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|  Tuesday, December 11, 2007 |
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Sluggish housing sales aid apartment owners
Downtown apartment rents have increased 3.8 percent this year, giving property owners their largest rent growth in five years, according to a report prepared by Tikijian Associates. Sales of residential units listed at $100,000 or more in Center Township are down 17.3 percent through November, from last year, said Kurt Flock, of Flock Real Estate Group , a downtown residential broker who tracks data in Center and Washington townships. 
California firm expands Indianapolis holdings
Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Blue Real Estate Inc. has bought a 7-building portfolio in Park 100 on the city's west side from Dugan Realty LLC, a partnership of Duke Realty Corp. and JP Morgan and Co. Financial terms of the deal that closed Nov. 30 were not disclosed. The seven buildings near West 79th Street and Georgetown Road span 360,166 square feet and are about 80 percent occupied. |  | | | |
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In the last year, Blue has bought Castle Creek Corporate Park, a 17-building portfolio of industrial property in Park Fletcher, four Class A office buildings on Allisonville Road and the Century Building downtown.
Gary Woodworth, John Merrill and Nikhil Gunale of the Indianapolis office of CB Richard Ellis, along with brokers in CBRE's Chicago office, represented the seller. The buyer represented itself.
Duke put 13 Park 100 buildings on the market in July; the other six are still available.
 Duke goes 'evergreen'—again
It's looking a lot like Christmas, and not just in the front yards of plastic reindeer fanatics.
A birds-eye view of Duke Realty Corp.'s 30 office buildings around the city shows the local real estate developer has again adorned its office building rooftops with Christmas trees.
A tradition that began 30 years ago continues this year with the live trees strung with a total of 80,000 lights. The 12- to 16-foot trees, which weigh up to 300 pounds each, are a common sight to most people who live in the area.
The tradition is so cemented in Duke's business that tree stands are included in the design and construction of new Duke buildings.
Projects/new buildings
Harshman Property Services LLC is building a 6,200-square-foot office building at 732 Green St. in Brownsburg. So far, Indiana Farm Bureau has signed on to lease 3,200 square feet. The building is expected to be completed in the spring. Six Cap LLC, a partnership that includes Harshman, will own it.
Sales/acquisitions
- Meridian 131 LLC, an entity owned by locally based Browning Investments Inc. , plans to buy 17.5 acres at Main and Meridian streets in Carmel where it will build a hotel and office building. Meridian 131 closed on the purchase of nearly half the parcel in October; a closing date for the rest of the parcel has not been set. Financial terms were not disclosed. Architectural designs and other details for the hotel and office space are expected to be submitted to Carmel officials early next year. The property had been owned by St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, which was represented by Ross Reller, of Meridian Real Estate. | | | |
| - Michigan-based Freedom Holdings LLC bought a 2-acre parcel at S.R. 267 and County Road 100 North in Avon. The price was not disclosed. The owner plans to build a 16,000-square-foot Ace Hardware store on the site that had been owned by Avon Corner Land LLC. The hardware store is slated to open next summer.
Leases/leasing contracts
- John Robinson of Meridian Real Estate represented the landlord, Philadelphia-based Keystone Investors LLC, in the following three lease transactions: Flaherty and Collins Inc., which represented itself, leased 14,145 square feet at 8900 Keystone Crossing. EventPro Services Inc., an event management and mobile marketing firm, which also represented itself, leased 1,475 square feet at 9000 Keystone Crossing. And Patton and Associates LLC leased 2,124 square feet at 9000 Keystone Crossing. Matt Kiger of Halakar Real Estate represented Patton, an accounting firm.
- Carmel Baby Boutique has leased 1,650 square feet at 1370 S. Rangeline Road in Carmel. Harvey Levin of Coldwell Banker Commercial Realty Services represented the tenant. Todd Camesasca of Kosene & Kosene Development represented the landlord, locally based Centre Associates.
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| Financials/investments/stock sales
- Simon Property Group Inc. said fourth-quarter earnings will be cut by 11 cents a share after it writes off the value of its equity investment in a joint venture developing a residential project in Arizona. Simon's partner in the joint venture, Toll Brothers Inc., wrote off nearly $315 million in its fourth-quarter results, which caused the locally based mall developer to incur a fourth-quarter charge of $26 million and adjust its estimate for earnings. Simon said full-year funds from operations should be $5.77 a share, down from its earlier estimate of $5.88 a share.
- The NAREIT composite index lost 8.62 percent in November after gaining in the prior three months. The NAREIT index is made up of about 200 publicly traded real estate investment trusts in such sectors as industrial, retail, mortgage, self-storage and residential. In comparison, the NASDAQ lost 6.93 percent last month and the Dow Jones industrials lost 4.01 percent. Indiana's REIT stocks performed as follows in November: Simon Property Group Inc. lost 1.1 percent, Duke Realty Corp. lost 14.9 percent and Kite Realty Group Trust lost 9 percent.
Housing
- Major mortgage lenders will freeze interest rates for five years on certain adjustable-rate loans made to homeowners who are in financial trouble and who took out adjustable-rate subprime mortgages between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 31, 2007. President Bush Dec. 6 announced the agreement between his administration, lenders, the Treasury Department and Wall Street firms. Lenders had wanted to lock in rates for one or two years and regulators had wanted the freeze to last seven years. The deal, which contains limitations, could help stem the foreclosure crisis that most states, including Indiana, are experiencing. Millions of borrowers face a steep rate increase before July 31, 2010.
- The pace of mortgage loan activity increased 22.5 percent last week over the prior week, reports the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinancings accounted for 56 percent of all applications, up from 51.4 percent the prior week. Falling interest rates likely are boosting loan activity. Rates on 30-year loans averaged 5.82 percent, down from 6.09 percent. Rates on 15-year mortgages fell to 5.38 percent from 5.69 percent.
- Pended sales of U.S. homes increased 0.6 percent in October, the second consecutive monthly gain, reported the National Association of Realtors. Still, pended sales in October were down 18.4 percent from October 2006. In the Midwest and the South, pended sales fell 1.4 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively, in October. Pended sales gained in the West and Northeast.
Antiques mall expanding 
Midland Arts & Antiques Market plans to open a 12,000-square-foot location in Carmel off of 126th Street between Meridian Street and Keystone Avenue. Midland's flagship store occupies an historic former door factory and showroom just east of downtown between New York and Michigan streets. Owner Robert Lebow, a local physician, denied a rumor that he's trying to sell the 150,000-square-foot downtown building for a condo conversion. But he said he'd like to convert the fourth floor into a condo for his own use. Midland also has a small store in Michigan and is looking for space in New York City.
Read the item above and more real estate conversation starters at Property Lines, IBJ's real estate blog. You can link to the blog, which is hosted by real estate beat reporter Cory Schouten, at www.ibj.com.
Edited by Tracy Donhardt
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