Atlanta
A developer has proposed a $2.1 billion project in Roswell, which would be the biggest development ever in the suburb north of Atlanta. Charlie Brown’s plans for Roswell East include a mixed-use community with green space and high-rise towers of up to 27 stories, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The project as proposed has met with some criticism from community members who are concerned about its density, the traffic it will create and the height of the buildings.
Boston
Boston’s 46-story One Financial Center office tower recently went on the market and is estimated to draw bids in the range of $850 to $900 million, or at least $800 per square foot. Rose Associates Inc. and MetLife Real Estate Investments are selling the 1.1-million-square-foot tower at a time when prices for prime Boston office properties are rising rapidly, the Boston Globe reported. The similarly sized State Street Financial Center sold for a record $870 per square foot last year. Average rents for premium space in the Financial District exceed $50 per square foot.
Two adjacent Back Bay Beaux-Arts townhouses are up for sale, and one could set a record for Boston’s most expensive single-family home at nearly $15 million, the Chicago Tribune reported. The buildings, at 128 and 130 Commonwealth Avenue, are made of white limestone and overlook the boulevard. The mansions are among five houses currently listed for sale at $10 million or more in Back Bay and Beacon Hill. The current record is $9.12 million, paid for 51 Commonwealth Avenue in 2003.
Chicago
Developers have proposed a 421-foot condominium high-rise on the same block in Evanston where another team has already made plans for a 523-foot condo tower. Although it is unlikely that both will be built, either skyscraper would supplant the 418-foot Oakbrook Terrace Tower as the tallest building in Chicago’s suburbs, the Chicago Tribune reported. The 421-foot tower would reach 37 stories and have 250 to 275 apartments, shops and parking in the middle of the block.
Irish investors have their sights set on Chicago real estate, the Chicago Tribune reported. Recent activity includes Dublin developer Garrett Kelleher’s plans to erect the 150-story lakefront Chicago Spire, and Anglo Irish Bank Corp.’s financing this year of the $93 million purchase of 625 North Michigan Avenue by a syndicate of Irish investors. In the first quarter, Irish investors funneled $133 million into their own commercial market, while $2.4 billion went abroad. Only 2.5 percent of the foreign property investment went to the U.S. and cities like Chicago, but that number is expected to grow.
Las Vegas
Florida-based developer R. Donahue Peebles has proposed the construction of a massive $2.5 billion hotel and mixed-use condo project at 3550 Paradise Road, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The 4.5-million-square-foot Las Palmas Hotel and Residences would sit on 13 acres, have four 55-story glass towers with 800 luxury hotel suites and 1,000 condos, and include upscale restaurants and shops. Condo prices will range from $600 to more than $1,000 a square foot, and hotel room rates will range from $400 a night to several thousand dollars for suites. Credit Suisse provided $65 million in acquisition financing for the land.
Los Angeles
The home of Manhattan Beach Studios sold for $150 million, or $263 per square foot, to a Washington investment company. The 22-acre studio complex on Rosecrans Avenue was purchased by Oaktree Capital Management for $100 million in 2004. Shows such as “CSI: Miami” and “Boston Legal” are filmed in the studio, which has 14 soundstages, nine production offices and the four-story Media Center office building. The complex was built in 1999 by Burbank-based Shamrock Holdings at an estimated cost of $82 million, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Sales at major new-home communities in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties picked up in April, despite weaker figures in other parts of the state. Between March and April, Los Angeles sales rose 12.2 percent, Orange County sales rose 14.1 percent, and San Diego sales rose 2.2 percent, the Los Angeles Times reported. By contrast, sales fell 18.3 percent in San Bernardino and Riverside counties from the previous month and were down 54 percent from a year earlier, while the median price fell 4 percent to $419,000 from last year. Sales throughout the state were down 40 percent from a year ago, with median asking prices falling 6.2 percent.
Philadelphia
A developer wants to build a $500 million project on a 4.5-acre tract at Broad Street and Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia. Samir Benakmoume’s plans include two 31-story twin towers, including condominiums, rentals, a hotel, retail and office space, and parking. The mega-development is expected to generate a total of 860 residential units, 543,000 square feet of retail space and 301,000 square feet of office space, the Philadelphia Daily News reported. If the developer gains approval from the City Council, construction could begin in late 2008 and be finished in three years.
Phoenix
Arizona’s slumping housing market is not expected to recover until 2008, and job growth will continue to lag, the Arizona Republic reported. The amount of money generated by real estate sales dropped about 18 percent, to $6.9 billion, from the first quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007. Growth in non-farm employment is projected to slow from about 108,000 jobs in Phoenix in 2006 to 66,000 in 2007, and just 36,500 in 2008. Wages are increasing at about 4 percent a year, and retail sales are also lagging.
Twelve apartment complexes around the Valley sold for a record $427.5 million to the Bethany Group. The price works out to $82,561 per unit. Bethany, a California-based real estate and investment firm, plans to completely remodel the 5,100-plus apartments’ interiors, the Arizona Republic reported. The average apartment rent is currently about $800, and rents are expected to rise between $120 and $140 within two years, when renovations are finished. The seller was Scottsdale-based Bascom Arizona Ventures LLC.
San Francisco
Bay Area home sales continued to decline in May, according to figures released last month. In the nine-county area surrounding San Francisco, 5,487 existing single-family homes were sold in May, down 17.4 percent from May 2006, according to DataQuick Information Systems, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The mix of sales moved toward more higher-priced houses, and the median price was up 5.9 percent to $720,000 compared to a year ago. Some of the most affordable neighborhoods are seeing the biggest declines in sales, according to brokers.
Washington, D.C.
A group of Los Angeles investors announced the purchase of the landmark Hilton Washington for $290 million. Basketball great Magic Johnson’s Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund and Lowe Enterprises acquired the hotel from the Hilton Hotels Corp. with plans to spend more than $100 million on renovations. The property, at 1919 Connecticut Avenue NW, has 1,119 rooms, 110,000 square feet of meeting space and a 36,000-square-foot ballroom, the largest in Washington, the Washington Post reported. The renovation will add a smaller, 18,000-square-foot ballroom. The hotel is the site where John Hinckley shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981. It will retain its name and the Hilton management.