Commercial

The following companies announced personnel moves this week: The Rockefeller Group, Wilshire Construction, Starboard TCN, NYBC, Berkadia, Phillips Edison, KeyBank, Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, McLaren Engineering, SL Green, Kidder Mathews, JLL, HTA, Transwestern, and Cresa.

NY Landlord Divests 40% Ownership Stake, Valuing Met Life Plaza Bldg at $2.6 Billion

Seeing second quarter sales decrease nearly 4%, Macy’s Inc. this morning announced plans to close 100 of its 675 full-line stores – about 15% of its fleet.

“The announcements we are making today represent an advancement in our thinking on the role of stores, the quality of the shopping experience we will deliver, and how and where we reinvest in our business for growth,” said Jeff Gennette, Macy’s current president and CEO designate starting in…

No where have the economic forces of creative destruction been harder at work than in the U.S. retail market. Lately the sector has been a case study in contradictions, marked by the growing demand from an emerging set of new retailers that have added hundreds of new stores across the country, even as many established chains in the old order scale back, close stores or go bankrupt.

Looking at the national retail occupancy numbers, one would consider…

No where have the economic forces of creative destruction been harder at work than in the U.S. retail market. Lately the sector has been a case study in contradictions, marked by the growing demand from an emerging set of new retailers that have added hundreds of new stores across the country, even as many established chains in the old order scale back, close stores or go bankrupt.

Looking at the national retail occupancy numbers, one would consider…

Major equity REITs, which began the year in aggressive sales mode seeking to capitalize on strong investor interest in real estate and peak prices by selling more than twice the amount of properties they acquired, are now signalling this period of heightened disposition activity may be winding down.

As a group, REITs were still net sellers of properties in the second quarter, but many moderated their disposition activity in the second quarter…

As it prepares for a previously announced three-way merger with Colony Capital Inc. and NorthStar Asset Management Group Inc., NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. reported this week it is well on its way to disposing of nearly 20% of its portfolio of CRE investments.

The three firms agreed in June to combine and create an equity REIT with $58 billion of assets under management. At that AUM, the new entity would rank as the fifth-largest independent…

The expansion of the U.S. lodging sector, in growth mode since 2009, appears to be running out of steam as large hotel chains cut their forecasts amid signs of declining growth in room revenue and occupancies.

Softening fundamentals could put pressure on securitized loans backed by lodging assets as room revenue and occupancy growth reaches a plateau, potentially impairing the performance of commercial mortgage backed securities as interest rates…

Logan’s Roadhouse Inc., a Nashville-based casual dining chain with 234 restaurants, is the latest retailer heading into Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Roadhouse Holding Inc., the ultimate parent company of the chain, is 97% owned by affiliates of Kelso & Co., a New York-based private equity firm.

In the last three years, the chain had been using sale/leaseback arrangements as a financing mechanism to offset slower sales. As of last November…