By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–The Exchange at 25 Broad Street, a remodeled luxury condominium located across the street from the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan’s Financial District, will close sales for its first phase in February. Remodeling of the landmark building is slated to be complete by late spring of this year.The 565,000-sq.-ft. Italian Renaissance Revival building was originally designed by architects Clinton & Russell and completed in 1902. Then known as The Broad Exchange Building, it was the largest and most valuable office building in America and was recognized as one of the most desirable addresses…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorHouston–Ziegler Cooper Architects is designing a 578,000-sq.-ft. urban village for owner Lamesa Properties and developer Randall Davis Co. in Houston.Located within the Rice Village, near Rice University, Sonoma will have 213 condominiums, 60,000 sq.-ft. of retail space, 43,000 sq.-ft. of offices, four restaurants, a grocery store and parking for over 900 cars. Opened in the 1930s, the Rice Village is already a 16-block shopping, dining and entertainment district attracting nearby neighborhood residents, Rice University students and faculty, and Texas Medical Center workers. “This is a unique pedestrian community geared toward people who like the interaction…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington D.C.–The Federal Reserve, reacting earlier to an international stock sell-off and fears about a possible recession in the U.S., slashed three-quarters of a point (0.75 basis points) off the federal funds rate, which is the interest banks charge each other for short-term loans. The move came surprisingly just ahead of a regularly scheduled meeting of the central bank.The Fed’s policy-making group, known as the Federal Open Market Committee, lowered its target for the federal funds rate, which regulates overnight loans between banks, to 3.5 percent, from 4.25 percent.In its statement, the Fed said, “The…

West Hollywood, Calif.–The Charles Dunn Company, a partner of GVA Worldwide, negotiated the purchase and sale of a 6,678-sq.-ft. apartment building located at 521 North Orlando Ave., in West Hollywood, Calif. An undisclosed buyer purchased the building for over $1.58 million. The two-story apartment building has nine units and is 100 percent occupied. “The building is located in a prime part of West Hollywood, just blocks away from the world renowned, Melrose Place,” says David Eitches, director of investment services group in the West Los Angeles office of Charles Dunn.  “The buyer capitalized on the low price and key location…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorBeijing, CHINA–The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Peking University have together established the Center for Urban Development and Land Policy on the University’s campus in the city of Beijing. This Center aims to enhance academic teaching and research as well as facilitate discussions on issues such as sound policy use, regulation, and taxation of land and urban development in China.The Center, which will open early this year, comes at a time when Chinese cities are experiencing unprecedented growth in terms of construction and the number of people moving in.China currently accounts for half of…

Grand Haven, Mich.– Columbus, Ohio-based Red Mortgage Capital, Inc. supplied more than $11 million to a new apartment complex in Grand Haven, Mich.–and Red plans to arrange more financing as construction on the property continues.Red Mortgage Capital, Inc. provided $11,900,000 in competitively priced Fannie Mae DUS fixed-rate financing, which carries a 10-year term and 30-year amortization schedule, to real estate development firm Jacobs Property Investments, headquartered in Muskegon, Mich. Jacobs manages the Timber View Apartments and plans to finance the last two phases of the property’s development through Red. The first four phases of Timber View, which were completed in…

Washington, D.C.–Home mortgage applications rose for the third week in a row as lower interest rates caused consumers to refinance, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Wednesday.The Washington, D.C.-based group’s seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications shot up 16.9 percent in the week ending January 18 to 4,178.2–its highest level since March 2004, according to The New York Times. In addition, the MBA said that activity was up 92 percent from the beginning of November, more than adjusting for the 4.6 percent index drop last week. Refinancings were two-thirds of all applications.The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell last week…

Washington, D.C.–The largest interest rate cut in 18 years, offered Tuesday by the Federal Reserve, is likely to lower certain borrowing costs but may not reinvigorate the economy, USA Today reported Wednesday.The cut, designed to persuade financial institutions to continue to lend money to businesses and consumers, took the benchmark interest rate down by three-quarters of a percentage point to 3.5 percent. The reaction to the cut varied. Lenders reduced the prime rate for their best customers by three-quarters of a percentage point to 6.5 percent after the Fed announcement; however, global financial markets fell as foreign investors grew concerned…

Charlotte, N.C.–The second- and fourth-largest U.S. banks–Bank of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp., both headquartered in Charlotte, N.C.–reported a more than $6 billion combined mortgage-related earnings loss Tuesday, Bloomberg reports.Fourth quarter profit fell 95 percent at Bank of America to $268 million. Wachovia’s net income plummeted 98 percent to $51 million.Bank of America’s total fourth quarter revenue dropped 31 percent to $12.7 billion; non-interest costs increased 15 percent to $10.1 billion. Return on equity–which measures how effectively profit is reinvested–dropped to 11.1 percent for 2007 from 16.3 percent in 2006.During the housing slump, both Wachovia and Bank of America reported…

Beijing–The China Banking Regulatory Commission has created a taskforce to monitor Chinese bank’s exposure to the U.S. subprime market, according to the Financial Times.Senior officials told the Times that China’s banking regulator, headquartered in Beijing, created the group to investigate and issue a monthly report about what subprime holdings China’s largest banks have as the country braces for potentially larger-than-anticipated subprime losses.It seems, however, China’s lenders will not see the same impact from subprime holdings as the Western world has. The Bank of China–the largest U.S. subprime security holder in Asia–said Tuesday it would see losses on more holdings than…