Invesco and Zeller Partner to Acquire Fifth Street Towers in Minneapolis, MN at Foreclosure Auction

  

ATLANTA, GA  /PRNewswire/ -- Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) announces that its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Invesco Advisers, Inc. and WL Ross & Co. LLC, in partnership with Zeller Realty Corporation, have teamed up to acquire Fifth Street Towers (top left photo), a two-tower class A office complex comprising 1.1 million square feet in downtown Minneapolis.

The purchase was completed at the foreclosure auction held on Thursday morning, April 19, at the Hennepin County Sheriff's office. The price was $110.7 million, $1 more than the credit bid offered by the lender that was foreclosing on the property.

The Fifth Street Towers were built in 1985 and 1989 by Opus Northwest. Located at 100 and 150 S. Fifth St., the complex is adjacent to a light rail transit station on South Fifth between Marquette Avenue and Nicollet Mall (lower right photo).

Building amenities include below-grade parking, a Caribou Coffee shop, deli on the skyway level, and tenant fitness and conference centers. Currently, the office space is approximately 65 percent occupied.

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

 Bill Hensel, +1-404-479-2886

Access Point Financial Provides Financing for Residence Inn by Marriott Hotel Development in Downtown Tempe, AZ

 ATLANTA, GA.and TEMPE, AZ, May 3, 2012—Access Point Financial, Inc., (APF) a direct full-service lending and advisory firm focused on the hospitality industry, today announced it has provided first mortgage financing for the 173-room Residence Inn by Marriott (top left photo) in downtown Tempe, Arizona being developed by Miami-based Finvarb Group, a leading hotel real estate development company.  The hotel will be managed by Marriott International.

The APF financing is the foundation of a multifaceted capital stack.

“Hotel development remains challenging as seasoned hoteliers and experienced lenders must thoughtfully structure transactions in order for projects to achieve attractive returns, yet remain a prudent risk,” said Jon Wright, president and CEO of Access Point Financial. 

“We have an agile underwriting team with more than 100 years of hotel industry finance experience that provides brands and hoteliers the confidence to proceed with developing intricate projects like this.”

Scheduled to open in Fall 2013, the hotel is located at 125 East Fifth Street in downtown Tempe, adjacent to Arizona State University (ASU) and Tempe City Hall (middle right photo), and is one block from the Mill Avenue shopping and entertainment district, and two blocks from ASU’s football stadium, basketball arena, and baseball stadium.

The hotel will feature guest suites containing fully-equipped kitchens and will offer state-of-the-art amenities, including an outdoor rooftop pool and fire pit with panoramic views of downtown, about 3,500 square feet of meeting space, and 5,700 square feet of ground-level retail space.  Hotel guests will have use of the adjoining city parking garage.

“Our knowledge of respected developers like The Finvarb Group, the markets and the brands give us the confidence to finance strategically smart ground up hotel projects,” Wright said.  “We are fully engaged in all types of hotel financing and on schedule with our previously-stated target of placing $1 billion in three years.”

 

“The Tempe market is poised for strong growth and we are confident that this is the best location in the market,” said Ronny Finvarb, Principal of the Finvarb Group. 

 “We believe we will be able to establish a market-leadership position given the outstanding quality of our location, brand and management team.  Access Point Financial immediately recognized the project’s strength and helped us structure a viable transaction.”

 Contact:

Jerry Daly, Chris Daly

(703) 435-6293

jerry@dalygray.com

www.finvarb.com, 305-861-3500.

 www.accesspointfinancial.com. 404-382-9599

Lincoln Property Company Southeast Brokers 215,000 SFof Office Leases in North Fulton, GA

 ATLANTA, GA (May 3, 2012) – In first-quarter 2012, Lincoln Property Company Southeast brokered 215,000 square feet of leases in the North Fulton office properties the firm is leasing onbehalf of Equity Office.

 Michael Howell and Hunter Henritize, both vice presidents of office leasing for the firm, represented the landlord in the transactions.

 The leases included the following deals:

 • Amdocs signed a renewal and expansion totaling 34,990 square feet in Northwinds VI (top left photo). Danny Granot of Joel & Granot represented the tenant.

 • AIM Systems Inc. signed a renewal for 13,816 square feet in Northwinds VI. Rob Metcalf of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the tenant.

• NobleTek signed a new lease for 11,656 square feet in Northwinds VI. Bennett Gottlieb and John Thornton of CBRE represented the tenant.

 • Brixmor signed a renewal for 9,496 square feet in Preston Ridge IV. Chad Koenig of NAI Brannen Goddard represented the tenant.

 • Merck signed a new lease for 7,305 square feet in Northwinds II. Brannon Moss of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the tenant.

 • Fullscope signed a renewal for 6,084 square feet in Northwinds III. Peter Webster of Davidson Webster represented the tenant.

