News
DEAL OF THE DAY: Harrison Tower Sold for $45M
By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorPortland, Ore.–JB Matteson Inc. in partnership with a large institutional investor recently acquired the Harrison Tower Apartments, a 24-story, 185-unit property in downtown Portland, Ore. for $45 million.Harrison Tower Apartments is one of three high-rise residential towers built in 1965. The original name of the three-building community was the Portland Center Apartments. In Sept. 2005, local developers acquired the property from Equity Residential with a plan to convert the entire property to condominiums on a per building basis in three phases. They renamed the property Harrison West, Harrison East and Harrison South. Harrison South became…
Advanced Energy Builds Energy Star-Certified Affordable Housing Development in N.C.
By Lisa Iannucci, Green Building CorrespondentRaleigh, N.C.–Advanced Energy, a Raleigh-based nonprofit, completed the first large-scale, multifamily, mixed-income community in North Carolina to achieve Energy Star certification.The 168-unit Chavis Heights development located in downtown Raleigh features affordable housing town homes, condominiums–half of which are handicapped-accessible–as well as a senior center.“Building energy efficiency into low-income homes is not an impossible venture as some developers perceive it to be,” says Brian Coble, director of affordable housing programs at Advanced Energy. “By building affordable housing units to Energy Star standards, we not only make homes more efficient and more comfortable, but we also make…
Ariel East Sends Breakfast to its Residents’ Front Doors
New York–Ariel East, Extell Development Co.’s luxury condominium on New York’s Upper West Side, has just begun a daily breakfast service delivered to residents’ homes. Residents of Ariel East now get daily continental breakfast delivered to their front door from 7 am to 10 am on weekdays and from 8 am to 11 am on weekends. The cost of the breakfast is included in the common charges.Residents have to fill out an order form with their requests the night before and leave it with the concierge. The breakfast menu features croissants, muffins and bagels; an assortment of Starbucks coffee; herbal and…
Crescent Plans to Construct 1,300 Residences as Part of Its New Apartment Concept
By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorCharlotte, N.C.–Crescent Multifamily Development Group, a division of Crescent Resources LLC, a joint venture between Duke Energy and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, has unveiled its new apartment concept for the multifamily industry called Circle.Crescent expects to have 1,300 residences under construction by April 2008 that will be part of Circle. With additional communities planned to start construction this year in North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, Crescent is also exploring other high-growth cities including Dallas and Washington D.C.“The Circle communities will be places where neighbors connect and become stewards of the larger community,” says Todd…
AT&T and Vidorra Condominiums Connect Residents to AT&T U-verse Services and Advanced Fiber Network
San Antonio–Vidorra Condominiums has signed the AT&T Connected Communities agreement to bring cutting-edge, fiber-based AT&T U-verse(SM) TV and high-speed Internet services to Vidorra residents.The agreement with Vidorra is part of the AT&T Connected Communities program, a marketing initiative between AT&T and regional or national single-family builders, developers, real estate investment trusts, apartment ownership and management groups, and homeowners’ associations to provide communications and entertainment solutions to residents and home buyers.“Today’s urban dwellers expect the latest technology and the best products and services in a new development, and we are pleased to work with AT&T to deliver that to our residents,”…
Dacor
Celebrating the luxurious style of the classic wall oven combined with cutting-edge performance technology, the Renaissance Wall Oven in 36 in., 30 in., and 27 in. for the Epicure (shown) and Millennia Collections by Dacor operates like six individual ovens with a combination of cooking options.The Pure Convection technology, which helps create uniform temperatures on every level of the oven, features a unique filter that allows multiple entrees or hors d’ oevours to be cooked at the same time.
Ardent Residential Teams with Post Properties to Develop $125M Four Seasons Residences Town Lake Austin
By Maria Siakavellas, Contributing EditorAustin—In the hopes of bringing the lavish living synonymous with the Four Seasons brand to the forefront of Austin’s housing market, Austin-based Ardent Residential has teamed up with Post Services Inc., an affiliate of Atlanta-based Post Properties, to develop the $125 million Four Seasons Residences Town Lake Austin.“This a great opportunity to bring the Four Seasons brand and a building of this stature to the Austin market,” says David Ward, executive vice president of Post, which is providing both debt and equity on the project. “It is a great site and a much sought after one…
New Home Sales Drop to Lowest Level Since 1995
Washington, D.C.–New home sales fell 1.8 percent in February to a 13-year low, according to the Commerce Department.New home sales declined to a 590,000 annual pace. Home purchases fell 30 percent from the same period a year ago. Economists had expected new home sales to drop to a 578,000 annual pace, Bloomberg said. January purchases were revised from an estimated 588,000 pace to 601,000.Two of the four regions saw a decline. The Northeast showed a 40 percent drop–its biggest since 1996. In the South and West, sales were higher.The Commerce Department report also said that the housing inventory showed a…
Falling Factory, Machinery Orders Suggest Further Decline in U.S. Economy
Washington, D.C.–Big-ticket item factory orders dropped in February and machinery orders fell to a record low–which could indicate the U.S. is in a recession, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.Orders for durable goods also declined 1.7 percent last month. After increasing in the previous two months, factory orders for machinery dropped 13 percent–the largest decline on record, according to CNNMoney.com.Non-defense capital goods orders–which economists consider to be a barometer for business activity–dropped 1 percent.Two months of decline in a row, combined with a weakness in non-defense capital goods orders, imply that “the economy has slipped into recession,” Scott Anderson, senior economist…
DEAL OF THE DAY: GE and BH Equities Invests $17.8M in Class A Texas Properties
Allen, Texas–GE Real Estate has made an equity investment of $17.8 million with partner BH Equities to acquire two adjacent Class A multifamily assets located in Allen, Texas, a newly developed area 12 miles north of North Dallas. The properties are Benton Pointe, a three-story project with 456 garden-style units built in 2000, and Lansbrook, a two-story project with 288 garden-style units built in 2002. Dallas-based BH Equities will invest more than $3 million for capital improvements at Benton Pointe and Lansbrook.Since 2006, GE has partnered with BH Equities to acquire five multifamily assets valued at more than $200 million.“Based on GE’s…