Rationally Exuberant

And the winner? CB Richard Ellis biggest toilet paper purchaser

2009-06-24T15:13:00.004-04:00

I will refrain from commenting and allow the reader to draw their own conclusions, but it was revealed at a ULI "Investing and Developing Green" conference that CBRE is champion at least in one regard:

“We buy more toilet paper than anybody in the United States,” said Sally Wilson,
global environmental strategist for the real estate firm

One more mystery, solved.

Back to the drawing board for Worldwide Plaza

2009-06-24T15:09:00.002-04:00

The deal to sell Worldwide Plaza to George Comfort and RCG Longview was rejected by Deutschebank and is back on the market.

Apparently the bank has decided not to retain equity in the building, but is still willing to finance the purchaser. New bids are due July 15th.

Lightstone's Extended Stay Hotels files for Bankruptcy

2009-06-16T10:14:00.007-04:00

Lightstone Group bought Extended Stay Hotels from Blackstone in 2007 for $8 billion and files for bankruptcy with $7.4 billion in financing amid lower occupancy and room rates. Extended Stay Hotels operates 680 properties in 44 states. According to the filing, the chain is only worth $3.3 billion in the current environment.

Lightstone's David Lichtenstein contributed only $200 million of equity and borrowed a chunk of that for the deal. Under the proposed restructuring, he will avoid personal guarantees and continue to manage the properties.

The largest debt holders of Extended Stay secured debt are Wachovia, Bank of America and Bear Stearns/Blackrock. The filing follows a failure to restructure $3.3 billion of mezzanine debt.

More details at Bloomberg.

Portrait of Billy Macklowe at Real Deal

2009-06-10T14:55:00.002-04:00

The Macklowe name has been tough lately and for no one more than Billy Macklowe, heir to the troubles unfolding for Macklowe Properties under his dad, Harry. The Real Deal has a detailed look at how he's been holding up under the pressure.

No doubt, the Macklowe's are survivors and Billy is no exception.

AIG sells to Youngwoo and Kumho Investment Bank

2009-06-10T11:17:00.003-04:00

AIG has officially announced the sale of 70 Pine and 27 Wall for under $100 per sq ft or about $140 million to Youngwoo & Associates and Kumho Investment Bank of Korea. AIG will vacate both properties instead of committing to a sale-leaseback as other major corporate sellers like the New York Times have done. Employees will presumably relocate to 180 Maiden Lane where the company subleased 800,000 sf from Goldman Sachs a year ago.

Both buyers are little known, but this purchase marks the beginning of an ambitious strategic investment initiative by the partners. Young Woo is an architect and developer, involved in properties such as 85 Tenth Ave, the Chelsea Arts Tower at West 25ht Street and 200 Eleventh Ave, as well as the telecom data center at 325 Hudson St. Woo and Kumho are also partners in a bid to redevelop Pier 57.

Starwood Property files $500 Million IPO

2009-06-05T16:31:00.004-04:00

Barry Sternlicht, who built Starwood Hotels into a top 3 hotel company, is back with Starwood Property Trust according to Bloomberg. Starwood plans a $500 million IPO to take advantage of distressed commercial and residential properties.

Comfort and RCG Longview buy Worldwide Plaza

2009-06-05T16:18:00.004-04:00

The last building of Macklowe's bit EOP purchase has been sold, according to Globe St. The buyers are RCG Longview and George Comfort & Sons which will put up $175 million of equity and assume $450 million of mortgage debt. Deutsche Bank is taking a large $430 million writedown on its original $880 million mortgage on the property. The property is suffering from a large block of space available due to the departure of Olgivy & Mather, but holds onto anchor tenant Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

Little known RCG Longview has raised over $600 million for real estate investment and is jointly controlled by Ramius Capital, a hedge fund, and the Feil Organization, a private owner and manager of residential, retail and commercial real estate in the nation.

More NYC landmarks to be sold

2009-05-27T13:14:00.002-04:00

In separate reports, the pace of New York City major property sales continues.

The New York Observer notes that bids for AIG's two buildings at 70 Pine and 72 Wall St were due on May 7. The price appears to be in the $100 psf range for the total 1 mm sq ft and may be an overseas buyer. The sale would be the first downtown Manhattan transaction for over a year.

