GL Homes revives controversial 1,000-home proposal for Ag Reserve – Robert Khodadadian

GL Homes Misha Ezratti and an aerial of the land in the Agricultural Reserve that GL Homes wants to develop (GL Homes, Google Maps)

GL Homes is pursuing a controversial development proposal for a 1,000-home age-restricted community in Palm Beach County’s Agricultural Reserve. 

Next week, the Palm Beach County Commission is expected to consider the Sunrise-based homebuilder’s plan that includes a land swap. Under GL Homes’ proposal, the firm would be allowed to build out 682 acres in the Ag Reserve, an area where development is limited. In exchange, GL Homes would create and pay for a $150 million water treatment area in The Acreage, in a different part of the county, that would help reduce algae blooms in regional water bodies, The Palm Beach Post reported. 

GL Homes has pursued different versions of the land swap proposal since at least last year. The company wants the county to remove an easement that bans development at the Ag Reserve, which spans 22,000 acres west of Boca Raton. 

Under its most recent proposal, GL Homes has offered several community benefits. They include a plan to build a 277-unit workforce housing complex and a 25-acre county park at the Ag Reserve. The homebuilder also has vowed to donate land to a Jewish association to develop a facility for seniors and the developmentally disabled. 

Environmentalists and other critics oppose the proposal, in part arguing that GL Homes previously had decided to keep its 682 acres at the Ag Reserve vacant, in exchange for increasing the density at its nearby residential developments. Each home in the 55-plus residential community is expected to sell for more than $1 million, much more than the price homes would sell for in The Acreage, a short distance west of the Seminole Pratt Whitney Road and Orange Boulevard intersection. 

If the deal goes through, GL Homes vowed it would reduce the nearly 4,000 homes it can build at The Acreage, according to The Post. 

GL, led by President Misha Ezratti, is a prolific Florida homebuilder. In December, the firm paid $35.3 million for 337 home lots roughly at the northwest corner of Avenir Drive and Coconut Boulevard at Avenir, a master-planned community in Palm Beach Gardens. 

Near Wellington, GL scooped up 209 homesites last year for $28.1 million at Arden, another master-planned community. 
– Lidia Dinkova

The post GL Homes revives controversial 1,000-home proposal for Ag Reserve appeared first on The Real Deal.

 GL Homes is pursuing a controversial development proposal for a 1,000-home age-restricted community in Palm Beach County’s Agricultural Reserve.  Next week, the Palm Beach County Commission is expected to consider the Sunrise-based homebuilder’s plan that includes a land swap. Under GL Homes’ proposal, the firm would be allowed to build out 682 acres in the
The post GL Homes revives controversial 1,000-home proposal for Ag Reserve appeared first on The Real Deal.  Uncategorized The Real Deal 

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

First Republic loses $102B in deposits as interest costs soar 2,700%  – Robert Khodadadian

First Republic CEO Mike Roffler (Marquette University, Getty; Illustration by The Real Deal)

First Republic Bank, the San Francisco-based lender reeling from the fallout of Silicon Valley Bank and grappling with holding fixed-rate mortgages with low interest rates on its balance sheet, reported sobering news for investors in its first-quarter filing on Monday.

For the first time since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, First Republic disclosed it had lost about $102 billion in deposits over the course of the first quarter — about half of the deposits that sat on its books at the end of last year. It ended the quarter with $104 billion in deposits — a number that included $30 billion in deposits put into First Republic by 11 banks last month. 

Any outflow of deposits poses problems for lending, given that banks need deposits to make loans for commercial and residential property, businesses and individuals. 

First Republic increased its loan book to $173.3 billion in the first quarter, a roughly 4 percent increase from the prior period. This was primarily due to “increases in single family and multifamily” loans. 

The bank’s interest expenses soared to $555 million in the first quarter — a whopping 2,675 percent increase from $20 million in the first quarter of last year, before the Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time. 

That increase in expenses led to a decline in net interest income to $923 million — a 21 percent drop compared to the last three months of last year, according to the earnings release. 

