Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Grubb & Ellis Represents Pacific Star Capital in Sale of Edgewater Marketplace in Colorado


DENVER, CO – Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE: GBE), a leading real estate services and investment firm, announced that Riki Hashimoto and Dan Grooters, senior vice presidents in the company’s Private Capital Markets Group, represented Pacific Star Capital in the sale of Edgewater Marketplace, a 145,780-square-foot retail center in Edgewater.

 Weingarten Realty Investors purchased the retail asset for $22 million. 

 “We received a great deal of interest from both institutional and private equity investors, which is a testament to current investor demand for stabilized grocery-anchored retail centers in and around the Colorado area,” said Hashimoto.  “Additionally, Edgewater Marketplace benefits from a burgeoning surrounding community.”

Located west of downtown Denver at 1711 – 1931 Sheridan Blvd., Edgewater Marketplace is anchored by King Scoopers. 

The property is shadow anchored by Target, which owns the portion of the property it occupies and was not included in the sale. 

 Originally built in 1987 and renovated in 2006, Edgewater Marketplace is situated on approximately 12.5 acres of land and was roughly 98 percent leased at the time of sale.  It is located within close proximity to State Highway 95 and U.S. Route 40. 

Contact: Julia McCartney, Phone: 714.975.2230                                     
          

Berger Commercial Realty Corp. Brokers Judy Dolan and Steve Hyatt Close 3 New Deals


 FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Berger Commercial Realty Corp., a full service commercial real estate firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and serving clients around the state, announced three new deals from brokers Judy Dolan (lower left photo)  and Steve Hyatt (top right photo) 

Dolan and Hyatt represented the sellers in all three transactions.

 Dolan and Hyatt represented seller Doran Florida, LLC, in the $1.6 million sale of three apartment buildings to Glenshee Omega Carleton, LLC. The three buildings, totaling 32 apartment units, are located in Fort Lauderdale at 75 S.W. 10th St., 100 S.W. 10th St., and 100 S.W. 9th St.

Dolan and Hyatt represented seller ECP Properties, Inc., in the sale of an 18-unit apartment building to DIV USA, LLC. for $965,000. The 13,202-square-foot property, consisting of 16 one-bedroom/one-bathroom units and two studio apartments, is located at 1607 Arthur St. in Hollywood, Fla.

Dolan and Hyatt represented seller SBC 2010-1, LLC, in the sale of a 13-unit apartment building, located at 6031 Polk St. in Hollywood, Fla., to buyer 6031 Polk Street, LLC, for $352,5000.

Contact:
Marielle Sologuren
Pierson Grant Public Relations
6301 Northwest 5th Way, Suite 2600
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
Phone: (954) 776-1999, ext. 226
Fax: (954) 776-0290

Palmer Electric Completed Vision 360 Contract


WINTER PARK, FL — Palmer Electric Company has completed its $1.6 million contract with general contractor H.J. High Construction Company for the electrical contracting and audiovisual equipment wiring for the new two-story, 56,000-square-foot Vision 360 Bill and Vonette Bright Global Training Center (top left photo).

The project is comprised of a sanctuary, baptistery, classrooms, administrative offices, kitchen/dining area and a recording studio.

 The Central Florida-based design team was composed of HuntonBrady Architects of Orlando, CHPA of Maitland for electrical engineering and TLC Engineering for Architecture of Orlando for audiovisual engineering. 

.For additional information, visit http://www.palmer-electric.com/

Contact: Elaine Ingra, 407 384-1344, elainei@pr-works.com

Fitch: U.S. Structured Finance Turns the Corner to Stable in 2011


NEW YORK, NY--With  the  economic  recovery slowly underway, U.S. structured finance will begin  to fully implement its ‘lessons learned’ and turn the corner towards stability next year, according to Fitch Ratings in its 2011 Outlook report.

Fitch’s Rating Outlook for U.S. Structured Finance is Stable.

From  a  new  issuance  perspective, 2011 will bring an increased amount of transactions that continue to employ a ‘back-to-basics’ approach, according to  Kevin  Duignan (top right photo),  Group  Managing  Director  and head of U.S. structured finance  for  Fitch.

 “New  structured  finance  deals  will  see continued improvement  in  loan  quality  and will be issued by higher credit quality sponsors employing less complex structures,” said Duignan.

The  sector best-positioned for positive performance next year is U.S. ABS, with  delinquency  and  loss  metrics  better  than they have been in years across  several  asset  classes.

 “With  ABS  exhibiting  impressive rating stability  in  the  face of substantial recessionary headwinds, the outlook for the sector looks even better,” said Duignan.

The  picture  gets  murkier  when  delving into mortgages. The inventory of
specially  serviced  U.S.  CMBS  loans  remains  high,  though  the rate of
transfers  has slowing. Additionally, “liquidity is returning to the market
which should help improve rating stability for CMBS in 2011,” said Duignan.