Meanwhile the New York Post gives an update on the last of Macklowe's EOP purchases, Worldwide Plaza. Struggling with over 600,000 sq ft of vacancy from the departing Olgivy & Mather and the refit of renewing Cravath, lender Deutsche Bank has offered to write down it's principal to lure an equity owner to a recap. Valuation is rumored to be in the $300 psf range, which seems to be the emerging market benchmark for distressed NYC deals.

Fascinating look at Goldman's Whitehall fund

2009-05-21T15:17:00.002-04:00

The WSJ has a fascinating look at Goldman's biggest real estate fund, Whitehall Street Global, as it has triggered a $1 billion capital call. The fund has make $3.7 billion in investments since mid-2007 but has already written them down by $2.1 billion. One NYC property in the fund is an interest in the former Helmsley Building at 230 Park Ave.

The capital call is controversial because Goldman offered employees a buyout of their stakes, whereas outside investors have be rewarded with a huge capital call.

The money is required to execute a strategic plan to recover 71% of investors total equity. The killer is that the fund guaranteed $1.4 billion in debt beyond individual property non-recourse loans. Ouch!

Tishman selling 5 California office buildings

2009-05-21T14:50:00.002-04:00

According to Bloomberg, a Sydney, Australia based property trust controlled by Tishman Speyer has put three Beverly Hills, one San Francisco and one Orange County building on the market. The fund owns interests in a total of 18 U.S. buildings.

Tishman may be selling these buildings just because they can, rather than because of distress. According to their book valuations, Tishman bought the Beverly Hills buildings for $333 million in 2007, but those buildings combined were recently valued at $344 million.

Properties being marketed include 3 MacArthur Place in Orange County, 550 Terry Francois Blvd in San Francisco and Maple Plaza, 407 North Maple and Beverly Mercedes Place all in Beverly Hills.

And the buyer is Nippon Life

2009-05-11T14:38:00.003-04:00

AIG Sells Japanese HQ for $1.2B to Nippon Life Insurance. The 15 story property was built in 1974 and is located adjacent to the Imperial Palace. There are 25 tenants in the building but all leases expire in 2010.

Merrill Lynch represented AIG in the sale.

Beacon Capital funds down 37% to over 50% last year

2009-05-07T16:06:00.005-04:00

Brilliantly selling entire portfolios to Broadway Partners over the past few years, Beacon Capital has not escaped the commercial real estate meltdown. As reported in Real Estate Alert Beacon Capital Strategic Partners 4 took a 37% writedown last year and Beacon Capital Strategic Partners 5 took a 51% writedown. These are unrealized values and Beacon, with it's conservative financing strategy, has the financial strength to hold until better times.

Both funds hold primarily Class A office buildings with Fund 4 primarily invested in 2006 and Fund 5 in 2007. Primary holdings include several buildings over 1 mm sq ft including News Corp NY headquarters at 1211 Avenue of Americas, Seattle's Columbia Center, One Financial Center in Boston, Aon Center in LA and Financial Square at 32 Old Slip in New York.

According to the article, Blackstone Real Estate Partners 6 likewise had a 41% decline in value, but holds primarily the stub of Equity Office and Hilton Hotels.

CSI of how Lehman was killed by CRE

2009-05-06T15:10:00.005-04:00

Amazing in depth profile in NYT of how Lehman binged and purged on commercial real estate loans and Mark Walsh, the brains behind the operations.

The roots of the business go way back to the 1990's with Mr. Walsh's financing deals like Tishman Speyer's acquisition of Chrysler Building in 1997, Steven Witkoff's purchase of the Woolworth Building in 1998 and RFR's purchases of Lever House and Seagram Building.

The key to winning: fast cash in large amounts.

But once the competition see one player making tons of cash, the frenzy starts, returns decline and risk starts to rise.

When Merrill Lynch and Wachovia financed Tishman's %5.4 billion purchase of Stuyvesant Town, it was a huge lost for Lehman. In response, less than a year later, Lehman stepped up with Bank of America to put up $17.1 billion of debt and $4.6 billion of bridge equity for Tishman's purchase of Archstone-Smith Trust.

Lehman's ultimate demise was in part because of the huge amount of Archstone debt that Lehman could not sell.

As we all know, Lehman is gone forever, but keep an eye out for Mark Walsh, who is sure to emerge with reputation intact to see the next phase of the great American business cycle.