The “decrease in net interest income was primarily due to substantially higher funding costs,” First Republic said in the release. 

CEO Mike Roffler said on an earnings call the firm was working to reduce its expenses by taking measures including condensing office space, reducing executive compensation and laying off up to 25 percent of its staff. The firm did not have a question-and-answer session with equity analysts to provide further details. 

First Republic is mostly in the business of lending to homeowners, and for the most part, to individuals with very high credit scores. Almost 60 percent of its loans were single-family mortgages, according to the firm’s 2022 annual report.

About 97 percent of all mortgages — a total of $96 billion — on its books were issued after 2008, its annual report shows, when mortgage rates dipped below 5 percent for the first time ever. However, as interest rates have increased in the last year, the company must pay out more in interest on certificates of deposits and other savings accounts, while its income from long-term mortgages remains fixed.. 

About half an hour after markets closed on Monday, First Republic’s stock dropped 16 percent to $13.47 per share, down from $123 a share before Silicon Valley Bank collapsed last month. 

Investment bank Raymond James expected First Republic would report a “material decline in core deposits,” according to an analyst note earlier this month, which will cause “severe profitability headwinds for the foreseeable future.”

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 First Republic Bank, the San Francisco-based lender reeling from the fallout of Silicon Valley Bank and grappling with holding fixed-rate mortgages with low interest rates on its balance sheet, reported sobering news for investors in its first-quarter filing on Monday. For the first time since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, First
The post First Republic loses $102B in deposits as interest costs soar 2,700%  appeared first on The Real Deal.  Uncategorized, Bank Failures, Breaking, Breaking News The Real Deal 

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

OC housing projects stymied by rising fire insurance costs – Robert Khodadadian

Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley (Orange County, Getty)

It isn’t the specter of wildfires that is holding up construction of more than 10,000 homes in unincorporated Orange County. It’s getting fire insurance.

Identifying fire-prone zones and the difficulty of insuring sites in those areas could delay the construction of new housing, the Orange County Register reported.

Supervisor Katrina Foley warned about “a clear conflict between the state’s fire prevention maps” and a state mandate the county plan for the construction of 10,340 new homes in the 24 unincorporated areas across the county.

The undeveloped areas often butt up against OC foothills and wildlands. That can make it hard to get needed insurance – both for builders and homeowners.

“It has come to my attention that the building has stopped,” Foley told the Register. “Everyone is stopped until we can figure out this insurance issue.”

State law requires cities and counties to develop plans for homes at all income levels, including affordable housing. State housing officials must approve the eight-year zoning blueprints.

There are now 19 jurisdictions in Orange County, including the county, without an approved plan in place, according to the California Housing and Community Development. Failure to adopt a compliant “housing element” could result in lawsuits from the state, losing local control over projects and fines of up to $600,000 a month.

At the same time, where the state is responsible for fighting fires, California’s fire marshal must  map properties into moderate-, high- or very high-fire hazard severity zones. The maps were just updated for the first time since 2007.

Hazard severity is based on the physical conditions likely to start a fire and its expected behavior, without considering safety measures such as building homes with increased heat-resistant materials.

Dan Dunmoyer, CEO of the California Building Industry Association, said access to home insurance has been difficult to find because of the state’s devastating fires.

“The insurance industry has had some substantial losses,” Dunmoyer told the Register. “The only way insurers can respond to that, other than losing money which they don’t want to do, is they just limit the scope of their coverages, non-renew their existing coverages if they think they’re too fire risky, or they just don’t sell any new insurance.”

Because of the insurance crisis, construction in less developed areas has been slowed because homebuilders can’t figure out how to insure them at a price that an entry-level customer can afford, Dunmoyer said. Condominium projects, in particular, are impacted.

If not fixed, the problem of skyrocketing insurance premiums could lock new buyers out of the home-owning market, he said.

Lori Smith, the OC Fire Authority’s fire marshal and assistant chief, said people are concerned that if their homes or developments fall into the higher fire-hazard zones of the map, their insurance rates will rise, or their insurance canceled.

