Here are the news articles you might find interesting today for commercial real estate and business:
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ARTIS SPENDING $75 MILLION FOR PHOENIX OFFICE . . . PAYS $21.4 MILLION FOR SCOTTSDALE PROJECT A company formed by Artis REIT in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (TSX:AX.UN, Armin Martens, CEO) is paying $75 million ($356.80 per foot) to acquire a office building under construction in Phoenix, and a limited partnership formed by the real estate investment trust paid $21.4 million ($216.64 per foot) to buy a flex building in Scottsdale. In a deal set to close first quarter 2012, Artis REIT is buying a office building in the Deer Valley area of Phoenix that will be leased for 20 years by the Federal Government through the General Services Administration (GSA). View article…
Area, McDowell Team Up on Defaulted Loan Purchases Area Property Partners and joint venture partner McDowell Properties acquired a portfolio of defaulted loans secured by 17 apartment complexes with 4,733 units in four states. The property portfolio has its greatest concentration in Austin, TX, with seven properties. There are three other properties in Dallas, TX; two properties in Phoenix, AZ: three in Tulsa, OK; and one each in Tampa, FL and Jacksonville FL. The overall occupancy rate for the portfolio is 84%, providing strong upside potential when leased to market occupancy. View article…
H&M to open Tempe store Swedish fast-fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB, better known as H&M, will open its third Phoenix-area store this fall at the Arizona Mills retail center in Tempe. It will be the company’s first Valley store outside Scottsdale, where it has two locations. H&M will join two other stores coming to Arizona Mills this fall, youth-apparel outlet P.S. Aeropostale and fashion retailer rue21. View article…
Long-Term Considerations Trump Economy The archetypal panel for this year’s 2011 Lodging Conference at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel was “A View from the Top” and featured major players in the lodging industry sharing their views on the economy, the future of technology and management strategies under macroeconomic duress. Moderated by Top Ten Marketing and Hospitality Consulting owner Don Landry, the panel consisted of Monty Bennett, president & CEO, Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc.; Roger Bloss, president & CEO, Vantage Hospitality Group, Inc.; Eric Danziger, president & CEO, Wyndham Hotel Group; and Stephen Haggerty, global head – Real Estate and Development Hyatt Hotels Corp. View article…
Cave Creek might rescue stalled condominium project The Cave Creek Town Council is considering throwing a life preserver to a stalled condominium project south of the town’s commercial core. Town Manager Usama Abujbarah said the town and VRE Carefree LLC., might enter into a development agreement that would keep the project alive. The council approved a first reading of the agreement Monday night, 7-0. View article…
Sales of foreclosed homes in SE Valley down from last year Two numbers do not a pattern make. But a couple of statistics from August seem to be good news for the housing market in Maricopa County. “The market is actually in better shape than most people realize,” according to Mike Orr, a Mesa-based housing-market analyst who publishes the Cromford Report, an online analysis of real-estate transactions. View article…
Phoenix tops nation in one-year home price declines Single-family home prices in the Phoenix area fell 11.6 percent in August from a year ago — the biggest decline in value among major U.S. cities. The new data from National Association of Realtors shows the median sales price for single-family homes in the Phoenix area was 121,700 in August. That’s down from 137,700 a year earlier. View article…
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