In  U.S.  RMBS,  property  prices  are rebounding in many markets. However,
affidavit  issues  surrounding  judicial  foreclosure  processes  figure to
increase   an  already-huge  shadow  inventory  of  distressed  and  unsold
properties.

According to Duignan, “The foreclosure issues will cast further
a pall on a housing recovery that was slow out of the gate to begin with.”

Lastly, for one of the most negatively impacted sectors, the worst appears
to  be  finally  over  for  U.S.  Structured  Credit.

“The picture for CLOs appears brightest in 2011,” said Duignan, given the declining default rates observed  in  the  high-yield sector.

 However, structured finance CDOs with exposure  to  CMBS may see some marginal downgrades in 2011 due to pressure in  the  underlying  CMBS  sector. 


Bank  TruPS CDOs will continue to face, albeit slowing, deferrals and defaults.

Fitch  will  be  discussing  its  2011  Outlook for U.S. structured finance
during  a  webcast to take place on Thursday Dec. 9 at 11 a.m.

‘U.S. Structured Finance  2011  Outlook: Turning the Corner’ is available by clicking on the link or by going to http://www.fitchratings.com/ under ‘Latest Research’
.

Contact:

Kevin Duignan
Group Managing Director
+1-212-908-0630
Fitch Inc., 1 State Street Plaza, New York, NY, 10004

Zanda Lynn
Managing Director
+1-212-908-0601

Media Relations: Sandro Scenga +1-212-908-0278, New York.

Additional information is available at http://www.fitchratings.com/


Fitch Webcast: U.S. Structured Finance 2011 Outlook; 12/9 @ 11AM ET


NEW YORK, NY--With  its ‘lessons learned’, U.S. structured finance will begin to turn the corner  towards a Stable Outlook in 2011, according to Fitch Ratings, which will  be conducting a webcast on Thursday Dec. 9 at 11 a.m. ET.

 The webcast comes  on the heels of Fitch’s 2011 U.S. Structured Finance Outlook report, which was published earlier today.

Senior  analysts  will be discussing the rating outlook for U.S. ABS, CMBS, RMBS  and  CDOs  during  the  webcast. 

The  prepared  remarks  should last approximately  40  minutes  and  immediately  be  followed by an email Q&A.

Participants  are  encouraged  to  submit questions prior to the webcast to

The order of speakers is as follows:

--Cynthia Ullrich/ Hylton Heard (U.S. ABS);
--Huxley Somerville (U.S. CMBS) (top right photo);
--Grant Bailey (top left photo)/ Diane Pendley (middle right photo) (U.S. RMBS);
--Beth Nugent (U.S. CDOs).

Webcast Information:

Dial-in information:
--US & Canada: +1-888-669-0684;
--International Dial-In: +1-201-604-0469.

‘U.S.  Structured Finance 2011 Outlook: Turning the Corner’ is available by
clicking  on  the  link or by going to http://www.fitchratings.com/  under ‘Latest
Research’.

Additional information is available at http://www.fitchratings.com/
  

Contact:
Sandro Scenga
Senior Director
Corporate Communications
Fitch Ratings
+1-212-908-0278

U.S. Hotel Outlook Continues As Expected; Uncertainty Begins To Dissipate


ATLANTA, GA, Dec. 7, 2010, – The recovery of the U.S. lodging industry continues to improve, buoyed by a sustained expansion in the demand for hotel rooms across the country. 

Accordingly, Colliers PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) has edged up its forecasts for U.S. hotel performance for 2010 and re-affirmed the outlook for 2011.

 In the recently released December 2010 edition of Hotel Horizons®, PKF-HR forecasts that lodging demand will grow 7.8 percent in 2010.  This is nearly four times greater than the 2.0 percent increase in hotel supply, resulting in a record 5.7 percent rise in occupancy.

 “Ninety days ago in the September 2010 edition of Hotel Horizons®, the PKF-HR hotel forecast for change in 2010 lodging demand was 7.3 percent.

“Given the actual rise in demand reported by Smith Travel Research (STR) through the first three quarters of the year, along with a modest improvement to the economic forecast from Moody’s Analytics, we have increased our projection of annual demand growth to 7.8 percent,” said R. Mark Woodworth (top right photo), president of PKF-HR.

 “As we anticipated, average daily rate (ADR) growth turned positive in the third quarter; however, and consistent with history, ADRs have, and will continue, to lag the recovery in occupancy,” Woodworth added.

 “Despite the strong growth in demand, we are still forecasting a slight 0.1 percent decline in hotel ADR for 2010.”
                                                                                    (Honolulu skyline
                                                                                    photo) 

The 0.1 percent decline in ADR combined with the 5.7 percent increase in hotel occupancy results in an annual rooms revenue per available room (RevPAR) gain of 5.6 percent for the year.  This is a full percentage point greater than the 4.6 percent RevPAR growth rate forecast back in September of 2010.