“Since those fires we had up north in 2017, 2018, insurance companies have been canceling people’s homeowner’s insurance (or) they’re simply leaving the state,” Smith told the newspaper.

“People in Orange County, as well as all over the state, are really struggling with affording fire insurance if they can get it, or are having difficulty getting insurance.”

Michael Soller, California’s deputy insurance commissioner, insisted that updating CalFire maps was not expected to substantially contribute to the rising cost of insurance. “And that’s for one simple reason: Insurance companies are already using their own data to make insurance decisions,” he said. 

— Dana Bartholomew

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The post OC housing projects stymied by rising fire insurance costs appeared first on The Real Deal.

 It isn’t the specter of wildfires that is holding up construction of more than 10,000 homes in unincorporated Orange County. It’s getting fire insurance. Identifying fire-prone zones and the difficulty of insuring sites in those areas could delay the construction of new housing, the Orange County Register reported. Supervisor Katrina Foley warned about “a clear
The post OC housing projects stymied by rising fire insurance costs appeared first on The Real Deal.  Uncategorized, Fire insurance, fire prone zones, hazard severity maps The Real Deal 

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Three charged in Cook County property tax bribery scheme – Robert Khodadadian

Cook County Assessor’s Office at 118 N Clark St. in Chicago (Illustration by The Real Deal with Google Maps, Getty)

Former Cook County Assessor’s Office staffers are among the three people charged with conspiracy to defraud in a property tax bribery scandal.

The scheme started in 2017, when Fence Masters owner Robert Mitziga and an unidentified person paid for several golf outings totalling about $3,500 for Basilio Clausen, who was previously an assessor’s office staffer, and some employees of the office, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Clausen then worked with Lumni Likovski, who was also employed by the assessor’s office, and in return Mitziga received lower property taxes through skewed valuations. All three have been charged with conspiracy to defraud.

Clausen, who also owns a business in Crown Point, Indiana, evaded taxes on property he owned, as well, law enforcement officers allege. Another former Cook County Assessor’s Office staffer, Lavdim Memisovski, was involved in the bribery scheme as well and got charged last year in a separate case.

Memisovski was charged for the same crime last year in a scandal in which he lowered tax bills for developer Alex Nitchoff in exchange for sports tickets, jewelry and other gifts.

After the first golf outing, Clausen left the unidentified person a voicemail saying the appealed assessments were “not going to be an issue at all,” prosecutors said. Clausen brought other officials in on the scheme and conspired to work around the assessor’s office’s random assignment system.

After the second outing, officials agreed to reduce Mitziga’s assessment by nearly $28,000 and the unidentified individual’s by about $53,000. Mitziga pushed for a bigger break, however, saying he paid $114 more than the other person for the two trips.

“Oh s—-, make sure [Memisovski] gives me a better deal than he gets [unnamed individual],” Mitziga allegedly said in a call with Clausen. “I’m paying for more of this stuff.” 

Clausen was suspended in light of the allegations and eventually resigned in December.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office said it has instituted a new two-step approval system for appealed assessments to prevent such scandals from reoccurring, though hasn’t offered details on how it works.

The three men facing charges each face five to 10 years in prison if found guilty.

— Quinn Donoghue

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The post Three charged in Cook County property tax bribery scheme appeared first on The Real Deal.

 Former Cook County Assessor’s Office staffers are among the three people charged with conspiracy to defraud in a property tax bribery scandal. The scheme started in 2017, when Fence Masters owner Robert Mitziga and an unidentified person paid for several golf outings totalling about $3,500 for Basilio Clausen, who was previously an assessor’s office staffer,
The post Three charged in Cook County property tax bribery scheme appeared first on The Real Deal.  Uncategorized The Real Deal 

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Sol San Jose assumes $26.4M loan for delinquent hotel project – Robert Khodadadian

Rendering of the approved hotel at 7 Topgolf Drive in San Jose (Google Maps, Corbel Architects)

Sol San Jose Owner has picked up a $26.4 million loan for a delinquent hotel project in North San Jose and is poised to take control of the approved development.

