Lehman Brothers Holdings has beaten out Sam Zell and acquired the last remaining 26.5 percent stake in Archstone for $1.58 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, giving it complete ownership over the massive apartment portfolio. The failed bank is buying the stake from Bank of America and Barclays, which partnered with Lehman to acquire Archstone in 2007 for $22 billion. The deal values the portfolio at $17 billion. [more]

Lehman Brothers Holdings matched Equity Residential’s $1.33 billion bid for a 26.5 percent stake in Archstone, and then sued partners Bank of America and Barclays for breaching Lehman’s right of first refusal for the stake in a sale, Bloomberg News reported.

Archstone is a real estate investment trust with stakes in 60,000 U.S. apartment units and 14,000 units in Germany, that Lehman purchased in October 2007 with Tishman Speyer for $22 billion. Lehmar eventually filed for the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history and refinanced the portfolio and brought in equity partners Barclays and BofA, which combined for a 53 percent stake. [more]

Sam Zell and an Archstone building at 800 Sixth Avenue

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential has emerged as the leading bidder in a race to buy 53 percent of rival Archstone, offering more than $2.5 billion in cash for the stake, currently held by Bank of America and Barclays, the Wall Street Journal reported. The rest of the company, a real estate investment trust, is owned by the bankruptcy estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings.

The proposed sale to Equity Residential would value Archstone at about $16 billion, the Journal said. If sold as a whole company, Archstone currently could be worth as much as $18 billion.

Real estate giants the Blackstone Group, Brookfield Asset Management, Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities have all submitted bids for Archstone in recent months, it was previously reported. [more]

From left: 475 Fifth Avenue, Darcy Stacom, vice chairman at CBRE and
William Shanahan, vice chairman at CBRE

Pension fund giant TIAA-CREF purchased the 280,000-square-foot office building 475 Fifth Avenue from Barclays Capital Real Estate this week for $144 million, about $4 million more than expected, according to sources involved in with the transaction.

The deal closed Wednesday, sources said, at sale price of about $514 per square foot. Midtown-based TIAA-CREF had been expected to buy the building, but for $140 million or less.

A joint venture of real estate developer Joseph Moinian and Westbrook Capital acquired 475 Fifth Avenue, located at 41st Street, in 2007 for $160 million, but lender Barclays took the property back in 2009 through a deed in lieu of foreclosure. In the slow commercial real estate market of the time, Barclays sought to unload the 86-year-old office tower for just $105 million. Comments

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Real estate giants the Blackstone Group, Brookfield Asset Management, Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities have all submitted bids for real estate investment trust Archstone in recent weeks, but the offers haven’t been enough to resolve a disagreement among the owners over how to unwind Archstone, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Barclays and the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings are in an ongoing dispute over Archstone, a $22 billion investment made at the peak of the commercial real estate boom that contributed to Lehman’s downfall. According to the Wall Street Journal, Barclays is pushing to sell the company or its assets privately whereas Lehman favors a longer-term approach: taking the company public in what would be the largest real estate initial public offering ever. [more]

Barclays and the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings are in a dispute over how to unwind real estate investment trust Archstone, a $22 billion investment made at the peak of the commercial real estate boom that contributed to Lehman’s downfall.  According to the Wall Street Journal, Barclays is pushing to sell the company or its assets privately whereas Lehman favors a longer-term approach: taking the company public in what would be the largest real estate initial public offering ever. Meanwhile, Bank of America, the third and final partner, has yet to decide on a favored strategy. It has, however, voiced worry about how much value an IPO would create; Analysts predict between $4 billion and $6 billion in equity. [more]

L&L Holdings withdrew its claims Wednesday against Barclays Capital Real Estate for breach of contract over a deal relating to the purchase rights to 475 Fifth Avenue, Crain’s reported. Its
reasons for abandoning the claims could not be immediately determined.

L&L previously filed court action alleging that it had been deprived of its right to first offer on the 24-story property, which it managed on behalf of Barclays for almost two years before being replaced last month by CB Richard Ellis. [more]

Barclays Capital Real Estate is being sued for breach of contract relating to a deal involving the purchase rights to a 275,000-square foot property at 475 Fifth Avenue, according to Crain’s.

L&L Holding, which has managed the 23-story building on behalf of Barclays for close to two years, says it had the first right of offer on the property in the event that Barclay’s should ever choose to sell (note: correction appended). It is seeking damages after Barclays denied this right by offering the building at a “commercially unreasonable price that is substantially above fair market value,” according to a summons filed in New York State Supreme Court last month. [more]

Crexus Investment Group said yesterday evening that it rejected an unsolicited $254 million acquisition offer by Starwood Property Trust. In the late afternoon yesterday, Starwood made the $14-a-share-offer to acquire Crexus, a Manhattan-based real estate investment trust. The Starwood offer was contingent on Crexus suspending its previously announced offer to buy $586 million in real estate assets from Barclays Capital Real Estate Finance. Crexus planned to launch an initial public offering of $50 million shares of common stock, which would be used to finance the acquisition of the Barclays assets. [more]

Renderings of World Trade Center transit hub (left) and the Barclays Center

A New York Building Congress analysis of data from McGraw-Hill Construction data found that $19.5 billion worth of construction projects started in 2010, a 15 percent increase from 2009, when $16.9 billion in projects began. The 15 percent increase was a direct result of gains in the non-residential buildings sector, which includes offices, hotels, schools, hospitals, transit stations, power plants and other institutional buildings. Construction starts in this sector increased 34 percent to 13 billion, from $9.7 billion in 2009. However, residential construction starts reached just $2.2 billion in 2010, a decline of 14 percent from the previous year and 63 percent from 2008. TRD [more]