News

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorDenver–Hendricks & Partners recently arranged the sale of the three-building Cherry Tree Apartments, located at 1969, 1975 &1995 South Decatur St. in Denver, for $2.25 million or $45,918 per unit.The 49-unit rental community was built in 1981 and 1987. Erik Robinson and Frank Farrell of the Denver office of Hendricks & Partners negotiated on behalf of the seller, Colorado Housing and Finance Authority of Denver. The buyer was Triad Properties Limited of Englewood, Colo., which owns another apartment community in the neighborhood.Cherry Tree was 97 percent occupied at the time of closing.

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorPunta del Este, URUGUAY–YOO Punta del Este, the $20 million project developed and designed jointly by YOO and K-Group Holdings, has sold 90 percent of all its units. YOO by Starck’s first project in Uruguay, Punta del Este is expected to be ready for occupancy by mid-2009.The 150-unit, 22-story luxury high-rise has been designed by YOO to include a club house featuring a bar with plasma TV, a solarium atop a gorgeous wooden deck, infinity pool with bar and restaurant, children’s pool, a movie theatre equipped with special seating, and a state-of-the-art audio and video…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorPhoenix– Tempe, Ariz.-based Trillium Residential LLC has opened its 292-unit Trillium Cave Creek in Phoenix. Move-ins begin May 3.The garden-style apartment community features a food and wine theme and includes a Chef’s Demonstration Kitchen that will host guest chefs, as well as a custom temperature-controlled wine storage room for residents.“What we’re trying to do is create a community based around social activities. When you walk in, you see the kitchen that’s there for events, and the seating area is arranged around that,” David Dewar, principal for Trillium Residential tells MHN.  “There’s a wine cellar where residents…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorCatherine Cabell Joins Altman Management CompanyBoca Raton, Fla.–Catherine Cabell has been appointed senior vice president of southeast operations with Altman Management Co. (AMC), where she will oversee the management for all the south division communities in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.Cabell formerly served as SVP with Trammell Crow Residential in Houston where she oversaw 54 communities, and as SVP of REIT operations with Gables Property Trust, where she was responsible for 35,000 units in Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.Cabell has been active in regional apartment associations and the NMHC.Sperry Van Ness Appoints Caplan as…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorOklahoma City, Okla.–Sperry Van Ness recently completed the sale of Lakeview Towers, a 15-story/192-unit apartment community located at 6001 North Brookline in Oklahoma City, Okla.Boston-based Lakeview Towers LLC purchased Lakeview Towers, the last of a 775-unit, three-property 501c3 tax-exempt bond portfolio, for $3.23 million.Lakeview Towers, one of only a few high-rise residential buildings in Oklahoma City, is located within a mile of Northwest Expressway and Penn Square Mall, and is in close proximity to Integris Baptist Medical Center, one of the region’s largest medical centers. Built in 1959, the property is situated on 2.31 acres…

Washington, D.C.–Economists speaking at a National Association of Home Builders-sponsored conference in Washington, D.C. on Thursday said that the residential building and housing markets will be troubled throughout the end of 2008.The housing decline helped force the U.S. economy into a recession that will last through June, economists said. They also predicted that the credit crisis would continue to make financing hard and rising oil prices would keep reducing consumer spending, according to CNNMoney.com.The speakers said they don’t expect a housing recovery until 2009.

Calabasas, Calif.–Angelo Mozilo, chief executive of Countrywide Financial Corp., was paid a $10.8 million salary and cashed out $121.5 million in stock gains last year as the company crumbled, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing made public Thursday.The CEO’s 2007 salary was an 80 percent reduction from 2006, when his salary, stock, pension accruals and perks totaled $51 million.Mozilo earned the stock gains by exercising stock options and promptly selling them through automatic trading plans, which allow executives to sell shares in a straight pattern without concerns about insider trading, the Los Angeles Times reports.But Mozilo executed two…

Washington, D.C.–Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House financial services committee, told reporters Thursday that the U.S. recession would be “longer and deeper” than anticipated if lawmakers and the Bush administration didn’t come to terms on new housing legislation.Along with Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Chris Dodd, Frank is encouraging a proposal that would allow the government to intervene in the U.S. mortgage market by using up to $400 billion in taxpayer-backed guarantees.Negotiations are expected to become more tense in the coming weeks as the legislation debate continues, the Financial Times reports.

New York–A class action suit was filed in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday accusing Brown Harris Stevens–one of New York’s oldest real estate firms–of housing discrimination, the New York Times reports.The suit alleges that Brown Harris steered at least one couple away from apartments where children weren’t welcome and attempted to persuade an undercover Fair Housing Justice Center representative who claimed to have a child out of seeing a Brooklyn Heights apartment.The next week, the same office showed the apartment to another Fair Housing tester claiming to be childless, according to the lawsuit, which is seeking unspecified damages for…