Overall Year-Over-Year Foreclosure Activity in U.S. Decreases for 11th Consecutive Month, But Default Notices Jump 33 Percent from July

IRVINE, CA. – Sep. 15, 2011 — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for August 2011, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 228,098 U.S. properties in August, a 7 percent increase from the previous month, but still down nearly 33 percent from August 2010.

The report also shows one in every 570 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.

Default notices (NOD, LIS) were filed for the first time on a total of 78,880 U.S. properties in August, a nine-month high and a 33 percent increase from July — the biggest month-over-month increase since August 2007.

Despite the monthly increase, default notices were still down 18 percent from August 2010 and were 44 percent below the monthly peak of 142,064 default notices in April 2009.

Default notices increased more than 40 percent on a month-over-month basis in several states, including New Jersey (42 percent), Indiana (46 percent) and California (55 percent), but were still down from a year ago in all of those states.

“The big increase in new foreclosure actions may be a signal that lenders are starting to push through some of the foreclosures delayed by robo-signing and other documentation problems,” said James Saccacio (top right photo), chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

 “It also foreshadows more bank repossessions in the coming months as these new foreclosures make their way through the process.”

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

Christine Stricker

949.502.8300, ext. 268

christine.stricker@realtytrac.com

Michelle Schneider

949.502.8300, ext. 139

michelle.schneider@realtytrac.com

TD Wood Brokers Loans Totaling $1.7 Million in Florida and South Carolina

Sarasota, FL—Sept. 15, 2011— Thomas D. Wood and Company, a Strategic Alliance Mortgage LLC member, secured financing in the amount of $1,700,000 for Keystone Courtyard (bottom right photo)  and Family Dollar.

Brad Cox (top right photo), CCIM, CPM, Company Vice President, secured financing for Keystone Courtyard in the amount of $1,000,000 through Thomas D. Wood and Company’s correspondent relationship with The Standard Life Insurance Company. 

The permanent fully-amortizing, full-recourse loan has a term of 20 years, based on an interest rate of 6.375%.  The loan-to-value is 60%.  The borrowers, who purchased the apartment building out of a foreclosure, remodeled it and rented it up, and wanted to refinance their current short-term debt with permanent financing. 

 The 28,000 square-foot multi-family complex was built in 1972 and remodeled in 2010, and is located at 3719 Ohio Avenue, Tampa, Florida.

Cox also secured financing for Family Dollar in the amount of $700,000 through The Standard Life Insurance Company.  The full-recourse loan has a term of 10 years, based on 25 years and an interest rate of 6.25%.  The loan-to-value is 62%. 

The borrower wanted to purchase a Family Dollar that was under construction and to find a lender willing to be flexible regarding the closing date.  The 8,320 square-foot single-tenant retail building was built in 2011, and is located at 1120 Red Bank Road, Goose Creek, South Carolina.

The company’s website may be accessed through www.tdwood.com.

For further information, please contact:

Brad Cox, CCIM, CPM    (941) 552-9731, bcox@tdwood.com

Jessica Kinnee, (407) 937-0470, jkinnee@tdwood.com

$15.1 Billion Boutique Hotel Comes to Market in Phoenix, AZ

PHOENIX, AZ– Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, the nation’s largest real estate investment services firm, has retained the exclusive listing for The Clarendon Hotel (top left photo), a 105-room boutique hotel located in Phoenix’s Museum District.

The listing price of $15.1 million represents $143,810 per room. The average daily room rate (ADR) is $91.50.

Michael Francis (middle left photo), a senior associate, and Melanie Wright (middle right photo), a hospitality investment specialist, both in the firm’s Salt Lake City office, are representing the seller, Clarendon Hotel Group LLC. David Guido (bottom right photo) of the firm’s Phoenix office is Marcus & Millichap’s broker of record in Arizona.

“The current owners took over the property in 2004, completely renovated it and increased the number of operational guest rooms from 35 to 105,” says Wright. “The Clarendon Hotel boasts high style and flexible indoor/outdoor event spaces that attract corporate guests, pleasure travelers and local groups.”

The property is located at 401 West Clarendon Ave. in midtown within walking distance of a light rail connection.

The Clarendon Hotel features a heated swimming pool with underwater speakers, massaging water jets and a colorful Sicis Italian tile mural with 24-karat gold and platinum accents. The bottom of the pool is illuminated after dark by almost 1,000 starlights. The pool area features bubbling fountains, a Jacuzzi and a glass water wall that is more than 60 feet wide and two stories tall.

