Real estate investment trust American Realty Capital New York Recovery REIT entered into contract on two New York City properties for $36.5 million, the trust announced today.

The first acquisition is a portfolio of four retail condominiums at the base of One Jackson Square, the 30-unit luxury condo at 122 Greenwich Avenue at the intersection of Eighth Avenue. Two of the units are leased to a TD Bank, one to a Starbucks and the final space is vacant. In total they comprise 7,080 square feet of rentable space. The acquisition is expected to close in November. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

Prospective real estate investment trust American Realty Capital Properties completed its initial public offering, selling 5.58 million shares at $12.50 per share, and began being traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market with the symbol “ARCP” yesterday.

The REIT is one of nine sponsored by American Realty Capital, which launched American Realty Capital New York Recovery REIT in December 2009 to raise $1.7 billion for income-producing Manhattan properties. In July 2010, that trust picked up its first Manhattan building, paying $32.7 million for a 65,100-square-foot office property at 306 East 61st Street in Lenox Hill.

However, the REIT that went public yesterday is focused on single-tenant, freestanding, net-leased commercial real estate. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

From left, Nicholas Schorsch, CEO of American Realty Capital, and David Fick, managing director of Stifel Nicolaus

A handful of new “blank check” real estate investment trusts seeking to raise billions of dollars from investors in the public markets starting in early 2010 are targeting New York City properties, according to their recent filings. Six public REITs filed prospectuses with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the last two months to raise nearly $4 billion for the acquisition of different types of real estate in limited regions including New York. They are expected to begin the offerings in early 2010. What makes this batch of public REITs unusual from traditional public offerings, experts said, is that they are so-called “blank check” or “blind pool” entities, meaning the new company does not yet own any assets, but instead is seeking to raise capital based on the reputation of the managers and the offering plan. David Fick, managing director of equity research at St. Louis investment firm Stifel Nicolaus, estimated there were about 20 blind pool REITs nationally, which were evidence of a completely new trend. [more]

Two mortgage real estate investment trusts, Colony Financial and Apollo Commercial, halved their initial public offerings yesterday, causing concern over soon-to-be-announced IPOs in the sector. Colony said that it would sell just 12.5 million shares, instead of the 25 million planned, while Apollo said it would sell 10 million, as opposed to 20 million. American Realty Capital CEO Nicholas Schorsch said that the market may be burdened with an overabundance of distressed mortgage REITs, like Colony and Apollo, creating weak demand. “People are assuming the market is unlimited, but institutions don’t want to be overweighted in the sector,” Schorsch said. “The market doesn’t have the capacity to absorb this many deals.”