Cautious Optimism Making a Comeback
Globest.com
By: Bob Howard
July 19, 2010
LOS ANGELES-Cautious optimism, that hard-working phrase that is always much in evidence at the start of a recovery, is making a comeback. The gloomy mood that permeated the commercial real estate industry has given way to some more positive outlooks, albeit with realistic reservations, according to a quarterly survey by Lee & Associates’ Investment Services Group and the Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson Forecast.
Lee’s survey asked thousands of its clients nationwide eight key questions facing private real estate investors and found that, among other things, “Most think we are starting to see commercial real estate strengthen.” The Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson Forecast, covering seven major markets throughout California, found “a distant glow of light at the end of the tunnel.”… Read More
Tishman Saves D.C. Properties
The Wall Street Journal
By: Lingling Wei
June 11, 2010
A partnership led by Tishman Speyer Properties has succeeded at keeping ownership of a portfolio of Washington, D.C., office buildings by injecting $700 million of fresh capital into the deal.
The Tishman group has been in default since last summer on about $600 million of junior debt tied to the CarrAmerica portfolio, a group of 28 buildings named after the real-estate investment trust that used to own it. Brookfield Properties Corp., which acquired about half at that debt at a discount, had launched foreclosure proceedings in April.
The new capital will pay off that debt, restoring the portfolio…Read More
GE Capital to Cut Commercial Real Estate
The Wall Street Journal
By: Bob Sechler and Paul Glader
June 7, 2010
The head of General Electric Co.’s finance arm said the company aims to cut its holdings of commercial real estate by half, detailing plans to reduce the scale of a business that has proved a huge headache in the wake of the credit crisis.
GE Capital holds an $80 billion portfolio of assets like office and apartment buildings, as well as loans secured by commercial property. Mike Neal, chief executive of GE Capital and a GE vice chairman, on Friday said the firm aims to cut that portfolio to $40 billion and to shift its composition more toward loans and… Read More
Survey Shows Signs of Optimism for Commercial Real Estate
Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal
By: John Vomhof Jr.
June 3, 2010