Commercial real estate
* Innovo Property Group and its Hong Kong-based financial backer Nan Fung Group agreed to buy out Westbrook Partners' roughly 90% stake in a property in Hunters Point in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., The Real Deal reported, citing unnamed sources. The deal values the seven-story, 800,000-square-foot warehouse property at 23-02 49th Ave. at $430 million.
Innovo is in talks with lenders to close the deal with a loan worth more than 60% of the property's value, or more than approximately $260 million, the report noted. The buyers plan to convert the property's top two floors into life-science space. The New York City Housing Authority occupies about 600,000 square feet at the property in a lease that was renewed for 30 years as part of the stake sale, the report noted.
* WeWork Cos. Inc. parent The We Co. will proceed with an investor roadshow for its planned IPO as early as the week commencing Sept. 9 despite concerns over the company's valuation, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that some existing investors are pushing for The We Co. to shelve the planned offering, the valuation for which may fall below $20 billion. The sources told the Journal that the company and its underwriters plant to meet among themselves and with investors "to figure out what changes may be needed to help garner enough demand for an IPO."
* Corporate Office Properties Trust said it signed a full-building lease with the U.S. Government for a roughly 350,000-square-foot office building to be developed in a nondisclosed location in Northern Virginia, with the lease date expected to commence in mid-2022.
* Blackstone Group Inc. has reversed course and is now renovating and leasing all vacant units at its Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village rental complex in Manhattan, N.Y., after earlier reports that the landlord was keeping between 20 and 50 rent-regulated units vacant, The Real Deal reported, citing Blackstone spokesperson Jennifer Friedman.
The reversal comes a week after authorities signaled a possible review for Blackstone's deal for the housing complex. Citing an unnamed source close to Blackstone, the publication reported that the company is in compliance with regulatory agreements with the city regarding maintaining 5,000 affordable units at the complex.
In July, Blackstone had been reported to be halting renovations and other planned work at the property as a result of the rent-regulation laws passed in June that limited the rent increases landlords were able to charge tenants to fund renovations and repair costs.
* Bonjour Capital received a $115 million Fannie Mae loan for the 1735 York Ave. residential property on Manhattan's Upper East Side, replacing a previous $100 million loan, The Real Deal reported. The property was also rebranded to the Serrano from the Hamilton. Bonjour paid about $150 million for the asset in 2016 and has spent more than $20 million on renovations and upgrades since, the report noted, citing Bonjour founder Charles Dayan.
* Lane Partners LLC could sell its newly constructed building in Oakland, Calif., to San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District for about $146 million, the San Francisco Business Times reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The transit agency is looking to move its Oakland headquarters to the 244,000-square-foot office building at 2150 Webster St., which has ground-floor retail space, according to the report.
* Office development in downtown Seattle is down 41% from its 2015 peak of 7.1 million square feet, the Seattle Business Journal reported, citing the Downtown Seattle Association's mid-year report. The area also has 7,100 apartment units under construction, which is slightly up from 2018 but down from the high figure of 8,800 in 2017.
The report noted that downtown's total construction comprises 72% residential space, reflecting the highest ratio since records began 14 years ago.
* Bloomberg News featured a report on California lawmakers' attempts to pass bills to encourage residential construction and deter corporate landlords from boosting rents. One of the measures seeks to set a higher standard for evictions and cap annual rent hikes at 5% plus the rate of inflation.
The measures, meant to counter the state's housing affordability crisis, are up for final votes before the legislature adjourns Sept. 13.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng slipped 0.04% to 26,681.40, while the Nikkei 225 inched up 0.56% to 21,318.42.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 shed 0.57% to 7,240.79, and the Euronext 100 lost 0.06% to 1,081.84.
On the macro front
The TD Ameritrade Investor Movement Index and consumer credit consensus 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.
Now featured on S&P Global Market Intelligence
Data Dispatch: US real estate-focused ETFs continue to log net inflows in August at $222M: Chart Watch: All U.S. real estate-focused exchange-traded funds in August outperformed the S&P 500's negative 2.7% total return.
Data Dispatch: NAV Monitor: REITs trade at a 7.2% discount to NAV at August-end: Chart Watch: The healthcare and self-storage sectors continued to trade at the largest median premiums to NAV, although the healthcare sector edged out self-storage for the top spot, while regional mall REITs traded at the steepest discount.
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