Grubb & Ellis Represents Joint Venture of Alliance Commercial Partners and CarVal Investors in $23.1 Million Receivership Purchase

  

 NEWPORT BEACH, CA– Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE: GBE), a leading real estate services and investment firm,  announced that Scott Read, senior vice president, Industrial Group, represented a joint venture between Alliance Commercial Partners and CarVal Investors LLC in the purchase of 2001 E. Dyer Road, a 366,000-square-foot industrial building in Santa Ana.

 The property was acquired out of receivership from Taylor B. Grant of California Real Estate Receiverships, the receiver of the asset, for $23.1 million. 

 “This transaction represented an excellent opportunity for Alliance/CarVal to acquire a large industrial property at a significant price reduction,” said Read. 

“Available industrial properties of this size are hard to come by in Orange County and following the completion of the renovations/enhancements to the building that Alliance has already commenced, the property is expected to draw in significant interest from local and regional industrial companies.”

The buyer has selected Grubb & Ellis to immediately market the property for lease and sale.  On a lease basis, the building can accommodate a single large corporate tenant or be divided for smaller tenants down to 100,000 square feet of space. 

 The distribution/manufacturing building offers 31 dock-high loading doors and 11 drive-in doors, large, secured loading/yard areas, ample parking, and the potential for heavy power.  The building also includes approximately 50,000 square feet of existing two-story corporate office space.  The property is located across the street from the planned Tustin Legacy Re-Development project and offers easy access to State Route 55 and Interstates 405 and 5.

 “This acquisition was in line with our investment strategy to acquire distressed assets at prices significantly below replacement cost,” said Bob O’Neill, director of Acquisitions for Alliance Commercial Partners’ Irvine office. 

 Bill Welch of California Real Estate Receiverships marketed the property on behalf of Grant. 

Contact:  Julia McCartney, Phone: 714.975.2230                                     

Email: julia.mccartney@grubb-ellis.com

         

Grubb & Ellis Promotes Matt Devine and Jeffrey Tertel to Vice President in Philadelphia

 PHILADELPHIA, PA) – Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE: GBE), a leading real estate services and investment firm, today announced the promotions of Matt Devine (top right photo)  and Jeffrey Tertel (bottom  left photo) to vice president, Office Group.  The promotions recognize their levels of production and contributions to the company.

“Matt and Jeff have excelled despite very challenging economic times, and I credit their focus on client service and their ability to build strong relationships for their successes,” said Bob Clements, executive vice president and market leader for Grubb & Ellis’ Philadelphia tri-state area.  “I couldn’t be more pleased to recognize them for their achievements.”

 Devine, who began his commercial real estate career with Grubb & Ellis in 2004, provides landlord and tenant representation in the Bucks County and eastern Montgomery County office submarkets.

During his tenure, he has been directly involved in more than 200 transactions totaling in excess of $175 million. 

Tertel joined Grubb & Ellis in 2000 and currently provides tenant representation services to companies with office requirements throughout the Philadelphia Tri-State area. 

  Contact:  Erin Mays, Phone 312.698.6735                              

Email:  erin.mays@grubb-ellis.com

Crossman & Company Tapped for Five Major Awards at NAIOP Orlando Chapter

 ORLANDO, FL--- The Central Florida Chapter of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association –NAIOP – presented Orlando based Crossman & Company with five major awards recently.

John Crossman, president of the commercial real estate company that ranks as one of the largest third-party retail leasing and management firms in the Southeast, said Crossman & Company Vice President & Director of Leasing Justin Greider (top right photo) was named Retail Broker of the Year.

 Greider negotiated retail property leasing and sales transactions that totaled more than 599,000 square feet of space in 2010.

 Crossman & Company associate Molly Delahunty (middle left photo) was named Student of the Year. Delahunty joined Crossman & Company in 2009.  Delahunty is a student in the University of Central Florida’s inaugural class of their Professional Masters of Science in Real Estate and will graduate December 2011.

Crossman & Company associate Whitaker Leonhardt (lower right photo) was named Rookie of the Year.  He joined Crossman & Company in 2009.  Last year, Leonhardt negotiated leases with the Disney Entrepreneur Center and Planet Fitness at the Orlando Fashion Square Mall, said Crossman.

 Two Crossman & Company properties were also cited with awards.

Aloma Shopping Center, the Publix-anchored shopping center which completed a major redevelopment last year, was named Retail Development of the Year.

 Orlando Fashion Square Mall, Orlando’s oldest shopping center with 1.1 million square feet of retail space, was named Re-Use Property of the Year.   The Disney Entrepreneur Center and Planet Fitness both signed leases at Orlando Fashion Square last year.  Planet Fitness is now open and Disney Entrepreneur Center will open in April.