The South Korea-based investor acquired the loan to the real estate firm that proposed the 200-room hotel at 7 Topgolf Drive in the Alviso district, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The loan to South Korea-based hotel planner Mirae-San Jose is in default – and Pine Tree Specialized Private Investment Trust and KEB Hana Bank had begun to foreclose on the loan with a scheduled trustee’s sale to publicly auction off the property or seize the land.

Mirae-San Jose bought the 3.2-acre property in 2019, paying $22.5 million, according to SFRegistry. That year, it won approval for the hotel project, which stalled during the pandemic.

The project, to include a 15,400-square-foot retail building, was eyed for development by Shilla Stay, an affiliate of Samsung Group, who had proposed the four-story hotel.

The boomerang-shaped site, north of Highway 237 and the Guadalupe River, sits next to the Topgolf San Jose driving range.

Sol San Jose, based in Seoul, took ownership of the mortgage and is in a position to foreclose the loan and become owner of the hotel development site.

A similar takeover took place at the historic Huntington Hotel in San Francisco, when Highgate and Flynn Properties cut a deal with lender Deutsche Bank to obtain ownership of a delinquent $56.2 million loan to Woodridge Capital. 

The new loan holders then foreclosed on the delinquent mortgage last month and took possession of the 12-story hotel on Nob Hill.

New owners of the San Jose hotel project would benefit from Topgolf, which opened in 2021.

Topgolf has been a steady draw as an entertainment, sports and dining center, according to the Mercury News.

The Dallas-based firm operates high-tech driving ranges that allow people to hit golf balls equipped with microchips that record distance and accuracy. The golf complexes typically offer watering holes and dining.

In 2015, Mirae Asset Global Investments bought the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco for $450 million, or about $760,000 per room.

— Dana Bartholomew

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The post Sol San Jose assumes $26.4M loan for delinquent hotel project appeared first on The Real Deal.

 Sol San Jose Owner has picked up a $26.4 million loan for a delinquent hotel project in North San Jose and is poised to take control of the approved development. The South Korea-based investor acquired the loan to the real estate firm that proposed the 200-room hotel at 7 Topgolf Drive in the Alviso district,
The post Sol San Jose assumes $26.4M loan for delinquent hotel project appeared first on The Real Deal.  Uncategorized The Real Deal 

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Overton Moore plans 262 apartments in South San Francisco – Robert Khodadadian

Overton Moore’s Will McPhee and rendering of 1477 Huntington Avenue in San Francisco (Getty, Overton Moore)

Southern California-based Overton Moore Properties has won entitlement approvals for a 262-unit residential building in South San Francisco, according to public records. The project was approved by the city’s Planning Commission.

Located at 1477 Huntington Avenue, the project will rise seven stories with 82,000 square feet. The developer plans for about 15 percent of all units to be affordable, with two-thirds of those reserved for low income households and one-third for very low income households. Apartment amenities feature co-working space, a club room, fitness center, courtyards and outdoor space on the top floor. There will also be two parking garages with 288 residential vehicle stalls and 144 bicycle stalls.

The development would require the demolition of a 9,000-square-foot office building, as well as a parking lot. The Centennial Way Trail would be located directly east of the property. The site is also located approximately half a mile north of the San Bruno BART station and approximately 1.2 miles north of the San Bruno Caltrain station.

“A major focus of this project was the connection of Centennial Trail to the mid-block of Huntington Avenue,” Will McPhee, vice president at Overton Moore, said at a Planning Commission meeting. 

The site of the property was acquired in an 11-property portfolio deal from AT&T in 2019. The Huntington Avenue site was the “crown jewel” of the portfolio, according to McPhee. 

The Planning Commission was supportive of the project, but expressed concerns about current market conditions.

