HFF secures financing for ground leases totaling 255 acres in California, Indiana and Pennsylvania

DALLAS, TX – The Dallas office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) announced today that it has secured $6 million in financing for three ground leases totaling 255 acres in California, Indiana and Pennsylvania.

Working exclusively on behalf of the borrower, an affiliate of The LCP Group, L.P., HFF managing director Mark West (top right photo)  placed the 38-month, fixed-rate permanent loan with a Texas-based life insurance company.

LCP, headquartered in White Plains, New York, is a private real estate investment banking firm that has been acquiring, syndicating and overseeing real estate investments nationally since 1974.

The three parcels of land are improved with warehouse and distribution facilities leased to an international food company. The Pennsylvania property is situated on 86 acres at 555 Nestle Way in Breinigsville (Allentown); the Indiana property is located on 118 acres at 2909 Pleasant Center Road in Fort Wayne; and the California property is situated on 50.8 acres at 2 Nestle Way in Lathrop (Stockton).

Contacts:

Mark E. West, HFF Managing Director, (214) 265-0880,  mwest@hfflp.com
Kristen M. Murphy, HFF Associate Director, Marketing,  (713) 852-3500, krmurphy@hfflp.com

HFF named to market for sale trophy office tower in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH, PA – The Pittsburgh and Chicago offices of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) announced today that they have been named to market for sale EQT Plaza (top left photo) , a 32-story, trophy office tower in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

HFF executive managing directors John Pelusi (middle right photo)  and Gerard Sansosti   in Pittsburgh along with managing directors Jeff Bramson (bottom left photo) and Jaime Fink in Chicago are marketing the property on behalf of the seller.

EQT Plaza is a 615,942 rentable-square-foot, trophy-quality office tower located at 625 Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh’s central business district.


 The property is the corporate headquarters for EQT Corporation and is 96.2% leased with minimal near-term lease rollover.

Additional tenants include Cohen & Grigsby, McGuire Woods, and National Union Fire Insurance. The building features a full-service health club, a 5,170-square-foot conference center, underground parking garage and a Morton’s of Chicago restaurant.

 The current owner has invested nearly $3 million during the last five years on plaza and lobby renovations, a new life safety system, and fitness and business center upgrades.

”This is the premier address in Pittsburgh as evidenced by the property’s high occupancy rate,” said Sansosti. “The average lease term is an attractive 9.5 years making this an exceptionally stable office asset.”

Contacts:

Gerard T. Sansosti, HFF Executive Managing Director, (412) 281-8714, gsansosti@hfflp.com
 Jeffrey M. Bamson, HFF Managing Director, (312) 528-3650,  jbramson@hfflp.com
Kristen M. Murphy,   HFF Associate Director, Marketing, (713) 852-3500,  krmurphy@hfflp.com

HFF named to market for sale Residence Inn by Marriott in downtown Milwaukee

CHICAGO, IL – The Chicago and Miami offices of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) announced today that they have been named to market for sale the 131-suite Residence Inn (centered  photo below) by Marriott in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a super high-quality urban select service hotel.

HFF senior managing director Dan Peek (middle right photo) , director Danny Kaufman  and managing director Jaime Fink (Wisconsin Lic. #54163) (middle left  photo)  will lead the investment sales team on behalf of the owner, Investcorp International, Inc.

The hotel is being sold with the potential for a new investor to assume attractive in-place, fixed-rate, financing.

The Residence Inn is located at 648 North Plankton Avenue, along the west bank of the Milwaukee River and West Wisconsin Avenue, in a high density, in-fill area at the heart of downtown Milwaukee’s central business district.

Completed in 2001, the property underwent a significant $1.8 million ($14,000 per room) renovation in 2008.

 The renovation impacted all areas of the hotel and was particularly focused on the suites (FF&E replacement) and high-touch areas of the property.

The property is downtown Milwaukee’s only all-suite hotel and is part of a larger mixed-use re-development of the landmark former Gimbel’s (later Marshall Field’s) department store.

The hotel successfully maintains the look and feel of the original building’s neoclassical architecture while providing a thoroughly modern physical plant, amenities, and features.

“The Residence Inn is a landmark property; a dominant and highly recognizable hotel. It is located at the nexus of downtown Milwaukee’s office, retail, convention, entertainment, and residential districts. The hotel offers guests high ceilings and windows, large suites and best-in-class finishes.

" The property’s Marriott brand affiliation is also a significant competitive advantage in terms of driving room- night demand and rate. The Residence Inn is positioned for strong improvements in operating performance as the broader economy improves,” said Peek.

“The Residence Inn consistently outperforms and leads the downtown Milwaukee market, and its competitive set, which includes several well established full-service hotels.

" The property’s focus on extended stay and corporate business, combined with the property marketing team’s mature relationships with the city’s top demand generators, allow it to maintain historically high and stable occupancy and rate levels,” added Kaufman.

