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Here's the tale of one Mastro creditor now living in poverty
Many of Michael R. Mastro’s “Family & Friends” investors have been struggling since the prominent real estate developer was forced into involuntary bankruptcy two years ago.
Seattle: One of U.S.'s hottest housing markets
The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area is among the top markets in the U.S. when it comes to the value of new housing projects, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Ultra-green Office Building Breaks Ground in Seattle
Workers are digging a hole on Seattle's Capitol Hill for a new office building unlike any commercial structure the planet's ever seen before.
Seattle still nation’s 15th-biggest metro area
The four leaders remain the same, but there have also been three changes in the upper echelon of America’s metropolitan population rankings, according to new estimates by On Numbers.
Starbucks' Seattle Retreat
The opening of a Starbucks coffee shop often has neighborhood landlords envisioning rising real-estate values. The same was true for landlords in Pioneer Square, a historic Seattle district where Starbucks made big expansion plans five years ago.
Kirkland office buildings flipped for handsome profit
Colony Realty Partners has sold two buildings in the Kirkland 405 Corporate Center for a nearly 40 percent profit after holding them for just over 13 months.
Trustee alleges fraud in Mastro deals
Missing Seattle developer Michael R. Mastro Sr. used a network of business associates and companies to hide tens of millions of dollars from creditors, a trustee contends in lawsuits that call some of those transfers “fraudulent.”
Seattle venture first foreign group to build assisted living in China
Two Seattle companies have teamed up to make what they say is the U.S. senior housing industry’s first investment in China.
Oregon real estate firm Capital Pacific moves into Seattle
Capital Pacific LLC, a commercial real estate brokerage with offices in Portland and San Francisco, is opening a new office in Seattle.
Developer Lands Loan to Build 118 Units
SEATTLE-Brook I LLC lands the loan to fund construction of and permanent financing for a 118-unit apartment complex in this week’s roundup of commercial real estate news in the West.
In Person: Healey put Vulcan Real Estate on Seattle map
Ada Healey had her first job interview to run Vulcan Real Estate in the parking lot of Seattle's old Déjà Vu strip-club joint at the corner of Dexter and Denny.
National
REITs Hit the ATM for Funds
When Capstead Mortgage Corp. executives raise money for their real estate investment trust, they either can do it drip by drip or in one huge flood…..
Cerberus Calls Off Innkeepers Deal
Cerberus Capital Management LP walked away from a deal to buy Innkeepers USA Trust, upending the hotelier's plans to emerge from bankruptcy proceedings.
Cerberus Remains Interested in Innkeepers Deal at Lower Price
Cerberus Capital Management LP remains interested in buying 64 Innkeepers USA Trust hotels for a lower price than the private-equity firm had agreed to in a previous deal, said a person familiar with the matter.
Innkeepers Sues Cerberus Over Deal's Collapse
Innkeepers USA Trust said Cerberus Capital Management LP abandoned a $1.12 billion deal to buy the hotelier as part of a ploy to pay a lower price and must close the transaction or pay "substantial damages."
Hilton Is Unlikely to Stay in Vegas
Hilton Worldwide Inc.'s namesake brand, a fixture in Las Vegas since 1970, is set to vanish from the city's gambling scene unless Hilton finds another property to fly its flag there before year end.
When Metropolitan Realty Associates LLC and Angelo, Gordon & Co. paid $7.4 million to acquire a former pharmaceutical plant on Long Island in 2005, some real-estate executives questioned the wisdom of the move.
Well-Leased Loses Appeal
With the economy threatening to slip back into recession, many commercial real-estate investors believe the best way to weather the storm is to stick with well-leased buildings in major markets.
Some Home Builders Run Out of Lifelines
Five years into a housing meltdown, questions are arising about how long some publicly held home builders can survive without significant improvement in the market.
Sales of newly built homes, which peaked at 1.3 million units in 2005, were running at an annual rate of just 298,000 units in July and are on pace to post the lowest count this year since record keeping began in 1963.
Wells Fargo Jumps on Commercial Deals
At a time when the U.S. banking sector is reducing its exposure to commercial real estate, Wells Fargo & Co. has taken a different approach: expanding lending to the sector while also buying real-estate loans from other banks.
Freddie to Step Up Multifamily Loans
Freddie Mac plans to accelerate its program to purchase loans backed by apartment buildings, increasing the availability of financing for landlords and helping to bolster the multifamily real-estate market.