“These are tough economic times, and what we’re confronted with is we can approve plans but we don’t know if they’re going to be implemented, so it’s challenging for us at times, and that’s why we have to ask the hard questions,” Commissioner Sam Shihadeh said. “I think a lot of developers are facing the same issues now.”

Overton Moore has made news elsewhere in the Bay Area in recent months. The company offloaded the Morton Commerce Center, an industrial complex in Newark, for $186 million in the largest industrial deal in the East Bay so far this year. The center had notable tenants including Meta and Lucid Motors. 

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The post Overton Moore plans 262 apartments in South San Francisco appeared first on The Real Deal.

 Southern California-based Overton Moore Properties has won entitlement approvals for a 262-unit residential building in South San Francisco, according to public records. The project was approved by the city’s Planning Commission. Located at 1477 Huntington Avenue, the project will rise seven stories with 82,000 square feet. The developer plans for about 15 percent of all
The post Overton Moore plans 262 apartments in South San Francisco appeared first on The Real Deal.  Uncategorized The Real Deal 

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Bellissimo taps Tiger Woods, Justin Timberlake for massive proposed Wellington development – Robert Khodadadian

Mark Bellissimo, Joe Lewis, Ernie Els, Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods (Getty)

Developer Mark Bellissimo unveiled his latest version of a massive planned luxury community in Wellington — and he’s proposing to build it with golf greats Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake, billionaire Joe Lewis’ Tavistock Group and founding eBay president Jeff Skol. 

Now called The Wellington, the more than 600-acre development would be completed via a partnership called Wellington Lifestyle Partners, according to a press release. The mixed-use project could include single-family homes and condos; a 17-acre commercial complex with stores, restaurants, office space and hotels; an expansion of the Wellington International equestrian facility and showgrounds; as well as a public horse riding facility with trails, and a 16-acre park. 

The developers would have to secure land use and zoning changes from the village of Wellington, according to the Palm Beach Post, which reported on Bellissimo’s plans on Friday. Wellington, considered the winter equestrian capital of the world, has been home to Bill Gates, Bruce Springsteen, billionaire Jim Clark, rapper and home renovator Vanilla Ice and others. 

The project also calls for a racquet center; a stadium tennis court with additional courts for tennis, padel and pickleball; four pools; a 120,000-square-foot, two story sports courts complex with a market and smoothie bar, 40,000-square-foot fitness center and full spa; and children’s sports and gaming facilities, according to the release. 

Bellissimo is teaming up with Nexus Luxury Collection, which was founded by Lewis and the other partners. Nexus runs The Albany Resort in the Bahamas, and a private club in Manhattan, according to its website. 

Together, Bellissimo and Nexus plan to renovate the 18-hole Cypress golf course at the Palm Beach Polo Golf & Country Club, which Bellissimo recently bought from Glenn Straub. Straub and Bellissimo are among the largest landowners in Wellington. The golf course would include a new clubhouse and facility. 

The homes could sit on lots ranging from a quarter of an acre to 5 acres, each. Buyers could also put their homes into Nexus’ rental program. The Palm Beach Post reported that the project could include more than 200 single-family homes and 270 condos. Most of the homes, labeled luxury villas, would be part of the one of three sections in the proposed development. 

Earlier this month, Bellissimo paid Straub $35 million for the 126-acre golf course at 11934 South Shore Boulevard and partially financed the purchase with seller financing from Straub. Straub, meanwhile, faces a $6.8 million foreclosure judgment tied to his long running battle with the village of Wellington over allegedly unauthorized construction in the environmentally protected Big Blue Preserve. 

The post Bellissimo taps Tiger Woods, Justin Timberlake for massive proposed Wellington development appeared first on The Real Deal.

