Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Loews Hotels & Resorts and MetLife Form Joint Venture



Loews Chairman Jonathan Tisch
 at Lowes Hollywood Hotel, Los Angeles, CA
NEW YORK, NY– Loews Hotels & Resorts, a wholly owned subsidiary of Loews Corporation (NYSE: L), and MetLife announced a joint venture in the ownership of the Loews Hollywood Hotel, a 632-room hotel in Los Angeles, California, purchased by Loews Hotels earlier this year. 

The venture continues Loews Hotels' partnership with MetLife, which owns the Loews Atlanta Hotel.

“We are committed to collaborating with proven investors that have similar financial return goals," said Paul Whetsell, President & CEO, Loews Hotels & Resorts. “MetLife is a great partner as we invest in our portfolio and expand the Loews brand.”
Paul Whetsell

The Loews Hollywood Hotel purchase is part of the company’s strategy to add substantially to its portfolio of hotels over the next five years. Loews Hotels continues to aggressively seek hotel additions in gateway cities and resort destinations and expects to announce additional new Loews properties in the coming months.

“Entering this joint venture supports MetLife’s strategy of acquiring, retaining and maximizing the value of prime real estate assets in top-tier domestic markets,” said Sharon Wortmann, a director in MetLife Real Estate Investors’ Los Angeles Regional Office.  

Sharon Wortmann
“Aligning ourselves with Loews is also an excellent partnership given their significant experience in the Los Angeles hotel market.”

MetLife invests in office, apartment, retail and industrial opportunities in major U.S. markets as well as outside the U.S.

Located along the renowned Walk of Fame in the heart of Hollywood, the 20-story Loews Hollywood Hotel features extraordinary views of the city and the world-famous Hollywood sign.

The property anchors the connecting mixed-use Hollywood & Highland Center, a 460,000-square-foot, five-story structure featuring more than 80 specialty retail outlets. The master-planned development also houses the DolbyTheatre, home to the Academy Awards® presentation.

 Contacts:

Lark-Marie Anton/Sarah Murov                                         
Loews Hotels & Resorts                                                     
(212) 521-2779 / (212) 521-2495                                     
www.loewshotels.com.          

Jerry Daly/Chris Daly
Daly Gray Public Relations
(703) 435-6293
 chris@dalygray.com      

Drew Guthrie
MetLife, Inc. 
212-578-2826
Posted by Alex at 2:44 PM 0 comments

HFF and CBRE jointly announce sale of Lightwave Corporate Center in San Diego, CA


Lightwave Corporate Center, San Diego, CA
 SAN DIEGO, CA – HFF and CBRE jointly announced the sale of Lightwave Corporate Center, a 166,892-square-foot data center and office property in San Diego, California.  HFF and CBRE jointly marketed the property on behalf of the seller, LBA Realty. 

Lightwave Corporate Center is located at 9305 Lightwave Avenue in San Diego’s Kearny Mesa area, northeast of downtown and close to Montgomery Field. 

Nick Psyllos
The property was remodeled in 2007 and is fully leased to tenants including American Internet Services, which occupies data center space on the entire ground floor of the building, and San Diego Gas & Electric Company, which occupies the entire second floor.

“This asset benefited from improving fundamentals in San Diego and traded at a significant discount to replacement cost, given the extraordinarily high cost of data center construction,” said Nick Psyllos, a senior managing director for HFF.

Ryan Gallagher
“The high quality nature of this asset resulted in significant investor interest across a large range of potential buyers, including both data center specific funds and more traditional buyer groups,” added Kevin Shannon, a vice chairman with CBRE.

The HFF investment sales team was led by senior managing director Nick Psyllos with assistance from senior managing director Ryan Gallagher.

 CBRE’s investment sales team included Mr. Shannon, Scott Schumacher and Ken White, as well as local market experts Brad Black and Rob Merkin.

Kevin Shannon
LBA Realty is a full-service real estate investment and management company with a diverse portfolio of office and industrial properties in major markets throughout the western United

States including California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Utah.

CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm (in terms of 2011 revenue).  

Scott Schumacher
The Company has approximately 34,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 300 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. 

CBRE offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. Please visit the company’s web site at www.cbre.com.



 Contact:

Kristen M. Murphy
Associate Director
HFF | 9 Greenway Plaza, Suite 700 | Houston, TX 77046
tel 713.852.3500 | cel 617.543.4873 | fax 713.527.8725 |
www.hfflp.com
krmurphy@hfflp.com

www.freedomstation.org
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Posted by Alex at 2:21 PM 0 comments

Freedom Station USA Announces Purchase of San Diego Housing Facility for Injured Warriors


 Sandy Lehmkuhler

 SAN DIEGO, CA – Freedom Station USA, a nonprofit organization, announced it has purchased a 12-unit housing facility and recovery support center for injured warriors.

 The local offices of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) donated commercial real estate services to assist Freedom Station with acquiring the property, which provides a much-needed transitional environment that warriors often lack as they return to life outside of the military.