Guestrooms amenities include heating/cooling system with plasma air filtration, 42-to-50-inch flat-screen TV, alarm clock/radio, iron and ironing board, stereo with iPod dock, coffee/tea maker, bathrobe, etc.

In 2010, The Clarendon Hotel was named the “Best Boutique Hotel in Phoenix” by the Phoenix New Times and “One of the Best Things About Phoenix” by the Arizona Republic in 2008.

Contact: Stacey Corso, Public Relations Manager, (925) 953-1716

HFF arranges $25.6 million refinancing for Rancho Penasquitos Towne Center Phase I and II in San Diego, CA

SAN DIEGO, CA – HFF announced today that it has arranged $25.6 million in two separate financings for Rancho Penasquitos Towne Center Phase I and II (top left photo), a neighborhood and community shopping center totaling 179,000 square feet in San Diego, California.

HFF worked exclusively on behalf of Rancho Penasquitos Towne Center I, LP and Rancho Penasquitos Towne Center II, LP to arrange the 10-year, fixed-rate securitized financings through Deutsche Bank Mortgage Capital – CMBS. 

A $14.5 million loan was arranged for Phase I, and an $11.1 million loan was secured for Phase II.

 Rancho Penasquitos Towne Center (RPTC) is situated north of Highway 56 at Black Mountain Road in San Diego owned by a joint venture consisting of affiliates of UBS (85%) and Kimco Realty Corporation (15%).

 RPTC is anchored by a 40,000-square-foot Von’s grocery store and a 22,000-square-foot Rite Aid (both of which are not part of the collateral) and includes in-line retail space leased to JP Morgan Chase Bank, Starbucks, State Farm Insurance, Bank of America, Subway and GNC.  As of June 30, 2011, the property was 91 percent occupied.

The HFF team representing Rancho Penasquitos Towne Center I, LP and Rancho Penasquitos Towne Center II, LP was led by associate director Zach Koucos (middle right photo) and managing director Robert Delitsky (bottom left photo).

Contacts:  

Robert Delitsky, HFF Managing Director, (212) 632-1831, rdelitsky@hfflp.com                         

Zach Koucos, HFF Associate Director, (858) 812-2351, zkoucos@hfflp.com  

Kristen Murphy, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, (713) 852-3500, 

krmurphy@hfflp.com

Colliers International Closes $12.8 Million Multifamily Sale in the San Fernando Valley of California

LOS ANGELES, CA, Sept. 15,  2011.  – Kitty Wallace (middle right photo), Executive Vice President of Colliers International, the second largest global real estate services organization, closed the sale of the Villas at Sherman Place (top left photo) located at 23130 Sherman Place in West Hills, California.

This 39-unit luxurious Tuscan styled property was recently completed in late 2010 and just sold for $12,800,000.

 Wallace, based out of Colliers International’s West Los Angeles office, represented the Seller, Quality Properties Asset Management Company, an Illinois corporation. She also represented the Buyer, a publicly traded company based out of Los Angeles.

“The Villas at Sherman Place is one of the largest new townhome properties in West Hills” said  Wallace.

“The asset was delivered completely vacant offering the new owner the flexibility to lease the townhomes as apartments or to sell them individually to end-users.

“The versatility of this deal coupled with its location and quality of construction caused quite a buzz amongst our investors” notes Wallace.

 “We received 16 highly qualified offers after just one month of marketing and the Buyer won the deal after an aggressive bidding war. They purchased it for $328,200 per unit with a $1 million released deposit and a quick 25 day close.”

Wallace believes the new owner plans to sell the townhomes as condominiums.

. Follow us at www.twitter.com/colliersgla.

 Contact:

Angela S. Hwang

Regional Marketing Coordinator | Greater Los Angeles

Dir +1 213 532 3258 | Mob +1 310 867 4105

Main +1 213 627 1214 | Fax +1 213 327 3258

angela.hwang@colliers.com

Colliers International

865 S Figueroa St., Suite 3500 | Los Angeles, CA 90017 | USA

www.colliers.com

The Golf Academy at Celebration Golf Club continues its support of the Fairways for Warriors program – Fits disabled veterans with New Ping Golf Clubs

                       From left: Nick Lawson, William Castillo and Chris Gordon

 ORLANDO, Fla. --- The Golf Academy at Celebration Golf Club, which is actively involved with the Fairways for Warriors program, recently fit two disabled war veterans with complimentary Ping golf clubs donated by the manufacturer.

Kenny Nairn, executive vice president of golf at Celebration Golf Management, said Ping donated five sets of clubs to the Fairways for Warriors program.

Nairn said Chris Gordon and William Castillo received the new clubs and will participate in The Golf Academy clinics for returning war veterans.

