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$175M Fetches Kimco Full Ownership in 21 Shopping Centers
Shopping center REIT, Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE:KIM), has acquired an 85% interest in the 21 retail properties held under PL Retail Portfolio, its joint venture fund with DRA Advisors. The$175 million acquisition brings Kimco's ownership in the...

Borders Closing 200 Waldenbooks Stores in January
The country's second-largest brick and mortar book retailer, Borders Group, is closing 200 of its mall-based Waldenbooks stores in January. As a result, approximately 1,500 positions--the majority of which are part-time jobs--will be eliminated. Borders...

Equity One Acquires Westbury Plaza for $103.7M from Kimco/DRA
On Oct. 29, Equity One acquired Westbury Plaza for $103.7 million from joint owners, Kimco Realty Corporation and DRA Advisors. Westbury Plaza is a 400,000-square-foot shopping center situated at 1220-1250 Old Country Road in the center of Nassau...

Blackstone and Glimcher Launch $320M Joint Venture
The Blackstone Group and mall REIT, Glimcher Realty Trust, entered into a joint venture agreement that would be seeded by two of Glimcher's best malls -- Lloyd Center in Portland and WestShore Plaza in Tampa. Under terms of the joint venture, Blackstone...

$117M Buys Prestigious Fifth Ave. Retail Address at St. Regis New York Hotel
An investment group comprised of Crown Acquisitions, Goldman Properties and The Feil Organization acquired the retail portion of the historic St. Regis New York hotel, located at 2 East 55th Street at a prominent Fifth Avenue corner in Manhattan. Acting...

Coventry Files $500M Lawsuit Against Developers Diversified
Late on Nov. 4, New York-based Coventry Real Estate Advisors announced that it filed a $500 million lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court against shopping center REIT Developers Diversified Realty (NYSE: DDR). According to Coventry, the lawsuit...

Emerging Trends: "The Bottom is Near!" Predict CRE Forecasters
Having reviewed the next round of commercial real estate surveys, forecasts and emerging trends issued this past week for 2010, about the only good news appears to be that the market has hit bottom -- or will soon. Rents and values have continued to fall...

Back to the Future: CRE Prices Falling Back to Pre 2004 Levels
While it has been widely assumed that the bulk of the damage from the devaluation of commercial real estate would hit properties purchased at the peak of the market in 2006 and 2007, Wall Street is now worrying about the deals completed in 2005 and earlier...

Bank Watch: FBOP Flops; U.S. Bank Takes Over $18.2 Billion in Assets
U.S. Bank of Minneapolis, MN, is taking over the troubled operations of the banking subsidiaries of FBOP Corp. of Oak Park, IL. U.S. Bank has assumed all of the deposits and essentially all of the assets of nine failed banks with combined assets of $19...

Retail Experts Divided over Holiday Sales & Traffic Expectations
The 2009 holiday retail sales projections are out and experts are divided over whether retailers can expect improved or disappointing sales during the all-important 'make-or-break' shopping period. “This year’s holiday season spending will be a lot...