OCTOBER 28, 2009
With few funds in a capital-raising mode, placement agents have shifted their
9 PLACEMENT AGENTS
3 Equity Sought for FDIC-Asset Fund
3 Distressed Calif. Condo Project Sold
3 Industrial Fund Shifts to Debt Plays
4 Developer Seeks Equity for 2 Funds
4 Cornerstone Hotel Fund Posts Loss
5 Distressed Retail Plays Emerge in Ga.
6 Lender Shops Seized Hotel in NJ
7 Trident Pursues Troubled Portfolio
7 Distressed Student Housing on Block
8 Capmark Lists Foreclosed Va. Offices
11 Cigna Complex on Block Near Dallas
THE GRAPEVINE
Managing director David Lucey is leav-
ing Fidelity Investments at yearend.
Lucey is legal counsel and head of the
asset-management team for the Boston-
based real estate group. He joined
Fidelity five years ago. Managing direc-
tor Jeff Tapley, a 15-year Fidelity veteran
who has primarily worked on acquisi-
tions, will assume Lucey’s duties.
Barry Berkowitz has joined Newmark
Knight Frank Capital as a managing
director in New York. He will assist
buyers and sellers of loans and proper-
ties, including distressed real estate.
Berkowitz previously worked at New
York advisory firm Carlton Group and
brokerage Eastern Consolidated. He has
also invested via his own company,
Beta 2.
CB Richard Ellis is looking for a broker
to head up its multi-family investment
See GRAPEVINE on Back Page
Placement Agents Shift to Advisory Focus
focus to advising fund operators and their limited partners on how to navigate the
troubled real estate market.
Industry pros said 2009 will be remembered as the toughest year in recent
memory for placement agents, with the bear market forcing the downsizing of
operations. The survivors are being asked to defend their industry’s past practices
to the SEC, even as they struggle to keep their businesses afloat.
“The people who remain are the ones who have been able to transition the busi-
ness to advisory services in a much tougher environment,” said one market veter-
an (see list of placement agents on Pages 9-10).
With their main line of business — soliciting capital for new funds — largely
dead for now, placement agents are assisting fund operators on interactions with
See PLACEMENT on Page 8
CenterPoint Targets Industrial Plays in Calif.
A year after opening its first West Coast office, industrial investor CenterPoint
Properties is looking to make a big splash in the region.
The Oak Brook, Ill., firm is viewed as a leading contender to buy a 2.5 million-
square-foot portfolio of California distribution properties being offered by
Panattoni Development — among the largest industrial offerings this year.
CB Richard Ellis, which is advising Sacramento-based Panattoni, is expected to
pick a winner this week. The fully occupied properties, in Ontario and Rancho
Cucamonga, could trade for as much as $135 million. That would translate into an
initial capitalization rate between 8% and 8.5%.
Regardless of the auction’s outcome, CenterPoint is poised to be a dominant
buyer of similar properties in Southern California. It could acquire $1 billion of
properties within 3-5 years.
The 25-year-old company was acquired in 2006 by CalEast Global Logistics, a
See CENTERPOINT on Page 7
Chadwick Takes Reins of Calif. Brokerage
William Chadwick, a founder of real estate investment bank Chadwick Saylor,
has been named chief executive of Multi-Housing Capital Advisors, a Beverly Hills
apartment brokerage operation that broke away from Transwestern in January.
The surprise move lifts the profile of the operation and marks Chadwick’s
return to commercial real estate after his quiet departure from Chadwick Saylor
late last year.
Until January, the multi-family brokerage operation was affiliated with
Houston-based Transwestern and operated under the name Transwestern Multi-
Housing Capital Advisors, focusing on California. But the two parties agreed to
part ways, leading to the formation of a new, independent company under mostly
the same management team.
The company was founded by principals Curtis Palmer, Herb Chase and Andy
Sands. Palmer and Chase are Transwestern alumni. Sands was formerly a senior
partner of ING Realty Partners. Several other Transwestern executives stayed on at
See CHADWICK on Page 6
October 28, 2009
Lender Shops Seized Hotel in NJ
A lender is asking $29.5 million for an underperforming
hotel near Princeton, N.J.
The 364-room Wyndham Princeton Forrestal Hotel and
Conference Center, in Plainsboro, is being pitched to oppor-
tunistic investors interested in changing the flag, installing new
management and improving operating performance. The hotel
is currently running an annual deficit of about $2.6 million.
The unidentified lender is willing to provide a long-term
mortgage for up to 75% of the asking price. The rate would be
about 7.25%.
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Real Estate ALERT 6
Merritt Capital, an investment firm in New Canaan, Conn.,
acquired the property for $35 million in 2004, when it was
called the Merrill Lynch Hotel and Conference Center. Merritt
spent some $6 million on a renovation and put the property
under the Wyndham flag.
Merritt refinanced the hotel a few years ago, taking out a
$51 million mortgage. In December 2007, the property was
appraised at $77 million. But Merritt subsequently surren-
dered the hotel to its lender. In the past few years, performance
dropped off dramatically as business travel and conferences
declined. The hotel’s current 29% average occupancy rate and
$144 average room rate are insufficient to cover expenses.
Wyndham’s contract has expired,
so a buyer could change to another
flag, such as Hilton or Crowne
Plaza.
The hotel, which includes 64
conference rooms encompassing
47,000 square feet, is at 900
Scudders Mill Road, just off of
Route 1. It’s near Princeton
University and several large corpo-
rate campuses.
Hotel A.G. has the listing. For
more information, call Keith
Thompson at 770-692-1605. ❖
• PAY DOWN MATURING DEBT
• TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DISCOUNTED
PAYOFF OPPORTUNITIES Chadwick ... From Page 1
• BUY OUT PARTNERS
• ACQUIRE SHOPPING CENTERS
the independent operation as well.
(CASH AND TAX-DEFERRED STRUCTURES) The company handles invest-
ment sales and brokers both debt
and equity. In its biggest assignment
so far, it advised a subsidiary of San
Diego-based Fairfield Residential on
BOSTON
the $96 million sale of Gallery at
NY/NJ/CT
NoHo Commons, a 438-unit apart-
PHILADELPHIA
BALTIMORE ment complex in Los Angeles, to
WASHINGTON, DC
high-yield player Behringer Harvard.
The transaction closed last month.
Chadwick began his career as an
attorney and served in several advi-
sory posts for the federal govern-
SOUTH FLORIDA ment. He moved into commercial
real estate in 1989 when he and real
estate veteran Paul Saylor opened
NORTHEAST REGION
Tom Garesché Chadwick Saylor in Los Angeles and
617.684.1504
tgaresche@federalrealty.com
turned it into a multi-service invest-
ment bank.
Early this year, Chadwick was
named chairman and chief execu-
tive of PriceDoc.com, an Internet
startup in Solana Beach, Calif., that
compares the prices of medical
services. It’s unclear whether he will
give up those duties. ❖