CommercialBrokerBlog

SPANISH FORT, Alabama  -- A California investor paid $1.56 million for a newly built, 6,200-square-foot Advance Auto Parts store on 1 acre on Mill Lane, off Ala. 181, in Spanish Fort, according to Charlie Christmas of Christmas Properties. He is one of the developers of the store, which is across from the Eastern Shore Centre.
Eastern Shore Baseball Academy opens this week in a 7,000-square-foot building in Austin Place Commercial Park on Rand Avenue, off Baldwin County 13, in Daphne, according to owners Tim Cockrell and Jared Myrick. The indoor facility features batting, pitching and catching mounds for baseball and softball, as well as private instructors.
Local investors paid $450,000 for the 15-acre Appaloosa Commercial Park on U.S. 98 in Elberta, according to Peggy Summerville of ERA Class.Com, who represented the buyers. Skip Davis of ERA Class.Com worked for the seller. The property is 7 miles east of the Foley Beach Express.
Six months after paying $250,000 for the bank-owned, five-unit Surf Rider condominium complex on 10th Street in Gulf Shores, the local investor has sold it for $285,000 to Louisiana investors who were represented by Gloria Sims Crump of REMAX of Gulf Shores. Three of the five two-bedroom units were renovated, she said. The 1980's complex is are across the street from the beach.
Dependable Machining Services paid $444,000 for a 15,000-square-foot office warehouse at 23226 Grissom Drive in Robertsdale, according to Philip Hodgson of Coldwell Banker Commercial Reehl Properties, who represented the seller. Pete Riehm of Grubb & Ellis/Peebles & Cameron worked for the buyer.
Beauty & Beyond has leased 11,040 square feet at Westgate Shopping Center on Airport Boulevard in west Mobile, and plans to open in early spring, according to Matt Cummings of Cummings & Associates, who represented the landlord. Christmas Properties worked for the beauty supply business.
PS Services, a tire distributor, has leased an 8,360-square-foot office warehouse at 1800 E. I-65 Service Road N., according to Bob Cooper of Prudential Cooper & Co. commercial division.
Jay A. York PC has relocated to 2,325 square feet in The Executive Center at 917 Western America Circle, according to Janet Keene of Bender Real Estate Group, who worked for the landlord. Tricia Graham of Roberts Brothers West represented the law firm.
Birmingham-based law firm Heninger, Garrison, Davis has opened in 780 square feet at 169 Dauphin St., on Bienville Square, according to Lewis H. Golden of The Drummond Group.

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By MAURA WEBBER SADOVI

After a four-year hiatus on the sidelines, California investor Judah Hertz is buying office buildings in small cities with some of the highest vacancies and lowest demand in the country. That probably means more torment for other landlords in these markets.

Mr. Hertz is buying for such a low price that he says he is going to be able to undercut the competition, charging lower rents and offering more incentives to tenants. Competitors who can't match him might see their occupancies rise.

"I should be in a very competitive situation," Mr. Hertz says.

As his first test of this strategy since the downturn hit, Mr. Hertz is buying 15 properties in Richmond, Va., Memphis, Tenn., and Jackson, Miss., from Parkway Properties Inc., in a deal that values them at $147.5 million. The portfolio's 24% vacancy rate is even higher than those of the overall markets. Third-quarter vacancy rates were 16.1% in Richmond, 22.1% in Memphis and 17.5% in Jackson, according to Reis Inc.

But the price Mr. Hertz is paying is so low that the portfolio's net income represents a yield of about 10%. "By buying buildings at lower prices like $60 a square foot, I'm able to compete with other people who paid $100 or $150 a square foot for their buildings," Mr. Hertz says. On average, Mr. Hertz paid about $76 a square foot for the portfolio.

Attractive yields are increasingly luring investors like Mr. Hertz further afield to office markets in smaller cities and suburban areas. During most of the downturn, investors have focused on major cities like New York and Washington, but this has driven prices up and yields down, to under 5% in some cases.

Mr. Hertz's company, Hertz Investment Group of Santa Monica, Calif., owns a portfolio of 12 million square feet of office space in 16 markets, including the recent purchase from Parkway. Under the terms of that deal, Hertz will acquire the properties for about $105.8 million and assume $41.7 million in existing mortgages on the properties.

At closing, Mr. Hertz also hopes to put other mortgages on the properties, bringing their overall leverage to 75%. The rising availability of financing helped convince Mr. Hertz it was time to begin buying again, he says.

