Commercial Real Estate & Business Opportunities

CoStar Repeat Sale Indices: Distress Contributing to a 'Shaky Bottom' for CRE Sales, Pricing The CoStar Commercial Repeat-Sale Indices (CCRSI), produced by CoStar Group, found that investment-grade property continued to decline in value for the second straight month in July. Properties of sufficient quality and size for inclusion in large...

Tenants, Landlords Could Face Dramatic Changes from New Lease Accounting Rules Northrop Grumman Corp.'s decision in July to relocate its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to a 14-story, 334,385-square-foot building it acquired in Falls Church, VA, was a huge economic development victory for Fairfax County and the state of...

Bank Watch: Regulator Says Bankers, Not Bricks, Main Reason Behind Most Bank Failures Don't blame the current wave of bank failures on commercial real estate; much of the blame belongs to bad bankers. While it is clear that commercial real estate and construction and land development loans have figured in most every bank failure in...

Latest CMBS Data Show More Secondary Markets Doing Better Than Some Larger Markets The summer has brought little relief to metro areas experiencing the most distress on loans held in the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) universe. However, two markets have seen a noted improvement in their respective levels of CMBS loan distress...

Deloitte Leases 166,435 SF in San Francisco Deloitte finalized its 15-year, 166,435-square-foot lease with Tishman Speyer at 555 Mission St. in San Francisco. The major international accounting and consulting firm will occupy nine full floors (four through seven and 10-15) with a move in date scheduled...

Lease Down (Aug. 29 - Sept. 4): Northrop Grumman, Aviat Continue to Downsize CoStar compiles news of consolidations, closures, layoffs and lease cancellations in the weekly Lease Down news report, a concise read keeping you updated on major corporate moves affecting commercial real estate. For news on corporate expansions...

In The Pipeline: CoStar Development and Construction News for Aug. 29 - Sept. 4 In this week's Pipeline, Forest City Enterprises will privatize and build family housing at four military bases in South Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi; in Rockville, MD, business and government leaders will officially kick off a $200 million expansion...

Lease Up (Aug. 29 - Sept. 4): BP Selects Memphis Facility to Store Gulf Cleanup Materials CoStar compiles news of corporate expansions, relocations and lease extensions in the weekly Lease Up news report, a concise read keeping you updated on major corporate moves affecting commercial real estate. For news on consolidatations and lease...

CoStar's People of Note (Aug. 22-28) This week's People of Note includes the following markets: Atlanta, Denver, Hartford, New York City, Northern New Jersey, Retail, South Florida and Washington, DC. ATLANTA Brown Joins Cortland as Chief Acquisitions Officer Cortland Partners recruited...

Cornerstone, Kettler Sell Pentagon City Multifamily for $125M Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC and Kettler sold the Metropolitan at Pentagon City, a 325-unit multifamily complex at 901 S. 15th St. in Arlington, VA, to Invesco for $125 million. Invesco paid $111.7 million, or about $343,700 per unit, for the...

STG Leases 111,900 SF at Reston Town Center STG, a contractor that provides IT services to the U.S. government, signed a 10-year office lease for 111,896 square feet at 12011 Sunset Hills Road in Reston, VA. The 12-story property totals 321,394 square feet in One Reston Overlook in the Reston...

Eight Takeaways on the Current State of Distress Opportunities Since the start of 2009, buyers and sellers have transacted about $16.5 billion in distressed commercial real estate sales. Certainly more are expected to follow. Banks and CMBS special servicers are currently dealing with nearly $290 billion in distressed...

Speculation Rising Over Impact of Expiring Capital Gains Tax Cuts on CRE Sales The debate over tax cuts enacted in 2001 is expected to heat up when the U.S. Senate reconvenes in September after its summer recess. The maximum tax rate on capital gains and dividends will revert from the current 15%, a 70-year low, back to 20% on Jan...

Abercrombie & Fitch Shuttering 110 Stores, GM Shrinks Real Estate Holdings, More Retailer Right-Sizings CoStar compiles news of consolidations, closures, layoffs and lease cancellations in the weekly Lease Down news report, a concise read keeping you updated on major corporate moves affecting commercial real estate. For news on corporate expansions,...

Survey: Recession Weakens 'NIMBY' Resistance to New Development Projects Even as the level of new development and construction has fallen to historic lows nationally, a recent study suggests that recession-stung Americans appear to be more willing to support new commercial projects in their communities. That would be a rare...

This Week in Retail: NFL's Ray Lewis Looks To Be 'All Business' Off the Field Too Baltimore Ravens star linebacker and likely Hall-of-Famer Ray Lewis has drafted a new team, RL52 Realty, a full service commercial real estate advisory firm. While the firm will help advise clients on decisions affecting all property types, the official...

Bank Watch: Regulators Close Seven Banks with $4.4 Bil. in Assets The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) lined up five buyers for seven newly closed banks this past week. Together the seven failed banks reported distressed commercial real estates of nearly $548 million combined. Summary of the seven banks deals...

InComm Expands to 186,000 SF in Downtown Atlanta InComm signed an expansion deal that nearly doubled its space from 95,000 square feet to 186,000 square feet at the American Cancer Society Center in Atlanta. The stored-value gift and prepaid products marketer and distributor, a 14-year tenant of the...

Boston Properties to Acquire 510 Madison Boston Properties said Monday that it is acquiring 510 Madison Ave. from oft-troubled New York developer Harry Macklowe. The REIT has agreed to a purchase price equal to the principal and accrued interest on the office tower's senior mortgage and...

In The Pipeline: CoStar Development and Construction News for Aug. 22 - 28 In this week's Pipeline, the Empire State Building failed in its bid to amend or halt plans by Vornado Realty Trust to build a nearly 1,200-foot skyscraper in the sightlines of the historic building; a Los Angeles-based fund is providing $22.6 millionto...

Lease Up (Aug. 22-28): GMHC, WNET Sign Major Manhattan Office Deals CoStar compiles news of corporate expansions, relocations and lease extensions in the weekly Lease Up news report, a concise read keeping you updated on major corporate moves affecting commercial real estate. For news on consolidatations and lease...

Regal Entertainment Buys Trio Portfolio for $29M Regal Entertainment Group acquired three movie theaters in Columbia, MD; Berkeley, CA; and Walled Lake, MI, from Westcore Properties for $29.14 million or $225.33 per square foot. United Artist occupies all of the locations. The assets include...

CoStar's People of Note (Aug. 15-21) This week's People of Note includes the following markets: Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Washington, DC. CHICAGO Sellis Joins Transwestern's Investment Sales Group The Chicago branch of Transwestern hired Janice Sellis as a director...