Monday, January 24, 2011

Atlanta|Pacific Companies Hires Pilar Puente and Promotes Lorena Petry and Laura Nadel

  
 MIAMI, FL – Atlantic | Pacific Companies (A | P), a fourth generation real estate company, is pleased to announce the addition of Pilar Puente to the team and two new promoted positions for Lorena Petry and Laura Nadel.

 Pilar Puente is now the Property Manager at Atlantic | Pacific Management’s (APM) Valencia at Doral Park property. Before joining APM, Pilar was the Property Manager at locations including Present Parc Central Condominiums and Mirador 1200 Condominiums.

 Lorena Petry started as an Assistant Manager at APM’s Wind Condominium and has now been promoted as Manager for Valencia at Doral Park. Laura Nadel was most recently at the Caribbean before being promoted to the Manager position at Bentley Bay.

Randy Weisburd (top right photo), A | P’s Chief Operating Officer, says “In today’s uncertain economic climate, APM continues to foster best practices by providing a clear path towards career enhancement.

“Lorena and Laura’s promotions are a testament to APM’s focused training and unparalleled corporate support in helping our associates reach their career goals.”

For more information, please contact:
Randy Weisburd at rweisburd@apmanagement.net
Jessica Wade Pfeffer / Jessica Wade Inc., 305.804.8424, Jessica@jessicawadeinc.com

Plaza Advisors Announces Sale of The Shops at Verandah in Fort Myers, FL


TAMPA, FL--Plaza Advisors is pleased to announce the sale of the Shops at Verandah (top left photo) in Fort Myers, Florida.

The shopping center is situated at the intersection of Palm Beach Boulevard (SR 80) and SR 31 and totals 72,795 square feet of gross leasable area.

The grocery anchored asset features Publix, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, Pinch a Penny, Allstate, H&R Block, and separately owned freestanding; Regions Bank, Exxon Mobil, and Wachovia/Wells Fargo.

 The asset was constructed in 2006. The property was 92% leased at the time of sale.

 Plaza Advisors represented the buyer in the transaction and co-managing partners Jim Michalak (top right photo)  and Anthony Blanco (middle left photo), together with Senior Financial Analyst, Lenard Williams (lower right photo)  were involved in the engagement. The seller was not represented by a broker.

The seller and buyer were The Shops at Verandah, Ltd. and CR South, respectively. 

The sale of the Shops at Verandah marks the third Publix anchored center sold by Plaza Advisors over the past four months and the eighth retail transaction in 2010.

Contacts:
Jim Michalak, Tampa Office, 813-837-1300, Fax: 813-831-2627
 Anthony Blanco, Miami Office: Fax: 305-647-6441, 305-629-3606,                                                                                                                           

Turning Your Leased Industrial Facilities into a Profit Center


By George Livingston (top right photo) and Christie Alexander (top left photo)

 Ed. Note: George Livingston is founder and chairman of NAI Realvest, based in Maitland, one of the most active commercial real estate brokerage firms in Central Florida. He is a principal of CommerCenters, LLC, which ranks as one of the region’s largest developers of industrial facilities.

 According to current economic indicators---and most economists--- U.S. business and industry will likely show measurable signs of improvement in 2011. That means the window is narrowing on the opportunity for industrial firms to recognize significantly improved revenue from their leased facilities.

That may seem counter-intuitive at first. But the current economic cycle is rife with opportunity for successful enterprises with positive credit history. Your landlord is loath to admit it, but the fact is, your company---more specifically your leasehold obligation---is one of your landlord’s principal assets right now.

 Nationwide, commercial properties---including the facilities you occupy now---have decreased in value as a result of the real estate decline and the accompanying recession. With regional and local market vagaries, all properties have suffered. As undercapitalized companies downsized or folded, vacancies spiked and rents from remaining tenants have not made up the difference.

That means the capital value of your monthly rent payment---the relative proportion of your landlord’s mortgage payment or ROI covered by your payment---is substantially greater than the numerical dollar value. Your landlord and your landlord’s lender are both eminently aware of this.


 To the extent that you can turn that value differential into cash---or concessions---you can improve your company’s cash position.

 But beware the window is closing. As the economy improves and more companies expand, the value differential will evaporate.

 If your lease is due for renewal this year, current market conditions are even more favorable. Landlords will agree to substantial concessions to retain a good tenant. Even if your lease is not due for renewal soon, negotiate now and offer to extend the term.



A reputable offer of terms and conditions from a new landlord will inevitably lead to stronger concessions from your current landlord.

 From your current landlord’s perspective, the only meaningful differential is an estimate of your relocation costs versus his cost to lease the space to a new tenant.

Well-informed---and well-represented---tenants are cutting very good deals now with pragmatic landlords, fixing advantageous rates, lengthening lease terms and negotiating improvements and upgrades.

 In the current market cycle, most companies will benefit from lease negotiations conducted with the expertise of a good tenant representative. Almost every commercial property firm today retains associates whose specialty is representing the interests of tenants.

 Such specialists have the capacity to research properties, landlords and local market conditions, and know which concessions are most reasonable.

 They also know the conditions landlords face. A newly built industrial property may have minimum lease requirements imposed by lenders, and thus might be more flexible granting improvements or upgrades than lower lease rates.

 Landlords of older properties may be in a better position to wait out the recovery and thus be less inclined to negotiate generous concessions of any sort. A good tenant representative will know the inside story.

