Commercial real estate
* Wyndham Worldwide Corp.'s Wyndham Hotels & Resorts acquired La Quinta's franchise and management business in a $1.95 billion deal after CorePoint Lodging Inc. completed its spinoff from hotelier La Quinta Holdings Inc. into a stand-alone, publicly traded company.
* E&M Associates plans to sell a nine-building portfolio in Manhattan, N.Y.'s Washington Heights neighborhood with an asking price of between $200 million and $215 million, The Real Deal reported, citing unnamed sources. E&M, which acquired the portfolio two years ago, has hired Westwood Realty Associates to market the assets.
The portfolio totals roughly 490,000 square feet and includes 413 rental apartments, according to the report.
* According to data curator ATTOM Data Solutions' ranking of the finalists for Amazon.com Inc.'s second headquarters search, Raleigh, N.C., is most likely to be the winner due to its relatively affordable homes, above-average school scores and lower-than-average crime rate and property taxes, Bloomberg News reported.
The top five include Atlanta; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Nashville; and Austin, Texas. New York and Boston feature last in ATTOM's rankings.
The Washington areas of Montgomery County, Md.; the District of Columbia; and Northern Virginia were ranked ninth, 12th and 13th, respectively. Business Insider had recently pegged Washington, D.C., as the front-runner for winning Amazon's second headquarters.
* Citing sources familiar with the plan, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported that Amazon has leased a 70,000-square-foot distribution facility at 79 North Industrial Park in Aleppo Township, Pa., aiming to roll out its Amazon Flex service in the region.
* RedSky Capital, JZ Capital Partners and Waterbridge Capital refinanced their portfolio of residential and retail assets in Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Williamsburg neighborhood with a $104 million loan from JPMorgan Chase, The Real Deal reported, citing JLL, which brokered the deal. The Redbridge portfolio totals 85,000 square feet.
* Real estate investor Heitman is nearing an acquisition of the 500 Pine St. office building in San Francisco's North Financial District from developer Lincoln Property Co. and Chinese partner Gemdale for roughly $70 million, the San Francisco Business Times reported, citing unnamed sources. The property had an asking price of $80 million previously listed in CoStar, the report noted.
The 56,179-square-foot building was completed in 2017 and is fully leased.
* Statesman Group of Cos. President Alana Mann is planning a $50 million senior housing facility in Phoenix amid $340 million of investments planned in the Phoenix area including single-family and multifamily projects, the Phoenix Business Journal reported. The Manor Village of Desert Ridge will total 196 units, with 50 memory care units, 79 assisted living units and 67 independent living units.
Construction is expected to commence before the end of 2018, with completion expected in late 2020.
After the bell
* Global commercial brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield Inc. is planning to file for an IPO in June, The Real Deal reported, citing unidentified sources. Brokers at Cushman were told that the IPO could take place in the third quarter; however, the size of the offering has not yet been determined, the publication noted, citing the unnamed sources.
* Shurgard Self Storage Europe Sarl, a Public Storage affiliate, is exploring a possible IPO to tap into what Public Storage Chairman and CEO Ronald Havner said are "excellent growth opportunities" in the European self-storage market.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng was up 1.37% to 30,468.56, while the Nikkei 225 rose 0.83% to 22,201.82.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 rose 0.13% to 7,699.53, and the Euronext 100 gained 0.27% to 1,056.77.
On the macro front
The jobless claims report, the Bureau of Economic Analysis' personal income and outlays report, the Chicago PMI, the pending home sales index, the EIA natural gas report, the EIA petroleum status report, the Fed balance sheet and the money supply report are due out today.
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