Mr. Hertz, 62 years old, knows his way around both big and small cities. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., he first got into the real-estate business in the late 1970s buying industrial buildings in Manhattan's SoHo, and over the years he has bought and sold properties in Miami and Los Angeles.

Mr. Hertz says he stopped buying property after the downturn hit. But, like most active real-estate investors, he didn't escape the pain of the downturn and the rough-and-tumble earlier cycles unscathed. He says he lost money last year when he sold the Hyatt on Capitol Square in Columbus, Ohio, for $20 million as part of an agreement with lenders to accept a discounted payoff on a $32 million defaulted loan. Mr. Hertz paid $38 million for the property in 2007.

A little over a decade ago, Mr. Hertz says his bid to enter the Reno, Nev., casino market also failed after the Nevada Gaming Commission denied him a gambling license, citing concerns about alleged ties to organized-crime figures. Mr. Hertz says he has never been involved in organized crime but that he once made the mistake of being friendly with a reputed mobster. He also says it was a "blessing" that his casino plans were blocked because the office investments he has focused on have been profitable.

For Parkway, the sale to Mr. Hertz closes the chapter on a painful investment for a company whose market capitalization is about $200 million. Parkway says it will recognize a $58 million to $60 million fourth-quarter loss related to the sale of the portfolio as well as two remaining buildings it is still trying to sell in Memphis and Jackson.

Write to Maura Webber Sadovi at maura.sadovi@wsj.com

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Jan 18, 2012 10:50 AM, By Elaine Misonzhnik, Senior Associate Editor

With the increasing popularity of multifamily properties as an investment class, some industry pros are beginning to question whether the sector might end up overbuilt.

So far during this real estate cycle, developers have been extremely conservative in delivering new product to the market. In 2011, less than 40,000 units came on line, the lowest figure in more than 30 years, according to Reis Inc., a New York City-based research firm. Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, an Encino, Calif.-based brokerage firm, estimates that multifamily construction completions last year totaled just 35,000 units.

Yet going forward, construction activity in the sector will undoubtedly expand.

In October, 47 percent of respondents to a quarterly survey administered by the National Multi-Housing Council (NMHC), a Washington, D.C.-based trade group, reported a substantial pick-up in land acquisitions, financing deals and permit applications for multifamily properties in their local markets. In 2012, Reis expects to see between 72,000 and 85,000 newly completed units, while Marcus & Millichap anticipates 85,000 new unit deliveries.

Given the abundance of demand for new apartments, that still won’t put the sector in danger of overbuilding in 2012. In 2011, the national vacancy rate for multifamily properties declined 120 basis points from the year prior, to 5.4 percent, Marcus & Millichap reports. Effective monthly rents rose 4 percent, to $995 per unit. This year, multifamily vacancy should fall another 40 basis points, to 5 percent, in Marcus & Millichap’s estimates. Effective rents will likely rise 4.8 percent.

About 43 percent of respondents to the NMHC survey said that multifamily development is near the right level given existing demand, while 54 percent said that demand continues to significantly outstrip supply, even with the expected ramp-up in new construction.

“It is improbable that we will face overdevelopment in 2012 because strong demand should remain in place through the coming year,” says John Chang, vice president of research services with Marcus & Millichap. “For example, the prime renter cohort, aged between 20 and 34, will continue to grow significantly and enjoy an outsized share of job gains. Although employment is not expected to grow at an exceptional pace, it should outpace 2011 performance in the coming year, generating significant housing demand.”

“Almost all markets will experience vacancy declines in the coming year as demand outstrips supply additions,” he adds.

Jubeen Vaghefi, managing director and national leader of the multifamily practice with Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based real estate services firm, echoes Chang’s sentiments. He anticipates that in core markets, multifamily rents will grow between 5 and 8 percent in 2012. In secondary markets, rents might rise another 3 to 5 percent.

“If you look back over the last five years, there hasn’t been much in the way of new supply, and most people are leaning toward renting versus buying,” Vaghefi says. “Occupancies in most markets are up, so in 2012, we see a continuation of last year.”

Beyond the bend

Things might get trickier, however, once 2013 comes around.

The NMHC reports that 22 percent of its survey respondents said that apartment market conditions in their regions were looser than three months ago, compared to only 3 percent in July. About 51 percent said that conditions remained the same, compared to 30 percent in July, and another 27 percent reported that conditions have tightened, compared to 67 percent in July.