 Developer Mark Bellissimo unveiled his latest version of a massive planned luxury community in Wellington — and he’s proposing to build it with golf greats Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake, billionaire Joe Lewis’ Tavistock Group and founding eBay president Jeff Skol.  Now called The Wellington, the more than 600-acre development would be
The post Bellissimo taps Tiger Woods, Justin Timberlake for massive proposed Wellington development appeared first on The Real Deal.  Uncategorized, Celebrity Real Estate, Condos, Equestrian Estates, Golf Courses And Clubs, Mark Bellissimo, Offices, Palm Beach County, Retail, single-family homes, Wellington The Real Deal 

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Wilson’s Austin supertall plans cut in half – Robert Khodadadian

Wilson Capital president Taylor Wilson and rendering of Wilson Tower on East 5th Street (Wilson Capital)

A planned skyscraper that could’ve been Austin’s first supertall will now be fairly tall after the developer cut its plans in half.

Wilson Capital expects to break ground on the Wilson Tower this year, but after the city’s Design Commission rejected its proposal for an 80-story apartment tower in January, which would’ve been the tallest building in Texas at 1,035 feet tall, the firm is moving along with a revised plan, the Austin Business Journal reported. 

The Wilson Tower will now rise 45 stories to include 350 units, instead of 450. HKS will lead architectural duties for the project at 410 East 5th Street — currently the site of the five-story apartment building Avenue Lofts. 

City officials hailed the building’s design in the January hearing but said it didn’t offer enough public benefit. Wilson Capital offered to pay the city just under $6 million in exchange for not including affordable housing.

“We are making some changes in response to both the Design Commission’s feedback and current market conditions,” Wilson Capital president Taylor Wilson told the outlet. “Construction costs and interest rates are both higher now than they were when we originally designed the project. We believe this new design is more appropriate to provide an activated ground floor while remaining feasible in today’s environment.”

About 54 percent of Austinites rent, according to RentCafe. Developers went into a frenzy to keep up with high demand as waves of new residents moved to the area, but the market has cooled since last summer, and net leasing is down.

Wilson says he is confident in the city’s multifamily sector, and he is betting that new apartment buildings, like Wilson Tower, will accommodate the long-term growth.

“While meaningful levels of supply are currently being delivered, we believe there will be a period from 2025-2027 when new deliveries will be significantly less than usual given the current challenges preventing many new multifamily developments from starting,” Wilson said. “Our goal is to fill that gap with the new projects we are developing as they will be delivering in that time frame.”

Wilson Capital was ranked fifth on the outlet’s list of most active local developers in the city in 2022. The firm now has 1,894 units under construction across the metro with plans to start 885 more by the end of the year, the outlet said.

—Quinn Donoghue

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The post Wilson’s Austin supertall plans cut in half appeared first on The Real Deal.

 A planned skyscraper that could’ve been Austin’s first supertall will now be fairly tall after the developer cut its plans in half. Wilson Capital expects to break ground on the Wilson Tower this year, but after the city’s Design Commission rejected its proposal for an 80-story apartment tower in January, which would’ve been the tallest
The post Wilson’s Austin supertall plans cut in half appeared first on The Real Deal.  Uncategorized, Austin, Residential, Tower The Real Deal 

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

BG Capital plans $200M cold storage – Robert Khodadadian

BG Capital co-founder Joseph Byrne and TGS Cedar Port industrial park at 7818 Fisher Road in Baytown (BG Capital, TGS Cedar Park, Getty)

A $200 million warehouse project is coming to the nation’s largest master-planned industrial park, near Houston.

BG Capital and FreezPak Logistics started construction recently on two cold-storage warehouses, spanning a total of 282,000 square feet, at 7818 Fisher Road, adding to Houston’s surging industrial sector within the TGS Cedar Port Industrial Park in Baytown, the Houston Business Journal reported. 

The joint venture, called BGFP International, bought the 31-acre site from TGS Cedar Port Partners for $9 million in June 2022. Houston-based firm Partners represented the seller, and Marc Isdaner of Colliers International represented BGFP.

The development will consist of two warehouses, with RKB Architects at the helm of design and Industrial Building Group as the general contractor. The smaller one, measuring about 20,000 square feet, has a projected cost of roughly $102 million. It will be fully leased by FreezPak and construction is slated for completion in mid-2024.

