Washington, D.C.–Small businesses are the latest victims of the housing and credit crunch, according to The Washington Post.Business casualties are increasing quickly in Washington-region bankruptcy courts. The number of corporations filing for Chapter 11 has more than doubled in Maryland, Eastern Virginia and the District of Colombia from the same period last year. Twelve times as many smaller firms tried to liquidate under Chapter 7 during the same period.According to a 2007 report by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, small businesses are greatly affected by economic downturns. A third of all such businesses don’t make it…

Washington–Fearing a chain reaction of financial market defaults, the Federal Reserve approved a $30 billion credit line to allow the takeover of Bear Stearns and revealed a new lending program for Wall Street’s biggest investment firms on Sunday.The Fed also reduced the rate borrowing rate tied to its discount window to 3.25 percent, a quarter of a percentage point decrease, the New York Times reports.The Fed agreed after weekend negotiations to a $30 billion credit line to help JPMorgan Chase acquire Bear Stearns–one of the biggest firms on Wall Street–which mortgage market losses had almost crippled. In addition, the Fed…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorBoston–CBT, a design firm providing services in architecture, urban design and interior design, recently turned its office into an educational platform for sustainable initiatives, at the firm’s third annual CBT Green Day. About 175 of CBT’s 250 employees attended the Vendor Fair and 65 attended the keynote lecture held as part of the celebration.“CBT employees share the belief that we need to take responsibility for sustainable design and inspire others to do the same,” says Ken Lewandowski, AIA, LEED AP, chairperson of CBT’s Sustainable Design Committee. “As designers, we strive to maximize the quality of…

Reading–Reduced residential building in the U.S. caused a 72.5 percent drop in interim pre-tax profits at Reading-headquartered homebuilder Wolseley, the Financial Times reported Monday.Wolseley’s U.S. stock subsidiary–which supplies homebuilding materials such as lumber–was primarily responsible for a £90 million ($180 million) decline in group trading profit. The company currently is cutting back on spending and reducing staff.“At some point we will hit bottom but I don’t think we’re there yet,” said Chip Hornsby, Wolseley chief executive.Over the past six months, debt has increased, but Hornsby said it should be lower by July. Wolseley already has cut 10,000 jobs in the…

Auckland–New Zealand banks are highly exposed to the currently unstable housing market, which could cause problems, according to a report released Monday.Nearly half of all New Zealand bank assets are exposed to the housing market–an increase from roughly 40 percent five years ago just before the housing market took off, the New Zealand Herald said.By comparison, Australian banks have just 39 percent exposure.Although the situation is not considered as risky as the U.S. housing market was even a year ago, an analysis of bank disclosure statements by Auckland-based investors’ Web site interest.co.nz showed New Zealand lenders could be hit hard…

Red Bank, N.J.–Bill Brown has joined Lane Northeast, a subsidiary of multifamily real estate firm Lane Co., in the newly-created position of Division Partner. He will be responsible for new development in the metro Philadelphia market, southern New Jersey, Delaware and northern Maryland, including Baltimore. “Bill has a long standing track record as a successful developer of quality multifamily developments in the Philadelphia and Baltimore markets, as well as other areas,” says Jeff Price, Lane Co.’s Northeast Regional partner and president of Lane Northeast. “Bill will help Lane Northeast reach into the Philadelphia market while expanding our platform in Maryland.” Brown was…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorEstero, Fla.–West Bay Club, a 20-story luxury condominium project, owned and developed by Lehman Bros., has recently started selling. Located in Southwest Florida’s Gold Coast city of Estero, Fla., the two towers are built on part of the 850-acre site, with 500 acres designated as a nature preserve.“West Bay Club is one of the few developments in this area dedicated to preserving the natural beauty of the environment,” says Carmine Visone, managing director at Lehman Brothers. “Our 500-acre nature preserve ensures the conservation of our wetlands and makes certain that the precious native Florida wildlife…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAustin, Texas–GE Real Estate recently provided a $44.65 million, on-book fixed-rate loan to The Preiss Co. and HSBC Real Estate Equity Partners (USA) LP for the purchase of Campus Estates, a housing complex serving students from the University of Texas and Austin Community College, in Austin, Texas. The funding includes $5.7 million for capital expenditures for deferred maintenance as well as upgrades on more than half of the property’s 498 units.Preiss also owns the adjacent University Village at Austin student apartments, which it acquired in November 2006. After completing $2 million in upgrades, they were…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York—The near-collapse of Bear Stearns and its fire-sale acquisition by another company may not have significant implications for the real estate sector as investment banks have already retreated from real estate.   “The Bear Stearns buyout will have no direct impact on multifamily lending because there’s been a stable and fair amount of capital for [commercial real estate] and it will continue the same way,” Michael Slattery, senior vice president of the industry group Real Estate Board of New York, tells MHN. “The investment banks have backed away since the middle of last year…