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.
Billion-dollar chases
* Blackstone was also identified as one of the bidders, along with Brookfield Asset Management Inc., for the U.S.-based luxury hotel business of China's Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd., which received offers of as much as $5.8 billion for the business, formerly known as Strategic Hotels & Resorts, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the sales process. The portfolio consists of 15 properties, including the JW Marriott Essex House in New York and the Westin in San Francisco.
Done deals
* Homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. acquired private home-building company Sharp Residential LLC, based out of Atlanta, in cash for an undisclosed amount. The homebuilder acquired about 900 lots owned and controlled in the Atlanta metropolitan statistical area, including a backlog of 125 homes with an average price of $520,000.
* Real estate services company FirstService Corp. agreed to acquire a 95% stake in commercial and large loss property restoration company Global Restoration Holdings LLC from Delos Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm, for $505 million. The deal is expected to close midyear. Global Restoration operates under the Interstate Restoration Inc. brand in the U.S. and the FirstOnSite Restoration LP brand in Canada.
Officially going public
* Nashville, Tenn.-based Priam Properties Inc., which seeks to qualify as an office-focused REIT, filed for an IPO of an undisclosed number of its common shares. The company plans to acquire and manage multitenant office properties mainly in high-growth urban nodes in the U.S. Midwest and Southeast.
Paying for properties
* Harrison Street Real Estate Capital LLC teamed up with Bulfinch Cos. Inc. to buy the three-building Osborn Triangle office and lab complex totaling 676,917 square feet at Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., from an affiliate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a deal worth $1.1 billion, the Boston Business Journal reported, citing three sources with knowledge of the transaction.
* Angelo Gordon & Co. LP and Hines Interests LP are looking to sell the 37-story, 1.5 million-square-foot Citadel Center office tower at 131 S. Dearborn St. in Chicago for between $700 million and $750 million, Crain's Chicago Business reported, citing Real Estate Alert.
* Google LLC paid $600 million to purchase the Milk Building at 450 W. 15th St. in Manhattan, N.Y.'s Chelsea neighborhood from Atlanta-based Jamestown Properties, according to media reports. The Alphabet Inc. unit also acquired three office buildings totaling 332,000 square feet at 4550 N. First St., 65 Nortech Parkway and 95 Nortech Parkway in San Jose, Calif., for $137.5 million, according to a separate report from The Mercury News, which cited Santa Clara County records.
* A Tishman Speyer Properties LP joint venture with two sovereign wealth funds is planning to sell the 32-story, 767,000-square-foot Chrysler East office tower at 666 Third Ave. in Manhattan and is expecting bids of about $540 million, The Real Deal reported, citing sources familiar with the deal.
* LaSalle Investment Management Inc. sold 10 Post Office Square in Boston's Financial District for about $238.7 million to an affiliate of Synergy Investments, Banker & Tradesman reported, citing data from the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds. The 14-story office building totals 163,834 square feet.
New exploration
* Front Yard Residential Corp. set up a committee to explore strategic alternatives including a potential sale, internalization of asset management and termination of its asset management agreement with Altisource Asset Management Corp. The company also reached an agreement with activist shareholder Snow Park Capital Partners LP on director nominees, among other matters.
Mega NYC development project
* Property developer Dynamic Star is in discussions with the Department of City Planning for its planned $3.5 billion Fordham Landing mixed-use project, to be built on industrial wasteland between the Harlem River and the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx, N.Y., the New York Post reported. The project will span 5 million square feet and comprise about 2,800 residential units, a roughly 700,000-square-foot life science center, offices, retail, a hotel, conference center and community spaces.
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