The NMHC Market Tightness Index in October stood at 56, down from 82 in July and a peak of 90 in April. A reading above 50 indicates that market conditions are getting tighter; below 50 shows that market conditions are getting looser.

Even with substantial demand for new apartments, net absorption in the multifamily sector decreased significantly in 2011, to 153,000 units from 225,000 units in 2010, according to Marcus & Millichap. With less than 40,000 new units added to the market last year, lower absorption levels haven’t threatened to become a problem so far.

But as the number of new construction units spikes to between 105,000 and 250,000 in 2013, over-building may become a legitimate concern, according to Victor Calanog, vice president of research and economics with Reis. In the past 20 years, new multifamily construction peaked at 188,870 units in 1999.

As of October, permits for apartment buildings containing at least five units increased 45 percent year-over-year, to 232,000 units, reports Marcus & Millichap. Given a 12-to-18-month construction window, that means the industry might begin to see an imbalance between supply and demand starting in 2013.

“We’ve been bringing up the possibility [of overbuilding] for more than a year now,” says Calanog. “In terms of timing, we don’t think much of the supply will hit till late 2012—that doesn’t even account for the usual delays we experience in commercial real estate construction. If there is indeed a deluge of new buildings coming to the market, the sector will probably feel the brunt of any pain it might cause in 2013.”

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The Birmingham area's industrial real estate market has clawed its way back to pre-recession occupancy levels with prospects of getting better, while its office and retail segments continue to try to break the grip the sluggish economy has had on the market.

Year-end figures compiled by EGS Commercial Real Estate suggest the industrial market seems to have found a cure for its vacancy ills faster than the other two sectors.

Industrial space was 84 percent occupied in the metro area at the end of 2011, according to EGS's market report. That's up from 78.9 percent last year and the highest point since before the recession's impact began to be reflected in the real estate market.

"The biggest thing was how the southwestern market healed," said Mark Byers, head of the industrial division at EGS. "It just took a couple of nice-sized deals for it to happen."

Byers said it's encouraging to see how one or two big deals can take chunks of space off the market and quickly boost occupancy levels for an entire market.

It's going to take more of that to spur new development, though.

"I think the market is going to have to get a lot tighter before you see new construction, unless it's a build-to-suit," Byers said.

With a number of Mercedes-Benz suppliers looking around the market, the distribution sector expected to get a bump with the opening of the Norfolk-Southern rail hub, and companies having put off expansion for as long as they can, fortunes could change quickly, Byers said.

Overall, the market's rented industrial space filled 730,127 square feet more space than it vacated during the year, led by a 390,260 square-foot net gain of leased space in the southwest part of the metro area (which includes Bessemer, McCalla and Hueytown). The only part of the metro area that had a net loss in leased industrial space for the year was the eastern market (Trussville, Leeds, Center Point).

Industrial rental rates averaged between $3.68 per square foot in the eastern market to $5.67 per square foot in the Oxmoor Valley at year's end.

The retail market, meanwhile, ended the year exactly where it started it with an occupancy of 87.6 percent. Only the retail centers on the U.S. 31 South corridor (Pelham, Alabaster and parts of Hoover) broke the 90 percent mark with an occupancy of 94.6 percent at year's end. The western section of the metro area (Bessemer, McCalla) finished with the lowest occupancy rate of 83.3 percent.

Rental rates for retail space at year's end averaged between $8.81 per square foot in the northern market (Gardendale, Fultondale, Adamsville, Graysville) to a high of $31.75 per square foot in the Hoover-Riverchase market.

After ending 2010 on the verge of breaking the 90 percent occupancy barrier, the metro area's multi-tenant office market took a small step backwards in 2011, finishing the year 87.6 percent occupied. Weakest was the 82.6 percent occupancy in the Hoover-Riverchase market, while strongest was the midtown area (Birmingham, Homewood, Vestavia Hills, Hoover, Mountain Brook) at 91.3 percent occupancy.

Office rental rates finished the year averaging a low of $13.80 per square foot in the Vulcan-Oxmoor area to a high of $20.73 per square foot in the U.S. 280-southern market.

Graham & Co.

Graham & Co. is heading into 2012 boosted by a number of property sales and leases in the last quarter of 2011.

The Birmingham-based company completed 25 sales valued at more than $20 million and 40 lease deals with a value of $41 million in the quarter, according to Mike Graham, president of the company. That was up from the 14 sales and 33 leases completed in the third quarter.

