Southwest Florida Lender-Owned Foreclosed Homes Auction Aug. 5

CHICAGO, IL/PRNewswire/ -- Rick Levin & Associates, Inc., the real estate auction marketing firm, announced it will conduct a multiple-property auction of lender-owned foreclosed homes in southwest Florida.

The auction will take place at 7 p.m. August 5, 2008, at the Ambassador Riverfront Hotel located at 2500 Edwards Drive in Fort Myers, Florida.

"Because lenders are in the business of lending money and not owning property, this national lender has partnered with us to sell these foreclosed properties.

"The lender is very motivated to sell these properties now as they want them off of their books as soon as possible," said Rick Levin, president of Rick Levin & Associates, Inc. "This is a one-day only opportunity for anyone, including first and second home buyers and bargain-seeking investors, to purchase any of these properties at substantial discounts from their original prices," he continued.

Many of the properties are located in Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral with some located in Ft. Myers and Alva. Most of the homes are new construction and most have 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.

The properties were previously priced up to $329,000 and have suggested opening bids starting at $55,000.

Ten properties will be sold absolute, regardless of price. A cashier's check in the amount of $5,000 is required to bid. The broker co-op for participating brokers is 4%.

The August 5th auction will be conducted in conjunction with Rob Nord, licensed FL auctioneer #AU3574, JL Todd Auction Company License #AB249 and Thomas J Tarpley, FL license #AU40.

For the complete list of auction properties and terms of sales, interested parties should call Rick Levin & Associates, Inc. at 866-655-4500, or visit their Website at http://www.ricklevin.com/.

Marcus & Millichap Sells Four-Building Apartment Portfolio on Manhattan's West Side for $16.65M

Located in two of the city’s most desirable neighborhoods – Fashion Center and Hell’s Kitchen – this portfolio commanded a price of $231,250 per unit.

NEW YORK N.Y.– Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, the nation’s largest real estate investment services firm, has arranged the $16.65 million sale a four-building portfolio consisting of 72 rental units on Manhattan’s West Side. (middle left photo)

Ideally located in the Fashion Center and Hell’s Kitchen neighborhoods, the portfolio traded at $231,250 per unit, or $421.73 per square foot. The portfolio sold at a cap rate of 4.87 percent cap rate and a GRM of 15.

Peter Von Der Ahe,(top right photo) an associate vice president investments and director of Marcus & Millichap’s National Multi Housing Group in Manhattan, and Joe Koicim, (top left photo) an investment specialist also in the firm’s Manhattan office, represented the seller, a locally based investor.

Said Boukhalfa, an investment specialist in the firm’s Brooklyn office, along with Von Der Ahe and Koicim represented the buyer, a Brooklyn-based investor.

“This portfolio allowed the investor to acquire four well-maintained multi-family buildings in a tight market with tremendous opportunity for rent growth,” says Von Der Ahe.

The portfolio includes:

· 529 West 48 Street: Located between 10th and 11th Avenues, the 11,310-square foot, five-story apartment building features 21 units situated on a 25-foot by 100-foot lot.

· 534 West 50th Street: Situated between 10th and 11th Avenues, the 10,750-square foot, five-story apartment building features 21 units situated on a 25-foot by 100-foot lot.

· 317 and 319 West 35th Street: These two buildings between 8th and 9th Avenues total 17,420 square feet with 26 apartments and 4 retail units. Under the current zoning there are an additional 31,941 square feet of air rights.

"The two buildings on West 35th street combined make up 50 feet of frontage right off of 8th Avenue”, says Koicim, "And with the additional available air rights, it is a prime candidate for a future residential or hotel site situated one block from Pennsylvania Station."

All four properties recently received upgrades, including new boilers, burners, electrical service and water mains.

Press Contact: Stacey Corso
Communications Department
(925) 953-1716
http://www.marcusmillichap.com/

HFF closes sale of One City Centre in Houston’s CBD

HOUSTON, TX – The Houston office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) has closed the sale of One City Centre, a 31-story, Class A office tower with two parking garages in Houston’s central business district.

The HFF investment sales team was led by managing directors Robert Williamson (top right photo) and Jeffrey Hollinden,(middle left photo) who marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Broadway Real Estate Partners.

Behringer Harvard Real Estate Investments purchased One City Centre for an undisclosed amount and assumed an existing loan.

HFF arranged the previous sale of the property to Broadway Real Estate Partners in 2007.

Located at 1021 Main Street and occupying one-and-a-half full city blocks, One City Centre fronts the METRORail Station Stop and is situated at the crossroads of Houston’s central business district pedestrian tunnel system.

The property has 608,660 square feet of office space that is 96% occupied by tenants including Waste Management.

