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Red Lion puts downtown Seattle hotel up for sale
Red Lion Corp. said it’s putting up for sale its Red Lion Hotel Fifth Avenue in downtown Seattle.
U.S. Treasury: WaMu shutdown "was a mistake"
The shutdown of Washington Mutual “was a mistake” according to the Neel Kashkari, a U.S. Treasury official, whose comments about the shut-down of the thrift were cited in a report released today by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
Most expensive home sale in Seattle last year was $7.2M
Last year, the most expensive home sold in Seattle was a 5,200-square-foot condo at the Four Seasons at Second Avenue and Union Street that sold in October for $7.198 million.
Wallace Properties expands
In a deal that could create a dominant regional broker, Bellevue-based real estate firm Wallace Properties Inc. has significantly expanded its brokerage operations by acquiring rival Cascade Commercial Properties LLC. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
New lease on life for "Class of 2009" downtown office buildings
Call them the Class of 2009. That's when developers finished these 10 office buildings in greater downtown Seattle, give or take a few months.
Seattle sees slight drop in empty offices
The numbers vary, but the message they convey is the same:
Downtown Seattle's office vacancy rate, which peaked six to 12 months ago, is on its way back down again, according to fourth-quarter market reports from four brokerages.
$1 billion plan for Swedish Medical Center growth
Other sectors of the economy still may be struggling, but, judging from Swedish Medical Center's ambitious expansion plans, health care seems to be doing just fine.
The region's largest nonprofit health-care provider is planning $1 billion in new projects over the next five to 10 years, a Swedish administrator told a commercial real-estate industry forum this past week.
Report: State data center 90% too large
Washington state government will only need less than one tenth of the large $255 million data center under construction in Olympia, and the excess computer storage space could be leased to private businesses
Kimberly-Clark puts Everett mills up for sale
Kimberly-Clark Corp. said it will put up for sale its Everett pulp and tissue mills. The mills employ 842 workers.
Seattle Times sells South Lake Union building
The Seattle Times has sold its 1000 Denny Building to a California company. The Times will move its headquarters into the Denny building from another nearby building on John Street that's been its headquarters for more than 80 years.
Sources: Amazon ready for year's biggest lease deal
In what could be the biggest leasing deal of 2011, real estate sources are saying Amazon.com Inc. is poised to take more than a half million square feet of office space remaining in Schnitzer West’s 1918 Eighth Avenue building in Seattle.
Mastro trustee gets $3M judgment
The bankruptcy trustee in Seattle developer Michael Mastro Sr.’s involuntary bankruptcy has obtained yet another judgment against longtime Mastro business associate Thomas Hazelrigg III.
How missteps at Seattle Financial Group led to lawsuits, complaints and change
Chris Favour built two small condo projects in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. They’re on the same street, just a little more than a block apart. One of them made Favour a lot of money. The other, he says, took it all away.
Bothell picks Paul Allen's Vulcan for redevelopment deal
No one is calling Bothell the next South Lake Union.
But Paul Allen's Vulcan Real Estate, which spearheaded South Lake Union's transformation, is poised to play a big part in Bothell's ambitious plans to revitalize its downtown.
US Treasury's Toxic Asset Funds Gain 27%
The U.S. Treasury's toxic asset funds have gained 27 percent since they were created to help revive the mortgage-backed securities market, according to data expected to be released later on Monday.
Highland Hospitality Nears Deal With Creditor Group
Highland Hospitality Corp., the hotel chain owned by real-estate mogul Joseph E. Robert Jr.'s investment firm, is nearing a deal to hand ownership to creditors led by Ashford Hospitality Trust and Prudential Financial Inc., said people familiar with the matter.
Retreat on 'Marking To Market'
Accounting rule makers, bowing to an intense lobbying campaign, took a key step Tuesday to reverse a controversial proposal that would have required banks to use market prices rather than cost in order to value the loans they hold on their balance sheets.
Warehouse Giant AMB Near Merger With Rival ProLogis
Warehouse giant AMB Property Corp. is close to an agreement to merge with larger rival ProLogis, people familiar with the matter said, in what would be the biggest deal since the recession involving publicly traded real-estate companies.
Housing Woes Fuel Apartment Surge
Falling home prices and lethargic sales have been bad news for homeowners, but a boost for one group of real-estate investors: apartment-building landlords.
Blackstone eyes next real estate fund
(Reuters) - Private equity firm Blackstone Group (BX.N) said it expects to start fundraising this year for its next real estate fund, which could be about the same size as its $10 billion 2008 fund.
Houston's Piecemeal Deal
A sales trend that started in New York and Washington, D.C., office markets has begun to spill over into other cities: Owners are putting stakes in buildings on the block rather than the entire properties.
Tentative Pact for U.S. Steel Tower
A group of New York investors has a tentative deal to buy Pittsburgh's tallest building, the skyline-dominating U.S. Steel Tower, in a deal valued at about $250 million, according to people involved with the talks.
Commercial Property Pushes REITs Higher
After posting gains that exceeded the broader stock market last year, the stocks of real-estate investment trusts are picking up additional gains this year. The Dow Jones Equity All REIT Price index, which tracks 126 stocks, was up 5.1% as of Tuesday's close, at 235.17; and the MSCI U.S. REIT price index, which tracks 103 stocks, was up 4.8% to 797. Those were among the highest levels since October 2008, when the financial crisis was taking hold.