 The end result is the same. Time is of the essence. Act now and you can lock in rates and terms that fit your business plan and substantially improve your bottom line.

Contact: Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, http://www.lvershelco.com/

Crossbeam Capital and Concierge Asset Management Merge


 BETHESDA, MD. Jan. 24, 2011- Crossbeam Capital LLC, an institutional real estate investment fund manager, has merged with Concierge Asset Management, LLC, a 40-year-old Houston-based investor, redeveloper and manager of apartment communities. 

The combined company, Crossbeam Holdings, LLC, will focus on acquiring multifamily communities throughout the U.S. and redeveloping them to institutional quality. The merger formalizes a partnership established in 2010 which acquired seven multifamily communities including closing five properties in December alone.

“Crossbeam Capital and Concierge Asset Management were two successful, independently-run companies,” says Richard K. Devaney (top right photo), formerly a principal and chief investment officer of Crossbeam Capital and now chairman and chief executive officer of the new company.

 “We were profitable and generating consistent returns for our investors.  However, as we began working on acquisitions together, we recognized how compatible our two organizations were.”

Maxwell Drever (middle left photo), founder-chairman of Concierge Asset Management who becomes chairman emeritus of Crossbeam Holdings, agreed the new company “has an extraordinary combined track record in creating real value for investors but it has also delivered reliable and sound solutions for sellers, lenders and brokers.

“In decades of property acquisition and transformation, we’ve had the priceless ingredient of ‘trial and error’ and refined an expertise in recognizing value buys and cost-effectively redeveloping the apartment communities.” says Drever.

 “In partnering on seven deals last year with Rich Devaney and the Crossbeam team, I realized a merger could give us the financial leverage and additional acquisition talent to move quicker in identifying and closing on multifamily properties that are a fit for our signature redevelopment strategy.”

The management team of Crossbeam Holdings is led by Devaney as chairman and CEO. Prior to co-founding Crossbeam Capital, he was national vice president for Equity and Mezzanine Debt at Fannie Mae in Washington D.C.

 Ted Kerr (middle right photo), chief executive of Concierge Asset Management, is now president of Concierge Holdings. Kerr had been director of asset management of Drever Partners, which owned 18,000 apartment units when Maxwell Drever sold it in 1997 to Walden Residential, a Dallas-based, NYSE-listed REIT.

W. Bradford Blash (lower left photo), chief acquisitions officer of Crossbeam Capital, is chief business officer of the merged company. Before co-founding Crossbeam, he was director of Equity at Fannie Mae in Washington, DC.

Combined, Crossbeam Holdings has $630 million in real estate assets under management, a portfolio of 29 multi-family properties with 9,045 rental residences primarily managed primarily by its 165 person property management subsidiary, Concierge Management Services.

In addition to the seven properties bought and closed last year, Drever says Crossbeam Holdings is starting 2011 by working to acquire three apartment communities where prospective buyers of each failed to meet the sellers’ year-end deadline.

“Our niche,” he added, “is that we have the capital, ability and agility to move quickly, step in and solve problems for almost any seller or lender with a multifamily property and/or their non-performing loans.”


Contact: 
Chris Barnett, 415-336-5092; cbarn@aol.com
Jennifer Farthing, 240-223-1679, jfarthing@crossbeamcapital.com
 for Crossbeam Holdings.
Leslie Gordon, 415-789-1773, leslie@drever.net for Maxwell Drever                 

Stan Johnson Co. Completes Sale of GSA/Dept. of Veterans Affairs Building in Lufkin, TX


LUFKIN, TX –Stan Johnson Company, one of the nation’s premier net lease brokerage firms, has completed the sale of a 37,000-square-foot medical outpatient clinic building 100 percent occupied by GSA/Department of Veterans Affairs to Pomona, NY-based RJ Block Properties, LLC.

The property is situated on seven acres at 2216 N. John Redditt Dr., in Lufkin, Texas. 

Brett Butler (top right photo) of Stan Johnson Company represented both the buyer and the seller, Lufkin-based LD Lyndon Properties, LLC.

Built in 2009, the property has a long-term, 20-year modified gross lease with the GSA/Department of Veterans Affairs.

“With our proactive marketing campaign to brokers and investors, we were able to secure 10 competitive offers,” said Butler.


 Sale Completed of 335,700-square-foot Industrial Building Occupied by the Hillman Group in Forest Park, OH

 FOREST PARK, OH –Stan Johnson Company, one of the nation’s premier net lease brokerage firms, has completed the sale of a 335,700-square-foot industrial building100 percent occupied by The Hillman Group, a distributor of fasteners, keys, letters, numbers, signs, and engraving, to New York, NY-based Angelo Gordon & Co..

 Built in 2004 the property is situated on 21 acres at 1700 Carillon Blvd. in Forest Park, Ohio.

Craig Tomlinson (middle right photo), CCIM, of Stan Johnson Company represented the buyer as well as the seller, Cincinnati United Contractors, Inc., in the transaction.

“The main challenge of this transaction was recasting the existing lease to add term and bringing it into conformance with institutional ownership standards,” said Tomlinson.

 “In that sense, it was really a three-way negotiation with buyer, seller and tenant.  The buyer is getting a very high quality asset with a tenant that leads its industry.  The seller receiveda strong price and is able to redeploy his equity.”

Contact:  David Ebeling, Ebeling Communications, (949) 278-7851