Broadway Partners is a private real estate investment and management firm headquartered in New York.
Behringer Harvard is a real estate investment company that is based in Dallas, Texas and invests both domestically and internationally.

HFF (NYSE: HF) operates out of 18 offices nationwide and is a leading provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the U.S. commercial real estate industry. HFF offers clients a fully integrated national capital markets platform including debt placement, investment sales, structured finance, private equity, note sales and note sale advisory services and commercial loan servicing.

CONTACTS:

Robert E. Williamson, HFF Managing Director, 713 852 3500, rwilliamson@hfflp.com

Jeffrey A. Hollinden, HFF Managing Director, 713 852 3500, jhollinden@hfflp.com

Laurie Fish McDowell, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, 617 338 0990, lmcdowell@hfflp.com

HFF engineers $92.5M sale of Orlando area office properties to Flagler Development Company

MIAMI, FL – The Miami office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) has engineered the sale of Reserve at Maitland, a three-property office portfolio in suburban Orlando, Florida as well as Maitland Promenade, (top left photo) a Class A, 230,368-square-foot office building in Maitland, Florida to Flagler Development Company.

HFF executive managing director Manny de Zárraga (top right photo) and managing directors Danny Finkle (middle left photo) and Hermen Rodríguez (middle right photo) represented the purchaser in acquiring the assets from Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors, LLC. Flagler acquired Reserve at Maitland for $39.56 million and Maitland Promenade for $52.94 million.

Reserve at Maitland is located at 30, 65 and 70 South Keller Road in Maitland, approximately seven miles north of Orlando via Interstate 4. The properties have a total of 197,000 square feet of Class A office space and are fully occupied by three primary tenants including Earth Tech, Bright House and Inverness Medical.

Maitland Promenade is currently 92% leased to tenants including Star Networks, Trammel Crow Residential, United Health Care, Brice Building Company, Custom Staffing and BE&K Group. The property is located at 485 North Keller Road approximately a half mile west of Interstate 4 in Maitland.

Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors, LLC is the real estate investment and asset management subsidiary of Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE: GBE), a leading real estate services and investment firm. Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors and affiliates manage a growing portfolio of assets valued in excess of $6.1 billion located throughout 30 states.

Flagler Development Group is the leading integrated commercial real estate firm specializing in commercial and industrial workplaces in the state of Florida. The company owns, develops, leases and holds in joint ventures approximately 9.8 million square feet of Class A office and industrial space, as well as an additional 1.2 million square feet under construction.

HFF (NYSE: HF) operates out of 18 offices nationwide and is a leading provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the U.S. commercial real estate industry.

CONTACTS:

Manuael de Zarraga, HFF Executive Managing Director, 305 448 1333, mdezarraga@hfflp.com

Danny Finkle, HFF Managing Director, 305 448 1333, dfinkle@hfflp.com

Laurie Fish McDowell, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, 617 338 0990, lmcdowell@hfflp.com

Mercantile Commercial Capital Reports Four Commercial Loan Closings in June Totaling More than $8.2M

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL --- Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC, which specializes in U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small business, reports it closed on four commercial loans in June that totaled more than $8.2 million.

Christopher Hurn, (top right photo) president and chief executive officer of Mercantile Commercial Capital, said a $3.2 million loan to refinance an Orlando auto repair facility was the month’s largest.

June loan closings included:

• MDG Property Holdings, LLC and Best Choice Collision Center acquired a 13,000 square-foot stand-alone automobile service center in Orlando with a five-year fixed interest rate, 10 percent down and a 25-year fully-amortizing term. The total project cost was $3,220,000;

• Copper Kettle, Inc. to renovate a 4,300 square foot restaurant facility in Nashville, Tenn. with a five-year fixed interest rate, 10 percent down and a 25-year, fully-amortizing term. The total project cost was $1,300,000;

• ENC Realty and Mandell’s Clinical Pharmacy to renovate a 28,100 square foot pharmacy in Franklin, N.J. with a five-year year fixed interest rate, 10 percent down and a 25-year fully amortizing term. The total project cost was $3,005,000.

Hurn said that since January, Mercantile Commercial Capital closed 22 commercial loans that totaled more than $35.3 million to finance $40.5 million in total project costs in thirteen states.

Despite widespread losses and generally diminished demand in the mortgage industry, the firm’s loan volume is up over the first half of 2007. Their revenues are up 8.23 percent and profits up 6.84 percent during the first half of the year over the same period last year.

Hurn attributed Mercantile Commercial Capital’s growth to aggressive niche marketing and a sharp focus on small businesses owners.

“For the typical small business owner, access to capital is just as important during a robust market cycle as a slow growth period,” Hurn said.

