The Atlantic in Atlanta
The unsold condominium units at the Atlantic tower in downtown Atlanta have been purchased by an affiliate of Miami’s Crescent Heights, the South Florida Business Journal reported. According to owner ST Residential, which is a Starwood affiliate, it has sold 73 units since taking over the property in 2010. ST “has received and accepted an unsolicited bulk sales offer to sell the remaining inventory at the Atlantic,” it said in a statement. [SFBJ]
A rendering of the new Element hotel
A host of new hotels are sprouting up around Miami International Airport, along with a number of properties that are being renovated, according to the Miami Herald. A new Comfort Suites opened last month, and the new Element hotel, a Starwood property, will open east of the airport this month. “The airport and its surrounding hotels are in better shape than ever,” said Rolando Aedo, chief marketing officer for the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. “I think the timing is very fortuitous. In essence, you have a new airport, you have a new hotel product.” This summer, a Best Western Plus is also slated to open in the area. [Miami Herald]
Pryor Cashman Real Estate Litigation Group Chairman Todd Soloway and the Ritz-Carlton Fort LauderdaleThe developer of the former St. Regis Fort Lauderdale, now a Ritz-Carlton, won $44 million from Starwood Hotels this month, after a New York judge found St. Regis’ parent company wrongfully quit a management contract it signed. According to Hotel News Now, the judgment could have significant ramifications in the industry.
As the Sun-Sentinel reported, in 2000 developer Castillo Grand solicited Starwood to sign a 20-year management contract for his 166-room hotel, located at 1 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard, so he could raise prices. The hotel finally opened in May 2007, but Starwood and Castillo were already fighting. One year later, Starwood quit its management contract and accused Castillo of poor work on the building. [more]
The 202-unit Artecity condo in Miami Beach was returned to a Starwood Capital-led investment group after it failed to attract any bids. The minimum bid was set at $50 million, which likely scared off potential bidders, according to Condo Vultures founder Peter Zalewski. “At that price, you’re talking about $402 a foot,” he said. “That would mean a bulk buyer would need to [sell for] at least $600 a foot and more likely $800 a foot. I don’t know that $800 a foot would be possible at Artecity.” Starwood acquired the property’s loan for a discount in 2009. Zalewski said Starwood could turn a profit with far fewer sales. [Miami Herald]
[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]
Blackstone Group is set to buy the U.S. shopping mall assets of Australian landlord Centro Properties Group for $9.4 billion after beating out bids from a Morgan Stanley-Starwood Capital partnership and a joint venture of NRDC Equity Partners and Area Property Partners, the Wall Street Journal reported. The deal, which includes 588 shopping centers, would be Blackstone’s largest since its acquisition of Hilton Worldwide in October 2007 and indicates an optimistic bet on U.S. retail, according to Bloomberg News. Among the properties Blackstone is slated to take over is Century Plaza Shopping Center in Deerfield Beach and Cobblestone Village I and II in Royal Palm Beach. Centro’s struggling U.S. portfolio, which is around 88 percent leased, has $8 billion in debt. The company, whose liberal U.S. acquisition strategy during the real estate boom came back to haunt it after the market crashed, will use the extra $1.4 billion from the sale to keep its Australian operations afloat as an independent company. [WSJ] and [Bloomberg]
Morgan Stanley’s global real estate fund and Starwood Capital Group are planning a joint bid for the U.S. shopping centers owned by troubled Australian landlord Centro Properties Group, according to Bloomberg News. Centro, whose roughly 600 U.S. properties were 88.3 percent leased as of June 30, put its assets on the block after falling victim to its own overzealous U.S. buying spree during the real estate boom. Among Centro’s properties are several malls in South Florida, including Century Plaza Shopping Center in Deerfield Beach and Cobblestone Village I and II in Royal Palm Beach. Tenants include T.J. Maxx and Marshalls parent company TJX as well as grocery giant Kroger. As the Wall Street Journal previously reported, Morgan Stanley and Starwood join the Blackstone Group and a consortium led by Lend Lease Group and NRSD Equity Partners, who are also reportedly preparing bids of roughly $8 billion for Centro’s debt and $9.5 billion for the book value of its shopping malls. Morgan Stanley raised $4.7 billion for its new global real estate fund last June. [Bloomberg]
Sam Nazarian’s SLS at South Beach, which is set to open on Collins
Avenue in 2012, may not be part of Starwood’s Luxury Collection, like
fellow SLS Hotel in Los Angeles, according to sources. It may be an
independent hotel, run by Nazarian’s SBE group, which runs several
restaurants and clubs in Los Angeles. The new hotel is slated to have 10
bungalow suites, a Hyde lounge and a Katsuya restaurant. The hotel is a
renovation
of the old Miami Ritz Plaza hotel. Philippe Starck is designing the
renovation. [Hotel
Chatter]
Faced with the loss of their project to a foreclosure auction, the developers of the Artecity project on South Beach have filed for
bankruptcy. Seven entities related to the project made filings
in bankruptcy court Tuesday, with liabilities ranging from $10
million to $50 million. The filings were made in an effort to stop the
foreclosure lawsuit filed in March by Corus Construction Venture, which
is a partnership between the FDIC and Starwood Capital Group. Artecity was intended as
a 202-unit project, divided between a new building and a renovation of
the Governor Hotel. Of the 60 completed units, 41 have been sold, but
just one of those has sold since the beginning of 2009. [SFBJ]
Starwood Capital Group’s bid for the bankrupt Extended Stay hotel chain, filed yesterday, was “better” than the bid from a competing group led by Centerbridge Partners and Paulson & Co, according to Jacqueline Marcus, a lawyer for Extended Stay. Yesterday marked the deadline to submit a bid on Extended Stay’s holdings, according to Bloomberg news, with an auction slated for May 27. The 680-property hotel chain hopes that by selling its assets it can exit bankruptcy protection, which it filed for in June 2009. Although Extended Stay would not comment on how much Starwood’s offer was, Marcus said that the hotel feels strongly about the bid. “In our view, it’s a bit better than the Centerbridge bid, and we’re hoping there will be vigorous bidding at the auction,” Marcus said. A competing bid from the Centerbridge group has been valued at $905 million. [Bloomberg]
