Richfield Hospitality to Manage Wyndham Lisle-Chicago

  

Wyndham Lisle-Chicago Hotel
and Executive Meeting Center.

LISLE, IL and DENVER, CO, Jan. 3, 2012—Richfield Hospitality, a leading hotel management company, today announced that it assumed management of the 242-room Wyndham Lisle-Chicago Hotel and Executive Meeting Center.

“A new contract with a new owner is a powerful way to close out one year and start the next,” said Greg Mount, president of Richfield Hospitality. 

  “The Wyndham Lisle fits our sweet spot for multi-dimensional, full service hotels in major markets and their environs.  I’m confident that we will reposition the hotel to achieve meaningful results for the property’s new owner. 

Greg Mount

“This hotel, with its proximity to two major international airports and the nationally-acclaimed suburb of Naperville, which was named Money Magazine’s 2012 best place to live in the central U.S., has ample business drivers to assure its long-term success.”  Mount said.

Wyndham Lisle-Chicago Hotel and Executive Meeting Center is located at 3000 Warrenville Rd., Lisle Ill. 

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

Chris Daly or Lauralee Dobbins

Daly Gray

(703) 435-6293

Chris@dalygray.com

Lauralee@dalygray.com

www.richfield.com

. 

HFF arranges $296 million in financing for a multi-property Class A office portfolio

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – HFF announced today that it has arranged $296 million in financing for a 10-property, Class A office portfolio totaling 1.6 million square feet in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Houston and Boston.

                HFF worked on behalf of Clarion Partners to secure the portfolio loan through Bank of America. 

  The loan provided a combination of acquisition financing, forward financing and refinancing for a term of seven years, with a combination of fixed and floating-rate tranches providing optimum flexibility across a geographically diverse pool of core-quality office assets.

Riaz A. Cassum

The properties in the portfolio are: 600 California Street in San Francisco; Morrocroft Centre in Charlotte; Westchase Park in Houston; 1111 19th Street in Washington, D.C; and the most recent addition to the portfolio, the Fort Point office portfolio in Boston’s Seaport District. 

The Fort Point portfolio is comprised of: 33-41 Farnsworth Street, 34 Farnsworth Street, 44 Farnsworth Street, 332 Congress Street, 374 Congress Street and 263 Summer Street.

                The HFF team representing Clarion Partners was led by senior managing director Bruce Ganong with regional support from senior managing directors Riaz Cassum and Sue Carras, and associate director Chris Gandy. 

Sue Carras

“The Bank of America team provided a creative structure and flexible terms that enabled Clarion Partners to match interest rate contracts with individual asset strategies.  A customized financing structure with the additional flexibility of asset substitutions resulting in a win-win solution for both borrower and lender,” said Ganong.

                Clarion Partners has been a leading U.S. real estate investment manager for over 30 years. Headquartered in New York, the firm has offices in major markets throughout the U.S., in S͠ão Paulo, Brazil and London, England as well as a presence in Mexico.  

Chris Gandy

With more than $25 billion in total assets under management, Clarion Partners offers a broad range of real estate strategies across the risk/return spectrum to its more than 200 domestic and international institutional investors.  More information about the firm is available at www.clarionpartners.com.

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

http://www.prei.com

HFF closes sale of Parkway Village in Houston, TX

Parkway Village, Houston, TX

HOUSTON, TX – HFF announced today that it has closed the sale of Parkway Village, a 132,260-square-foot, grocery-anchored community center in Houston’s Energy Corridor.

                HFF represented the seller and procured the buyer, Bentall Kennedy.

                Parkway Village is located at the intersection of Eldridge Parkway and Briar Forest 12 miles west of Houston’s central business district in the Energy Corridor.  

Rusty Tamlyn

The property was completed in 2000 and is 97 percent leased to tenants including Kroger (anchor tenant), Walgreens, La Madeleine, GNC, State Farm and Hallmark.  A Chick-Fil-A due for completion in 2013 will add 4.477 square feet to the center.

The HFF investment sales team representing the seller was led by senior managing director Rusty Tamlyn and managing director Ryan West.

