Commercial Real Estate Headlines

CBRE Group, Inc. Selected to Provide Property Management and Leasing Services ...
EON: Enhanced Online News (press release)
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world's largest commercial real estate services firm (in terms of 2010 revenue). The Company has approximately 31000 employees (excluding affiliates), ...

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Bank of America is considering selling all of its office buildings except for its principle offices in New York and Charlotte, according to Bloomberg News. The move underscores the lengths California’s largest bank will go to to raise capital. But if you’re going to unload commercial real estate, now’s the time to do it given investors’ appetite for well located real estate and low-rate financing. “We are currently reviewing all of our properties across our portfolio, with the exception of Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte and Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park” in Manhattan, BofA (NYSE: BAC) Kelli Raulerson told Bloomberg...

Sundt Construction Inc. has been awarded a $71 million design-build contract for a a 1,200-bed student housing project at the University of California Davis, the company announced Monday. The 330,000-square-foot Tercero Student Housing Phase III project is seven buildings consisting of 108 single units and 537 double units, several lounges, study areas, computer centers and gathering spaces. Sundt’s partners for the project include EHDD Architects, KPFF, Cunningham, Guttmann & Blaevoet, Lawson Mechanical and Berg Electric...

Best of Biz Notes features items from our Friday paper in the Biz Notes, Awards & Achievements and Charity sections of For the Record. Awards and achievements Dynamic Office & Accounting Solutions was recently recognized as one of the nation’s top 500 women-owned businesses by diversitybusiness.com in its 12th annual Div500 list. Dynamic was also selected as one of the Top 100 Diversity Owned Businesses in California and one of the Top 100 Women Owned Businesses in California. The Danville-headquartered staffing firm has an office in Folsom...

Our subscribers read breaking real estate news each week in HBJ, but this week, it was my turn to learn something new in my own paper. An ad from CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBG) on page four of the Feb. 3 edition announced the Los Angeles-based real estate company had landed the leasing and management assignment for Houston Center, a four-building office complex in downtown Houston with nearly 4.5 million square feet of space. That’s big news. Crescent Real Estate Holdings LLC had been handling those duties...

CBRE Group, Inc. Selected to Provide Property Management and Leasing Services ...
MarketWatch (press release)
CBRE Group, Inc. /quotes/zigman/6882272/quotes/nls/cbg CBG -0.05% , a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world's largest commercial real estate services firm (in terms of 2010 revenue). The Company has approximately ...

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Clear Capital has released its January 2012 Home Data Index showing year over year nationwide home prices down 2.6 percent through January. Home prices in the Midwest took the hardest hit, down 5.2 percent, compared to 1.8 percent in the South. Prices in metro Tampa increased by 0.8 percent year over year. Orlando experienced 6.7 percent price growth. Miami prices were positive 5.6 percent. From 25 to 30 percent of property in all three Florida metros was held by banks or other lenders. "Although prices at the national level continue to slide due to pressure from the Midwest, the lower priced segments of several specific markets are bucking the trend and seeing appreciation, suggesting that recoveries could be occurring from the bottom up," said Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital, a California-based real estate asset valuation, investment and risk assessment firm.

Watt Properties, a division of Watt Cos., selected Lee & Associates to oversee its California industrial portfolio within the cities of Long Beach, Torrance, Carson and Northridge. The assets include 12 buildings: 16131 S. Maple Ave., 1201 Francisco St., 2130 Technology Place, 2140 Technology Place, 2200-2250 Technology Place, 2161-2181 Technology Place, 2131 W. 19th St., 19749 Dearborn St., 19734-19736 Dearborn St., 19748 Dearborn St., 19735...

Freebirds World Burrito is opening two new burrito joints in Houston this month. The Austin-based restaurant chain will open a restaurant at the Enclave Shopping Center Feb. 6 and and one in Conroe at 1188 W. Dallas St. Feb. 7. The two new Freebirds locations will employ a total 60 employees. The company known for its “monster”-sized burritos opened a restaurant in Tulsa, Okla. in November. Tavistock Restaurants LLC operates 66 Freebirds in Texas, California and Oklahoma. It founded about 20 years ago.

