By Gus Delaporte 5/09 7:30am

REIT Beat

vornado_logo

Vornado’s Results Continue to Be Hampered by J.C. Penney Stake

Earlier this week Vornado Realty Trust reported its first quarter results, with funds from operations, a key metric for judging the performance of real estate investment trusts, falling to $201.8 million, or $1.08 per share, from $348.5 million, or $1.82 per share, over the same period last year.

The decline of over 42 percent is attributable in part to the REIT’s investment in J.C. Penney Co.  but does not necessarily represent the REIT’s real estate assets, according to analysts. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 4/22 1:30pm

Renovation and Repositioning

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Vornado Eyeing Tech in Penn Plaza

Vornado Realty Trust is planning renovations to some of its properties around Penn Station, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. The plans are partially motivated by the desire to attract technology and media tenants to the properties, according to the report.

“We benefit from spillover from the Chelsea and Park Avenue South submarkets, which are flooded by tech firms and workers who don’t wear ties,” Steven Roth, newly named chief executive officer, wrote in a recent letter to shareholders. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 2/26 9:00am

Feature

8SpruceStreet

Head of the Class: Teachers Retirement Fund TIAA-CREF Making Waves in New York

Though not a traditional owner-operator, TIAA-CREF has begun to draw the attention of the real estate industry in recent months for a bevy of deals, including its acquisition of a stake in the Frank Gehry-designed building at 8 Spruce Street and a joint venture with Norges Bank Investment Management.

The asset management firm’s steady persistence in the real estate market during the downturn has led to a realization of gains, and recent deals could lead to the redeployment of capital in key markets going forward, said analysts familiar with the firm’s strategy going into 2013.

“TIAA is one of the investors that was pretty active in the depths of the market in 2009 and 2010, and some of those investments have turned into significant home runs,” said Dan Fasulo, managing director and head of research at Real Capital Analytics. Read More

By Alessia Pirolo 1/11 12:08pm

Mortgage Observer

Zach_Montoya_Eurocrisis2012

Making Waves: European Banks Exit, Asian Banks Sail On

Last fall, a group of lenders—including debt funds, insurance companies and international banks—competed for the $80 million assignment to refinance Lehman Brothers Holdings’ On The Ave Hotel on New York City’s Upper West Side.

Ultimately, the borrower tapped Singapore-based United Overseas Bank, which in the last two years has been behind several large office loans in New York and hotel loans on the West Coast, but which was essentially a newcomer to the city’s hotel lending scene. UOB inked the deal during the same late November week when Bank of China closed a $465.9 million loan on the iconic Plaza Hotel, after having refinanced the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for $170 million earlier in 2012. Read More

By Carl Gaines 1/08 12:33pm

Mortgage Observer

Messrs. Fisher and Braddish.

CBRE Debt and Equity Team Talks Trends

For CBRE’s Keith Braddish and Mark Fisher—the two elder statesmen in the firm’s capital markets debt and equity finance division—the more fractured lending environment that has arisen out of the collapse of the CMBS market and the concurrent economic malaise has meant the opportunity to dazzle and shine. Read More

By Karsten Strauss 1/08 7:00am

4Q12

4Q12 for web

Weathering the Storm: 4th Quarter Leasing Saw Improvements

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Times of change and uncertainty are always worrisome for investors—fear takes hold, spending is called into question and valuations become unpredictable.

Mix an election season with the impending threat of a potentially devastating fiscal cliff, then throw in a destructive, rogue tropical storm named Sandy, and you’ve created an environment that is not conducive to a stellar business quarter for the commercial market.

However, thanks to tax law-motivated sales and retail—as well as a handful of big end-of-year leasing deals—the fourth quarter ended on a relatively positive note, despite a slowdown in leasing activity. Read More

By Al Barbarino 12/20/12 7:15am

Year in Real Estate

kingsPlaza

A King-Sized Deal In Brooklyn Marked the Biggest Investment Sale of the Year

Brooklyn malls don’t usually come to mind as the city’s highest-grossing commercial real estate. But this year was different, with 5100 Kings Plaza, a k a the Kings Plaza Mall, taking the top spot among citywide sales when it sold for $751 million earlier this month.

It wasn’t just the biggest sale of the year—it was the biggest outright, single-trade sale in Brooklyn ever, according to data provided by Massey Knakal Realty Services. Read More

By Carl Gaines 10/30/12 7:45am

Sales Beat

521 Fifth Avenue.

SL Green Sells Stake in 521 Fifth Avenue for $72 M.

After hiring Eastdil Secured earlier this year to help it sell a stake in 521 Fifth Avenue, REIT SL Green announced last week that a joint venture between Quantum Global Real Estate and LaSalle Investment Management has agreed to buy a 49.5 percent equity interest.

Plaza Global Real Estate Partners, the JV, agreed to buy the stake for $72 million in a deal that is expected to close by the end of 2012. Read More

By Carl Gaines 10/17/12 12:21pm

Sales Beat

2 Rector Street.

Savanna Takes Control at 2 Rector Street

After several years of being affiliated with the building, real estate private equity firm Savanna has acquired a controlling interest in 2 Rector Street, The Commercial Observer has learned exclusively.

Savanna acquired a portion of the first mortgage at a discount in 2007 and then in 2010 provided a mezzanine loan and worked with owner Stellar Management to recap the building. Read More

By Carl Gaines 10/09/12 3:37pm

Mortgage Beat

10401 Fernwood Road.

GSA-Heavy Bethesda Building Receives $47 Million in Financing

Cushman & Wakefield Equity, Debt & Structured Finance has arranged $47 million in financing for the Atrium at Rock Spring Park, a 237,000-square-foot office building located at 10401 Fernwood Road in Bethesda, Maryland.

Meritage Properties owns the building in a joint venture with GTIS Partners. The two bought it from Hines in 2006 for $57 million, according to data from Real Capital Analytics. Previous financing on the building included a $20.5 million first mortgage from Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 7/27/12 4:30pm

Blackstone

Going? Staying?

Blackstone: The Godfather of Private Equity/Real Estate?

Music fans (of a certain vintage) might remember the late James Brown’s famous stage bit when, as his back-up band played “Please, Please, Please,”  he would appear to be shuffling his way off the stage while his personal MC (the devoted Danny Ray, who played the role for 30 years) covered him in a cape.

Then, in a sudden reversal of energy, Mr. Brown would throw off the cape and return to the mic to give his fans an encore’s worth of songs. Read More

By Carl Gaines 7/26/12 9:17am

Mortgage Beat

590 Fifth Avenue.

Thor Equities’ 590 Fifth Avenue Gets $100 Million in Financing

Cushman & Wakefield’s Equity, Debt & Structured Finance team has arranged $100 million in floating rate financing for Thor Equities’ 590 Fifth Avenue.

Thor Equities, headed by CEO Joseph Sitt, bought the 19-story, 100,000-square-foot office and retail building in 2007 from the Feil Organization for $90 million, according to data from Real Capital Analytics. Tenants there include AT&T and the NBA store. Read More

By Carl Gaines 7/12/12 7:15am

Mortgage Beat

2 Park Drive.

Investors Bank: $41 Million in Loans Took Root in Spring Months

Investors Bank has provided financing for several New York area transactions as of late, many of them for refinancing, as low rates continue to drive that trend. Over the months of April and May, the bank racked up a total of $40.6 million in mortgages originated for properties located in the New York tristate area.

The deals included a mix of property types—multifamily, industrial and office. Read More