"We are expecting the current trend to continue into 2012," Graham said.

One of the more significant property sales in the quarter included 34 acres in the Lee Branch Corporate center near Greystone, including the 50,750-square-foot former headquarters of AIG Baker Shopping Center Properties. BBVA Compass sold the property to Church of the Highlands. Graham & Co. represented BBVA Compass.

Graham & Co. also brokered the sale of the former Cathedral of the Cross in Center Point to another faith-based group and a 3,872-square-foot office building at 1314 Cobb Lane to a new owner. Other fourth-quarter sales included a former day care, partially developed subdivisions, warehouses and other properties.

Graham noted many of the deals seem to be tied to internal or local expansion, a good sign that local companies are growing.

"We see this is a particularly healthy sign," he said.

Leases in the fourth quarter included a 130,000-square-foot office lease in Meadowbrook and a 220,000-square-foot lease in the Jefferson Metropolitan Park-McCalla.

Dan Lovell, head of Graham's office division, said the office market is trying to bounce back.

A net drop in occupancy of 17,870 square feet in 2011 means the overall market was virtually flat, he said, and much more stable than the 450,000 square feet of net loss in occupied space the metro area dealt with in 2009.

But Lovell noted it's not bad everywhere.

"Some pockets of midtown are as tight as they have been in several years, therefore some owners are doing very well in this area," he said.

Michael Tomberlin covers economic development, commercial real estate, construction, media and advertising. Contact him at 325-3436 or mtomberlin@bhamnews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @MAJ_Chicken.
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Tornado damage and UA's increased enrollment goals have developers wanting to build, build, build for Tuscaloosa's student market
By Patrick Rupinski
Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 3:30 a.m.

TUSCALOOSA | When Carter, an Atlanta developer, proposed building a student housing complex along the city's Riverwalk last month, it ran into opposition from City Hall, which questioned whether the development was the best use for the site.

But the proposal and other plans over the past few months to build more student housing complexes sparked other questions about how much student housing Tuscaloosa needs, as well as where they should be built and what impact the additional student housing complexes might have on the city, its infrastructure and the existing rental market.

At least three student housing complexes have been proposed since last summer, and those who track the rental housing market say more proposals are likely.

Two primary factors are driving the interest in student housing:

n The University of Alabama's enrollment has increased by more than 50 percent in the past decade, and the university has said it hopes to increase enrollment, adding about 4,000 more students by 2020.

n The April 27 tornado destroyed or damaged about 12 percent of the city's housing units, including owner-occupied houses and rental units. It destroyed some

off-campus housing rented by students, but more dramatically increased the total number of people looking for housing.

Those factors, coupled with a depressed national market for construction, caused more developers to look at Tuscaloosa as a possible bright spot for new construction.

UA has enough on-campus housing for 7,700 students. But more than 75 percent of its 31,747 students live off campus. In recent years, the number of students living off campus has grown with enrollment, which was about 20,000 students in 2003.

The university is building more on-campus housing, but will also get rid of some of its older dorms, resulting in a slight decrease in on-campus housing next fall, when the new North Bluff I Residential Community will open with about 970 beds.

This summer, the older Rose Towers, which has 995 beds, will be torn down. And one of UA's Highlands buildings, which has about 30 beds, will not be in use this fall to make way for new storm sewer construction on the north side of campus, according to campus officials.

More on-campus housing will become available in future years.

The board of trustees has approved construction of a second phase of North Bluff, which is scheduled to open fall 2014 with about 860 beds, said UA spokeswoman Cathy Andreen.

Meanwhile, the university has set a goal of increasing its enrollment. UA President Robert Witt has said he wants to add about 4,000 more students to bring enrollment to 35,000 students by 2020, if not earlier.

That would further increase the number of students needing off-campus housing.

“From the city's perspective, we hope to encourage student housing as close to the university as possible, and we have adopted zoning ordinances in recent years to encourage this,” Maddox said in an email.

The mayor came out against Carter's $40 million, 856-bed student complex on the Riverwalk last month, saying the project was not the best use for that site.

The city's planning commission voted 4-to-4 in December on the project; the tie vote allows the developer to still seek City Council approval, but without the planning commission's blessing.

Planning Commissioner Steve Rumsey was among those opposing the Carter project.

“As a planning commission member, I want to see the city develop in an orderly manner,” he said.

There should be an independent, unbiased study on the impact of the university's growth to help determine how much additional student housing is needed, he said.

