Commercial real estate
* Meridian Group is exploring a sale of the International Place office building in Rosslyn, Va., which is located near Amazon.com Inc.'s new National Landing headquarters location in the Washington, D.C., metro area, the Washington Business Journal reported. Meridian paid more than $100 million for the 12-story, 295,271-square-foot building in June 2016.
The property has been assessed at roughly $105 million and is 95% occupied, the publication added, citing a sale brochure from Cushman & Wakefield, which is marketing the building.
* Rudin Management Co. Inc. refinanced the debt on the 634-foot-tall office property at 345 Park Ave. in Manhattan, N.Y., in a $550 million deal with Prudential Real Estate and the New York State Teachers' Retirement System, The Real Deal reported, citing records filed with the city. The property serves as the headquarters of private equity giant Blackstone Group LP and the National Football League, according to the report.
* UPS bought an industrial site comprising six waterfront parcels in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., for $303 million, The Real Deal reported, citing a city filing. The seller of the site, which offers up to 1.2 million buildable square feet, was industrial landlord Sitex Group.
* The Real Deal featured a ranking of New York City's biggest apartment landlords using registration data from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, with Blackstone topping the list with an estimated 14,120 units across 79 buildings.
Cammeby's International Group is at second place with an estimated 12,179 units across 240 buildings and LeFrak Organization Inc. holds third place with an estimated 12,111 units across 85 buildings. A&E Real Estate Holdings is fourth with an estimated 9,950 units across 194 buildings and Related Cos. is fifth with an estimated 9,367 units across 90 buildings.
* The Real Deal reported that the Tel Bond Global, an index that tracks bonds issued by American real estate companies in Israel, fell 4% over the Dec. 22 weekend. The downturn was attributed to "unsettling disclosures" by some of the companies, pent-up concerns from Israeli investors and the effects of the downturn in the U.S. stock market in the previous week.
U.S. property owners with Israeli bonds include New York companies Extell Development Co., Delshah Capital and GFI Real Estate Ltd.
* According to The Wall Street Journal, stores of bankrupt retail chain Toys R Us Inc. have been seeing high demand. The retailer has closed roughly 800 stores in 2018, more than any other U.S. retailer, after declaring bankruptcy. Citing a note from real estate research firm Green Street Advisors, the publication noted that many of the stores have significant lease terms remaining at well below-market rents, and are present in a variety of sizes that are suitable for various operations from healthcare to auto dealerships.
According to the report, Emilio Amendola, co-president of brokerage A&G Realty Partners, handled the sale of 567 former store sites and sold 209 in auctions.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 increased 0.89% to 19,327.06.
On the macro front
The Redbook report, S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI report, Richmond Fed manufacturing index report and State Street investor confidence index report are due out today.
Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.
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