GE Capital is bulking up in Canada.
The financing arm of General Electric Co. this month purchased a
$530 million portfolio of commercial mortgages tied to 16 Canadian
properties from Bank of America Corp.
The move is part of the "company's strategy to grow our debt
business in Canada," Brad Totter, president of GE Capital Real
Estate's North America division, said in an email.
The portfolio would be a big gulp for the company in Canada. The
value of the commercial-property loan portfolio of the GE Capital
division that includes Canada increased to $5.9 billion in the
second quarter, up from $5.2 billion in the year-earlier period.
Meanwhile, its portfolio of U.S. loans fell to $8 billion from
$10.2 billion in the same period.
Bank of America, advised by real-estate-services firm JLL Inc.,
began looking for buyers this year for the portfolio. The loans are
performing and were sold without a discount on their face value,
according to a person familiar with the deal.
Eliot Brown Buying Low by the Snow
A real-estate investor known for buying buildings and property
debt in New York is turning his sights to Utah ski bums.
Zohar A. Cohen recently paid $15 million to acquire the Grand
Lodge at Brian Head, a 100-suite resort in southern Utah near the
ski area.
Now, he has his eyes on a 2,600-acre development at nearby
Braffits Mountain. In December, Mr. Cohen bought a $67 million
first mortgage on the property, which went into default three years
earlier. He expects to take ownership of the land from a local
developer at a court hearing next month.
The site has about 400 shovel-ready lots for private homes, with
12 miles of roads and utilities in place. Mr. Cohen plans to start
building model homes on the land this year. He said the current
developer sold six lots already, with an average price of about
$600,000.
He will target residents a three-hour drive away in Las Vegas.
"People want to escape the heat in Vegas and have a second home,"
Mr. Cohen said.
Craig Karmin San Francisco High II
A San Francisco developer that made some of the city's best bets
in the downturn by buying and redeveloping properties on the cheap
is moving forward with two towers that would include the city's
second-tallest skyscraper.
TMG Partners last week began work on an environmental review for
the adjoining buildings in the city's Transbay neighborhood, one
910-feet and the other 605-feet tall and both designed by Norman
Foster.
TMG and its partner, Northwood Investors LLC, plan to include
about one million square feet of office space topped by
condominiums in the taller of the two buildings.
TMG gained renown for taking control of multiple properties from
2009 to 2011 that it then sold for big gains, including a building
bought by Dolby Laboratories for more than double what TMG and
partner DivcoWest paid a year earlier.
Matt Field, TMG's chief investment officer, said he hopes
construction will start next year, although the company hasn't
secured debt financing and hasn't decided whether to move ahead
before securing a tenant.
"We're just big believers that we have the right product at the
right time," he said.
Eliot Brown
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