For more information, contact:  

John Crossman, CCIM, President, Crossman & Company, 407-581-6218, jcrossman@crossmanco.com

Molly Delahunty, Crossman & Company, 407-581-6220 mdelahunty@crossmanco.com

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142, lvershelco@aol.com

  

Akerman Senterfitt Plays Pivotal Role as Circuit Court Rules for Homebuilders on Chinese Drywall Issue

  

MIAMI, FL-- /PRNewswire/ -- Akerman Senterfitt  announced that a Palm Beach County, Florida Circuit Court Judge has ruled that builders and installers cannot be held liable for negligence for faulty drywall (commonly referred to as "Chinese drywall") installed during home construction if they did not have actual or implied notice of a defect in the drywall at the time of construction. 

Judge Glenn Kelley (top right photo) of the 15th Judicial Circuit issued the Omnibus Order which is applicable to all lawsuits in Palm Beach County, Florida.  It is one of a number of wins the Akerman team has secured for several homebuilders it has represented on this issue in both state and federal courts.

"Judge Kelley's ruling is an important victory for the homebuilding industry, as it adds clarity and requires that builders and their subcontractors have knowledge of potential drywall defects at the time of construction," said Stacy Bercun Bohm (middle left photo) a shareholder with Akerman's Construction practice. 

In various lawsuits around the country, builders and their installer subcontractors have been accused of being "negligent" with respect to Chinese-manufactured drywall.

  Specifically, these businesses have been charged with having failed to "inspect" or "test" the foreign sourced drywall before installation, and have been faulted with having failed to "warn" homeowners of the problems associated with some Chinese-manufactured drywall.

 Implicit in these allegations is the expectation that these businesses should have been prescient enough to know, in early 2005-06 (in some cases, well before this), of problems associated with Chinese drywall. 

"We are hopeful that this decision will be adopted by other judicial circuits as well as in the multi-district litigation currently pending in a federal court in Louisiana," said Leslie Tomczak (middle right photo)  a construction litigation and real estate shareholder with Akerman.

Ms. Tomczak led the Akerman team that argued the issues before the Court. The team included shareholders Stacy Bercun Bohm, Valerie Greenberg, Sam Heywood, Samantha Kavanaugh and Hugh Turner, as well as associates Carmen Tugender, Michael Sayre, Lauren Fernandez, Stacy Harrison and Alan Fry in Akerman's Fort Lauderdale and Miami offices.

Judge Kelley entered the Omnibus Order regarding this matter on March 18, 2011.

More information can be found at www.akerman.com or www.twitter.com/akerman_llp

.

Contact:

Pat Tucker, RF|Binder Partners, Inc., (212) 994-7561 

Patrick.Tucker@rfbinder.com

Web Site: http://www.akerman.com/

Fitch U.S. CMBS Newsletter: Mood Among Market Players Mixed

 

NEW YORK, NY--The  mood  among  U.S.  CMBS lenders and third-party loan sellers is fairly optimistic,  while servicers and traditional b-piece buyers are maintaining a  more  guarded view of the sector's health, according to Fitch Ratings in its  roundup  of  last  week's  Distressed Debt Summit. The full roundup is featured in this week’s U.S. CMBS newsletter.

Most agreed that commercial real estate values are on the upswing. However, the  improvements  are  being  driven  more by compressed cap rates than by

increasing  cash flow.  Additionally, servicers are increasingly turning to

loan modifications with increased success.

In contrast, much of the market pessimism centers on the amount of loans in

special  servicing. While new transfers into special servicing have slowed,

the  inventory  of  assets  to  work  through is large. Approximately $89.7

billion  of  loans  are  in  special  servicing  as  year end-2010 (YE’10),

compared to $73.9 billion at YE’09.

New  issuance is seen as a positive sign to help temper the volume of loans

entering  special  servicing.  However,  the  burgeoning  trend  is also of

concern  among  investors  who  are wary of competitive pressures weakening

underwriting standards.

Additional  information  is available in Fitch's weekly e-newsletter, 'U.S.

CMBS  Market  Trends',  which  also  contains  recent rating actions and an

overview  of  newly  released  CMBS  research, including Fitch presales and

Focus  reports.  The  link  below enables market participants to sign up to

receive future issues of the E-newsletter:

'http://www.magnetmail.net/forms/display_form.cfm?fid=22908&mid=929091&rid=297925736&rtype=mm&uid=Fitch'

Contact:

Mary MacNeill

Managing Director

+1-212-908-0785

Fitch Inc., 1 State Street Plaza, New York, NY 10004

Lindsay Weichert

Director

+1-212-908-0398

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

sandro.scenga@fitchratings.com.

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