Southeast Florida Retail Center Sale Sets Record

InvenTrust Properties Corp. has acquired Southern Palm Crossing which is a 346,200 square foot Costco anchored shopping center in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, for a record-breaking $97 million.

Christopher Covey, senior vice president of transactions for the Downers Grove, Ill.-based REIT, said, “These purchases will give the company additional operational economies of scale in the South Florida and Dallas markets. The Shoppes at Fairview also has tenants such as Capital One and Jos. A Bank and will be adding a new multi-tenant building this summer that will have additional national and regional tenants. Southern Palm Crossing, located in a key, high-traffic area of Palm Beach County, also has a Marshalls/Homegoods store and a newly leased 24-Hour Fitness that will replace Stein Mart.”

ShopCore Properties, a Chicago-based retail owner/operator and a Blackstone Group affiliate, sold Southern Palm Crossing. Besides, the deal was the biggest retail transaction in more than two years in South Florida.

Southern Palm Crossing is located at 11001 Southhern Blvd. on a 50 acre parcel. The property was built in 2006. In April 2016, Gertz Builders & Developers sold the shopping center to an unidentified institutional investor now believed to be ShopCore for a reported $78.5 million. CBRE’s National Retail Investment Group in Florida, led by Executive Vice Presidents Casey Rosen and Dennis Carson, represented the seller.In addition, Rosen and Carson provided exclusive representation to the seller in the latest transaction.

Source: CP Executive

Fulya Altunyay/[email protected]

Rubenstein Partners sells connecticut office for $34m

Rubenstein Partners sold 181 Harbour Drive that is a 91,040 square foot Class A office building in Stamford,Conn. A joint venture between the Melohn Group and Drake Street Partners paid $33.5 million for the asset.

CBRE represented the seller and procured the buyer.CBRE’s team included Vice Chairman Jeffrey Dunne, Senior Vice President Steven Bardsley and Senior Investment Analyst Travis Langer.

The building, located within the 17-acre, 6-building, 780,445-square foot Shippan Landing waterfront office campus, currently serves as the headquarters of Vineyard Vines. Besides, Freedom Boat Club is a tenant. The building was constructed in 1982 and was most recently renovated in 2019 and provides access to the amenities of Shippan Landing, such as a fitness center, a beer garden, volleyball, basketball and bocce courts and a cafeteria. Additionally, the office building is near Interstate 95 and around 2 miles from downtown Stamford.

Rubenstein Partners will continue to own the remaining five offices within the campus. The firm plans to invest $40 million in capital improvements, that will bring new lobbies, building systems and outdoor collaborative space. Besides these, in June, the company invested $163 million in an office tower located in Stamford’s central business district.

Source: CP Executive

Fulya Altunyay/[email protected]

Construction Cost Index in Abu Dhabi down by 0.8% in Q1

The Construction Cost Index, CCI, decreased by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the first quarter of 2018, Statistics Centre – Abu Dhabi, SACD, said in its first quarter CCI report on tower buildings projects.

The index decreased from 99.0% in the first quarter of 2018 to 98.1% in the first quarter of 2019. The CCI increased by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the fourth quarter of 2018. It showed that the index increased from 97.9% in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 98.1% in the first quarter of 2019.

Services group contributed by 70.3% in the overall decreased in the prices in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the first quarter of 2018, for which prices decreased by 12.7%. The construction group contributed by 76.3% in the overall increase in the prices during the first quarter of 2019 compared with the fourth quarter of 2018. The prices of this group rose by 1.3%.

SCAD compiles the CCI according to the ten main groups of the construction cost index basket with a base year of 2013.

The selected sample of items included in the Construction Cost Index basket uses actual data collected from the Contractors Association in Abu Dhabi. The sample of sources (building materials and construction service providers) were selected in such a way to represent the market condition across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Source: IPE

Fulya Altunyay/[email protected]

KGAL targets real assets with newly created private equity arm

KGAL set up a new subsidiary last year to invest in new areas of infrastructure. It has extended its offering by creating a private equity arm to invest in real estate and infrastructure companies.

KGAL Equity Partners will focus on real estate companies, large scale real estate portfolios and company investments relating to infrastructure.

