The Barnes & Nobles CityPlace
The retail at West Palm Beach’s CityPlace is moving further away from the shopping mecca the Related Companies envisioned when they developed the complex and is shifting towards an entertainment-driven center (note: correction appended).
According to the Palm Beach Post, seafood restaurant McCormick & Schmick is still unwilling to commit to its location in CityPlace facing Okeechobee Boulevard. [more]
Related Companies Chairman and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross Related Companies Chairman Stephen Ross appeared on CNBC today to explain his support for Mitt Romney in the upcoming presidential election (see video after the jump), most recently exhibited by a fundraiser he threw for the candidate two weeks ago in Florida. [more]
Related President Jeff Blau and the Oasis at Fort Myers
Related Companies has closed the distressed asset fund that purchased debt on prime Manhattan and Florida properties, BusinessWeek reported.
The Related Real Estate Recovery Fund garnered $825 million of commitments, $75 million more than it targeted, to invest mostly in distressed debt with an eye on taking ownership of the properties. The fund has already invested $200 million in properties like One Madison Park and 225 Rector Place in New York and the Oasis in Fort Myers. [more]
Related Chairman Stephen Ross and CityPlace
Investors in the mortgage tied to Related Companies’ struggling CityPlace complex, which topped Trepp’s list of delinquent loans in December, were delivered bad news when Chairman Stephen Ross modified the loan last month, according to a Trepp analysis cited by the South Florida Business Journal.
Under the modification, the loan’s maturity date was pushed back to 2018 and split into two groups. [more]
When ST Residential outbid seven possible suitors, including the Related Companies, for failed Corus Bank of Chicago’s national distressed loan portfolio, industry observers believed the firm overpaid for the loans as the market headed for collapse.
But the Miami Herald reported that ST Residential will pass its first test with the loans when it completes a $150 million payment to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It can thank the buyers of 1,400 South Florida condominiums, many of whom were foreign, who accounted for about $650 million in sales, the Herald said. [more]
CityPlaceThe foreclosure on CityPlace, the Related Companies’ mixed-use mall at 460 South Rosemary Avenue in West Palm Beach, has had broad implications, both on the development’s current tenants and South Florida real estate as a whole.
According to the Palm Beach Post, the lawsuit put a freeze on lease negotiations, so current tenants are operating under a shadow of doubt and current vacancies are not landing tenants because of the center’s foggy future.
Special servicer LNR Partners sued an affiliate of the Related Companies Sept. 1 as it stopped making payments on a $150 loan in April. Comments
The Related Companies’ plans to construct a 150-unit luxury waterfront condominium at 4400 North Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach Post reported, with the Stephen Ross-led company now proposing a project three times larger than what was proposed five years ago.
The development, which was delayed by economic difficulties, would include two towers, at 4308 North Flagler and 4416 North Flagler, reaching 22 and 23 stories respectively. It would feature 506 units, priced from the low $200,000s to just under $1 million. [more]
A company controlled by Miami Dolphins owner and Related Companies chairman Stephen Ross may lose the CityPlace mixed-use center in West Palm Beach to a foreclosure lawsuit, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
An entity representing a commercial mortgage-backed securities fund managed by Miami Beach-based LNR Partners, filed suit yesterday against CityPlace Retail LLC, which owns the 756,471-square-foot property at 460 South Rosemary Avenue, and of which Related is the main shareholder.
Trepp reported in July that the lender had begun positioning CityPlace for foreclosure. Data sent to Trepp from LNR Partners, the special servicer of the $150 million mortgage, indicates that payments stopped in April, the Journal reported. [SFBJ]
A foreclosure action is being prepared against CityPlace, a 756,471-square-foot mixed-use center in West Palm Beach owned by New York-based developer the Related Companies, according to a report by Trepp. Data sent to Trepp from LNR Partners, the special servicer of the $150 million mortgage, indicates that payments stopped in April, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
LNR may have CityPlace on a dual track for foreclosure and modification, Trepp analyst Spencer Hollerith said, meaning that it’s preparing to foreclose on the property while still continuing its discussions with CityPlace.
“I can’t say that foreclosure is imminent,” he said. [more]
The booths at RECon, the world’s largest retail real estate trade show taking place in Las Vegas this week, tell a story on their own of the industry through their size, location and pull on attendees. The booths of brokerage firms like CB Richard Ellis and Newmark Knight Frank were more densely packed than their competitor Jones Lang LaSalle today, but also smaller. JLL took a much larger corner space, and its display included a waterfall spelling its name in cascading letters on the outside wall.
RECon, the annual trade show put on by the International Council of Shopping Centers, is considered by most brokers to be the most important show of the year. It started yesterday and runs to Wednesday, and draws approximately 30,000 attendees to the more than 1,000 exhibitors spread across three massive halls. [more]