Development for the attached 262,000-square-foot warehouse will begin once the smaller one is stabilized, according to BG Capital co-founder Joseph Byrne. That building will cost about $95 million, the outlet reported. 

The combined facilities will have a 67-foot clear height, 408,000 square feet of freezer space, and 110,000 square feet of temperature-controlled cooler dock. The site will also include 141 trailer parking stalls, 64 truck stalls, three rail bays and 131 parking spaces.

It’s extremely tall for a freezer building, Byrne told the outlet.

“We’re really making a statement that we want to be in the Houston market by doing that,” he said.

TGS Cedar Port, one of the largest industrial parks in the world, houses tenants such as Walmart, Home Depot, Target, Niagara Bottling, Webstaurant, Plastic Express, Ikea, Ravago and Vinmar. The site at 7818 Fisher is near Floor & Décor’s 1.5 million-square-foot distribution center.

—Quinn Donoghue

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The post BG Capital plans $200M cold storage appeared first on The Real Deal.

 A $200 million warehouse project is coming to the nation’s largest master-planned industrial park, near Houston. BG Capital and FreezPak Logistics started construction recently on two cold-storage warehouses, spanning a total of 282,000 square feet, at 7818 Fisher Road, adding to Houston’s surging industrial sector within the TGS Cedar Port Industrial Park in Baytown, the
The post BG Capital plans $200M cold storage appeared first on The Real Deal.  Uncategorized The Real Deal 

Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.

Marquette, DWS selling 20-story West Loop apartment tower – Robert Khodadadian

Marquette’s Darren Sloniger with the Catalyst building (LinkedIn, Google Maps, Getty)

Darren Sloniger’s Marquette Cos. and a Deutsche Bank affiliate are shopping a West Loop apartment, testing a market in flux.

Naperville-based Marquette and DWS Group have hired CBRE to sell Catalyst, a 20-story, 223-unit property at 123 North Des Plaines Street that opened in 2014, just prior to the West Loop’s emergence as Chicago’s hottest development markets, Crain’s reported. 

An asking price wasn’t included in marketing materials, and Sloniger declined to say how much he expected a buyer to pay for Catalyst. The building was valued at $114.6 million, or $514,000 per unit, in 2014, according to research firm MSCI Real Assets.

The outcome of the Catalyst offering will help investors gauge the direction of the market. The multifamily sector in Chicago has been strong and supported rising apartment values that have handed sellers some big profits during the pandemic.

But landlords are competing with an expanding supply, especially in the West Loop area where 9,065 units were planned or under construction as of last March. Plus, rising interest rates, a strict lending climate, crime and fears of a possible recession have pushed property values down and made investors wary.

For some, Chicago’s political landscape is another cause for concern. Newly elected mayor Brandon Johnson has proposed progressive policies that would more than triple the one-time transfer tax paid to the city for property sales of $1 million or more, as well as other taxes that have raised concern among real estate business groups.

Built nearly 10 years ago, the Catalyst could attract investors who seek out opportunities to fix up apartment buildings and then raise rents. 

“I think everybody feels like it’s a great value-add opportunity because it was developed in 2013-2014,” Sloniger told the outlet.

In addition, the building is 94 percent leased. Monthly rents range from $2,280, or $3.84 per square foot, for a studio apartment to $5,136, or $3.27 per square foot, for a three-bedroom unit.

— Quinn Donoghue

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 Darren Sloniger’s Marquette Cos. and a Deutsche Bank affiliate are shopping a West Loop apartment, testing a market in flux. Naperville-based Marquette and DWS Group have hired CBRE to sell Catalyst, a 20-story, 223-unit property at 123 North Des Plaines Street that opened in 2014, just prior to the West Loop’s emergence as Chicago’s hottest
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Lead by real estate veteran Robert Khodadadian, Skyline Properties has been instrumental in many multi-million dollar commercial developments, including a $12 million contract for the White House Hotel, a 99-year ground lease of a four-story commercial site in Harlem, and a retail co-op on Prince St. for $50 million.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. There are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller.