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Qwest Field north lot project may break ground this year
The first part of the redevelopment of a parking lot at the north end of Qwest Field may break ground later this year.
Pioneer Square tussle over building heights
Developers and Pioneer Square preservationists are squaring off over a proposal that could increase maximum building heights in the historic Seattle neighborhood to up to 18 stories
Developer asks Tacoma for $3M
The developer of a luxury mixed-use development at an old smelter site on Commencement Bay in Tacoma is asking for a $3 million cash advance from the city.
Amazon, Schnitzer West sign big lease
Amazon.com has leased approximately 460,000 square feet of space at Schnitzer West’s 1918 Eighth office tower in downtown Seattle, the companies said in a release today.
West Seattle Fauntleroy Place dispute heats up
The long-running legal dispute over West Seattle’s failed Fauntleroy Place mixed-use project has taken yet another twist.
Zillow planning IPO?
Seattle online real estate company Zillow.com Inc. has hired CitiBank to handle a planned initial public offering of its stock, according to a report.
Seattle considers new landlord rules for ex-criminals
Landlords in Seattle wouldn't be able to deny housing to renters who have previously been arrested or charged with a crime under new rules under consideration by the city of Seattle.
Tiny 'pod' rooming houses spreading
The Seattle developers who built a 21st-century version of the old rooming house have several more in the pipeline.
Seattle Times business staff
The Seattle developers who brought you a 21st-century take on an old idea — the rooming house — must be pleased with how their first projects have been received:
Point Ruston development to house 12-screen movie theater
Commercial interest in a major development on the site of Tacoma’s former Asarco copper smelter is warming up after two years in the deep freeze.
Zillow leases 3 Russell Center floors
Zillow.com has signed a lease for three floors, or 66,000 square feet, in the 42-story Russell Investments Center on Second Avenue in downtown Seattle.
Amazon shows off new South Lake Union digs
Seattle city officials got a look at Amazon.com Inc.'s new South Lake Union headquarters on Tuesday.
Wealthy buying homes
Wealthy buyers are starting to return to the luxury home market, flashing positive signals to the broader Puget Sound housing sector.
DuPont apartment project aims to grow with Lewis-McChord
Following some delay, a Spokane developer has set April 4 as the date to break ground on a $33 million apartment project in DuPont Station, in Pierce County.
BioMed Realty Prices $400M Public Offering
BioMed Realty L.P., the operating partnership subsidiary of life sciences real estate REIT BioMed Realty Trust Inc., has priced a public offering of $400 million of Senior Notes that will bear interest at an annual rate of 3.85 percent
Archstone Looks Likely to Go Public Again
The sharp rise in the value of rental-apartment buildings is raising the likelihood that Archstone, one of the companies that became a symbol of the commercial real-estate downturn, will be resold to the public this year in what could be the largest real-estate initial public offering ever.
Blackstone Wins Bidding for Centro's U.S. Assets
Debt-laden Centro Properties Group agreed to sell its 588 U.S. shopping centers to private-equity giant Blackstone Group LP for $9.4 billion in a deal that will allow Centro's Australian operations to continue as a stand-alone company, according to people familiar with the matter.
Health Care Property Megadeals Announced By Ventas, Healthcare REIT Inc.
Executives and analysts have predicted continued merger and acquisitions activity in the booming health care and senior housing real estate sector, as reported by CoStar Group last week. Monday brought two more blockbuster transactions in the health care sector, including a deal for Ventas Inc. (NYSE: VTN) to acquire Nationwide Health Properties (NYSE:NHP) for $7.4 billion in stock, including debt; and Healthcare REIT Inc.'s (NYSE: HCN) agreement to acquire the nursing and other acute-care assets of privately owned Genesis Healthcare for $2.4 billion.
Are Rule Makers Backing Off New Accounting Standards For Leases?
Two international accounting authorities appear to be moving to scale down proposed new standards that would require landlords and tenants to account for real estate and equipment leases as assets or liabilities on their balance sheets. Many in the commercial real estate industry regard the new rules as onerous, dramatically increasing the complexity of leases for both landlords and tenants.
Lehman Said to Seek Partner for 75 Real Estate Developments
March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. sent requests to at least six homebuilders and developers seeking partners for 75 real estate projects in 19 states, according to executives at three companies who reviewed the solicitations.
Sand and Surf Help Spur Real-Estate Revival
SANTA MONICA, Calif.—Office occupancy rates in this seaside city have soared in an otherwise lackluster Los Angeles market, fueled by an entertainment-industry expansion. The move is part of an uneven recovery in the property market benefiting certain pockets of cities and metropolitan areas.
Supreme Court Rejects Banks' Bid to Shield Fed Lending Data
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Federal Reserve Board said it intends to release emergency lending-data from the peak of the 2008 financial crisis after the Supreme Court rejected a bid by major banks to keep the information secret.
Government Cuts Clip Office Market Smaller government means less demand for office space, and that is acting as a drag on the recovery of the commercial-real-estate market.
In Washington and elsewhere, government leasing has helped prop up demand in tough times. But now cash-strapped governments are moving to cut back on office space, even as commercial real estate struggles to recover.
10 Real Estate Markets to Watch in 2011
Washington, D.C., was one of only two markets to see year-over-year gains in the most recent Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index report, which tracks 20 U.S. metro areas nationally. While 11 of the 20 markets tracked posted new index lows in December, home prices in Washington, D.C., rose 4.1 percent year-over-year.
Muni Woes Hinder Projects
The troubled municipal-bond market could force the developer of a skyscraper at the World Trade Center to pay higher interest rates to investors in order to avoid a potential construction shutdown.
BioMed Realty Prices $400M Public Offering
BioMed Realty L.P., the operating partnership subsidiary of life sciences real estate REIT BioMed Realty Trust Inc., has priced a public offering of $400 million of Senior Notes that will bear interest at an annual rate of 3.85 percent
International
Housing Operators Put Focus on China
The number of Chinese over 60 years old is on pace to exceed the entire population of the U.S. by 2050. The big change has caught the eye of U.S. senior-housing developers, which are pouring into China in search of the opportunity—and maybe the risk—of a lifetime.
Deutsche Bank Sells Headquarters for $835 Million
FRANKFURT—Deutsche Bank AG said it would sell its Frankfurt headquarters, a pair of reflective glass towers that have dominated the city's skyline for a quarter-century, in a deal worth roughly €600 million, or about $835 million.
UPDATE 1-Barclays to sell property assets to CreXus
LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - Barclays (BARC.L)has agreed to sell a portfolio of real estate loans to property investment trust CreXus (CXS.N) for $586 million, as part of the British bank's plans to trim its non-core property book.
U.K. Property Deal Puts Focus on Secondary Markets
LONDON—In a deal that demonstrates the interest in secondary property markets in the United Kingdom, a fund operated by AEW Europe and Tristan Capital Partners has agreed to acquire a portfolio of three shopping centers for £145 million ($236.5 million).
Spain's Bank Rescue Hits Headwinds
LONDON—Spain's plan to rescue its regional banks is running into headwinds as private investors, who are being asked to pour in cash, and ratings firms raise questions about whether the lenders have admitted to all of their real-estate losses.
Hui Xian REIT Seeks $1.7 Billion in IPO
HONG KONG—Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust, the Beijing-focused real-estate investment trust controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing, plans to raise up to 11.2 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) from its Hong Kong listing, the company said Sunday, in what is set to be the first yuan-denominated initial public offering outside mainland China.
Distressed
SEC Probe Examines Bank-Loan Practices
The Securities and Exchange Commission is scrutinizing U.S. banks that have restructured troubled loans in order to make them appear healthier than they really are, according to people familiar with the situation.
Officials at the SEC are seeking information from an unknown number of regional and community banks with large concentrations of commercial real-estate loans, these people said.
FDIC's Tab For Failed U.S. Banks Nears $9 Billion
U.S. banking regulators have paid out nearly $9 billion to cover losses on loans and other assets at 165 failed institutions that were sold to stronger companies during the financial crisis.
AIG, Fed in Subprime-Bond Standoff
American International Group Inc. is trying to force the hand of the Federal Reserve on a large portfolio of subprime-mortgage bonds it wants to repurchase, putting the central bank in the position of weighing taxpayers' interests against those of the government-controlled insurer.
Barclays Considers Bid for US Securities
Barclays is among a group of investors weighing a rival bid for a portfolio of mortgage-backed securities that has already drawn a $15.7 billion offer from AIG, people familiar with the matter said.
Publicly traded real-estate investment trusts have emerged as goliaths in the acquisition market for hotels as the hospitality industry continues its rebound from the recession.
Case in point: LaSalle Hotel Properties Inc., owner of 35 upscale hotels, last week paid $80.1 million for the Viceroy Santa Monica hotel on California's coast. The purchase was LaSalle's seventh of an upscale, trophy hotel in a little more than a year, amounting to $596 million in spending by the real-estate investment trust, or REIT.
Malls Face Surge in Vacancies
Even as the economy picks up steam, many of the nation's malls and shopping centers are suffering a hangover due to changing consumer habits and the fallout from a massive building boom.
C(RE) Trends
Commercial Vacancy Rates to Decline
A stabilization trend is taking place in commercial real estate sectors, but in most markets rent will remain soft except for multifamily rentals, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
Timing Is Ripe for Negotiation
More than two years before his firm's five-year office lease was due to expire in 2013, Robert Finlayson told his landlord he was interested in renewing, but wanted some incentive to stay put.
