CMBS portfolio as loans of concern. Recent vintage loans account for over 11% ofthe $75 billion.

The fourth edition of 'What's in Special Servicing?' is available at'www.fitchratings.com' under the following headers:Sectors >> Structured Finance >> CMBS >> Research

Contacts:

Mary MacNeill +1-212-908-0785, Adam Fox +1-212-908-0869, or LisaCook +1-212-908-0665 New York.

Sandro Scenga, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Fitch Ratings+1-212-908-027, Ssandro.scenga@fitchratings.com

Fortress Construction Group Wins Medical Building Construction Contract

ORLANDO, FL. - Fortress Construction Group, Inc. won a contract worth $230,000 to renovate a medical office for the Central Florida Pulmonary Group in Altamonte Springs. Work has already started on the building at 610 Jasmine Rd.

Charles Ayers, president of Fortress Construction, said the company will add several offices and exam rooms, and update the interior of the building, which will be used for sleep studies and respiratory therapy by the physicians group.

Locally based Designers Architectural, P.A. is providing architectural services for the project.

For more information, please contact:
Charles Ayers, Fortress Construction Group, Inc., 407-829-2689; ca0018@yahoo.com

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

D.R. Horton Loses $142M in its Fiscal Third Quarter But Has $1.97B Cash on Hand

FORT WORTH, TX—D.R. Horton Inc., the largest homebuilder in the U.S., lost $142.3 million in its third fiscal quarter that ended June 30, but the Fort Worth, TX-based company still has $1.97 billion in cash on hand.

In an online conference with industry analysts today, company chairman Donald R. Horton (top right photo) said, “Our net sales orders in the June quarter reflected a 22% sequential increase from our March quarter which was stronger than our usual seasonal trend.

“However, market conditions in the homebuilding industry are still challenging, characterized by rising foreclosures, high inventory levels of available homes, increasing unemployment, tight credit for homebuyers and weak consumer confidence.

“We have continued to adjust our business to the current homebuilding environment by reducing our owned lot position and completed specs, controlling costs and strengthening our balance sheet.”

Horton adds, “We have generated positive cash flow from operations in each of the past 12 quarters, and our unrestricted homebuilding cash balance was $1.97 billion at June 30, 2009.

“Our net homebuilding debt to total capitalization was 34.5% at the end of the quarter, and we will continue to focus on maintaining our strong liquidity position and balance sheet.”

The third quarter loss equates to a loss of 45 cents per diluted share.

The quarterly results included $110.8 million in pre-tax charges to cost of sales for inventory impairments and write-offs of deposits and pre-acquisition costs related to land option contracts that the company does not intend to pursue, Horton says.

The net loss for the same quarter of fiscal 2008 was $399.3 million, or $1.26 per diluted share.

Homebuilding revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 totaled $914.1 million, compared to $1.4 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2008.

Homes closed totaled 4,240 homes, compared to 6,167 homes in the year ago quarter.

For the nine months ended June 30, 2009, the Company reported a net loss of $313.4 million, or $0.99 per diluted share.

The company’s sales order backlog of homes under contract at June 30, 2009 was 5,430 homes ($1.1 billion), compared to 8,281 homes ($1.9 billion) at June 30, 2008.

Net sales orders for the third quarter totaled 5,089 homes ($1.1 billion), compared to 5,501 homes ($1.2 billion) for the same quarter of fiscal 2008.

The company’s cancellation rate (cancelled sales orders divided by gross sales orders) for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 was 26%. Net sales orders for the first nine months of fiscal 2009 were 12,026 homes ($2.5 billion), compared to 17,274 homes ($3.8 billion) for the same period of fiscal 2008.

The company has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.0375 per share. The dividend is payable on Aug. 28, 2009 to stockholders of record on Aug. 19, 2009.

D.R. Horton delivered more than 26,000 homes in its fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2008.
Founded in 1978, D.R. Horton has operations in 76 markets in 27 states in the East, Midwest, Southeast, South Central, Southwest and West regions of the United States.

The company is engaged in the construction and sale of high quality homes with sales prices ranging from $90,000 to over $900,000. D.R. Horton also provides mortgage financing and title services for homebuyers through its mortgage and title subsidiaries.

Post Properties Loses $50M in Second Quarter

ATLANTA, GA—Post Properties Inc., one of the largest developers of multifamily properties in the U.S., lost $50.7 million in the second quarter of this year. In the same 2008 period, the Atlanta-based developer lost $27 million.

The company reported its financials today in an online conference call with industry analysts.

On a diluted per share basis, the net loss attributable to common shareholders was $1.14, compared to $0.61 for the second quarter of 2008.

The company’s net loss attributable to common shareholders for the three months ended June 30, 2009 included non-cash impairment charges of approximately $76.3 million relating to the company’s investment in a condominium project and adjacent land.

These charges were partially offset by a net gain of approximately $24.7 million on the sale of an apartment community in April 2009.

The company’s net loss attributable to common shareholders for the six months ended June 30, 2009 included the above-mentioned items as well as gains of approximately $2.3 million relating to the early extinguishment of indebtedness, the mark-to-market of an interest rate swap, and changes in previous hurricane loss estimates.
FFO for the second quarter of 2009 was a deficit of $59.0 million, or $1.32 per diluted share, compared to a deficit of $12.6 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2008.

The company’s reported FFO for the second quarter of 2009 included the impairment charges discussed above of approximately $76.3 million, or $1.71 per diluted share.

The company’s reported FFO for the second quarter of 2008 included the charges discussed above in the aggregate of approximately $31.4 million, or $0.71 per diluted share.

FFO for the six months ended June 30, 2009 was a deficit of $42.0 million, or $0.94 per diluted share, compared to FFO of $1.3 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the first six months of 2008.

The company’s reported FFO for the six months ended June 30, 2009 included the impairment charges and income items discussed above in the aggregate of approximately $74.0 million, or $1.66 per diluted share.

The Company’s reported FFO for the six months ended June 30, 2008 included the charges discussed above in the aggregate of approximately $37.5 million, or $0.84 per diluted share.

For a complete copy of the company's news release, please contact Chris Papa, 404-846-5028