Rumsey, who rents some houses to students, said the planning commission and the city need to know how much of the rental housing was destroyed by the tornado and how much of that was rented by students.

The study also needs to assess whether enrollment will eventually stay at 35,000 students, or possibly peak and then decrease.

Rumsey said the city also should determine how all new large apartment complexes will affect the city's infrastructure, particularly the sewer systems.

The sewerage lines in some parts of the city are at or near capacity now, he said, and some areas might not be able to handle large new housing complexes unless sewer systems are upgraded.

Developers in Tuscaloosa do not have to pay an impact fee, which can be used to upgrade infrastructure in the future, he said. That makes the city more attractive to out-of-town developers, who might build a project and sell it before sewerage overloads occur.

And if that happens, it will be the taxpayers who will pay for the sewer upgrades, he said.

Tuscaloosa's Planning Department Director John McConnell and Deputy Director Philip O'Leary did not respond to several calls and emails requesting information on the student housing situation or the status of proposed developments and their effect on the city.

In addition to the Carter complex on the Riverwalk, two other proposals for new student housing complexes have been announced since the tornado. There is a $40 million, 868-bed complex planned by Tuscaloosa developer Stan Pate off Alabama Highway 69 South and Kauloosa Avenue and a $41 million, 774-bed complex by a Tennessee company for the old Delaware Jackson public housing site near DCH Medical Center and the UA campus. Both of those projects have received zoning approvals from the City Council.

Steve Kennedy, president of Sealy Management Co., which has about 4,000 apartment units throughout the Tuscaloosa area, said that before the city approves new projects elsewhere, it should give those in the tornado zone a chance to rebuild.

“From a basic fairness issue, I would like to see the people whose property was displaced by the tornado have a chance to rebuild before the market is saturated,” he said.

Grayson Glaze, executive director of the Alabama Center for Real Estate at UA, said, “Overbuilding will continue to be the primary concern for the local market today, tomorrow and in the future.

“The fact is the university's growth and the overall appeal of the Tuscaloosa community is very attractive to outside developers. This appeal has only increased since the events of April 27, as perceived opportunities jump off the pages of the Tuscaloosa Forward rebuilding plan,” he said.

“The phrase ‘Timing is everything' comes to mind. No market can defy the fundamentals of supply and demand. As long as delivery of new development, including UA on-campus housing units, remains in balance with the growth in both the student and the general population of Tuscaloosa, the multi-family market should continue to experience solid performance.

“Smart growth will be the key to the long-term health of this important housing sector in Tuscaloosa.”
Copyright © 2012 TuscaloosaNews.com — All rights reserved. Restricted use only
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Published: Friday, January 13, 2012, 6:30 AM
By Michael Tomberlin -- The Birmingham News

HOOVER, Alabama -- Daniel Corp. is starting construction on a $35 million apartment community in its Ross Bridge development in Hoover.
The 250-unit Ashby at Ross Bridge has broken ground, and the first units should be ready to move in by this fall, company officials said.
The project will be the second apartment project in Ross Bridge, following the 240-unit Birchall at Ross Bridge built in 2008.
"We had a lot of success with the first project," said Pat Henry, chief development officer for Daniel. "I think we're going to be filling a niche the market is going to be excited about."
Henry said an analysis of the market, the fact that Birchall remains close to fully leased and Daniel's experience with the Ross Bridge development made the company comfortable with taking on the development at a time when new multimillion-dollar construction projects are still rare.
"When you're building a project, you do your best due-diligence and critical thought to how the market will support it and how it will fit into a community," Henry said. "We've got a lot of comfort with Ross Bridge. Even in the teeth of a very difficult economy, it's been a project that has not only continued to thrive, it's excelled."
Last year, the National Association of Home Builders named Ross Bridge the "Best Community in America" in recognition of its sense of place, numerous community events (farmer's markets, holiday gatherings, and hometown fairs) and through the execution of its master-planned vision.
"This is a very comfortable place for us to build," Henry said.
Ashby will have one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments ranging in size from 640 square feet to 1,350 square feet. It will also have a resort-inspired clubhouse, fitness center, clubroom, business center, and professionally landscaped pool and gardens. It will include pocket parks, ponds, and access to more than five miles of activity trails.
Henry said Ashby will not begin taking applications for units until late spring or early summer, but there already has been interest.

