Regions

By Keat Foong, Executive EditorWashington, D.C.—Believe it or not, according to a researcher, now may be the time to begin building condominiums projects again in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Speaking at Delta Associates’ regional economic and market trends and outlook presentation here, Gregory Leisch, CEO, projected that condo inventory in the market will be seven years’ worth by the end of 2008—indicating excess supply by any measure. However, Leisch said that given current condo absorption/reversion rates and supply levels, more than one year hence, the condominium inventory would have declined to levels that are closer to those in the…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C– It was an eventful day today as Wells Fargo & Co. bought Wachovia for about $15.1 billion in stock and the House of Representatives approved today the revised $700 billion bailout package for the financial system by a vote of 263 to 171. Most Democrats favored the bill (172 for and 63 against), while a slighter majority of Republicans voted against (91 for and 108 against). A number of popular tax provisions were added to the bailout bill, which President George W. Bush quickly signed into law. He said it would take some…

Joseph Mullen (pictured) is senior vice president and director of multifamily investments for Madison Apartment Group, owned by BPG Properties Ltd. (BPG)Mullen has been with BPG for 20 years and has been involved in all types of real estate investments. In 2001, he was instrumental in the formation of Madison Apartment Group, L.P., BPG’s multifamily operating arm, and was named president at its inception. Mullen is responsible for the acquisition, investment management and operation of Madison’s extensive multifamily portfolio.  Most recently, Mullen guided Madison in the second largest multifamily acquisition the firm has ever made when it purchased the Boston…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorLos Angeles–Sperry Van Ness has completed the sale of a 309-unit senior housing community (pictured) for $56.5 million to New York-based The Related Cos. The property, located at 740 S. Olive St. in Los Angeles, garnered 17 offers in three weeks and closed for $3.5 million over list price. Related will continue to run the property as affordable housing for low-income seniors. The company plans on investing another $9 million in renovations and upgrades to the property.“Senior housing is a safe investment in today’s economy, especially considering that Los Angeles county is home to more…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Following September’s unprecedented events on Wall Street, the current credit crisis has now eclipsed the savings and loan crisis of the late ’80s and early ’90s as the event with the single-greatest impact on the U.S. real estate industry over the last 20 years, according to a national survey conducted by global law firm DLA Piper. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed say they do not expect the real estate markets to stabilize until 2010. The survey, measuring the attitudes and perspectives of 424 top executives within the commercial real estate market, also reveals that…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorFort Lauderdale, Fla.–The leasing center for Altman Development’s Satori, a 279-luxury mixed-use rental community in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is slated to open in the next few weeks. Leasing will begin at that time.The leasing center features an interactive Sales Touch System, which allows prospective residents the ability to search for an apartment on a 40-in. touch screen, using their own criteria. Additionally, Satori is the first rental community in South Florida to offer resident apartment customization. We have an actual sample of our kitchen and master bathroom in the leasing center, so prospective residents can walk…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–The Senate voted 74-25 last night for the $700 billion economic bailout plan, the House rejection of which caused panic among investors and the stock markets to plunge on Monday. So far, most multifamily executives have endorsed the bill, many saying that something needs to be done to ease the credit crunch.Patrick S Madore, vice president, mortgage banking at Thomas D. Wood & Co., agrees for the most part except, he tells MHN, “I am not a 100 percent behind this package. The politicians are using this as a vehicle to push a lot…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor, MHN and Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor, CPNMiddletown, Conn.–Chestnut Hill and Northwoods Apartments, two multifamily communities accounting for an aggregate 650 residences in Middletown, Conn., have just come under new ownership. Entities operating as Northwoods Apartment Associates L.L.C. and Chestnut Apartment Associates L.L.C. took the two Class A properties, located approximately 15 miles south of Hartford, off the hands of Middletown-Oxford L.P. and Connecticut Colony Associates L.P. in a transaction valued at $75 million. Carrying the address of 4 Town Colony Dr., Chestnut Hill features 314 units encompassed in seven three-story structures. The community was…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorNew York–Sales have begun at Two Northside Piers, a new 30-story, 270-unit waterfront condominium community in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. The tower, which is being developed through a joint venture of Toll Brothers City Living, RD Management LLC and L&M Development Partners, and designed by FXFowle Architects, is the second phase of Northside Piers, the first new residential development at Williamsburg’s waterfront.The development of Northside Piers is the result of the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning of 2005. “The city started working with the local development and political communities and looked at rezoning for residential use because the industrial uses…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor and Keat Foong, Executive EditorWashington, D.C.–Multi-housing groups regret the House’s rejection yesterday of the $700 billion package to provide the financial markets with much needed liquidity. While citizens across the nation appear so far to be opposed to what they see as the plan’s bailout of  Wall Street, multi-housing observers come down on the side of passing the package in the interest of maintaining liquidity in the market. Jim Arbury, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC), echoed this sentiment. “It is unfortunate that the bailout package did…