Interest profile of Joe Moinian

2009-05-06T13:10:00.007-04:00

The Real Deal has an interesting profile of Joe Moinian with updates to the bankruptcy filing for 475 Fifth Avenue and status of 417 Fifth Avenue. Over the past 10 years, Mr. Moinian has acquired over 14 million sq ft of Manhattan property as well as a stake in Chicago's Sears Tower.

With so many projects, several purchased in the last 3 years, a few were bound to be squeezed by dropping rents, shrinking tenants and the freeze in the refinancing markets. As few of those updates:

With Moinian as a minority owner of 475 Fifth, partner Westbrook made the decision to cut its losses and give the building back to lender Barclays Capital.

Moinian and partner Goldman has been pulled 417 Fifth off the market, with bids reportedly in the $175 - $200 million range. With a $30 million mezz loan on top of a $125 million first mortgage maturing in Sept 2010, it appears like a refinancing is more likely than a sale.

60 Madison Ave, a 190,000 sq ft office tower was recently late on a loan payment.

180 Maiden Lane, a 800,000 sf ft office tower with AIG as primary tenant, has a $328 million mortgage maturing in November, 2008

AIG has a deal for Tokyo HQ

2009-05-06T13:00:00.004-04:00

It's not a particularly pretty building, but for $1 billion, AIG will part with its 15 story headquarters located in a prime Tokyo location, adjacent to the Imperial Palace.

WSJ reports that two bidders are vying to purchase the property, one a Japanese insurance company. The company put the property, together with it's US and London buildings, on the market in February, 2009. The selling price will be in line with the asking price.

AIG has borrowed $45 billion from the US government and has a number of business up for sale in addition to it's real estate.

General Growth bankrupcy includes high profile properties

2009-04-21T14:06:00.006-04:00

General Growth Properties long deferred bankruptcy filing includes 158 regional shopping centers, 11 office buildings, 1 master planned community and 6 properties under development, but excludes 24 GGP managed-0nly properties 70 retail properties (mostly joint ventures), 14 office properties and a few others.

Most of these properties are relatively stable and collecting rents, but the company had binged in a debt to fuel expansion and acquisitions, capped by a $7.2 billion buyout of Rouse CO in 2004. Admittedly, retailer are hurting and vacancies rising, but GGP's portfolio includes some of the best known and loved retail shopping locations in the country.

GGP Properties in Bankruptcy:

Ala Moana Center (Honolulu)
Faneuil Hall Marketplace (Boston)
Fashion Show Mall (Las Vegas)
Grand Canal Shoppes (Las Vegas)
South Street Seaport (New York)

GGP Properties not in Bankruptcy:

Glendale Galleria (LA)
Oakbrook Center (Oakbrook, IL)
Water Tower Place (Chicago)

More information about the filing is available on the GGP site.

Full list of properties in bankruptcy:

OPERATING RETAIL PROPERTIES:

Ala Moana Center
Alameda Plaza
Animas Valley Mall
Apache Mall
Arizona Center
Augusta Mall
Austin Bluffs Plaza
Bailey Hills Village
Baskin Robbins
Bay City MallL
Bayshore Mall
Beachwood Place
Bellis Fair Mall
Birchwood Mall
Boise Towne Plaza & Square
Brass Mill Center
Burlington Town Center
Cache Valley & Marketplace
Canyon Point Village Center
Century Plaza
Chapel Hills Mall
Chico Mall
Chula Vista Center
Collin Creek Mall
Colony Square
Columbia Mall (MO)
Coronado Center
Cottonwood Square
Country Hills Plaza
Crossroads Center (MN)
Deerbrook Mall
Division Crossing
Eagle Ridge Mall
Eastridge Mall (WY)
Eastridge Shopping Center (CA)
Eden Prairie Center
Elk Grove Promenade
Fallbrook Center
Faneuil Hall Marketplace
Fashion Place Mall
Fashion Show Mall
Foothills Mall
Fort Union
Four Seasons Town Centre
Fox River Mall & Plaza North
Fremont Plaza
Gateway Crossing (UT)
Gateway Overlook(MD)
Glenbrook Square
Grand Teton Mall & Plaza
Halsey Crossing
Harborplace
Hulen Mall
Jordan Creek
Knollwood Mall
Lakeside Mall
Lakeview Square Mall
Landmark Mall
Lansing Mall
Lincolnshire Commons
Lockport Mall
Lynnhaven Mall
Mall of Louisiana
Mall of the Bluffs
Mall St. Matthews
Mall St. Vincent
Market Place Shopping Center
Mayfair Mall
Moreno Valley Mall
Newgate Mall
Newpark Mall
North Plains Mall
North Point Mall
North Star Mall
Northgate Mall
Northridge Fashion Center
Northtown Mall
Oakwood Mall (WI)
Oakwood Shopping Center (LA)
Oglethorpe Mall
Orem Plaza Center Street
Orem Plaza State Street
Oviedo Marketplace
Owings Mills Mall
Oxmoor Center
Park Place
Park West
Peachtree Mall
Pecanland Mall
Pierre Bossier Mall
Piedmont Mall
Pine Ridge Mall
Pioneer Place
Plaza 800
Plaza 9400
Prince Kuhio Plaza
Providence Place
Red Cliffs Mall
Red Cliffs Plaza
Redlands Mall
Regency Square Mall
Ridgedale Center
Rio West Mall
River Falls Mall
River Hills Mall
River Pointe Plaza
Riverlands Shopping Center
Riverside Plaza
Rivertown Crossings
Riverwalk Marketplace
Rogue Valley Mall
Saint Louis Galleria
Salem Center
Sikes Senter Mall
Silver Lake Mall
Sooner Mall
Southshore Mall
South Street Seaport
Southlake Mall
Southland Center (MI)
Southland Mall (CA)
Southwest Plaza
Spring Hill Mall
Staten Island Mall
Steeplegate Mall
Stonestown Center
The Boulevard Mall
The Gallery at Harborplace
The Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian
The Maine Mall
The Mall at Sierra Vista
The Pines Mall
The Shoppes at Fallen Timbers
The Shoppes at the Palazzo
The Village at Jordan Creek
The Woodlands Mall
Three Rivers Mall
Town East Mall
Tucson Mall
Twin Falls Crossing
Tysons Galleria
University Crossing
Valley Hills Mall
Valley Plaza
Village of Cross Keys
Visalia Mall
Vista Commons
Vista Ridge Mall
Ward Centers
Washington Park Mall
West Valley Mall
Westwood Mall
White Marsh Mall
White Mountain Mall
Willowbrook Mall (NJ)
Woodbridge Center
Woodlands Village
Yellowstone Square & Shop

OFFICE PROPERTIES:

Canyons Center
Columbia Parkside Building
Columbia Park Square Building
Columbia Parkview Building
Corporate Pointe North #2
Corporate Pointe North #3
Hillshire Property
Howard Hughes Plaza
Plaza East
Plaza West
The Crossing Business Center

MASTER PLANNED COMMUNITIES:
Summerlin

PROPERTIES UNDER DEVELOPMENT:

Cottonwood Mall
Nouvelle at Natick
Provo Plaza
Redlands Promenade
The Bridges at Mint Hill
The Shops at Summerlin Centre

Full list of properties not in bankruptcy:

RETAIL PROPERTIES:

Alderwood Mall
Altamonte Mall
Anaheim Crossing
Arrowhead Towne Center
Baybrook Mall
Bayside Marketplace
Boise Plaza
Bridgewater Commons Mall
Capital Mall
Carolina Place
Center Pointe Plaza/Village Center
Christiana Mall
Circle T Ranch
Clackamas Town Center
Coastland Center
Columbiana Centre
Coral Ridge Mall
Cumberland Mall
First Colony Mall
Florence Mall
Galleria at Tyler
Gateway Mall
Glendale Galleria
Governor's Square
Grand Traverse Mall
Greenwood Mall
Highland Mall
Kenwood Towne Centre
Gateway Center (Lake Mead and Buffalo)
Lakeland Square Mall
Meadows Mall
Mizner Park
Mondawmin Mall
Montclair Plaza
Natick Collection
Neshaminy Mall
Northbrook Court
Oak View Mall
Oakbrook Center
Otay Ranch Town Center
Paramus Park Mall
Park City
Park Meadows Mall
Pembroke Lakes Mall
Perimeter Mall
Pinnacle Hills Promenade
Provo Towne Centre
Quail Springs Mall
Riverchase Galleria
Silver City Galleria
Spokane Valley Mall & Plaza
Stonebriar Centre
Superstition Springs Center
The Crossroads Mall
The Mall in Columbia
The Oaks Mall
The Parks at Arlington
The Shoppes at Buckland Hills
The Shoppes at River Crossing
The Shops at La Cantera
The Streets at Southpoint
The Village of Merrick Park
Towson Town Center
Trails Village Center
Water Tower Place
West Oaks Mall
Westlake Center
Westroads Mall
Whalers Village
Willowbrook Mall (TX)

