Regions

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–The bank stress tests are in and have provided some relief to Wall Street, the stock market has picked up a little—relative to early this year—and the constant barrage of bad news has given way to some good news. And even though every economic indicator for New York City was negative in the first quarter, the rate of decline slowed considerably from the fourth quarter of 2008.     However, nothing suggests that the overall climate is starting to improve: job losses have been steady and property sales volume declined for the seventh straight quarter….

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor McLean, Va.– Freddie Mac recently purchased a $37.5 million loan from CBRE Capital Markets that helped provide financing for the borrower, Parc Pointe Investors LLC, to refinance the Parc Pointe Apartments (pictured) in Burbank, Calif. The transaction benefited from the Freddie Mac Capital Markets Execution (CME) pilot. Parc Pointe Apartments is an eight-building, 255-unit, three-story garden apartment complex.  The apartments were built in 1989-1990 and renovated in 2003. The property is located approximately 13 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. “This was the first CME deal for the Newport Beach office of CBRE Capital Markets,”…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorHouston—Tenanttxt.com recently launched a Website that allows multifamily property managers to send alerts to residents via text message or email.“The idea came from being an apartment renter,” Daniel Ellis, founder of tenanttxt.com, tells MHN. “I have been living in apartments my whole life and noticed the lack of communication between management and renter when community problems arise.”Property managers at communities of any size can send an alert informing residents of maintenance repairs, criminal activity, or community events.Messages can be sent out to residents, maintenance staff, office staff and potential residents, based upon which subscription plan a…

Raintree Partners, a Laguna Niguel, Calif.-based real estate investment company, has completed its first multifamily acquisition. CEO Jeffrey B Allen (pictured) formed Raintree Partners, a private real estate investment company, to pursue multifamily development and redevelopment opportunities, in December 2007. Shortly after its formation, Raintree secured a $200 million equity commitment from a major institutional investment management company. Prior to founding Raintree Partners, Allen was founder of J.B. Allen Realty Inc., a private real estate development company formed in 1999 and focused on mixed-use and multifamily residential projects in Southern California. Allen talks to MHN Online News Editor Anuradha Kher…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–President Barack Obama has signed into law the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. The law expands the reach of the Administration’s Making Home Affordable Programs, improves the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Hope for Homeowners program and streamlines how the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) supports thousands of homeless support programs across America.   “This is another critical step forward in this administration’s effort to strengthen our nation’s housing market and help millions of American homeowners stay in their homes,” says HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.”Specifically, this law improves FHA’s Hope…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor New York–New York City’s multifamily market has been fairly buoyant through the downturn, but there has been a marked decrease in rents and a slowdown in the condominium market. Adjusting to these shifts, developer 119 Third Avenue Associates LLC has converted its for-sale luxury condo tower at 119th Street & 3rd Avenue to a rental property. The building offers studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units.“Every real estate market presents new opportunities, and clearly the shift to rental units is the best way for us to maximize the value of this amenity-rich residential property,” says Toby…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorBoston—The bright spot in the near term of Boston’s multi-housing market will be the “urban core Class B product,” predicts Greg Willett, vice president of research and analysis at M|PF Yieldstar.Willett predicts the city’s transit-oriented development will outperform other building types. Meanwhile, he anticipates that “the struggles will be when you get to the suburbs, where you have new product coming online and you have competition from the single-family market.”Most of the new supply that is coming online in the Boston metro market—approximately 5,000 units—is concentrated in the suburbs, Willett tells MHN.Occupancy in the metro is…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor Washington, D.C.–How will 25,000 apartment units become more energy efficient in the next two years? With the help of approximately $250 million in grants and loans being offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This money is being made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), which was recently signed into law by President Barack Obama. It is designed to create thousands of “green collar jobs” as workers retrofit older federally assisted multifamily apartment developments with the next generation of energy-efficient technologies.”HUD will begin to accept…

By Diana Mosher, Editor-in-ChiefThe green movement has many of us rethinking everything from the fibers in the clothes we wear to the way we transport our groceries back from the supermarket. Now President Barack Obama has called for a new national standard for fuel efficiency that’s as strict as the California program and will set limits on climate-altering gases from cars and trucks. The rules—which would create a car and light truck fleet that’s 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016—would go into effect in 2012. Click here for more details.In the meantime, apartment companies continue looking for ways…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAnderson, Ind.–Tikijian Associates has arranged the sale of Hilltop Apartments (pictured), a 132-unit community in Anderson, Ind. The listing price was $2,250,000 but sales price was not disclosed.Hilltop Apartments was formerly owned by Wextrust Capital LLC, a Chicago-based real estate investment firm that purchased the property in 2000. In 2008 the two principals of Wextrust were arrested on federal fraud charges for allegedly conducting a $225 million Ponzi scheme and were later indicted on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy. Both men remain in jail. Indianapolis-based apartment owner and manager, Buckingham Cos., was named as…