Foreclosure Filings Hit Three-Year Low as U.S. Servicers in `Dysfunction'
U.S. foreclosure filings fell last month to the lowest level in three years as lenders under legal scrutiny struggled to process a backlog of defaults and put new systems in place for home seizures, RealtyTrac Inc. said.
Housing Risk in Mortgage Forgiveness
For a change, banks aren't crying wolf.
Over the past two years, financial institutions have often fought financial reform, hoping to maintain the status quo, and their profits. So it is easy to think opposition to a proposed settlement of alleged mortgage-servicing abuses is more of the same. This time, though, there is good reason for them to balk at some provisions.
Freddie Mac’s Former Chief May Face S.E.C. Action
The former chief executive of Freddie Mac may face a civil action as the government ramps up an investigation of disclosure practices at the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, people briefed on the investigation said.
Goldman Looks to Sell Its Litton Mortgage-Servicing Unit
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has decided to sell its Litton Loan Servicing LP unit after the mortgage-servicing operation failed to deliver as much business as the securities firm hoped when it bought Litton in 2007.
Housing Gloom Doesn't Extend to Rentals
Not all real estate is in the dumps. Housing data due this week aren't likely to be encouraging. Figures Monday are expected to show sales of existing homes fell nearly 4% in February from January. On Tuesday, the government's index of home prices is forecast to register its seventh drop in eight months. And on Wednesday, economists anticipate new home sales in February will post a monthly increase of about 2% monthly increase, which will do little to dent January's nearly 13% decline.
PIMCO raises $1.5 billion to target bank assets: report
(Reuters) - Pacific Investment Management Co (PIMCO), the manager of world's largest bond fund, has raised more than $1.5 billion for a new fund to buy assets from banks looking to strengthen their balance sheets, Bloomberg said, citing two people with knowledge of the fundraising.
Real-Estate Firms Make IPO U-Turn
Equity Capital Management LLC., a private-equity firm focused on real estate that owns single-tenant office, retail and warehouse buildings, told the world last summer it planned to become a publicly traded company.
The spring home buying season is looking bleak for home builders.
CRE BLOGS
Household Deleveraging Continues As Net Worth Jumps On Stock Market Gains; UBS Sees Stagflation Coming As Real Estate Values Drop To Q4 2003 Levels
Today the Fed released its quarterly Flow of Funds report which is traditionally used to keep track of household net worth and general leverage. While the far more important use of this data, namely tracking shadow banking data is never in the headlines (we will present an updated version later today), the media is more than happy to present any simplistic information without much thought.
Q4 Flow of Funds: Household Real Estate assets off $6.3 trillion from peak
The Federal Reserve released the Q4 2010 Flow of Funds report this morning: Flow of Funds.
According to the Fed, household net worth is now off $8.8 Trillion from the peak in 2007, but up $8.1 trillion from the trough in Q1 2009.
Hotels: Occupancy Rate improves in Latest Survey
Here is the weekly update on hotels from HotelNewsNow.com: STR: U.S. ADR on the rise
Stake in office portfolio on block
Walton Street Capital LLC in Chicago is poised to grab a big share of the Puget Sound area office market, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal this weekend.
Inflation Misconceptions Hide A Downright U-G-L-Y Real Estate Landscape! – Part 1
Here’s a quiz for you. An ages old correlation that has pretty much remained rock solid is now upon us. Real estate has been highly correlated to inflation and has acted as an inflation hedge for a very long time. This makes sense, since hard assets that both throw off income and have an actual demand for physical use (in other words, they have have intrinsic value) that hold when fiat currencies assimilate toilet paper in both value and use as input prices skyrocket. The question du jour is, “What happens when you have a glut of unused real estate supply abound in a tight credit environment, a guaranteed increase in rates AND higher input prices?”. Of course the smart people out there (in other words nearly everyone with the impetus to read BoomBustBlog) are then forced to challenge the thesis, “So is this time different? After all Reggie, you have been bearish on real estate.”
CRE Podcasts
Commercial Real Estate Private Money and Loan Workouts Video with Brian Schniderson and Marc Benezra, Esq
Brian Shniderson of B and A Capital Partners and Marc Benezra, Esq, partner at Baker and Hostetler talk to us about Private Money and Loan workouts at the Distressed Real Estate Summit Los Angeles 2011
Commercial Asset Preservations - Marc Insul
Mark Insul talks to us about Commercial Asset Preservation, LLC, ("CAP") which was formed to meet the need for a national provider of general maintenance, preservation, and inspections/evaluations of abandoned and nearly vacant commercial, industrial and multi-family real estate
Commercial Distressed Real Estate from the Banks Prospective, Raymond W. Lowe, Sr. Managing Director Wells Fargo Bank Commercial Lending Group Los Angeles, CA