Gert Waltenbauer, CEO of KGAL, said that we are bringing together KGAL’s 50 years of expertise in the asset classes of tangible assets, and linking them with the specialist knowledge of an experienced private equity team.

He added, “In doing this we are entering the important asset class of private equity, and decisively completing our alternative investment offering to investors.”

The senior management team of KGAL Equity Partners consists of Frank W Kewitz and Kay Ullman, who took up their roles this month.

Source: IPE

Fulya Altunyay/[email protected]

Cicerone Fund buys $132m Brussels office property

Cicerone Fund which is the property vehicle dedicated to the Italian social security pension fund for lawyers, has invested €131.5m in a Brussels office asset.

CBRE Global Investors (GI) and Fabrica SGR, the adviser and asset manager of the Cicerone Fund respectively, have acquired the fully-let 20,600 square metre Mondrian building from Union Investment. CBRE GI said that the office building was bought for Cicerone Fund’s international acquisition platform Cicerone RE Holding. The office is to the European Commission.

Piet van Poppel, country manager of Belgium, CBRE Global Investors, said: “This is a fantastic asset to add to our client’s portfolio. With the combination of modern and contemporary design, it stands out in the Brussels office market.”

He added, “It is located in a district that has attractive market fundamentals with exceptionally low vacancy rates for Grade A buildings. In addition to this, it offers our client safe and stable long-term returns with a tenant who still has 13 years left of their tenancy.”

Matteo Greco, Cicerone RE Holding’s director, said: “The strategy of Cicerone RE Holding remains focused on assets with very strong fundamentals in terms of location, iconic feature, real estate quality and tenancy of primary standing.”

The latest acquisition is the sixth investment for the international investment platform of the fund outside of Italy.

Source: IPE

Fulya Altunyay/[email protected]

Bellomy & Co. facilitated the sale of Austin-Area Storage

Bellomy & Co. has brokered the sale of 365 Self Storage which is a 77,450 net rentable square foot facility in Round Rock, Texas.

Bellomy & Co.’s brokerage team included Principals Bill Bellomy and Michael Johnson. In May, the same team brokered a Houston area storage sale.

The company worked on behalf of the seller, Austin based Storage at TV, and procured the buyer NitNeil Partners. Life Storage will manage the facility. The storage asset is near Interstate 35 and Freeway 130, approximately 27 miles from downtown Austin, Texas. Besides, the facility is close to the Texas State University and Austin Community College. Moreover, the store is near residential areas, with more than 11,000 rental units completed or under construction within a 5 mile radius.

The storage asset occupies almost 3 acres and comprises 678 climate controlled units, ranging from 25 to 300 square feet. The facility is fenced and lighted, features 54 feet truck access, surveillance cameras, elevators and moving supplies.

Source: CP Executive

Fulya Altunyay/[email protected]

Tour of Expo 2020 Dubai site sold out same day

Expo 2020 will be the first World Expo held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region. It will welcome an anticipated 25 million visits over the course of 173 days, coinciding with the nation’s Golden Jubilee in 2021.

Seats that will get the public to view Expo 2020 Dubai’s construction site for the first time as it nears completion, have all been sold out within hours of being made available.

Organisers were inundated by the demand for The World’s Greatest Show in the Making tour, that will see fun bus tours depart from across the UAE, three days per week, from July 20 to August 21.

Source:Trade Arabia

Fulya Altunyay/[email protected]

Dubai’s apartment prices down 15.1pc in Q2

Cavendish Maxwell which is a property consultancy and chartered surveying firm, stated that average sales prices and rents softened across most communities in Dubai in the second quarter. But, compared to last year, the acerage rate of price decline has slowed with apartment prices falling 15.1 percent and villa/townhouse prices down 14.7 percent.

Off plan transfers continued to dominate in Dubai in second quarter of 2019, accounting for more than 52% of total transfers, said the expert in its latest UAE Property Market Report for second quarter of 2019, containing key data and trends for Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the Northern Emirates.