International
Shanghai opens door wide for Seattle architect
"Made in China" may be a ubiquitous tag on products sold here, but newly wealthy Chinese millionaires of Shanghai are looking for the "Designed in America" label.
Spanish Bank Tackles Toxic Assets
MADRID—Banco Financiero y de Ahorros SA, Spain's third-largest bank by assets, will set aside €9.2 billion ($12.52 billion) to cover loan losses and write down the value of its real-estate holdings, illustrating the ongoing fallout from the country's property bust.
CBRE to Buy Bulk of ING's Property Business
CB Richard Ellis Inc. has agreed to purchase the lion's share of the real-estate-investment-management business of Dutch financial group ING Groep NV, creating the world's largest property-fund manager.
China Scraps Property Data, Clouding View
BEIJING—China's statistics agency said it will stop publishing the country's much-watched official index of national property prices, scrapping a set of data whose accuracy was widely questioned but which also had become a rallying point for public anger over rapidly rising housing prices.
Distressed
Mastro trustee gets $3M judgment
The bankruptcy trustee in Seattle developer Michael Mastro Sr.’s involuntary bankruptcy has obtained yet another judgment against longtime Mastro business associate Thomas Hazelrigg III.
Dealing with Distress Head On, Lennar Turning a Healthy Profit
With the housing markets in distress, Miami-based homebuilder Lennar Corp. has proved correct the old adage that when life deals you a bunch of lemons, make lemonade.
| Myths and Realities of Investing in Distressed Commercial Real Estate Assets and Mortgages CB Richard Ellis Special Report |
Downtown commercial vacancies plague Des Moines
High vacancy rates in downtown Des Moines are expected to push down Polk County's commercial values for the first time in at least 30 years and reduce tax revenues, officials say.
Real Money: Note & Loan Purchases
Colony Capital is partnering with Argent Management LLC to acquire and manage an $800 million portfolio of real estate acquisition, development and construction (ADC) loans that Colony recently acquired from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). Combined with another $400 million portfolio that Argent has already been working with Colony in managing, the combined book value of these portfolios represents $1.2 billion in assets.
Easton snaps up distressed properties
Easton Lynd Management is taking advantage of market conditions to buy up distressed real estate assets in South Florida and around the country.
The Miami commercial real estate investment and management company bought $62 million worth of notes on 14 office, industrial and retail properties in Florida, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Maine, and Washington D.C. The notes were purchased at a 50 percent discount on the property's value.
CREDAA Announces New Managing Partner
CREDAA is proud to announce new managing partner Leonard Manriquez. Leonard also known as Leo, has been on the CREDAA Advisory panel for a year and has taken over as new managing partner.
CREDAA is not changing direction, but will be moving toward becoming a more viable commercial real estate industry association with the mission of furthering the CRE industry with more education, information and networking.
C(RE) Trends
Cash Buyers Lift Housing
Buyers in markets around the U.S. are snapping up homes in all-cash deals, betting that prices are at or near bottom and breathing life into some of the nation's most battered housing markets.
Seattle property tax bills going up 8%
Homeowners in Seattle will see their property tax bills going up 8 percent this year, despite declining property values.
Houston's Piecemeal Deal
A sales trend that started in New York and Washington, D.C., office markets has begun to spill over into other cities: Owners are putting stakes in buildings on the block rather than the entire properties.
CRE BLOGS
The Coming Interest Rate Volatility, Sovereign Contagion, Geo-political Unrest & Double-Dip Recessions: Here’s The Answer To Valuing Global Real Estate Through This Mess
In reviewing today’s headlines, we come across the reliably unreliable Eurozone statistician and forecasting figure failure, again: Euro Zone Economic Growth Below Forecasts:
The euro zone economy grew at the same quarterly rate in the fourth quarter as in the third, data showed on Tuesday, defying expectations of an acceleration.
MERS Exits Stage Left, Tells Members Not To Foreclose In MERS' Name
After the MERS Valentine's Day Massacre, previously reported on Zero Hedge, where Judge Robert Grossman found that MERS has no right to transfer mortgages, the company appears to have proceeded with the logical next step: professional Harakiri.
Multi-family Housing Starts and Completions
The Housing Starts report this morning showed an increase in multi-family starts in January. Although the number of multi-family starts can vary significantly month to month, some increase this year is expected since it takes over a year on a average to complete a multi-family unit.
CRE Podcasts
No Commercial Real Estate "Fire Sale" Soon - Vivek Seth of Raymond James at REITWorld
Leonard Manriquez New Managing Partner of CREDAA
Get to know more about our new managing partner and head of CREDAA Leomard Manriquez. CEO of ALB Commercial Capital and Commercial Assets Management CAM in Southern California. Leo talks about his companies, his challenges and the new direction of CREDAA.
State of the State of the Commercial Real Estate Industry
Terrible, dreadful, awful, frightful, gruesome, ghastly, horrid, hideous, grisly, horrific, fearful, appalling, shocking, and abysmal, are a few of the adjectives that I’ve seen used of late, to describe the current state of the CRE industry. As undeniable, inescapable and dire as the situation may have become, dwelling on it won’t make it any better. So what’s happening in the industry ? Our panelists give us their thoughts.