 The PKF-HR outlook for 2011 has also improved, albeit to a limited degree.  The December 2010 Hotel Horizons® forecast calls for a 3.3 increase in demand, which will drive a 6.3 percent rise in hotel RevPAR next year.  These are 0.1 and 0.3 percentage points, respectively, greater than the firm’s prior forecast.

“Severe room rate discounting during the first half of the year has driven the quicker than expected demand growth in 2010,” Woodworth said.

(Miami Beach skyline photo)

 “In 2011, managers should become more aggressive in raising their ADR.  However, as we have been expecting for some time, pricing power will not fully return until 2012 when we expect to see a very attractive gain in RevPAR.”

 PKF-HR is forecasting RevPAR growth of 10.4 percent in 2012 and 10.0 percent in 2013.  These represent the first time the national RevPAR has grown in excess of 10 percent since STR started reporting the statistic in 1987.

 Major Market Movements

 Major market hotel performance leads the recovery of the U.S. lodging industry in 2010.  And, like the national forecast, the outlook has improved since the September 2010 Hotel Horizons® forecast report.

                                                                   (Singapore skyline photo)

By year end, hotels in the 50 U.S. cities that comprise the PKF-HR Hotel Horizons® universe should enjoy a 6.4 percent increase in RevPAR.  This is 0.8 percentage points greater than the gain forecast for the overall U.S. lodging industry.  Driving the major market RevPAR growth premium is the strong 9.3 percent estimated gain in demand.

 “There are several factors that have contributed to the robust growth in major market hotel performance in 2010, not the least of which was a shift in group demand,” Woodworth said.

 “Most major cities are primary meetings destinations and we know from our annual survey of meeting planners (sponsored by ConventionSouth magazine) that they were avoiding these more expensive markets in 2008 and 2009. 


 (Downtown Mexico City Cathedral photo)

“However, our 2010 survey of meeting planners found that the larger markets became more appealing because of low room rates.  2010 was the year in which urban markets represented significant value as a meeting destination.

 “While the aggregate 2010 performance numbers for the 50 major markets look appealing, a dose of reality needs to be injected.  If you remove New York City from the equation, the RevPAR forecast drops from 6.4 percent to 5.4 percent,” Woodworth noted.  “New York’s ADR is forecast to rise 6.6 percent this year.  It is just one of the 10 markets that will enjoy an ADR increase in 2010.”

 Looking towards 2011, the pace of RevPAR growth for the major market sample is expected to slow down somewhat.  PKF-HR is forecasting the RevPAR for this group to grow 5.6 percent next year, driven mostly by a relatively strong 4.1 percent increase in ADR.  “The year-over-year comparisons, while still quite favorable, will appear somewhat less robust in 2011,” Woodworth explained.

                                                                   (Rome skyline photo)

Profits Accelerated

 Concurrent with the improved outlook for revenue is growth of the bottom line.  For 2010, PKF-HR is projecting that the average hotel in the U.S. will achieve a 5.6 percent increase in net operating income (NOI). 

This will represent a marked turnaround from the record 35.4 percent decline experienced in 2009.  The pace of profit growth picks up in 2011 when PKF-HR is projecting a hotel NOI increase of 11.1 percent, a rate which is expected to rise by more than 15 percent in both 2012 and 2013.

 “From an investor perspective, the sooner than expected increase in rooms revenue, along with the accelerated lift in NOI, is welcome news to everyone in the industry,” said John B. Corgel (top left photo) Ph.D., the Robert C. Baker Professor of Real Estate at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and Senior Advisor to PKF-HR.

(Paris skyline photo)

 “Hotel capitalization rate compression has been driven by a general decline in 5 – 10 year interest rates as much as REIT participation.  The renewed growth of hotel NOIs will help offset a reversal in interest rate trends should it materialize, which will help keep capitalization rates in check.”

 “After suffering through the all-time worst year of performance in 2009, U.S. hotel owners and operators are eager for growth.  Fortunately we have documented a definite turnaround in 2010 that we think will serve as the base for some very strong gains in both hotel revenue and hotel profits in the years to come,” Woodworth observed.

 “Given the numerous drags on the economy, such as the depressed housing market, high unemployment, and Federal deficit worries, the swift pace of recovery in the lodging industry is quite remarkable,” Corgel concludes.

                                                                   (Moscow skyline photo)

To purchase a December 2010 Hotel Horizon® report, please visit http://www.hotelhorizons.com/

Reports are available for each of 50 major metropolitan areas in the U.S., and contain five year projections of supply, demand, occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR.

For further information, please contact:

Mark Woodworth, President                                   
Colliers PKF Hospitality Research                       
Tel: 404 842 1150, ext 222                                     

Chris Daly
Senior Vice President
Daly Gray Public Relations
ph: 703-435-6293
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/dalygray