In August, Memphis-based Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. purchased Birchall at Ross Bridge from Daniel.
"Our project will not detract from Birchall by any means," Henry said. "It's something that will complement it."
Birmingham's Doster Construction Co. is building the project, which was designed by Atlanta-based Pucciano & English architects.
The master plan at Ross Bridge also has a number of acres dedicated for commercial development. Henry said some retail development could be close to starting.
"There is a certain density that needs to be reached for retailers to be able to thrive," he said. "While we've really reached that point, all of us continue to fight the national economy and we're just now sort of coming into a more positive environment in respect to retailers. I think in the very near future you will see further growth in the commercial arena in and around Ross Bridge."
Ashby is likely the first of several apartment community developments that Daniel is planning in the metro area.
"Birmingham has been a very under-supplied market," Henry said. "We think it's time for the delivery of this project. It will be the first of several we take on in Birmingham, we hope, in the months and years ahead."

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Published: Thursday, January 12, 2012, 12:38 PM     Updated: Thursday, January 12, 2012, 12:53 PM
By Stan Diel -- The Birmingham News

John "Chip" Moore and Susan Moore Hall (Special)
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The Birmingham staff of Berkadia Commercial Mortgage -- a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary with Birmingham roots -- has left that company to open Highland Commercial Mortgage, the new lender announced today.
John O. "Chip" Moore and Susan Moore Hall, previously senior vice presidents at Berkadia, are partners in the new Highland Commercial and have been joined by the entire Berkadia staff in the new venture, the company said in a prepared statement.
Moore and Hall are brother and sister and the children of John Moore, who was a co-founder of Highland Mortgage Co. in 1979. That company was sold to GMAC Commercial Mortgage in 2005 and subsequently became Berkadia Commercial Mortgage.
Highland Commercial will specialize in construction, refinance, acquisition, and redevelopment loan programs for multifamily, affordable housing and health care, Moore and Hall said in a prepared statement.
Pete Hodo III, a new addition, will serve as chief operating officer. The company's offices are located at 33 Inverness Parkway, Suite 140, in Birmingham.
© 2012 al.com. All rights reserved.

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Jan 3, 2012 12:17 PM, Staff Reports

LaSalle Hotel Properties has acquired the Park Central Hotel in New York City for $396.2 million. Located in Midtown Manhattan on Seventh Avenue between West 55th and 56th Streets, the full-service hotel features 934 rooms.

The transaction was funded with cash on hand, borrowings from LaSalle Hotel Properties’ senior unsecured credit facility and issuance of 296,300 operating partnership units valued at $27 per share. LaSalle received a $9.3 million reduction from the original purchase price, which is equal to the hotel’s income after debt service from September 2, 2011 through closing and is reflected in the $396.2 million purchase price.

The Park Central is located across the street from Carnegie Hall, three blocks south of Columbus Circle and Central Park, five blocks from Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, and seven blocks from Times Square and the theater district.

LaSalle Hotel Properties President and CEO Michael D. Barnello noted in a statement that his company is “excited about this well-located New York City asset and our ability to acquire the hotel at an attractive purchase price.”

The hotel features two food and beverage outlets—Cityhouse, an 88-seat contemporary steakhouse, and Bar Bella, the hotel’s lobby lounge—as well as 14,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting and function space, including an 8,500-sq.-ft. ballroom and 4,800 sq. ft. of retail space.

Originally constructed in 1928, the hotel has undergone several renovations, with more than $33 million since 2004. LaSalle plans to undertake a $30-million-to-$35-million renovation of the hotel , planned for late 2012 to 2013, including the hotel’s lobby, guestrooms, guest bathrooms and corridors.

The Park Central will continue to be managed by Highgate Holdings, whose portfolio features over 20,000 rooms located primarily across the U.S. and in Paris.

“The location and scale of the Park Central Hotel has historically made it an outstanding performer in our portfolio,” Mehdi Khimji, a principal of Highgate Holdings, said in a statement. “And now with the planned renovation and LaSalle’s ownership, the hotel is poised to achieve its full potential,” he added.

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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Massachusetts-based Colony Hills Capital said today it has purchased Riverchase Landing, a garden-style apartment community on 45 acres in Hoover, for $28 million.

"It is a momentous occasion for us to report the successful closing on our first property as a significant acquisition," Glenn Hanson, principal director and founder of Colony Hills, said in a statement. "Riverchase Landing is a wonderful community that is well located, and it holds tremendous promise for our investors."

Riverchase Landing has 468 units and is 98 percent occupied.

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