Freebirds World Burrito is opening two new burrito joints in Houston this month. The Austin-based restaurant chain will open a restaurant at the Enclave Shopping Center Feb. 6 and and one in Conroe at 1188 W. Dallas St. Feb. 7. The two new Freebirds locations will employ a total 60 employees. The company known for its “monster”-sized burritos opened a restaurant in Tulsa, Okla. in November. Tavistock Restaurants LLC operates 66 Freebirds in Texas, California and Oklahoma. It founded about 20 years ago...

The developers that control the four-building former California State Automobile Association campus at Van Ness Avenue and Market Street have placed yet another bet on the Civic Center district, buying an L-shaped parking lot at 101 Hayes St. for $3.8 million. Civic Center Commons Associates — a joint venture between San Francisco-based Emerald Fund and National Real Estate Advisors — now owns six major pieces of property in the immediate area: the four CSAA buildings as well as 101 Polk St...

With the elimination of California redevelopment agencies, a flood of Bay Area properties the agencies had purchased or assembled for future projects could hit the market in the months to come. State lawmakers mandated that redevelopment agencies stop functioning on Feb. 1 with successor agencies taking on only projects that had “enforceable obligations.” Click here to see a mapped database of selected city-owned redevelopment land in the Bay Area. That excludes properties that agencies owned but weren't yet covered by a development agreement or contract...

Texas has seen a migration of businesses and workers from other states, including California and New York, adding more people than any other state in the country. That trend should continue with Texas' favorable business climate, said W. Michael Cox, director of the William J. O'Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom at Southern Methodist University. The right-to-work laws, no personal income taxes and housing prices are some of the top reasons for that migration, said Cox, who was the featured economic speaker at Thursday morning's fifth annual Economic Forecast Breakfast...

Lowe Enterprises Investors hired William M. Cockrum IV as senior vice president to head the company’s marketing and capital raising efforts. He will be based in the Los Angeles office of the real estate investment management firm. “LEI forecasts an attractive real estate investment environment for its targeted strategies. Over the last year we have added several talented professionals to our team to position LEI to take advantage of these opportunities...

Two Central Valley commercial real estate firms merge
Central Valley Business Times
Retail California Inc., which describes itself as “one of the largest independent commercial retail brokerages” in the Central Valley, says it has merged with Pearson Realty. Both privately held companies are headquartered in Fresno.
Fresno's Pearson Realty, Retail California merging Fresno Business Journal

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LERETA Announces Acquisition of LPS Property Tax Solutions
EON: Enhanced Online News (press release)
LOS ANGELES--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--LERETA, LLC (LERETA), a private investment group which includes Doug Foley and Jim Thornton, announced today that it has acquired the real estate tax services business of LPS Property Tax Solutions, ...

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Klipp PC, one of Denver’s most notable architecture firms, has been acquired by Irvine, Calif.-based Gkkworks and will function as a regional division of the California firm, Gkkworks announced Wednesday. Klipp’s principals — Brian Klipp, Alan Colussy, Greg Cromer and Keat Tan — will remain in Denver and continue as principals of Gkkworks, and Brian Klipp will serve as the managing principal of the new Gkkworks regional division. “We are thrilled to align ourselves with Gkkworks,” Brian Klipp said in the statement...

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art says it has chosen a pavilion design that “marries design, art and technology” for its upcoming world’s fairs exhibition. The winning temporary pavilion proposal, called Sun Pavilion, has a fragmented design that incorporates — and is powered by — solar panels. It will be built on the museum’s grounds on the southern front of the Kansas City Sculpture Park. Designers included Kansas City-based architecture firm Generator Studio, along with Los Angeles-based artist Tm Gratkowski, Lenexa-based solar power firm Brightergy LLC, Lenexa-based Prosser Wilbert Construction Inc...

LERETA Announces Acquisition of LPS Property Tax Solutions
MarketWatch (press release)
LOS ANGELES, Feb 01, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- LERETA, LLC (LERETA), a private investment group which includes Doug Foley and Jim Thornton, announced today that it has acquired the real estate tax services business of LPS Property Tax Solutions, ...

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San Jose officials really want to fill up the more than 9 million square feet of empty office/R&D space in the city. On Tuesday afternoon, the San Jose City Council unanimously approved measures related to construction and development in an effort to lure companies and developers to set up shop in Northern California’s largest city. In a nutshell, the council voted to: - Lower construction taxes citywide to 1 percent from 4.5 percent for office/R&D users on tenant improvements on existing space...