 • Adecco USA Inc. signed a renewal and expansion totaling 4,028 square feet in Northwinds III. Ben Onerdonk of Mohr Parnters represented the tenant.

 In December, Equity Office awarded Lincoln Property Company Southeast contracts to manage 3.3 million square feet and lease 1.9 million square feet in suburban Atlanta.

The management assignment covers buildings in the North Fulton and Northeast submarkets, and the leasing assignment is for buildings in North Fulton. Lincoln began servicing the contracts at the start of the year.

“We are extremely proud of the work that Hunter and Michael have done in their first 90 days of leasing the North Fulton properties,” said Tony Barlett (lower left photo), senior vice president for Lincoln Property Company Southeast. “They have assembled an outstanding mix of tenants and have already demonstrated the top-flight ability and know-how that Lincoln brings to this assignment.”

 For more information on the Southeast Region of Lincoln Property Company, please visit www.lpcsoutheast.com. To check out the blog, go to http://blog.lpcsoutheast.com.

 Contact:

Stephen Ursery

Wilbert News Strategies

E-mail: sursery@wnspr.com

Office: (404) 965-5026

Cell: (404) 405-2354

www.wnspr.com

Voit Directs 13.26-Acre Land Sale for Development in the Inland Empire

   

  

 INLAND EMPIRE, CA. (May 3, 2012) – Voit Real Estate Services’ Inland Empire office has directed the $2.74 million sale of a 13.26-acre parcel of land (top left aerial)  in Redlands, Calif. on behalf of the seller. 

The raw, unentitled land is zoned for commercial/office use, and was purchased for future development, according to Patrick Wood (middle right photo), a Senior Associate in Voit’s Inland Empire office.

Wood represented U.S. Bank National Association as the seller in the transaction.  The buyer TREH Partners, LLC., is a Newport Beach-based developer.

According to Wood, Voit was successful in generating multiple competing offers on the property, which enabled Voit to secure pricing and terms that outpaced typical market conditions. In the end, the selected buyer provided a non-refundable deposit equal to the purchase price upon opening escrow, and the transaction closed four days thereafter. 

“While the development of this land is likely years away, we were successful in demonstrating the value of this strategically located land, and closed the deal in less than a month from taking the property to market,” commented Wood.

“This transaction demonstrates the bullish outlook the development community has on the future growth of the Inland Empire market,” said Wood. 

“As the health of the market continues to improve, we are starting to see increased competition among buyers to acquire the limited supply of quality land positions in the Inland Empire.  This competitive atmosphere will help to improve property values throughout the region.”

The property is located at the Northwest corner of San Bernardino Avenue and Interstate 210 in Redlands, Calif. 

This is the second land transaction Wood has completed for U.S. Bank National Association in the Redlands area over the past six months. 

Contact:

Jenn Quader/Judith Brower

Brower, Miller & Cole

(949) 955-7940

JQuader@browermillercole.com

Firms with Female Board Members Outperform Peers by 3.6% Annually Over Five-Year Horizon, Ferguson Partners Ltd. Study Reveals

 CHICAGO, IL, May 3, 2012 – A national study of Real Estate Investment Trusts’ (REITs) Board structures by Ferguson Partners Ltd., a global executive recruitment consultancy, finds that firms that have had a female board member for more than three years have enjoyed materially higher returns than their counterparts without such gender diversity.

 Conducted to identify characteristics that closely aligned with performance in the REIT sector, the study revealed that firms with at least one female on their board garnered higher annual Total Shareholder Return (TSR) growth rates than their peers without a female Board member.  Specifically:

•    2.6 percent higher than peers over a three-year horizon;

•    3.6 percent higher than peers over a five-year horizon; and,

•    3.4 percent higher than peers over a ten-year horizon. 

These striking results underscore the importance of diversity on boards and further illustrate that boards that are proactive in the pursuit of diverse perspectives are most apt to succeed,” said William J. Ferguson (top right photo), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ferguson Partners Ltd.

Notably, of those REIT boards included in the study, 44 percent did not have a single female board member. This number is high, especially in contrast to Fortune 500 companies where nearly 11 percent of boards include at least one female director.

The 2012 study is based on the analysis of 164 REITs spanning multiple property types: multifamily, for sale residential, retail, hospitality, mortgage, office, senior living, industrial, and diversified. 

The results are based on a cross data analysis of board membership and composition with firm performance and board tenures during performance horizons of three, five, and ten years.  Ferguson Partners Ltd. based its analysis on performance growth data from 2000 to 2010.

The study analyzed several characteristics including board size, meeting frequency, compensation levels and structures, average board member and CEO tenure, percentage of independent directors, average director age and more.

Across all these variables, it was whether or not the board had any female members that rose above the rest as having a significantly greater effect on performance.

Contact:

Amy Smolensky

amysmolensky@comcast.net

312-485-0053