Bentall Kennedy is one of North America’s largest real estate investment advisors, providing its clients with access to one comprehensive North American real estate platform.  

Ryan West

Bentall Kennedy serves the interests of more than 500 clients on assets of more than $27 billion across 140 million square feet of office, retail, industrial, apartment and hotel properties.

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

http://www.prei.com

HFF arranges pre-sale of SoNo East in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood

SoNo East rendering
840 West Blackhawk Street, Chicago

 CHICAGO, IL – HFF announced today that it represented Furniture, LLC in the sale of SoNo East, a luxury 22-story multi-housing tower with ground-floor retail. 

The property is located at 840 West Blackhawk Street in immediate proximity to Chicago’s new Whole Foods flagship store, the CTA Red Line Station at North & Clybourn, and numerous retail and entertainment attractions. 

Daniel A. Kaufman

HFF marketed the property on behalf of the developer, Smithfield Properties, in the summer of 2011 while it was still under construction.  Prudential Real Estate Investors agreed to purchase the asset upon completion.  The ultimate closing took place in the last week of December 2012. 

Matthew Lawton

SoNo East consists of 324 multi-housing units, 3,990 square feet of ground floor retail and a 204-stall parking garage.  The property features nine-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows.  Community amenities include a fitness center, a stainless steel swimming pool, hot tub, sundeck, fire pit, billiards room, café/lounge and great room. 

The HFF investment sales team representing the seller was led by director Daniel Kaufman, executive managing director Matthew Lawton and managing director Sean Fogarty.

Sean Fogarty

“SoNo East is the first high-rise multi-housing tower built in Lincoln Park since 1988,” said Kaufman.  “With its unique high-end finishes, best-in-class amenity package and desirable location at the hub of the Clybourn Avenue retail corridor, SoNo East will be Lincoln Park’s dominant residential address for many years to come.”

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

http://www.prei.com

HFF arranges financing totaling $607 million for 24 properties in nine states

Eric Tupler

 DENVER, CO – HFF announced today that it has arranged financing totaling $607 million for 24 properties totaling more than five million square feet and 3,499 units in nine states.

                HFF worked on behalf of a pension fund advised by Invesco, RREEF Real Estate and TA Associates Realty to secure the financings.  The loans were placed with M&T Realty Capital Corporation (Fannie Mae), Principal Global Investors and Bank of America. 

                M&T Realty Capital Corporation (Fannie Mae) provided eight loans totaling $237,000,000.  Principal Global Investors provided nine loans totaling $183,650,000 and Bank of America provided seven loans totaling $185,970,000. 

Mike Kavanau

The properties are comprised of eight multi-housing assets totaling 3,499 units, two office assets totaling 304,286 square feet, five retail centers that total 1,821,803 square feet and nine industrial properties totaling 3,052,149 square feet.  Overall, the portfolio is 90 percent occupied.  Properties are located in major markets in California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

                The HFF team representing the pension fund and its advisors was led by senior managing directors Eric Tupler and Mike Kavanau. 

  

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

Investors Continue to Borrow at Near Record-Low Rates

Jeanne Peck

Chicago, IL - The New Year is a welcome sign with the "Fiscal Cliff" temporarily averted and real estate investors continuing to borrow money at near record-low rates.  Even as treasury rates rise, lenders aggressively compete for qualified mortgage funding possibilities.  Spreads over treasuries tighten as more sources jump into the capital market fray.  

Cautious optimism fuels lending activities with overall underwriting discipline still observed along with the following key trends in the annual realty capital market forecast for 2013:

Steady Rates - Without sounding repetitive, short-term interest rates are expected to be somewhat flat as the Fed steers a straight rate course for the next few years. But longer-term rates will be fickle, riding the wave of inflation.  In fact, a 2%-to-2.25% treasury rate would not be a shocking figure.

Balanced Commercial Property Markets - Watch for a better mix of economic
performance for apartment, retail, office, lodging and industrial
properties.  During the past five years, multifamily properties had a
lopsided advantage over other commercial properties as oversupply and weak
job growth plagued other assets types to a greater extent.  This year,
homeownership is again on the rise with the number of households expected to
double in comparison to the past decade.  Furthermore, other property types
are in tight supply with steadily improving cash flow.  The net result?
Multifamily ownership is no longer the clearest commercial-property
investment option.

