Regions

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–While the credit crunch and economic uncertainty have caused investor anxiety and tighter lending standards, commercial real estate remains comparatively attractive with solid fundamentals, plentiful capital and steady allocations, according to Deloitte LLP’s 2008 Real Estate Capital Markets Top Ten Issues Report, released this week. “In prior boom cycles, commercial real estate has responded by overbuilding,” says Dennis Yeskey, national director of Deloitte Consulting LLP’s real estate capital markets practice. “The industry has clearly learned its lesson because this time, commercial real estate is enduring a credit crunch—not a crisis—partially because it resisted this urge,…

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…

By Erin Brereton, Content ManagerAbu Dhabi–The company that manages government-owned real estate assets in Abu Dhabi recently selected architectural firm Otak International, headquartered in Lake Oswego, Ore., to lead the design-build process for a Dh1.6 billion ($435 million) green mixed-used complex.As lead architect on the Al Bateen Wharf Hotel project, which will add townhomes, shops and restaurants to the Bateen Canal waterfront in the United Arab Emirates, Otak will provide landscape architecture, design coordination, structural and civil engineering services. The Abu Dhabi Tourism Development & Investment Company’s 54,000-square-meter Al Bateen Wharf Hotel will feature a 15-story, 400-room hotel tower and…

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…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorBoulder, Colo.–Boulder Housing Partners (BHP), the housing authority of the city of Boulder, in partnership with VisionSun Design, a design and project management consulting firm, has awarded a solar energy contract to Bella Energy to install 1.75 kilowatt solar electric systems at a 30-unit affordable housing project.The 52.5 kilowatt solar electric system will be installed at Diagonal Court Townhouses in North Boulder. Each of the units is individually metered by the local utility, Xcel Energy.The city of Boulder’s Housing Fund, the Colorado Governor Energy Office, and a pilot program for multi-unit solar electric systems from…

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…