Contacts:


Daniel C. Peek, HFF Senior Managing Director, (305) 448-1333, dpeek@hfflp.com
 Daniel A. Kaufman, HFF Director , (312) 528-3650, dkaufman@hfflp.com
Kristen M. Murphy, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, (713) 852-3500, krmurphy@hfflp.com

Ardaman & Associates selected by Seminole County, FL school district

ORLANDO, FL— Ardaman & Associates Inc. was recently selected by the school board of Seminole County Public Schools for a continuing services contract.

 Under its scope of services, Ardaman is providing geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing and threshold inspection services on an as-needed basis to the school district.

The one-year contract has an option for two, one-year renewals. Ardaman’s Orlando area office will perform services for this contract. The contract amount is undetermined, as engineering services will be billed per task order according to an approved fee schedule.

Nordarse & Associates Inc., Professional Services Industries Inc. and Universal Engineering Sciences Inc. were also selected for contracts.

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

Hotel Room Tax Collections Improve in Orange County, FL

ORLANDO, FLORIDA -- County Comptroller Martha Haynie (top right photo) announced today that resort tax collections received by the County in January for the hotel collection month of December 2009 were $12,376,000. Resort taxes are charged on short-term rentals, mostly hotels and motels.

Comptroller Haynie noted that December 2009 collections were slightly higher (0.3%) than December 2008. “Year over year, December tends to be a stable month. Even a minor increase like this is a welcome sight,” Haynie stated.

For a complete copy of Haynie's report with statistics, please contact:
Martha O. Haynie (407) 836-5690

Joan Randolph, Executive Assistant, Comptroller's Administration, 201 S. Rosalind Avenue, Orlando, Florida, 32801, Tele: 407-836-5986, Fax: 407-836-5599

Cambridge Optimistic on Senior Housing and Healthcare Industries' Recovery in 2010

CHICAGO, IL--The Great Recession of 2009 wasn’t especially kind to the owners of commercial real estate assets, but the pain was spread around unevenly.

“In hindsight, it was a breakthrough year for senior housing and healthcare properties as the extent to which senior housing demand is sustainable during different economic environments began to more fully sink in with lenders and investors,” funding expert Jeffrey A. Davis (top right photo) observes.

“Last year, senior housing/healthcare properties were the strongest real estate asset class in most lender and investor portfolios, and this isn’t likely to change as the economy continues to muddle through what has been a slow revival process to date,” he said.

Davis is Chairman of Chicago-based Cambridge Realty Capital Companies, one of the nation’s leading senior housing/healthcare lenders. The company is consistently ranked among the top FHA-approved HUD healthcare lenders and is involved in direct property acquisitions, joint ventures and sale leasebacks through its Cambridge Investment and Finance Co. subsidiary.

For a complete copy the company's news release, please contact:
Evan Washington, Phone: (312) 521-7603, Fax: (312) 357-1611, E-Mail: ew@cambridgecap.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/CambridgeCap

Orlando Poised for Strong Multi-Housing Recovery, CBRE Predicts

ORLANDO, FL--CB Richard Ellis presents its newest Multi-Housing Market Trends Report for the Orlando MSA.


While 2009 was a challenging year for the national and local multi-housing market, there were signs of improvement heading into 2010.

Orlando is forecast to gain 8,000 new jobs by year end, and more than 161,000 jobs over the next five years.

 Rents, which have declined on a year-over- year basis for the last three years, will hold steady in 2010, and are forecast to show significant improvement thereafter increasing 13.3% by 2014.

With no new supply in the pipeline and job growth expected again this year, Orlando seems poised to see one of the strongest recoveries in the country.

Following are the executive summary trends and forecast. Please refer to the following pages for more detail on the Orlando market.

Orlando Operational Trends and Forecast:

•Average rents declined from $842 per month to $815 (2009 Jan-Dec)
•Average occupancy declined from 91.9% to 90.1%
•Occupancy held steady in the second half of the year
•The biggest occupancy loss occurred in the 1Qtr of 2009
•Concessions remain prevalent in most submarkets, but declined in the 3rd and 4th Qtr
•The condo shadow market has largely been absorbed and is stabilized from a rental basis
•Occupancy is forecast to increase 1% this year to 91.1%
•Occupancy is projected to increase from 90.1% to 94.9% by 2013 (MPF Research)
•Rents are projected to increase from $815 to $923 by 2014 (MPF Research)
•Several submarkets are projected to outperform the MSA: Altamonte Springs/Longwood, East Orange County, North/East Seminole County, Southwest Orange County, and Winter Springs

For a complete copy of the report, please contact:

Shelton D. Granade, (top right photo) Senior Vice President, 407.839.3103, shelton.granade@cbre.com
Luke Wickham, (middle left photo) Director of Operations, 407.839.3130, Luke.wickham@cbre.com