Construction Funds with more dollars - as commercial market fundamentals are
slowly improving in most markets around the country, funding sources are
providing fuller leverage loans, now reaching 70% to 75% based upon costs.
The project exit strategy must be provable within a term of up to three
years to compete the construction or renovation.  Floating rate pricing
falls within a range of 225 to 325 bps over Libor. 

Cashouts - Yes, cashouts above existing debt -- and even investor total cost
levels - are more acceptable for top-tier projects and owners.  Why?
Lenders need to capture more yield by climbing the risk ladder.  That said,
cash flow characteristics must be strong along with underwriting benchmarks
such as debt yields, LTVs, etc.  Pricing premiums of 25 to 50 bps are common
vs. "standard" pricing.

Higher Leverage via Mezzanine, or "B-Piece" Debt - Numerous fund lenders and
even a few Life Insurance Companies have made higher leverage (up to 75%-85%
LTVs on future value) in mezz financing over the first mortgage for
properties with upside to be captured down the road.  These sources have
viewed this debt as an advantage to capture future solid real estate
performing properties.

Risk Sharing - As institutional lenders compete with for larger deals,
"club" deals are back again.  Typically $50 million or larger, such loans
comprise a syndicate of various lenders pooling funds together to invest in
larger loans.  These club loans are often formulated based upon a
"Pari-Passu" formula of proportional risk and profit sharing.  Generally
speaking, pool participants seek 25% or less exposure in any given pool, to
help with loan diversification guidelines. 

The Real Estate Capital Institute's Research Director, Jeanne Peck,
predicts, "A recovering economy is a two-edge sword for the mortgage markets
- higher performance at the cost of higher rates.  The right balance of cash
flow, mortgage rates and leverage is always a fragile mix."

The Real Estate Capital Institute(r) is a volunteer-based research
organization that tracks realty rates data for debt and equity yields.  The
Institute posts daily and historical benchmark rates including treasuries,
bank prime and LIBOR.  Furthermore, call the Real Estate Capital RateLine at
7RE-CAPITAL (773-227-4825) for hourly rate updates.

Contact:

Jeanne Peck,

 Executive Director
:director@reci.com
www.reci.com

The   Real Estate Capital Institute(r)
3517 West Arthington Street
Chicago, Illinois USA 60624
 

Parkway Expands Presence In Phoenix Market With Purchase Of Tempe Office Tower

James R. Heistand

ORLANDO, FL /PRNewswire/ -- Parkway Properties, Inc. (NYSE: PKY) announced  the purchase of Tempe Gateway, a 264,000 square foot office tower located in the Tempe submarket of Phoenix, Arizona, for a purchase price of $66.1 million. 

Tempe Gateway was built in 2009 and is currently 73.9% occupied.  The property is expected to generate a 2013 estimated cash net operating income yield of approximately 5.0%. 

Tempe Gateway, Tempe, AZ

The Company does not plan to place a secured first mortgage on the property at this time.  With this purchase, Parkway owns 788,000 square feet in the Tempe submarket of Phoenix. 

James R. Heistand, Parkway's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We have seen strong leasing demand and positive rental rate growth at our other assets in this growing

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

Thomas E. Blalock

Vice President of Investor Relations

(407) 650-0593       

The RADCO Companies Purchases Seven Georgia-Based Multifamily Properties In Two Weeks

Norman Radow

 ATLANTA, Jan. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The RADCO Companies, the nation's leading real estate turnaround specialist, has now returned in earnest as one of the foremost investors in the Atlanta multifamily market.

 In the past two weeks, RADCO has completed seven closings, increasing its portfolio to 3,000 units, with more properties under contract and expected to close soon. The announcement was made by Norman Radow, President and CEO of The RADCO Companies.

