CalPERS Names Anthony Suine Chief of Benefit Services Division

 SACRAMENTO, CA –The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) announced the appointment of Anthony Suine as the pension fund’s new Benefit Services Division Chief.

Suine will oversee a staff of more than 250 and be responsible for the day-to-day operations of providing benefits to CalPERS retirees, beneficiaries and survivors, including service and disability retirements, death benefits, refunds and adjustments.

He will report to Donna Lum (top right photo), Deputy Executive Officer of CalPERS Customer Services & Support.  Suine starts September 1 and replaces Mary Lynn Fisher who is retiring after more than 34 years with CalPERS.

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

External Affairs Branch

(916) 795-3991

Robert Udall Glazier, Deputy Executive Officer

Brad Pacheco, Chief, Office of Public Affairs

Contact: Amy Norris, Information Officer

pressroom@calpers.ca.gov

4 New Condo Towers Proposed For South Beach and Miami's Brickell Avenue

MIAMI, FL -- Developers are proposing four new condo towers - a pair in South Beach (Ocean Drive lower right photo)  and another two on Brickell Avenue (skyline  top left photo) in Greater Downtown - for the coastal South Florida region, and in the process have boosted the total number of planned buildings to 50 since the real estate crash began in 2007, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

With the newly announced towers, more than 8,600 condo residences have now been proposed for the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties as of July 26, 2012, according to the Preconstruction Condo Projects list compiled by the licensed Florida brokerage CVR Realty™.    

Some five years after the South Florida condo market began to stall, one new tower has already been completed in the tricounty region and 10 other highrises are under construction as the post-crash development era gains momentum, according to a recent CondoVultures.com report.

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

Condo Vultures® LLC is a real estate consultancy and marketing company based in the 225 Midtown Building at 225 NE 34th St., Suite 209B, Downtown Miami, Florida, 33137. Condo Vultures® LLC can be reached at 800-750-0517.

HFF marketing for sale 215 West Washington in Chicago, IL

CHICAGO, IL – HFF announced it has been selected to market the sale of 215 West Washington (top left photo), a 389-unit, Class A luxury high-rise multi-housing property in Chicago, Illinois.

HFF is marketing the property exclusively on behalf of the seller, Cornerstone 215 West Washington LLC, for an undisclosed amount free and clear of debt.

215 West Washington is located in downtown Chicago’s Loop area within a mile of Millennium Park, Chicago’s theater district and the River North neighborhood. 

The property is a LEED certified 50-story luxury community featuring studio, convertible, one-, two- and three-bedroom units averaging 814 square feet.  Although not being offered as part of the sale, the property also features a separately owned attached 600-space parking garage and 12,100 square feet of ground floor retail.

The HFF investment sales team representing the seller is led by managing directors Sean Fogarty (bottom right photo) and Marty O’Connell along with executive managing director Matthew Lawton. 

Contacts

SEAN P. FOGARTY                                 

 HFF Managing Director                              

312) 528-3650                                          

sfogarty@hfflp.com                                  

 MYRA F. MOREN

HFF Director, Marketing

(713) 852-350

 mmoren@hfflp.com

HFF secures $44.5 million financing for Lugano Cherry Creek in Denver, CO

DALLAS, TX – HFF announced it has secured a $44.5 million financing for Lugano Cherry Creek (top left photo), a 328-unit, Class A multi-housing community in Denver, Colorado. 

HFF worked on behalf of the owner, a fund managed by GenCap Partners, Inc., to secure the two-year, adjustable-rate loan through GE Capital Real Estate. 

Lugano Cherry Creek is located on the northwest corner of East Iliff Avenue and South Emporia Street in the East Cherry Creek submarket of Denver.

 The community is comprised of two four-story buildings that include ground-floor retail and structured garage parking.  Units include one-, two and three-bedroom options averaging 1,025 square feet each.

 Currently more than 90 percent occupied, the community offers amenities such as courtyards, 1.5 acres of green space, club room with gaming and lounge area, resort-style swimming pool with heated sun deck and views of the Rocky Mountains.

The HFF team representing the borrower was led by senior managing director John Brownlee (middle right photo) and managing director Andy Scott (lower left photo)along with senior managing director Eric Tupler and directors Josh Simon and Brock Cannon of the Denver office of HFF.

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

 JOHN S. BROWNLEE                                   

  HFF Senior Managing Director                        

  (214) 265-0880                                                  

  jbrownlee@hfflp.com

MYRA F. MOREN

HFF Director, Marketing

(713) 852-350

 mmoren@hfflp.com

Marcus & Millichap Sells Blackstone Building in West Palm Beach, FL for $3 million

WEST PALM BEACH, FL – Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, the nation’s largest real estate investment services firm, has announced the sale of the Blackstone Building (top left photo), a three-story office building with street level retail located in downtown West Palm Beach, FL, according to Gregory Matus, Vice President/Regional Manager of the firm’s Fort Lauderdale, FL office. The asset commanded a sales price of $3,000,000.

Douglas K. Mandel, (lower right photo) Vice President Investments and Brian L. Rosen, Associate in the Fort Lauderdale office, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, a local West Palm Beach owner/developer.

The Blackstone Building comprises 16,721 square feet, 5,791 square feet of which is retail and the remaining 10,930 square feet is office.

 Palm Sugar, an Asian restaurant and dessert bar, occupies the ground level retail space and its office tenants include a law firm, testing center and other strong local tenants.  The property is located at 100 S Dixie Highway in downtown West Palm Beach on the hard corner of Clematis Street and Dixie Highway.

Press Contact:

Ashley Steele

Fort Lauderdale Office

954.245.3400

Bull Realty Brokers $4.851 Million Sale of Roswell Summit Office Building, Wins Leasing Assignment for the Facility

 ATLANTA, GA– Bull Realty has brokered the $4.851 million sale of Roswell Summit (top left photo) a 127,342-square-foot office complex in the Roswell, Ga., sub-market of metro Atlanta.