Fairways for Warriors is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) company focused on providing golf to wounded warriors.   Visit www.fairwaysforwarriors.org for additional information.

 For more information about this press release, contact

Kenny Nairn, Scottish PGA Golf Professional / EVP of Golf Celebration Golf Management 407-566-1045 ext. 4604; knairn@cgmgolfproperties.com

Gene Garrote, President, Celebration Golf Management, 407-566-1045

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

Grubb & Ellis and GearingStone Selected to Manage and Lease 300,000-SF Freezer Facility in Chicago’s I-55 Corridor

CHICAGO, IL (Sept. 15, 2011) – Grubb & Ellis (NYSE: GBE), one of the nation’s leading commercial real estate services firms today announced that the company was recently selected to provide property management and leasing for a state-of-the-art 300,000-square-foot freezer/cooler building in the I-55 Distribution Corridor.

 The assignment is the result of the company’s preferred provider relationship with GearingStone, LLC, a Dallas-based commercial special servicing company, which was awarded the asset management contract.

 A partnership between Gearing Capital Partners, Inc. and Minneapolis-based CarVal Investors acquired the asset in May. 

 “The dual contract is a prime example of the synergistic relationship between loan servicing and commercial real estate services firms,” said Alan Gearing, president of GearingStone.  “We are excited to be working on such a high-quality asset with such an experienced team.”

 Scot Farber, executive vice president, Investment Services, and Dallas-based regional manager of the company’s Financial Services Asset Management group, manages Grubb & Ellis’ relationship with GearingStone. 

 “We couldn’t be more pleased with how our partnership with GearingStone has evolved over the past nine months,” Farber said.  “We view it as a perfect example of how the Financial Services Asset Management group can bring all of Grubb & Ellis’ resources to bear for owners and lenders.”

Jim Cummings, associate vice president, Industrial, Jack Cozzie, senior vice president, Industrial, and Frank Melchert, senior associate, Industrial and a member of the company’s Food & Cold Storage practice group, who are based in Grubb & Ellis’ Rosemont office and specialize in properties located in the I-55 Distribution Corridor, will handle the leasing of the asset.

The team will be bringing more than 70,000 square feet of prime freezer and cooler space to market for lease execution.  The space is equipped with racking equipment that can accommodate over 8,000 pallet positions.

“The facility is unique in terms of its location situated in the premier food district in Chicago with wonderful access to I-55 which is the most sought-after thoroughfare,” said Cummings.  “The space is easily divisible for smaller users, if necessary, and the interior configuration provides 60-foot deep refrigerated staging bays for maximum efficiency, which is a huge competitive advantage for users in the marketplace.”

 The onsite management team will be lead by Jeff Perpich (lower right photo), senior vice president, Director of Management Services. 

 Contact: Janice McDill, Phone, 312.698.6707                                     

Email:  Janice.mcdill@grubb-ellis.com           

CalPERS Board Censures Board Member

SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration today publicly censured board member JJ Jelincic (top right photo) for his involvement in a personnel action based on complaints filed by coworkers at CalPERS.

CalPERS management reprimanded Jelincic last year. The reprimand was upheld last week by the State Personnel Board and administrative law judge Teri L. Block following an appeal by Jelincic.

Pursuant to its board governance principles, the CalPERS Board voted to publicly censure Jelincic and suspend his position as Chair of the pension fund’s Investment Policy Subcommittee and Vice Chair of its Health Benefits Committee until March 1, 2012.

The Board also voted to suspend Jelincic’s board travel privileges for the same time period except for pre-approved travel, travel to and from Board and committee meetings and constituent meetings, and is requiring Jelincic to attend sensitivity training.

 “The CalPERS Board does not condone harassment or similar conduct of any kind and all our Board Members are expected to meet this standard,” said Rob Feckner (middle left photo), President of the CalPERS Board. “Our employees are one of our greatest assets and we are committed to ensuring that their work environment is professional, safe and free from all forms of discrimination and harassment.”

Jelincic was elected to the CalPERS Board in December 2009 as a Member-At-Large representing all CalPERS members. He has been employed with CalPERS for 25 years as an investment officer.

CalPERS is the nation’s largest public pension fund with approximately $227 billion in market assets. It administers retirement benefits for 1.6 million active and retired State, public school, and local public agency employees and their families and health benefits for more than 1.3 million members.

 The average CalPERS pension is $2,220 per month.

For more information about CalPERS, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.

Contact:
External Affairs Branch
(916) 795-3991
Robert Udall Glazier, Deputy Executive Officer
Brad Pacheco, Chief,
Office of Public Affairspressroom@calpers.ca.gov