Dallas–Riverstone Residential Group has initiated a new organizational structure and created a client services group. The new organizational structure is expected to position the Dallas-based company for growth and increase the focus on client services by enhancing core capabilities, strengthening internal systems and practices and creating a new client services group, according to the company. The change will also redefine the leadership roles of co-founders Christy Freeland and Terry Danner. Freeland will take over as CEO of Riverstone Residential Group and will be responsible for oversight of national operations, along with the internal resources, financial services and information systems divisions…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorIrvine, Calif.–The number of multifamily foreclosures more than doubled in July and August this year compared to July and August of 2007, according RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for August 2008. Last July there were 4,501 multifamily foreclosures and this year there were 9,061 while last August there were 4,089 and this August saw 8,134 multifamily foreclosures.While the nation’s foreclosure activity rose almost 12 percent from the previous month and 27 percent from the same month in 2007 and one in every 416 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during August this year, the number…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–The Bush administration said Friday that there would be a change in the $700 billion bailout plan to help buy mortgage-related securities. In addition to purchasing bad assets from banks, the government now plans to inject capital directly into the nation’s banks. The move came amid the Dow Jones industrial average plummeting 18 percent last week, one of the worst in stock market history, and the crisis spreading quickly around the world as governments across Europe and Asia hurried to save their banks.While the Treasury says it still plans to buy distressed assets, the…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNashville, Tenn.–Pam Brooks (pictured) has joined Fogelman Management Group (FMG) as regional vice president of the central region and will be based out of the company’s Nashville, Tenn. office. In this position, Robinson will be overseeing all facets of properties operations for FMG-managed properties within the region. Brooks has more than 18 years experience in multifamily property operations, most recently working for Colonial Property Trust and Trammel Crow Residential.CORE Group Marketing Names Mark J. Ripka Chief Operating OfficerNew York–CORE Group Marketing has hired Mark J. Ripka as its chief operating officer. Ripka has 20 years…

New York–Citigroup has given up its bid for Wachovia, but not its state court lawsuit, in which the company is taking on Wachovia and Well Fargo for violation of an exclusivity agreement it had with Wachovia as it worked out details of its $2.2 billion buyout offer a couple of weeks ago.Ending the fight for the bank, federal antitrust regulators today approved the acquisition of the Wachovia Corp., by West Coast based Wells Fargo.Citigroup plans to seek $60 billion in damages, The New York Times reports. Wachovia negotiated a better $15 billion deal with Wells Fargo that may be sealed…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorWashington, D.C.–The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is charging The Townsend House Corp., a New York-based apartment building operator, with housing discrimination.According to HUD, The Townsend House Corp. refused to allow a family to obtain an animal to provide emotional support for their autistic child. Under the Fair Housing Act, which was modified in 1988, property managers or owners must make reasonable accommodations for the disabled.“We concluded that the co-op had, in fact, violated the law and we, as an agency, filed the equivalent of a lawsuit before an administrative law judge,” Bryan Greene,…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor and Keat Foong, Executive EditorNew York–The stock market bloodbath intensified this week. Today, the Dow average closed at 8,451 and during the course of the day had even dipped below the 8,000 mark—for the first time since March 2003. How are multifamily financing observers reacting to the latest headlines? “The multifamily sector is relatively isolated from the carnage on Wall Street,” Nicholas Ingle, director of capital markets at Hendricks & Partners, tells MHN. “But the REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) are being impacted. Their dividend yield rate is falling, which is making it difficult…

Dr. Delores Conway (pictured) is the director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast at the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate and associate professor at the Marshall School of Business. This past month, Real Estate Southern CA Magazine listed Dr. Conway as one of the “50 Women of Influence in Real Estate.”  She is an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association and a recent chair of the Business and Economics Statistics Section. She also served on the editorial boards of major academic journals, including the Journal of the American Statistical Association.  Prior to joining USC, Dr. Conway served…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorBrooklyn, N.Y.–Hours before last week’s vice presidential debate, New York-based Douglaston Development hoisted a 100-ft.-by-28-ft. banner, proclaiming “Sarah Palin, Live Here, See Wall Street,” from the construction site of its new condominium, The Edge. The banner refers to Palin’s recent remarks about the proximity of Russia to Alaska.“It’s not driving people to look for apartments, but it is giving recognition to the project,” notes Jeffrey Levine, chairman of Douglaston Development, of his company’s unique marketing idea. Another tool the company employs is sending its sales team to make house calls for prospective buyers. “In addition to…