The latest properties include the 132-unit Audubon Town & Country in Fairburn, GA; Audubon Brook, a 94-unit property in Conyers, GA; the 98-unit Audubon Way, which is located next to the Gwinnett County Medical Center in Lawrenceville, GA; adjoining apartment complexes Bella Villas (which consists of 63 townhomes) and Wyntree (a 164-unit traditional apartment-style community) both in Doraville, GA.

Also:  the 104-unit Meadowbrook Manor in Lilburn, GA; and Park Lake, a 328-unit community in Norcross; GA. The Pavilion at Decatur, which consists of 144 units near Emory University in Decatur, GA, should close shortly.

Meadowbrook Manor, Liburn, GA

The transactions were financed through bridge debt from several lenders and $15.2 million in equity raised over the past 30 days - all from private sources.

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

Roxanne Donovan

 roxanne@greatink.com

Eric Gerard - egerard@greatink.com

Alyson Grala - alyson@greatink.com

Great Ink Communications - tel. 212-741-2977

Starwood Capital Group Purchases 1.9 Million Sq. Ft. Class A Office Portfolio Located in High Growth U.S. Markets for $260.5 Million

GREENWICH, CT /PRNewswire/ -- Starwood Capital Group, a leading private investment firm, announced that an affiliate has acquired a portfolio of nine commercial office buildings located predominately in the Sun Belt region of the United States.

The buildings were purchased from Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II, Inc. (Wells REIT II) for a combined purchase price of $260.5 million. 

The total portfolio includes 1.9 million square feet of Class A office space in urban and suburban areas.  The buildings are located in Orlando, Tampa, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City and have an average year of completion of 1999.

 The buildings are currently 95 percent leased, excluding Salt Lake City, and more than 80 percent of the in-place income is derived from investment grade tenants.

"We are pleased to have worked with Wells REIT II to reach an agreement to acquire a critical mass of high quality properties with strong tenant rosters that generate significant cash flow," said Mark Keatley, Senior Vice President at Starwood Capital.  "Most of these buildings are located in markets with outsized job and population growth projections."

"This transaction is an excellent opportunity for Starwood and its investors that perfectly fits our investment strategy because it generates strong cash on cash returns, it was purchased significantly below replacement cost per square foot and is located in markets where there is limited new supply," said Chris Graham, Managing Director at Starwood Capital.

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

 Tom Johnson,

Abernathy MacGregor Group,

 +1-212-371-5999

Web Site: http://www.starwoodcapital.com

Jones Lang LaSalle Rings in New Year with Optimism; Office Building Sale Team anticipates up-tick in occupied, stabilized Phoenix-area “buy” opportunities

  

Papago Spectrum, Phoenix, AZ

 PHOENIX, AZ– Beginning the year on a positive note, the Phoenix office of Jones Lang LaSalle has completed the sale of Papago Spectrum to German-based investor GLL Real Estate Partners. 

According to Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), the sale of the 159,764-square-foot Class A multi-tenant office building points to continued optimism for buyer interest and activity in 2013.

Dennis Desmond

“Investors see tremendous promise in the Phoenix commercial office market,” said JLL Senior Managing Director Dennis Desmond, who with Senior Vice President Brian Ackerman served as the property’s exclusive listing brokers.

“We have a strong inventory of well occupied, stabilized opportunities and—for good reason—buyers from across the globe have an overarching interest in placing capital here.”

Brian Ackerman

GLL was represented internally by Senior Vice President Christopher Quiett and Senior Associate Eric Ramm.

Papago Spectrum sits at the geographic center of the Phoenix metropolitan market, at Priest Drive and University Drive, just off of the Loop 202 Freeway in Tempe, Ariz. The building is currently 91 percent occupied, with the University of Phoenix taking the top two floors of the project and recent leases filling an additional 27,000 square feet in five-year deals.

“Close proximity to Arizona State University and a strong local employment pool ensures that vacancy rates around Papago Spectrum are almost always in the single digits,” said Ackerman. “However, submarket rents are also still slightly depressed. With this building’s strong occupancy, it makes for a very stabilized core asset with solid room for improvement.”

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

Stacey Hershauer

focusAZ

Marketing & Public Relations

(480) 600-0195

www.focusaz.com

 www.joneslanglasalle.com.