The report provides comprehensive insights on the health of the UAE’s property market as a whole, covering the residential, commercial, retail, hospitality and industrial sectors. It was compiled by the firm’s in house Strategic Consulting and Research team, drawing on proprietary data from its real estate intelligence platform, Property Monitor, and in collaboration with its extensive client and partner portfolio.

Maxwell, said: “The first half of the year remained challenging for the UAE property sector, as rents and prices continued to decline. Conditions remain conducive for tenants who are well-positioned to demand rent-free periods, fee waivers and flexible payment terms from property owners, and potentially upscale to bigger units which may have previously been beyond their reach.”

Aditi Hariharan, Senior Consultant, Strategic Consulting and Research at Cavendish, stated that whilst we have noticed a slower rate of price declines in some areas over the last 12 months, this is still contingent on new supply and actual materialisation rates, which have averaged 40-50% over the past few years.

She added that the government continues to introduce measures to stimulate the market, with Abu Dhabi recently opening up investment zones to expat property buyers for the first time.

The second quarter of 2019 UAE Property Market Report from Cavendish Maxwell revealed several key insights and trends during the quarter, which will likely continue into H2 2019.

Average sales prices and rents softened across most communities in Dubai in Q2 2019. However, over the 12-month period from Q2 2018, the average rate of price decline has slowed. Average apartment prices declined 15.1% and villa/townhouse prices declined by 14.7% in Q2 2019 from a year ago.

During the same period, rental declines for apartments in Dubai averaged 12.5% and villas/townhouses similarly registered a fall of 12.6%. Off-plan transfers continued to dominate in Q2 2019, accounting for more than 52% of total transfers.

In Abu Dhabi, average sales prices declined by 12.6% for apartments in major investment zones, from second quarter of 2018 to second quarter 2019. Villa/townhouse prices registered a similar average decline of 12.1% over the same period. Rents in Abu Dhabi continued to fall in Q2 2019, for both apartments and villas/townhouses.

Source:Trade Arabia

Fulya Altunyay/[email protected]

Hard Rock opens first London hotel

The Hard Rock Hotel London which is a conversion of the former Cumberland Hotel. It is located on the corner of Oxford St. at Marble Arch, and near Hyde Park.

The hotel has 900 rooms and suites, along with a Rock Royalty Lounge, GMT bar, a Hard Rock Café, a cocktail bar and a Rock Shop.

Dale Hipsh, SVP/Hard Rock Hotels, said, the property is meant to bring the company’s cafe, hotel and Rock Shop together in an open lobby space with the brand’s signature musical memorabilia as the design thread binding them together. The property has on display a letter written in 1958 by the late musician Buddy Holly while he stayed at the former property and also has the Kirkwood piano the late Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen, practiced on as a teenager.

Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, now has venues in 74 countries, including 186 Hard Rock Cafés, 241 Rock Shops, 29 hotels and 12 casinos. Glh has more than 5,000 rooms and 130 meeting and event spaces across London. The company oversaw the current Hard Rock under its former branding as a Guoman hotel.

Source:Hotel Management

Fulya Altunyay/[email protected]

Anaheim Cambria to open in August

Cambria Hotel Anaheim Resort Area will open in August 2019.

Less than a year after Nexus’ Homewood Suites opened, the company had begun discussions with a property owner about a mile away. Cory Alder, Nexus President, said, “We wanted an additional asset in the marketplace, but we wanted to do a few things differently.” By early 2017, it had broken ground on the Cambria Hotel Anaheim Resort Area.

This summer likely in August Nexus will open the 352 room Cambria. The hotels waterpark, at 30,000 square feet, combines the best of both the Homewood Suites and the Courtyard’s amenity spaces. Exclusively available for hotel guests, it includes a pool, water slides, a wading pool, a pop up jet, a Jacuzzi, a putting green, an outdoor movie wall and basketball courts.

The property’s other notable major feature will be its 15,000 square feet of retail. Located outside the main hotel structure, the space includes a small AT&T store, as well seven food-and-beverage chains: Starbucks, Luna Grill, California Fish Grill, Ono Hawaiian BBQ, The Habit Burger Grill, Yogurtland and Jersey Mike’s Subs.

Source:Hotel Management

Fulya Altunyay/[email protected]