S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of real estate news stories published throughout the week.
Foreign investment in U.S. commercial real estate nearly doubled year over year in 2021, closing at $70.8 billion, or 8.5% of total commercial property acquisitions in the country, according to Real Capital Analytics' latest "US Cross-Border Investment Compendium" report.
Industrial and apartment assets replaced offices as the favored sectors among overseas buyers, accounting for about 34% and 30% of the acquisitions, the report said. The office sector accounted for 14% of the total.
Singapore's Mapletree Investments Pte. Ltd.'s roughly US$420 million acquisition agreement for the Uptown Station office building in Oakland, Calif., and Prime US REIT's US$245.5 million deal for two office properties in Boca Raton, Fla., and San Diego were among the notable transactions.
German investor Commerz Real AG agreed to pay $850 million to buy a 27-story office building, formerly known as 7 Hanover Square, in New York City from GFP Real Estate and Northwind Group. German conglomerate Union Investment Real Estate GmbH made its first multifamily investment in the U.S. in 2021 with the acquisition of two multifamily properties known as EON Squared in the Flagler Village submarket of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for $226.5 million.
Potential deals
* First Washington Realty Trust Inc. and California Public Employees' Retirement System are close to acquiring retail real estate investment trust Donahue Schriber Realty Group Inc., Bloomberg News reported Feb. 8, citing people with knowledge of the matter. A deal could be finalized in the coming weeks and be valued at more than $3 billion, according to the report.
* Industrial REIT LXP Industrial Trust's board launched a review of its strategic alternatives, including a sale, merger or other business combinations. LXP has not set a timetable for the review process and made no assurance that the review process will result in a deal.
* Multifamily and shopping center REIT Preferred Apartment Communities Inc. is weighing options including a partial or full sale of the company, Bloomberg News reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Property moves
* Barings LLC, on behalf of an institutional client, sold a 612-unit apartment building in Philadelphia to Fairstead Management LLC for $233 million. The 45-story 1500 Locust property spans 828,679 gross square feet and comes with 7,770 square feet of street-level retail space and a 398-space parking garage.
* Rexford Industrial Realty Inc. acquired five industrial properties across California totaling $170.0 million. The assets are in Los Angeles, Santa Clarita and Irwindale.
* The Howard Hughes Corp. is set to develop a new medical office building, along with housing and retail components, at its Lakefront District mixed-use property in Columbia, Md., for $325 million. The project includes an 86,000-square-foot South Lake medical office building, The Collective dining and entertainment concept, an incubator called The 3rd, and three new residential buildings.
* Green Brick Partners Inc. acquired about 383 acres of land in Elgin, Texas, for a residential community. The homebuilder will build the Trinity Ranch project as a 50-50 joint development with another homebuilder.
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