Facing a deadline to repay debt, the developer of a storied New Orleans hotel has brought in a partner to stabilize its finances and move ahead with a major renovation.
The 251-room Chateau Bourbon Hotel, which originally housed the D.H. Holmes department store, is home to a white clock that has served as a meeting place for generations.
Most real-estate investors buy buildings with a precise goal in mind. But for Steve Wilson and his wife, Laura Lee Brown, an heir to the Brown-Forman Corp. spirits empire, a recent acquisition of five landmark buildings in downtown Louisville, Ky., was an act of charity.
Gyms Working Out for Landlords
Vacancy-plagued shopping centers in the U.S. are getting a lift from tenants who deal in sweat rather than typical retail goods.
City Approves Mixed-Use Project on Rare Parcel
PASADENA, CA-The Pasadena City Council has approved plans for One Green Street, a mixed-use retail and office project that leads this week's list of commercial real estate news in the West. One Green Street is slated to be built one one of the last undeveloped parcels in this city, according to Gonzalez Goodale Architects, the designer for the project. Developer M&D Properties plans to construct the three-story, 45,000-square-foot project at the corner of South Fair Oaks and West Green Street.
Lehman Still Real-Estate Giant, Three Years On
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was one of the biggest players in commercial property before it collapsed. With the third anniversary of its bankruptcy filing set to be marked on Thursday, it still plays a big role in the industry as a major owner and seller.
International
Mall Owner Tightens Global Grip
Westfield Group cemented its claim as a dominant shopping- mall owner on four continents on Tuesday, by opening its Westfield Stratford City shopping complex adjacent to the site of London's 2012 Olympic Games.
Toronto Wary of Condo Correction
TORONTO—A condominium-building boom is lifting Canada's largest city into the same stratosphere as London, Sydney, Vancouver and Miami, but deepening the worries about a potential tumble.
Australian Property, Long an Outlier, Joins Decline
SYDNEY—One of the few bright spots in real estate amid a three-year global slump, Australia now faces falling home prices and fears of overbuilding.
China Central Bank Moves in Secret to Curb Lending
BEIJING—As policy makers from the U.S. and Europe gathered in Jackson Hole, Wyo., to discuss ways to revive a fragile global recovery, China's central bank was issuing a secret memo to further rein in lending in the world's second-largest economy.
Kerzner Weighs Atlantis Dubai Sale
Kerzner International Holdings Ltd., the owner of several luxury getaways, is exploring selling its 50% stake in the Atlantis resort in Dubai to raise money to restructure $2.6 billion in mortgage debt coming due next week, said people familiar with the matter.
German Hotel Looks Like a Hard Sell
FRANKFURT—The German government is trying once again to sell its famous five-star hotel, but market participants say the property, on a mountainside overlooking the former West German capital of Bonn, will be a hard sell.
Seattle venture first foreign group to build assisted living in China
Two Seattle companies have teamed up to make what they say is the U.S. senior housing industry’s first investment in China.
ProLogis Pockets $65.6M on Sale of Korea Assets
ProLogis Inc. has sold eight wholly-owned assets and its interest in the ProLogis Korea Fund in a deal that netted the industrial real estate company $65.6 million in proceeds.
Dark Side of Brazil's Rise
SÃO PAULO—Brazil is booming amid a tectonic shift in global investing toward the developing world that has lifted its stock market, strengthened its currency and provided financing for new ports and World Cup soccer stadiums.
That quintessential European villa—with a pool and maybe a lemon tree and a tennis court out back—is getting a lot cheaper.
French Real Estate: A Little Bubbly
PARIS—The French residential real-estate market has withstood the euro-zone financial crisis, but some economists and market professionals warn that it shouldn't necessarily be seen as a haven of guaranteed returns, far from financial market turmoil.
Home-Loan Delinquencies Rise Again
The number of American households that are delinquent on mortgage payments is rising again after falling for more than one year, an unwelcome trend for the U.S. economy.
Industry's Shadow Inventory of Distressed Homes Shrinks
Housing has become an industry afraid of its shadows. That shadow inventory of repossessed and soon-to-be repossessed homes has professionals from every side of the business worried about the impact such a sizeable volume of distress will have on property values and overall market fundamentals. But according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P), the obscurity hiding in the corner is getting smaller.
