HFF secures acquisition financing on behalf of Venterra Realty for San Antonio Class A multi-housing property

Westover Oaks Apartments, San Antonio, TX

 HOUSTON, TX – HFF announced today that it has arranged financing for Westover Oaks, a 256-unit, Class A multi-housing property in San Antonio,  Texas.

                HFF worked exclusively on behalf of Venterra Realty to secure the 10-year, 3.41 percent, fixed-rate loan with two years of interest-only payments through Lincoln Financial Group.  Loan proceeds were used to acquire the property.  HFF will also service the loan.

                Westover Oaks is located at 7727 Potranco Road northwest of San Antonio’s CBD in the thriving Westover Hills submarket in close proximity to major employers and multiple corporate campuses and call centers.  Completed in 2012, the property is 95 percent leased. 

The property is fully amenitized with interior construction features consisting of crown molding, wood flooring, granite countertops, stainless appliances and washer/dryer equipment. 

The HFF team representing Venterra was led by director Cortney Cole.

Venterra specializes in the identification, finance, acquisition and management of multi-family residential communities in the southern United States. 

  Venterra currently manages a portfolio of multi-family real estate assets totaling over $850 million in value that generates gross annual income in excess of $90 million.  The organization has completed in excess of $1.5 billion of real estate transactions.  Venterra has offices in both Houston and Toronto and employs over 450 people.

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

Banking Sector Getting Healthier but Still Burdened by Troubled Loans

Michael Bull

ATLANTA, GA (Jan. 14, 2013) – The U.S. banking industry has recovered steadily from its doldrums during the Great Recession, but lending institutions are still faced with a significant amount of troubled real-estate loans.

That was the view of a panel of experts on the most recent episode of the “Commercial Real Estate Show” radio program, hosted by Michael Bull. The episode took an enlightening look at the banking sector and outlined strategies for banks and other lenders faced with problem loans.

As of September 2012, 91 percent of U.S. banks were profitable, according to Christopher Marinac, managing principal and director of research for FIG Partners. “That’s a very positive shift and certainly a dramatic difference from where the industry was sitting in 2009, 2010 and early 2011,” Marinac said.

Christopher Marinac

Furthermore, 51 banks failed in 2012, a notable decline from the preceding years, Marinac added. He predicted that number to drop to approximately 30 this year.

Still, “everything’s relative,” Marinac said. “If you go back seven years, the industry was making 14 to 15 percent returns on equity. That no longer is the case. We’re closer to 8 or 9 percent, as a general rule.”

For the most part, the larger banks are the most profitable, while community banks are more likely to struggle, according to Marinac.

Joe Briner

Despite the steadily improving conditions, the banking industry has “a long way to go” in working its way through troubled real-estate loans, said Rob Whitmire, a senior vice president at Bull Realty who oversees the firm’s Special Asset Services Group. “There is still a significant amount of problem loans out there that will have to be dealt with.”

Bankers and lenders saddled with troubled loans must be “be decisive and do [their] homework,” advised Joe Briner, a partner with GGG Partners, a firm that advises banks and financially distressed companies.

“The [lenders] that do it the best, they have a system,” Briner added. “They rapidly assess their expected recovery, and they implement their plans. They’re disciplined about how they do it.”

Marinac echoed Briner’s sentiments. “Timing is everything,” Marinac said. “[Banks’] first mistake [with troubled loans] is waiting, [kicking] the can down the road and [figuring] that they can have a better solution if they wait three to six months. I’ve never seen that work.”

Show host Bull agreed that banks are usually better suited to move quickly to sell foreclosed properties. “We’ve seen instances where we’ll bring a lender an offer for $5 million and two and a half years later, they’ll sell it for $3.5 million and have spent a lot of money on [the asset],” Bull said.

The entire episode on bank and servicer strategies is available for download at www.CREshow.com.

The next “Commercial Real Estate Show” will be available Jan. 17 and will examine the U.S. office market.

Contact:

Stephen Ursery

The Wilbert Group

E-mail: sursery@thewilbertgroup.com

Office: (404) 965-5026

Cell: (404) 405-2354

www.wnspr.com

Stone Mountain, Ga., Shopping Center Brokered by Cassidy Turley

Mark Joines

 ATLANTA, GA – [Jan. 14, 2013] Cassidy Turley, a leading commercial real estate services provider in the U.S., announces it has closed on the sale of the Rockbridge Place Shopping Center located at 5719 Rockbridge Road in Stone Mountain, Ga.

Cassidy Turley Vice Presidents Mark Joines and Drew Fleming represented the seller, DLC Management Corp. The buyer, represented by Jeff Schaffer of Schaffer & Associates, was a local private equity group.