Hurn said Mercantile Commercial Capital’s loan volume has increased steadily during each of its five years of operation. “We don’t anticipate that trend will change,” Hurn said.

For more information, please contact:

Chris Hurn, Mercantile Commercial Capital LLC, 407-786-5040

Geof Longstaff, Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC. 407-786-5040 (top left photo)

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

Orlando Sanford International Airport Leases 1,500 SF of Industrial Space at Airport Commerce Park to Mailtime, Inc.

SANFORD, Fla. – Mailtime Inc.. has leased 1,500 square feet of industrial space at the Airport Commerce Park’s Enterprise Center at Orlando Sanford International Airport. (top right photo)

Diane Crews, vice president of administration at Orlando Sanford International Airport, said Mailtime Inc. will providedirect mail and drapery design services.

For more information, please contact
Diane Crews, Sanford Airport Authority, 407-585-4002 dcrews@OSAA.net

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142 lvershelco@aol.com.

Number of Loan Origination Requests Dips in June, Cambridge Realty Capital Companies Reports

CHICAGO, IL--Cambridge Realty Capital Companies says the impact of the credit crisis is beginning to be more noticeable in the number of loan origination requests the company reviews and tallies on a monthly basis.

In June, Cambridge processed 22 loan origination requests for loans totaling $250.8 million. For the same month last year, the tally was 39 requests totaling $386.8 million, Cambridge Chairman Jeffrey A. Davis (top right photo) reports.
Through the first half of the year the number of loan requests reviewed by the company dropped to 174 from 190 a year earlier, but the dollar volume for the current year has been somewhat higher, $2.7 billion compared with $2.4 billion in 2007.

Although lenders close a relatively small percentage of the loan origination requests received, it’s useful to track this information as an indication of market directions, Davis believes.

“While the number of origination requests have remained relatively high this year, the sharp decline in June may be telling us that borrowers are beginning to believe what they've been hearing about the availability of funding in a tight market. As part of the same pattern, we’re also beginning to get more selective regarding the transactions we actually log in and work on,” he said.

CONTACT:

Evan Washington, Phone: (312) 521-7603, Fax: (312) 357-1611 E-Mail: ew@cambridgecap.com

Thomas Christopher Appointed Director in Arbor’s Darien, CT Office

UNIONDALE, NY- - Arbor Commercial Mortgage announces the appointment of Thomas Christopher (top right photo) to Director in Arbor’s Darien, CT office.

Mr. Christopher will be responsible for all of Arbor’s loan products including Fannie Mae, FHA and CMBS. He reports to Ken Fazio, (top left photo) Vice President, National Sales Manager.

Prior to joining Arbor, he held the position of Banker, Sales Manager for Countrywide Commercial Real Estate Finance, where he was a founding member of the company’s Advantage Loan program. As the number-one sales producer in the nation, he originated 70 loans totaling $140 million within six months of production.

Before Countrywide, Mr. Christopher was a Senior Loan Consultant at Washington Mutual Bank. In this role, he acted as a primary member of the firm’s Multifamily Lending Team, booking $90 million in assets in 2005 and $100 million in 2006. He also held positions with Citibank, Hudson Valley Bank, The Bank of New York, Bank Leumi Trust Bank and Chemical Bank.

Mr. Christopher received a Jurist Doctorate from Pace University School of Law, a Master of Business Administration from Iona College and a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He resides in Darien, CT.

The Harris Group of Marcus & Millichap Sells Four-Property Apartment Portfolio in Tulsa, OK for $53M

TULSA, OK – Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, the nation’s largest real estate investment services firm, has arranged the sale of a four multi-family portfolio, totaling 1,552 units, in Tulsa. The sales price of $52.95 million represented approximately $34,140 per unit.


Gregory Harris, an executive vice president investments and senior director of the firm’s National Multi Housing Group in Encino; and Chadd Davis, a multi-family investment specialist in the Encino office, represented the seller, Macco Properties, and the buyer, the Redfern Family Trust.

David Bohanon, an investment specialist in Marcus & Millichap’s Oklahoma City office, assisted in the transaction.

This acquisition marked Redfern’s first real estate transaction outside of California. “Initially, we had concerns about entering another state, but The Harris Group of Marcus & Millichap made us feel confident about our investment strategy,” says Tom Redfern, co-trustee of the Redfern Family Trust. “The research, due diligence and guidance we received from The Harris Group was integral to our investment decision.”

“The Redfern Family Trust required a 1031 exchange with immediate cash flow,” says Harris. “By using Marcus & Millichap’s unique marketing system, we were able to locate assets outside of Southern California offering returns that satisfied the requirements of his (Redfern’s) tax-deferred exchange.”

