From left: Ric Clark, Dennis Friedrich and Tom Farley
Brookfield Office Properties has shuffled desks in its executive suite. Bloomberg News reported that the owners of World Financial Center and the developer of Manhattan West has promoted CEO Ric Clark to chairman and replaced him with co-President Dennis Friedrich. [more]
Prudential Douglas Elliman Chairman Howard Lorber and President and CEO Dottie Herman
The city’s largest residential brokerage firm, Prudential Douglas Elliman, could drop “Prudential” from its name and leave the global network if it cannot hammer out a new franchise agreement to replace one that expires in about a year, Dottie Herman CEO of the residential firm, told The Real Deal.
Top executives at Elliman are scheduled to meet this month with a division of the Canadian conglomerate Brookfield Asset Management to discuss the future of its license agreement for the name Prudential, Herman CEO said. [more]
A Brookfield Asset Management affiliate has purchased Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, Brookfield announced yesterday, establishing the company as the world’s second largest employee relocation services provider and the third largest residential real estate franchising business.
The purchase, before transaction related expenses, was approximately $110 million, a spokesperson for Brookfield told The Real Deal. As of Sept. 30, 2011, the net book value of the transferred business was approximately $25 million.
“This transaction creates a global employee relocation services and real estate franchising leader,” said Graham Badun, CEO of Brookfield Residential Property Services. -- Katherine Clarke [more]
Tenants of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village have received an alternative partnership offer just days after it was revealed they had partnered with Brookfield Asset Management to explore buying the properties, Crain’s reported.
A partnership between developer Gerald Guterman and Westwood Capital issued letters to tenants today, reminding them of a proposal Guterman and Westwood sent them in 2010. The duo’s plan involves converting all units in the complex to co-ops, which the tenants would then buy for close to $175 per square foot. [more]
The tenant association for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village voted yesterday to partner with Brookfield Asset Management to explore buying the properties, the New York Times reported. The association is aiming to convert the complexes, with 11,232 apartments in total, into an affordable condominium or cooperative in a plan that could see residents choose to buy their apartments or remain as rent-regulated tenants.
The tenants are hoping that the lenders who control the property, who are represented by CW Capital, will sell it to them rather than someone who may wish to displace the properties’ long-term residents, the Times said. [more]
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]
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]
Financing for New York City real estate projects is back. Of the top 35 deals done in the last 12 months, 24 were refinancing and nine were new loans taken out of acquisitions, according to Crain’s. The largest deal was an $800 million refinancing of 245 Park Avenue, between 46th and 47th streets, for which Brookfield Asset Management and ING Clarion tapped the Bank of China in September 2010. It was followed closely by Boston Properties’ $700 million loan from MetLife for the Citigroup Center at 153 East 53rd Street, between Third and Lexington avenues, in March 2011, and a $650 million refinancing of One Bryant Park between 42nd and 43rd streets in June last year by Bank of America. [more]
Brookfield Office Properties will kick off its offering for shareholders to buy into its new Brookfield Residential Properties affiliate next week, the New York-based landlord announced today. Brookfield Office, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management, recently merged its residential unit with Brookfield Homes to create Brookfield Residential, as the company moved to focus its own efforts exclusively on office properties. Shareholders of Brookfield Office will be offered the chance to purchase shares of the residential company for $10 until June 10. Brookfield Residential debuted on the New York Stock Exchange at the beginning of last month; shares closed yesterday at $11.95. TRD
From left: Sandeep Mathrani, Alan Barocas and Andrew Perel
Mall owner General Growth Properties’ incoming CEO, Sandeep Mathrani, has appointed new members to his executive team, the Wall Street Journal reported. Alan Barocas, who spent 25 years at Gap before leaving in April 2006 to operate his own consultancy, will join General Growth to oversee leasing for its malls. General Growth also hired Richard Pesin — formerly executive vice president of retail development for real estate developer Forest City Ratner — as its executive vice president of anchor stores, development and construction. [more]
