S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of U.S. real estate news stories and more published throughout the week. Please note that some entries may have links to third-party sources that may require a subscription.
Rethinking strategy
* Colony NorthStar Inc. executives said on an earnings call that the diversified real estate investment trust is changing its strategy, including decreasing its quarterly dividend to 11 cents per share from 27 cents, in a bid to turn the company around after a "very disappointing year." President and CEO Richard Saltzman said the company tapped Morgan Stanley as a financial adviser to help streamline its business.
Separately, the company and several global investors struck a €4.4 billion cash deal with French hotelier AccorHotels to buy a majority stake in the latter's real estate arm, AccorInvest.
* Aiming to maximize shareholder value, seniors-housing REIT New Senior Investment Group revealed it is looking at "a full range" of strategic alternatives and engaged J.P. Morgan Securities LLC as its financial adviser.
* Grocery-anchored shopping center landlord Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. hired a financial adviser, KeyBanc Capital Markets, to advance its plan to conduct a strategic review.
Cutting ties
* Major New York City office landlord SL Green Realty Corp. and Kushner Cos. reached a deal to divest their jointly owned development site at 175-225 3rd St. in Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Gowanus neighborhood for $115.0 million. An earlier report from Crain's New York Business identified RFR Realty as the buyer.
* Vornado Realty Trust, another New York City office landlord, is also reportedly seeking an exit from its joint venture partnership with Kushner. According to The Wall Street Journal, Vornado is in talks to sell its 49.5% stake in the 666 Fifth Ave. office tower in Manhattan to Kushner, and a deal between the parties is expected in a few months.
![]() Kimpton Hotel Palomar in Phoenix Source: DiamondRock Hospitality Co. |
Questions of potential conflicts of interest involving President Donald Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner re-emerged after his family's real estate business was reported to have received loans from lenders that had recently met with him at the White House.
Inns and outs
* Playa Hotels & Resorts NV is expanding in Jamaica with its proposed merger with Sagicor Group Jamaica Ltd. The lodging company will acquire Sagicor's portfolio of five all-inclusive resorts and two adjacent developable land sites on Jamaica's north coast for $100 million in cash and the issuance of 20 million Playa Hotels common shares.
* Lodging REIT DiamondRock Hospitality Co. picked up a downtown Phoenix hotel for $80 million and a Lake Tahoe, Calif., luxury resort for $42 million. The company revised its adjusted-funds-from-operations guidance for 2018 to reflect the Phoenix hotel purchase.
* Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. sold 11 noncore assets in the U.S., U.K. and South Africa, substantially reducing the hotel REIT's exposure to international markets. The sales generated $317 million in gross proceeds for the company.
* Hospitality REIT RLJ Lodging Trust sold the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in Boston for $170.0 million in December 2017 and disposed of another in-state hotel for $23.7 million in February.
Hawaiian deals
* Alexander & Baldwin Inc. paid $254 million to acquire three shopping centers in Hawaii from Terramar Retail Centers LLC, capping off the company's migration back into Hawaii from the U.S. mainland. The diversified REIT assumed $62 million in mortgage debt as part of the acquisition.
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* Lodging REIT Xenia Hotels & Resorts Inc. plans to divest its leasehold interest in the Aston Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu, in a $200 million deal scheduled to close during the first quarter.
Works in progress
* Boston Properties Inc. pre-leased 850,000 rentable square feet at its Reston Gateway project in Virginia to Fannie Mae, which will move into the space in 2022. The office landlord plans to build about 1 million rentable square feet on the site, expandable up to about 3.5 million square feet, to be developed in phases.
* Diversified REIT JBG SMITH Properties is joining forces with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for its office building under development at 1900 N St. in Washington, D.C. The pension fund will take up a 45% stake in the property in exchange for a roughly US$101 million investment.
Earnings Call Coverage
As the 2017 fourth-quarter earnings season edged to a close, S&P Global Market Intelligence reporters tuned in to conference calls hosted by some of the larger players in the real estate sector.
Colony NorthStar's Barrack '100% focused' after dividend cut
Colony NorthStar execs detail troubles in multiple portfolios, platforms
Featured during the week on S&P Global Market Intelligence
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Data Dispatch: American Tower tops earnings among 25 largest US REITs with 8% FFO beat
Data Dispatch: US REIT capital markets activity up 7.4% YTD through mid-February
In Play Today: Brookfield on the hunt for North American real estate M&A deals


