Fort Lauderdale Beach Condo Tower Site To Be Sold To Baltimore Developer

Orion Condos rendering
Fort Lauderdale Beach, FL

MIAMI, FL -- With more than 120 new condo towers proposed for coastal South Florida since the real estate crash of 2007, the developer of the proposed 170-unit Orion project planned for Fort Lauderdale Beach has identified a buyer to purchase the project's site with entitlements, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

The prospective buyer - Mah Cignal Holdings based in the Baltimore area - won the right to purchase the nearly two-acre site on Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard with a winning bid of $22.5 million in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court-ordered auction, according to the South Florida Business Journal.

Silvia Coltrane

The transaction is reportedly scheduled to be completed in March 2013 although no deed transfer has been recorded as of March 24, 2013, according to Broward County Clerk of the Court records.

Silvia Coltrane's Transacta Prive Developers - which in March 2012 obtained approval to build the planned 18-story Orion condo tower on a former Howard Johnson hotel property in Fort Lauderdale Beach - formally put the development site on the market in December 2012 for an undisclosed price, according to the South Florida SunSentinel.

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

Condo Vultures® LLC

225 Midtown Building

225 NE 34th St., Suite 209B,

 Downtown Miami, Florida, 33137.

800-750-0517.

PM Hospitality Strategies Adds Two Contracts as Part of New Expansion Plan

  

Hampton Inn, Potomac Mills/Woodbridge 

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 25, 2013—PM Hospitality Strategies (PMHS), a hotel management and joint-venture investment company, today announced that it recently signed two hotels to its management portfolio, the first step in a new expansion program. 

The Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn and Suites-branded properties are located in the Washington, D.C. Metro area.

“Our goal is to add 5 to 10 hotels in 2013, focusing on third-party management contracts with strong institutional investors,” said Joseph Bojanowski, PMHS president.  “We have extensive expertise in acquisitions, turn-arounds and repositionings, areas in which we expect to see a significant amount of activity over the next several years.” 

 Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott,
Dulles Airport Chantilly

The new management contracts include:

·         Hampton Inn, Potomac Mills/Woodbridge  -This 87-room hotel is located just off Interstate 95 between the Fort Belvoir and Quantico military bases and within close proximity to the massive Potomac Mills factory outlet mall complex.

  The hotel recently completed a comprehensive refresh program and is in peak physical condition.  Amenities include a fitness center and swimming pool, as well as a refrigerator and microwave in each room. 

·         Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott, Dulles Airport Chantilly -Located at 3960 Corsair Court in Chantilly, Va., just four miles from Dulles International Airport, this 84-room hotel offers a swimming pool, fitness facilities and business center.  

Dulles International Airport,
Washington, DC

Other amenities include a smoke-free environment, complimentary high-speed Internet, free breakfast, and toll-free telephone service. 

PMHS is headquartered in Washington, D.C.  Additional information about the company may be found at www.pmhs.com.    

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

 Chris Daly,

Jerry Daly, media

(703) 435-6293

chris@dalygray.com

Berger Commercial Realty Closes $4.925 Million Sale of Downtown Fort Lauderdale Law Plaza

Courthouse Law Plaza, Fort Lauderdale, FL

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL  (March 25, 2013) – Berger Commercial Realty President Lloyd Berger and Senior Vice President Steve Hyatt recently represented CBSA Law Plaza, LLC in the $4.925 million sale of the Courthouse Law Plaza, located at 700 and 750 S.E. 3rd Ave in Fort Lauderdale, to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which hired the firm to manage the 52,000-square-foot office property.

Last summer, CBSA Law Plaza retained Berger Commercial Realty to reposition the property after Jacksonville-based Everbank filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the company. 

Tim Hackett

After several months of improvements, managed by Berger Commercial Realty Vice President of Property Management Tim Hackett, the property was listed on the market. 

 "Our client CBSA had several significant offers on the property, and after we helped them evaluate their options, they selected the AIDS Healthcare Foundation," said Lloyd Berger.  "All stakeholders in the transaction were pleased with the result."  

 After the sale, Everbank withdrew its lawsuit and declared the loan satisfied.

Lloyd Berger

CBSA Law retained approximately one acre of land adjacent to the property, previously used as an overflow parking lot, which is now for sale. Hyatt is marketing the parcel. 

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

 Marielle Sologuren

Pierson Grant Public Relations

(954) 776-1999, ext. 226

msologuren@piersongrant.com

Bull Realty Arranges $1.88 Million Sale of Georgia Verizon Wireless Store

Verizon Wireless Store, Macon, GA

 ATLANTA, GA (March 25, 2013) – Bull Realty has negotiated the $1.88 million sale of a 3,300 square-foot, freestanding Verizon Wireless store in Macon, Ga. Located at 6204 Zebulon Rd., the property was purchased by Cooper Industries.

Sheree Strome and Nancy Miller, vice presidents in Bully Realty’s National Net Lease Investment Group, represented the seller, Family Convenience Stores, in the transaction.

Sheree Strome

 “This property received a great deal of interest, including some full-price offers,” Strome said. “It’s a highly sought-after property type in a high-growth industry.” 

 One of the largest Verizon resellers with more than 530 locations nationwide, Cellular Sales entered into a 10-year, triple-net lease of the facility, which is located just off Interstate 475 and across from a Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse, a Kohl’s and a Walmart.

Nancy Miller

The seller owned the location for more than 15 years before re-purposing the building from the studs up, which was finished in September 2012. Represented by Marcelo Campos of First American Real Estate in Carlsbad, Calif., the buyer was completing a 1031 exchange. 

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

Stephen Ursery

The Wilbert Group

E-mail: sursery@thewilbertgroup.com

Office: (404) 965-5026

Cell: (404) 405-2354

www.thewilbertgroup.com

While Positives Abound for CMBS Market, 2007 Loans Continue to Lag, According to Trepp

NEW YORK, NY -- Over the last few months, the story in the CMBS world has been one of spread tightening, falling delinquency rates, and spikes in new issuance.

CMBS delinquencies peaked at 10.34% in the middle of 2012, largely due to a flood of maturing bubble-era loans, many of which were over-levered to start with and ultimately struggled to find refinancing.

As that tide receded in the second half of 2012, the delinquency rate slowly but surely dropped (to 9.42% in February), as did spreads on legacy and new-issue CMBS bonds.

All of these developments were positives for the industry, and the outlook for 2013 remains highly optimistic as investors expect $80 billion or more in new issuance on the year. That would b almost double the total for 2012 and the highest level since the peak of approximately $230 billion in 2007.

Despite all the good news, one category that continues to lag is the 2007 vintage. While we suspected this, one longtime reader urged us to look at the numbers. Their thesis was that for the 2007 loans, "the bathtub is still filling up as quickly as it is emptying."

This idea is largely correct. Despite a steady dose of modifications (which lead to loan cures) and resolutions of distressed assets, both of which should push the rate lower, the delinquency rate on 2007 fixed rate conduit loans remains well into the double digits.

Above is a chart of the delinquency rate, outstanding current, and outstanding delinquent balances since 2010. The universe is fixed rate, conduit loans that were securitized in 2007 deals.

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

Eric R. Gerard

Senior Vice President

Great Ink Communications

27 Union Square West, Suite 205

New York, NY 10001

(212) 741-2977

Bidding Wars: The Formats and Energy of Commercial Real Estate Auctions Are Growing

Michael Bull

 ATLANTA, GA (March 25, 2013) – Owners of commercial properties or notes who are looking to sell their assets at auction now have a variety of formats to choose from – and they’re finding more potential buyers bidding for those assets.

 Those were some of the insights provided by a panel of experts on the most recent episode of the “Commercial Real Estate Show” radio program, hosted by Michael Bull of Bull Realty.

The episode provided an enlightening look at commercial real estate auctions. Topics included the different types of auctions, tips for buyers and sellers, and current activity levels at auctions.

Jeb Howell

 As a result of the slowly improving economy, there are more parties interested in buying and selling commercial real estate, and that has led to more properties being put up for auction and more potential buyers interested in snapping the assets up, said Jeb Howell, president of Auction Management Corp., which conducts live auctions.

 “We’ve seen a major sea change in the last year,” Howell said. “There’s a lot of people buying at auctions now. When we now hold an auction, we’re getting easily 30 to 45 percent more [bidders] than we got a year ago. What it’s telling me is we’ve passed the bottom, and now is the time to buy.”

Louis Fisher

A perception exists that only deeply troubled properties or loans are put up for auction, but that is not true, said Joe Cuomo, senior vice president of Auction.com. About 75 percent of the transactions that closed on the site last year were transactions in which the underlying asset had an occupancy rate of at least 50 percent, he said.

Louis Fisher, national director of Sperry Van Ness Auction Services, outlined his firm’s upcoming online auction called Auction Point 2013 (which will take place at AuctionPoint.com). The auction will feature all property types and is accepting bids until May 31.

 The entire episode on commercial real estate auctions is available for download at www.CREshow.com. The next “Commercial Real Estate Show” will be available March 28 and will provide a detailed examination of the issues surrounding commercial real estate contracts.

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

Stephen Ursery

The Wilbert Group

E-mail: sursery@thewilbertgroup.com

Office: (404) 965-5026

Cell: (404) 405-2354

www.thewilbertgroup.com

MMM and CRE Finance Council Host “Borrower 2.0” Event in Atlanta, GA; Commercial Real Estate Finance Issues Spotlighted

Rusty Fleming

Atlanta, GA  ─ Commercial real estate lenders will gather to educate borrowers – and give tips on what they need to successfully finance deals – at a special event next month.

Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP and the CRE Finance Council (CREFC) are sponsoring an after-work seminar entitled “Borrower 2.0 – Lender Perspective on Borrower Profiles and Issues in Today’s Market.”

Rusty Fleming, a Partner in MMM’s Commercial Finance Practice and a member of CREFC’s Education Committee, will moderate a panel of top finance executives. They include:

Greg Michaud

• Bill Lafferty, Managing Director, Hanover Street Capital/Deutsche Bank 

• Greg Michaud, Senior Vice President & Head of Real Estate Finance, ING Investment Management 

• Mark Sixour, Senior Managing Director, HFF 

• Joel Stephens, Managing Director, Regions Bank

The panel will discuss what lenders look for in borrowers, how negative sponsor history impacts current financing opportunities and other challenges facing borrowers in the current market.

Mark Sixour

They are also expected to clear up common misconceptions they encounter, and analyze factors driving borrowers back to the CMBS market.

“As debt capital becomes more available to borrowers, many are finding that not only has the underwriting landscape changed, but loan structure and other requirements have also changed, so hearing the lenders’ perspective should be very helpful for borrowers seeking access to this capital,” Fleming said. “MMM is proud to be a member of CREFC and the first to host an After-Work Seminar in the Southeast.”

City Club, Buckhead, GA

The event will be held at 5:00 p.m. Thursday April 18 at the City Club of Buckhead. For more information, or to register, visit the CREFC website at www.CREFC.org.

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

Terri Thornton

terri@territhornton.com