OFFICE PROPERTIES:
10 Columbia Corporate Center
20 Columbia Corporate Center
30 Columbia Corporate Center
70 Columbia Corporate Center
110 North Wacker Drive
American City Building
Columbia Association Building
Columbia Exhibit Building
Columbia Ridgely Building
Columbia TRC Building
Corporate Pointe North #1
Owings Mills-One Corporate Center
Owings Mills-Two Corporate Center
Senate Plaza

MASTER PLANNED COMMUNITIES:

Bridgeland
Columbia
Fairwood
The Woodlands

DEVELOPMENT:

Allentown, Texas
Columbia Town Center
West Windsor Town Center

GENERAL GROWTH MANAGEMENT, INC. MANAGED PROPERTIES:

Alexandria Mall, Alexandria, LA
Branson Landing, Branson, MO
Burbank Town Center, Burbank, CA
Festival Bay Mall, Orlando, FL
Galleria Dallas, Dallas, TX
Golf Mill Shopping Center, Niles, IL
Kapolei Commons, Kapolei, HI
Kings' Shops, Waikoala HI
Kingsport Town Center, Kingsport, TN
Laurel Commons, Laurel, MD
Northwest Plaza, St. Ann, MO
Novi Town Center, Novi, MI
Palladio at Broadstone, Folsom, CA (LEASING ONLY)
Queen Ka'ahumanu Center, Kahului, HI
The Shops at Georgetown Park, Washington, D.C.
The Shops at Tanforan, San Bruno, CA
Southbay Pavilion, Carson, CA
St. Lawrence Centre, Massena, NY
Stones River Mall, Murfreesboro, TN
Swansea Mall, Swansea, MA
Towson Commons, Towson, MD
University Mall, Tampa, FL
Westdale Mall, Cedar Rapids, CA
Windward Mall, Kaneohe, HI

Oracle acquisition of Sun to impact commercial space

2009-04-21T11:54:00.002-04:00

Both major stalwarts of the San Francisco market, both Sun and Oracle are headquartered within 24 miles of each other. Their combined 33 million sq feet will certainly contain redundancies and Oracle has a history of rapidly unloading excess space.

On an acquisitions binge, Oracle has purchased BEA Systems, Peoplesoft and Siebel Systems and in the process vacated almost 4 million square feet.

Sun's portfolio includes over 8 million sq ft in the US and almost 5 million sq ft internationally. It owns 2 million sq ft in the San Francisco Bay area and 1 million sq ft in Menlo Park.

More details at Globe St.

1330 Ave of Americas goes to auction

2009-04-21T11:27:00.002-04:00

Bought on the same day as the John Hancock Tower in Boston, 1330 Ave of Americas in New York follow it's fate as mezzanine lender Caisse de Depot forecloses. Bought in December 2006 for $498 million by Harry Macklowe and financed with a $240 first mortgage and $130 million mezzanine loan later sold to a unit of Caisse which is Canada's government pension fund.

1330 has about 525,000 square feet with three underground parking levels and is about 31 percent vacant. The building is located next to the Museum of Modern Art and is home to Pearson Inc, including the Financial Times.

Eastdil Secured LLC will auction 1330 Avenue of the Americas tomorrow at 1 p.m. New York time at Allen & Overy’s office. Like the John Hancock auction, the property is likely to go to the mezz lender without competition because the bids up to the total loan amount first go back to them to repay their loan.

More information at Bloomberg.

General Growth Files For Bankruptcy

2009-04-16T09:59:00.003-04:00

I'd like to buy this, buy that, and then not be able to pay for it later, but I'm hoping the market will continue to grow at outstanding rates to be able to pay it off....in 2090 or somewhere around those where-abouts.

Pretty poor attitude (I improvised there of course), and unfortunately, pretty popular these days. Number 2 Mall giant, General Growth, filed for Chapter 11 today and now is infamous as the largest US Bankruptcy for commercial real estate.

In the meantime, they will continue to run business as ususal, but come on folks, put a system in place to lower your costs and overhead already....across the board!

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mall-bankruptcy17-2009apr17,0,4850977.story

HSBC to sell 3 HQ buildings in NY, London and Paris

2009-04-13T14:12:00.005-04:00

HSBC may raise almost $4 billion from the sales of 3 signature office buildings in New York, London and Paris according to the NY Times. The bank hopes to avoid a bailout by the British government.