Sean Williams (middle right photo), vice president, corporate office services, with Bull Realty, represented the buyer, Emcade Acquisitions.

Kevin Markwordt ofTranswestern represented the seller, CSMC 2006-C5 Holcomb Office Limited Partnership. The estimated cap rate on the transaction is 11.8 percent.

Emcade Acquisitions also has awarded Bull Realty the leasing assignment for Roswell Summit, making the property one of several leasing assignments Bull Realty handles for Emcade.

The property, located near Georgia 400 at 1080 HolcombBridge Road, currently has a vacancy rate of nearly 50 percent. Emcade willinvest in interior and exterior upgrades and offer enticing rental rates and terms. Roswell Summit was constructed in the mid-1980s and features two three-story buildings, each approximately 63,500 square feet in size.

“This represents an exciting opportunity for tenants, as the new landlord has a much lower basis and is able to offer very competitive rental rates,” Williams said. “Our client has a great track record of improving facilities and is ready to combine physical improvements with an enhanced management and tenant rep incentives to drive occupancies at Roswell Summit.”

Contacts

Stephen Ursery

 Wilbert News Strategies LLC

404-965-5026

sursery@wnspr.com

swilliams@bullrealty.com

Mercantile Capital Corp. CEO Chris Hurn in the running for 2012 Small Business Influencer Award

ORLANDO, FL– Chris Hurn (top right photo), chief executive officer and co-founder of Orlando based Mercantile Capital Corporation, has been nominated for a 2012 Small Business Influence Award, under the category “small business expert.”

Hurn, whose Mercantile Capital Corporation opened nine years ago and ranks as one of the nation’s leading providers of U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities, said he is flattered by the nomination.

Currently, Hurn ranks third in the U.S. in an online poll of small business owners voting for 2012 Small Business Influencer Award nominees. Nominations for the award closed on July 15. Online voting will continue through Aug. 5.

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

Chris Hurn, Chief Executive Officer, Mercantile Capital Corporation, ChrisHurn@MercantileCC.com, 407-786-5040

Anita Campbell, Chief Executive Officer, Small Business Trends, LLC, admin@smallbiztrends.com

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

 http://www.smbinfluencers.com/.

Lincoln Property Company Brokers 25,691-SF Lease by IPG at North Atlanta Office Building

 ATLANTA, GA– Lincoln Property Company Southeast has brokered a seven-year, 25,691-square-foot new lease with Implantable Provider Group (IPG) at 400 Northwinds Center (top left photo), located at 11605 Haynes Bridge Road in Alpharetta, Ga., in the North Fultonsubmarket of Atlanta. IPG will occupy an entire floor in the building.

Hunter Henritze (middle right photo) and Michael Howell (middle left photo), both vice presidents of leasing for Lincoln Company Property Southeast, represented the landlord, Equity Office, in the transaction. Dom Wyant of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the tenant.

 IPG previously was located in Two Northwinds, which, like 400 Northwinds, is part of the Northwinds Center office park. “IPG has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years, having more than doubled in size since 2009,” Henritze said. “This is a great example of how a park the size of Northwinds is a good fit for growing tenants.”

400 Northwinds Center is a six-story, Class-A office building featuring a comprehensive package of amenities. It is located near two hotels, four banks, nine restaurants, two complimentary fitness centers and a daycare/learning facility.

 In December 2011, Equity Office awarded Lincoln Property Company Southeast contracts to manage 3.3 million square feet and lease 1.9million square feet in suburban Atlanta.

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

 Contact:

Stephen Ursery

Wilbert News Strategies

E-mail: sursery@wnspr.com

Office: (404) 965-5026

Cell: (404) 405-2354

www.wnspr.com

www.lpcsoutheast.com

http://blog.lpcsoutheast.com.

$84 Million in Net-Leased Investment Sales Closed in First Half by Marcus & Millichap’s John Glass

 SAN FRANCISCO, CA– John Glass (top right photo) of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, the nation’s largest real estate investment services firm, has closed $84,413,625 in single-tenant net-leased property sales during the first six months of 2012.

Glass, a senior vice president investments and senior director of the National Retail Group (NRG), is based in the San Francisco office of Marcus & Millichap. He has closed more than $2.4 billion in commercial real estate transactions during his 23-year career. 

“John has successfully advised a wide array of institutional and private owners of QSR restaurant chains, bank branches, drugstores and other single-tenant net-leased properties by putting together unique execution strategies that allow his clients the twofold benefit of obtaining the highest possible sales price while minimizing their market exposure,” says Bill Rose (middle left photo), national director of Marcus & Millichap’s NRG. 

“The sale-leaseback market continues to thrive,” says Glass. “Current market dynamics are optimal, allowing companies to strengthen their balance sheet at the lowest sale-leaseback rates in the last five years. By repositioning their balance sheets through a sale-leaseback, companies are also able to tap additional sources of both short- and long-term credit facilities at historically low rates,” he adds.

Single-tenant net-leased properties, even in secondary and some tertiary markets, with strong corporate guarantees and backing are in high demand among investors seeking a safe haven from other volatile investments, such as the stock market.

“The single-tenant segment of the market has outperformed virtually every other segment of the commercial real estate market over the past two years,” says Glass.

 “Investor preference for these assets will remain strong as the year progresses, but will hinge upon demand from cost-conscious consumers. While more Americans are returning to work each month, personal incomes are relatively stagnant. As a result, the average consumer has become an avid bargain-hunter after the prolonged recession,” Glass concludes.   

Contact:

Stacey Corso

Public Relations Manager

(925) 953-1716