Archstone Draws Bids From Big Names
Four of the biggest names in real estate have submitted bids for Archstone, but the offers aren't high enough to resolve a dispute among the owners about how and when to unwind the apartment giant, according to people familiar with the matter.
Jacksonville is worst housing market
Jacksonville, Fla., is the lowest performing major housing market, beating out Detroit, which has held the undesirable honor for the past seven months, according to a report released this week by Clear Capital, a provider of real estate asset valuation information.
RE Trends
Appreciation in Home Prices to Be Fleeting
Falling home prices have been the norm for some time. Now, a momentary respite is at hand.
Home prices on a monthly basis rose in both April and May, according to the Case-Shiller Index, a widely followed measure of housing prices. Tuesday's release of the index for June is expected to extend that run to a third gain. This should provide the battered housing sector with some hope.
Programs for financially troubled homeowners have limited success
When President Obama announced his first foreclosure-prevention initiative in February 2009, he promised $75 billion to help up to 4 million homeowners modify their mortgages to more affordable payments.
June Home Prices Below Year-Earlier Levels
U.S. home prices increased in the second quarter but fell compared with the same period last year, painting a mixed picture of the real-estate market amid plummeting consumer confidence.
BofA Faces Fresh Mortgage Suit
Bank of America Corp.'s legal woes deepened Tuesday, as a big bank filed suit over soured home-loan bonds and a flurry of investors said they might object to a high-profile mortgage-bond settlement.
Banks, State Reach a Deal
The mortgage industry will take a step toward cleaning up some of its most controversial practices under a deal between a New York regulator and three financial firms, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Hotel per-room revenue continued to improve in July, according to Smith Travel Research. The firm said the 12-month moving average for revenue per available hotel room was $59.16 in July, up 8.5% from a year earlier. In June, the 12-month moving average for revpar, as it is known in business parlance, was $58.76, up 8.6% from a year earlier.
Can cities be part of the environmental solution instead of part of the problem?
The question isn't an idle one. Urban populations around the world are expected to soar in the next 20 years, to five billion from more than three billion today. If the current rate of urbanization holds steady, cities will account for nearly three-quarters of the world's energy demand by 2030. Most of the increase will come in rapidly developing countries like China and India; China's cities alone will have to deliver water, housing, transportation and other services to 400 million additional urban dwellers by 2030.
Title Insurance Performance is Slow and Steady
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- For an industry battered by the recent past and besieged with questions regarding its viability, no surprises is a good thing. The trends of slow recovery are continuing at an even pace from the last quarter. While paid losses are up, the amount of unpaid losses continues to drop. Written premiums continue to climb and income is on the rise. These trends signal that while the Title markets are still strained, the tension is lessening and companies with strategic vision can begin to capitalize on the opportunities at hand.
CoreLogic: 10.9 Million U.S. Properties with Negative Equity in Q2
CoreLogic ... released Q2 negative equity data showing that 10.9 million, or 22.5 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of the second quarter of 2011……
Distressed House Sales using Sacramento Data
I've been following the Sacramento market
to see the change in mix over time (conventional, REOs, and short sales) in a distressed area. The Sacramento Association of REALTORS® started breaking out REOs in May 2008, and short sales in June 2009.
CRE Podcasts
CRE Distressed Assets Association Announces New CREDAA Central
GreenPearl Commercial Distressed Real Estate Summit 2011 in Los Angeles
Ryan Slack - CEO of GreenPearl Events
Ryan Slack, as well as co-founder and former CEO of PropertyShark.com. Ryan was named one of Crain's New York Business 40-under-40 rising stars, as well as one of New York Magazine's 200 most influential New Yorkers. Ryan has an MBA from Stanford Business School and specializes in marketing, technology, events, and real estate.
Mark Levinson of Greenberg Traurig on Distressed Commercial Real Estate Strategies
Mark Levinson has substantial experience in a broad range of corporate, securities, real estate and finance matters including an emphasis in municipal finance.
Mr. Levinson routinely structures, negotiates and documents the public and private placement of a range of securities offerings; loan restructurings; defaulted bond workouts on behalf of issuers, indenture trustees and bondholders; venture capital and private equity investments.
Mr. Levinson also provides guidance to businesses on Securities Exchange Act reporting obligations and general corporate and contract matters.