Drew Fleming

Rockbridge Place is a 74,768-square-foot center anchored by Food Depot and CVS located near a busy traffic light intersection. The development is currently 95 percent leased.

 “We were excited to represent DLC Management in this transaction,” said Joines, Vice President of Cassidy Turley’s brokerage group. “The buyer acquired a strong performing center in a relatively dense area of metro Atlanta.”

 Contact:

Tony Wilbert

The Wilbert Group

404-965-5022

twilbert@thewilbertgroup.com

Koger Judgment Vacated by Maryland Court

  

Robert T. Koger

 WASHINGTON, D.C.—Jan. 14, 2013—The Maryland District Court in Montgomery County has vacated a $22.8 million default judgment against Robert T. Koger and Molinaro Koger (MK) that was awarded to Host Hotels & Resorts in July 2012 for a discovery sanction. 

The judgment was vacated as part of a settlement between the Host entities and the Koger entities in which Host received $1.55 million in insurance coverage proceeds under an Errors & Omission Insurance Policy.  There was no other monetary or any other consideration to the settlement.

In addition, Host, Koger and Molinaro Koger all agreed to discharge any claims, demands or liabilities related to the dispute through the settlement date.   The arms-length agreement states that nothing contained in the settlement shall be deemed that any party has breached any obligation or engaged in any wrongdoing or misconduct. 

Contacts:

Jerry Daly

(703) 435-6293

jerry@dalygray.com

Chris Daly

President

Daly Gray, Inc.

Ph: 703-435-6293

Cell: 703-864-5553

Wyndham Hotel Group Brands 56 Hotels Throughout U.S.

Eric Danziger

 Parsippany, N.J. (Jan. 14, 2013) – Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company with nearly 7,260 hotels and part of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN), today announced that, through a deal with affiliates of Colony Capital, LLC, including Colony Financial, Inc., it has branded 56 properties throughout the mid-Atlantic and southeast corridor of the U.S.

 Formerly Jameson Inn properties, the hotels now fly the Baymont Inn & Suites®, Days Inn® and Howard Johnson® brand flags and will be managed by Aimbridge Hospitality. 

 “We are proud to welcome these 56 hotels and 3,638 rooms to our growing Wyndham Hotel Group portfolio,” said Eric Danziger, Wyndham Hotel Group president and CEO.  “The addition of these properties is a testament to the strength and appeal of our brands.  We look forward to the hotels’ continued success as members of our family.”

Forty nine of the hotels will be branded with the Baymont brand name, one will become a Days Inn property and six will be converted to Howard Johnson hotels.

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

Christine Da Silva

Vice President, Marketing Communications

Wyndham Hotel Group

22 Sylvan Way

Parsippany, NJ 07054

+1 (973) 753-6590

christine.dasilva@wyn.com

EagleBridge Capital Arranges $4.75 Million Mortgage for Two Net Leased Buildings in Wilmington, MA

                                                                                      

255 and 261 Ballardvale Ave., Wilmington, MA

 Boston, MA --  EagleBridge Capital, working exclusively on behalf of its client, has arranged permanent mortgage financing in the amount of $4,750,000 for 255 and 261 Ballardvale Avenue, Wilmington, Massachusetts.

 The mortgage financing was arranged by EagleBridge principals Ted. M. Sidel and Brian D. Sheehan who stated that the loan was provided by a leading financial institution.

Both buildings are net leased to Charles River Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE-CRL).  Charles River provides essential products and services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies, and leading academic institutions around the globe accelerate their research and drug development efforts.

Ted M. Sidel

Founded in 1947, it has grown to become one of the largest global preclinical contract research organizations with approximately 1000 employees in Massachusetts, and 7,100 employees globally.

255 Ballardvale Avenue is a 25,000 square foot office building.  261 Ballardvale is a 60,000 square foot R and D services facility which was fully renovated in 2012.

 It expands Charles River’s diagnostic capabilities for research model health monitoring, clinical chemistry, hematology, biomarker assay development, and immunoassay services.

Brian D. Sheehan

The new facility offers high-functioning controlled environments, building monitoring and mechanical system redundancy, as well as energy reduction through occupancy sensor driven air distribution and lighting. 

 

EagleBridge Capital is a Boston-based mortgage banking firm specializing in arranging  debt and equity financing as well as joint ventures for industrial, office, and r & d buildings,  shopping centers, apartments, hotels, condominiums and mixed use properties as well as special purpose buildings.

Contact:

Ted Sidel,

(617) 292-7177, Ext. 10

33 Broad St.,  

 Boston, MA 02109

TEL: 617.292.7177

FAX: 617.292.7575

www.eaglebridgecapital.com