Calgary Mall to be Snapped Up for $120M

Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust has announced plans to shell out $120 million for Creekside Shopping Centre in Calgary, Alberta. The property is currently under construction and will ultimately feature approximately 370,000 square feet of space.

Situated on 41 acres in the Northwest area of Calgary, Creekside is already proving a valuable investment, as the tenant roster is already more than two-thirds full. About 290,000 square feet of space has been spoken for by such businesses as grocery store Co-Op, which will serve as an anchor, Shoppers Drug Mart and three banks. CREIT is purchasing the outdoor mall via a mezzanine loan program with Hopewell Development Corp. Hopewell, the developer and seller of the shopping center, is a merchant developer and constructs properties for the express purpose of selling them. The first part of the transaction, valued at $96.4 million, is on target to close by year's end.

Creekside is destined to be a cash cow, of sorts. Demand for retail across Calgary is very strong and rents are substantial The vacancy rate for retail properties in the Northwest region is 1.12 percent, according to October numbers culled by real estate services firm Colliers International, and rental rates range from $20 to $30 per square-foot at regional shopping centers.

"Significant population growth and increases in household incomes have resulted in significant rental rate increases across all asset classes," Adam Paul, CREIT vice president, investments, told CPN today.

"Calgary has been one of the strongest economic expansion markets in North America for the last couple of years," And certainly the expansion of oil is one of the primary drivers; there are oil sand patches in Northern Alberta."

Based in Toronto, CREIT presently has a portfolio of over 140 retail, office and industrial properties throughout Canada. Headquartered in Calgary, Hopewell Development is a division of the Hopewell Group of Companies, a diversified group of five companies serving the commercial and residential sectors, as well as logistics industries across Canada.

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source: commercialpropertynews.com

Hilton to Launch Garden Inn in Turkey

Hilton Hotels Corp. has announced it has entered into a management agreement with Amplio Gayrimenkul Yatirim ve Gelistirme Anonim Sirketi (Amplio) to open its first Hilton Garden Inn in Diyarbakir, Turkey, slated for December 2009. This agreement forms part of a development deal between Hilton and Amplio set to introduce approximately 15 Hampton by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn hotels.

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source: commercialpropertynews.com

ProLogis to Expand Presence in Korea

Industrial property giant ProLogis has inked a deal with the South Korean government to develop 7.1 million square feet of logistics support space in Gyeonggi province, according the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. The total investment will be about $600 million.

According to the ministry, the development will consist of two facilties. The state-run Korea Land Corp. will manage the development of the 1.4 million square feet in Bucheon, west of Seoul, and Gyeonggi Urban Innovation Corp. will manage the 5.7 million square feet in Anseong, south of the capital.

The deal is part of an effort by the government to raise South Korea's standing in East Asia and a distribution hub. "The deal will help boost Korea's logistic infrastructure and contribute to job creation," said Deputy Minister for Investment Policy Hong Suk-woo in a statement, as
reported by the Korean Overseas Information Service.

ProLogis, a REIT based in Denver, already sports a vast international industrial real estate presence. Currently the company owns or controls roughly 483 million square feet of industrial space in 105 markets in North America, Asia and Europe.

The company is already quite active in Korea. Earlier this year, ProLogis Korea Fund was established as a closed-end fund with a total expected capitalization of about $500 million, including $250 million of equity, to invest in Korean industrial properties. The first acquisition by the fund last summer was a 108,000 square-foot, fully leased
distribution facility along the Seoul-Busan Expressway outside Seoul.

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Hines Takes 15 Suffolk Street in London

The London office of Hines has announced the Hines Pan-European Core Fund has acquired from Arab Investments its first asset in the London office market--the West End office building located at 15 Suffolk Street in St. James. The period building is fully leased for a fixed term until 2022. Arab Investments was advised by King Sturge, and Hines represented itself in the transaction. Financials of the deal were not disclosed. Constructed in the mid 1950’s with a façade based upon its original 19th century design and recently refurbished, the building contains 21,100 square feet of space over six levels.

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Mixed-Use Development in Milan Trades for $558M

Maciachini Center, a new mixed-use office project in Milan, comes under new ownership as Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate sells the 1 million-square-foot project to Milareal Sarl and Imbonati Sr. in a deal valued at approximately $558 million.

Located in the northern section of Milan about 10 minutes from the city center, Maciachini sits on a 16-acre site that had been home to the multi-structure headquarters of a pharmaceutical company. Doughty Hanson acquired the property in 2003 and proceeded to demolish the majority of the buildings on the land in order to make room for the 12 structures that would comprise Maciachini. The project is being developed in four phases, with the initial phase having delivered 290,000 square feet of office space during the second quarter of 2006. The majority of the space completed during the first phase is leased. Phase two of the development, on target to reach completion in June of 2008, calls for approximately 312,000 square feet to house the Italian headquarters of Zurich Italia. The third phase, already significantly pre-leased, will bring about 97,000 square feet of office and retail space to the site, and the final phase will result in an additional 323,000 square feet of office space.

Doughty Hanson funded the Maciachini project through its first real estate fund, which was established in 1999. The fund has committed to 10 investments accounting for 49.4 percent of the fund. The company, which has office across Europe, closed its second fund in 2006 with over $860 million in commitments.

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source: commercialpropertynews.com