The portfolio includes:

· A 440-unit, 307,600-square foot multi-family complex at 7324 South Wheeling Avenue.
· A 512-unit, 307,600-square foot multi-family community located at 4414 South Garnett Road.
· A 216-unit, 149,600-square foot apartment asset located at 4404 South 109th East Avenue.
· A 384-unit, 278,400-square foot apartment complex at 2102 East 51st Street.

Press Contact: Stacey Corso, Communications Department, (925) 953-1716.

HFF to market for sale luxury residential building in Manhattan’s West 42nd Street Corridor

NEW YORK, NY – The New York office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) has been named to market for sale Riverbank West,(above centered photo) a 44-story, 418-unit luxury residential building in Manhattan’s West 42nd Street Corridor.

HFF senior managing director Joe Morningstar and managing director Andrew Scandalios (top right photo) will lead the investment sales team on behalf of the owner.

Riverbank West is located at 560 West 43rd Street in the West 42nd Street corridor, (bottom left photo) a residential submarket comprised primarily of newly constructed luxury rental and condominium product. The property, which historically has enjoyed occupancy in the high 90s, has a private driveway and plaza and 85% of the apartments have balconies.

“Riverbank West presents a unique and very rare opportunity to acquire a ‘core’ apartment building in Manhattan, the most dynamic residential rental market in the country,” said Morningstar. “The stability of the property’s revenue streams can be further enhanced through the execution of a number of ascertainable value-add strategies. Riverbank will command unprecedented investor attention and trade at aggressive pricing.”

HFF (NYSE: HF) operates out of 18 offices nationwide and is a leading provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the U.S. commercial real estate industry. HFF offers clients a fully integrated national capital markets platform including debt placement, investment sales, structured finance, private equity, note sales and note sale advisory services and commercial loan servicing.

CONTACTS:

Joseph W. Morningstar, HFF Senior Managing Director, 212 245 2425, jmorningstar@hfflp.com

Andrew G. Scandalios, HFF Managing Director, 212 245 2425, ascandalios@hfflp.com

Laurie Fish McDowell, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, 617 338 0990, lmcdowell@hfflp.com

HFF closes sale of suburban Atlanta and Pittsburgh hotels on behalf of GE Real Estate

MIAMI, FL – HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) has closed the sale of the DoubleTree Hotel Roswell (above centered photo) in Roswell, Georgia and the Embassy Suites Hotel Pittsburgh International Airport (bottom left photo) in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. HFF exclusively represented the seller, GE Real Estate in the transaction.

The HFF investment sales team was comprised of senior managing director Dan Carlo (top right photo) and managing directors Patrick Poggi (middle right photo) and Mark Popovich (top left photo), Associate director Jaret Turkell and real estate analyst Ann Marie Milan assisted on the transaction.

National Hospitality Holdings purchased the hotels for an undisclosed price free and clear of debt. The properties were part of a larger five-property portfolio being marketed for sale by HFF’s hotel group.

Renovated in 2004, The DoubleTree Hotel Roswell has 172 guest rooms and 12,000 square feet of meeting space in a “Southern mansion-style” hotel design.

“The property is located in Roswell, midway between the Perimeter and Windward business parks, which are among Atlanta’s most prominent and fastest-growing business nodes,” said Poggi.

Embassy Suites Hotel Pittsburgh International Airport is located Route 60, proximate to Pittsburgh’s International Airport. The property has 223 guest rooms, 13,650 square feet of meeting space and was extensively renovated in 2004.

“Both the DoubleTree Roswell and the Embassy Suites Pittsburgh offer excellent opportunities for increased performance because of the planned capital expenditures,” added Poggi.

GE Real Estate (www.gerealestate.com) is one of the world’s premier commercial real estate companies with more than $79 billion in assets and a presence in 32 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia/New Zealand.

GE Real Estate offers a comprehensive range of capital and investment solutions including equity capital for acquisition or development, as well as fixed- and floating-rate mortgages for new acquisitions or recapitalizations of commercial real estate.

National Hospitality Holdings LLC is an investor, asset manager and advisory firm specializing in the hospitality industry. With an emphasis on hotels, and most recently casinos, NHH provides institutional-grade operational and financial experience at the senior level.

HFF (NYSE: HF) operates out of 18 offices nationwide and is a leading provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the U.S. commercial real estate industry.

HFF offers clients a fully integrated national capital markets platform including debt placement, investment sales, structured finance, private equity, note sales and note sale advisory services and commercial loan servicing.

CONTACTS:

Patrick Poggi, HFF Managing Director, 305 448 1333, ppoggi@hfflp.com

Laurie Fish McDowell, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, 617 338 0990, lmcdowell@hfflp.com