Freedom Station originally leased and opened the 12-unit housing complex, also named Freedom Station, in May 2010. With the purchase, Freedom Station can continue its mission of helping injured warriors successfully make the transition from military to civilian life for a long time to come. 

Bryan J. Clark
 “As evidenced by Freedom Station ‘graduates’ and success stories, the existence of a supportive transitional environment for our military men and women can make all the difference as they begin a new journey outside the service,” said Sandy Lehmkuhler, founder and president of Freedom Station.

“With this purchase, we can continue to meet the needs of our military heroes and ensure their successful transition to self-sufficient, productive and contributing members of society. It is our hope to eventually and open additional facilities in the San Diego area.”

 Located near Naval Medical Center San Diego, one of the nation’s largest military hospitals, Freedom Station creates a transitional period for acclimating to civilian life while awaiting retirement/discharge from their respective branch of service.
Naval Medical Center San Diego, CA
 While living at Freedom Station, residents continue to receive medical treatment at the hospital while preparing for new challenges in the civilian world, ranging from job searches and college entry to monthly budgeting and home buying. 

 In keeping with HFF’s commitment to positively impact communities by contributing time, energy and skills to various community service projects throughout the year, HFF Associate Director Bryan Clark donated commercial mortgage financing and consulting services to the local nonprofit organization.

Warrier Foundation Volunteers
Working exclusively on behalf of the borrower, Freedom Station, HFF placed the loan with a commercial bank. Loan proceeds were used to finance the acquisition of the 12-unit property known as Freedom Station in San Diego.

“I have the greatest respect and appreciation for what these heroes have done for our country and the sacrifices they each have made,” said Clark.

“It has always been their dream to purchase their current facility to ensure the long-term viability of the foundation, and when we learned that they had less than forty-five days to acquire the property or it would be sold to another buyer, we were compelled to act.

“The transaction posed several unique challenges, but failure was not an option. HFF is truly honored to have been part of the process.”

 Contact:

Kristen M. Murphy
Associate Director
HFF | 9 Greenway Plaza, Suite 700 | Houston, TX 77046
tel 713.852.3500 | cel 617.543.4873 | fax 713.527.8725 |
www.hfflp.com
krmurphy@hfflp.com

www.freedomstation.org
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Posted by Alex at 2:03 PM 0 comments

HFF closes $124 million sale and arranges $75 million financing for Canarsie Plaza in Brooklyn, NY



Canarsie Plaza, Brooklyn, NY
 NEW YORK, NY – HFF announced today that it has closed the sale of Canarsie Plaza, a 277,907-square-foot neighborhood center in Brooklyn, New York, on behalf of the seller, and arranged acquisition financing for the buyer.

HFF marketed the property for the seller, Acadia Realty Trust.  Cole Real Estate Investments purchased the property for $124 million free and clear of existing debt. 

Andrew Scandalios
HFF also arranged a $75 million, 10-year, fixed-rate loan through PNC Bank, N.A. on behalf of the buyer.

Canarsie Plaza is located at 8925 Avenue D at the intersection of Remsen Avenue in Brooklyn’s Canarsie neighborhood.  Completed in 2011, the 96 percent leased property is anchored by BJ’s Wholesale Club.  Other tenants include PetSmart, Planet Fitness, Vitamin Shoppe and Dunkin’ Donuts.

The HFF investment sales team representing the seller was led by senior managing directors Andrew Scandalios, Jose Cruz and Danny Finkle.

Jose Cruz
HFF’s debt placement team was led by senior managing directors Kevin Mackenzie and Mike Tepedino.

Acadia Realty Trust, a fully-integrated equity real estate investments trust, is focused on the acquisition, ownership, management and redevelopment of high-quality retail properties and urban/infill mixed-use properties with a strong retail component located primarily in high-barrier-to-entry, densely populated metropolitan areas along the East Coast and in Chicago. 

Kevin MacKenzie
Acadia owns, or has an ownership interest in these properties through its core portfolio and its opportunistic/value-add investment funds.  Additional information may be found on the company’s website at www.acadiarealty.com.

                Founded in 1979, Cole Real Estate Investments is one of the nation’s leading acquirers of high-quality, income-producing retail, office and industrial real estate assets. 

Cole primarily targets net-leased single-tenant and multi-tenant retail properties under long-term leases with creditworthy tenants, as well as single-tenant office and industrial properties, using a conservative investment and financing strategy. 

Mike Tepedino
According to Real Capital Analytics, a leading industry research firm, Cole has established itself as the No. 1 buyer of all single-tenant assets for the past 10 years.  At the end of October 2012, Cole-related entities owned and managed more than 1,950 assets representing approximately 70.6

Contact:

Kristen M. Murphy
Associate Director
HFF | 9 Greenway Plaza, Suite 700 | Houston, TX 77046
tel 713.852.3500 | cel 617.543.4873 | fax 713.527.8725 |
www.hfflp.com
krmurphy@hfflp.com

www.colecapital.com
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Posted by Alex at 1:30 PM 0 comments
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