HSBC's world headquarters at 8 Canada Square in London's Canary Wharf is a 45 story tower and was sold by the bank to Spanish property company Metrovacesa for more than £1bn in 2007 only to be repurchased at the end of 2008 for a £250 mm gain.

It's New York headquarters building at 452 Fifth Avenue is a 29-story tower, built in 1985, with about 500,000 square feet.

CBRE and JLL will be handling the sales.

Hancock Boston sells for $660.6 million to Normandy

2009-03-31T13:20:00.007-04:00

The winning bid at auction today was for half the price paid by Broadway Partners in 2006. The property has suffered from vacancy and dramatically lower rental rates since it was purchase. The purchase price was $20 million over the existing $640.5 million first mortgage. The price is $375 per square foot, yet another datapoint for the falling commercial real estate market.

According to Housingwire, the value of the existing first mortgage, which carries a 5.6% interest rate, is substantial and provides tremendous leverage to the owners at 97% LTV. Compared to a normal financing, the value of assuming this mortgage is calculated to be $190 million.

A partnership between Normandy Real Estate Partners and Five Mile Capital Partners won the acution. The new owners controlled the senior portion of $470 million mezzanine debt issued by Broadway. The partnership also won the bidding from 10 Universal City Plaza near Los Angeles with a winning bid of about $304.9 million. 10 UCP has a first mortgage of $294.8 million.

Normandy and Five Mile began buying pieces of the mezzanine loans at discounts in June 2008, purchasing some from John Buck Company.

John Hancock Tower auction tomorrow at 10am

2009-03-30T15:49:00.004-04:00

According to Bloomberg, Normandy, which controls about $472 million of loans on the Hancock Tower, is the front runner in the auction for John Hancock Tower in Boston due to its loss position in the property. The property carries a $640.5 million first mortgage. The property is one of a group securing a $724 million mezzanine loan to Broadway Partners.

According to the terms of the auction (pdf), being held by Eastdil Securities there are two lots going to the block. Also being auctioned in a separate lot is an 80% interest in 10 Universal City Plaza and a 20% interest in 1888 Century Park East.

The auction is being held at 10 AM tomorrow at Skadden Arps in Times Square.

Meruelo Maddux Properties files for Bankruptcy

2009-03-27T13:26:00.003-04:00

Meruelo Maddux Properties (NSDQ: MMPI) is in default on 26 loans totalling $266 million, but is trying to keep a 214 unit, 35 story downtown LA apartment tower alive. Meruelo Maddux is the largest landlord in downtown Los Angeles, invested in industrial and residential properties.

The company has been hurt by slow leasing and liquidity issues. A plan last May to selling up to $300 million in stock, debt and a chunk of its portfolio at heavily discounted prices obviously did not succeed.

The WSJ notes that the firm's bankruptcy stalls a revival of downtown LA. Condo prices in downtown Los Angeles fell to less than $400 per square foot in the fourth quarter of 2008, down $100 from the previous year, according to CB Richard Ellis. Although the downtown area doesn't have a large supply overhang, some experts say downtown has also suffered from too many high-priced developments.

The company has published a fact sheet on the Chapter 11 filing here (pdf).

Commercial Real Estate to drop 30% according to Soros

2009-03-26T16:02:00.002-04:00

More fun news from Bloomberg:

“Commercial real estate has not yet fallen in value,” said Soros in Washington today. “It is inevitable, it is written, everybody knows it, there are already some transactions which reflect and anticipate it, so we know, they will drop at least 30 percent.”

Since we all know it, why don't we stop repeating it to each other?

Ramco-Gershenson looking to sell itself

2009-03-26T15:36:00.007-04:00

Publicly traded Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust (NYSE:RPT) has hired Merrill Lynch to review strategic and financial alternatives - code for selling the company to the highest bidder. With it's stock trading in the $5 range from a high of $24 back in September, Ramco-Gershenson owns 89 shopping centers totalling 20.1 million sf.

The company has already received an unsolicited indication of interest from another publicly traded REIT Equity One (NYSE:EQY). In a March 20 letter the CEO of pointed out that Equity One recently made a significant investment in Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust and owns 9.63 percent of its outstanding shares.

The letter has been filed with the SEC and is available here.