NEW YORK – Standard & Poor's has raised its ratings on four classes of Morgan Stanley Capital I Inc.'s 1997-WF1 because of higher credit support levels and improved debt service coverage.The collateral backing the deal has a principal...

March 18, 2002 Class Amount Sub. Rate Rating S&P Rating Moody's Avg. Life Priced Benchmark A-1 150 18 AAA Aaa 2 +35 area Swaps A-2 180 18 AAA Aaa 5.74 +43 area Swaps A-3 363.7 18 AAA Aaa...

March 15, 2002 Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff ReportCushman & Wakefield has been retained to market the Arco Center in the prestigious Bunker Hill district of Los Angeles.The building's owner, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., had been interviewing brokerage...

March 15, 2002 NEW YORK – Fitch Ratings has placed two CMBS deals on its rating watch negative list because of their weakened conditions, which are partly due to their exposure to closing Kmart Corp. stores.The two deals...

March 15, 2002 TORONTO – Summit REIT (TSE:SMU.UN) has completed its C$351.1 million (US$221.7 million) purchase of a portfolio of 110 light industrial/flex space properties across Canada.Summit agreed in January to buy the 8.2 million-square-foot portfolio from Aquest...

March 15, 2002 Class Amount Sub. Rate Rating S&P Rating Moody's Avg. Life Priced Benchmark A-1 60 19.875 AAA Aaa 3.3 +35 area Swaps A-2 88 19.875 AAA Aaa 5.5 +40 area Swaps A-3 269 19.875 AAA Aaa...

March 15, 2002 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Jerry Crute, a former senior financial official for the District of Columbia, has joined the American Council of Life Insurers as associate director in investment research.Crute, who will oversee production of ACLI's...

March 15, 2002 LAS VEGAS – Elsinore Corp. (OTC BB:ELSO) has agreed to sell its Four Queens Hotel & Casino for $22 million to SummerGate Inc.Since the 690-key hotel-casino is Elsinore's only operating asset, the company plans to...

March 15, 2002 CMBS bonds that Moody's Investors Service has not rated, but are part of the collateral pool of a CDO that it rates, generally get penalized, or "notched" by two ratings. A story published yesterday –...

March 15, 2002 Rodamco North America NV has repurchased the 14.7 million shares it issued last fall to an independent trust when it was trying to thwart Westfield Holdings' attempt to take control of the company. Rodamco paid...

March 15, 2002 Entertainment Properties Trust (NYSE:EPR) has completed its acquisition of five megaplex theaters in metropolitan New Orleans.The REIT in January agreed to pay about $70 million for the portfolio, essentially the real estate assets of Gulf...

March 15, 2002 DENVER – ProLogis (NYSE:PLD) has completed the sale of two of its European cold-storage operations for $102 million.The operations sold comprise 37.8 million cubic feet of space. The company had previously announced that it was...

March 15, 2002 CLEARWATER, Fla. – Post Properties Inc. (NYSE:PPS) has sold Post Court, a 228-unit apartment complex, for $16 million.An affiliate of San Antonio, Texas, investment firm Internacional Realty Inc. bought Post Court, which was built by...

March 15, 2002 RALEIGH, N.C. – Konover Property Trust (NYSE:KPT) has received several non-binding offers to acquire the shopping center REIT.One of the offers made was by Prometheus Southeast Retail Trust, which holds about 67 percent of Konover's...

March 15, 2002 ATLANTA – Post Properties Inc. (NYSE:PPS) has agreed to transfer substantially all of its third-party general contracting business to a new company formed by former Post executives.The deal provides a way for the REIT to...

March 15, 2002 NEW YORK – Delinquencies for mortgages securitized in CMBS deals rated by Fitch Ratings increased in January to 1.25 percent from 1.11 percent the month before.The upward trend in delinquencies in Fitch rated deals is...

March 15, 2002 NEW YORK – Fitch Ratings has withdrawn its ratings on Sasco Floating Rate Commercial Mortgage Trust's 1998-C3 because the multiclass pass-through certificates have been paid in full.Comments? E-mail Susanna Potter, or call her at (267)...

March 15, 2002 NEW YORK – Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Hilton Hotels Pool Trust, 2000-HLT, because its collateral pool has seen a decline in performance. The rating agency said that using adjusted cash flow and capitalization rates,...

March 15, 2002 Shipyards project in Jacksonville, Fla., moving aheadFlorida Times-UnionJACKSONVILLE, Fla. – TriLegacy, the development company footing the bill for the Shipyards project in downtown, yesterday introduced Lambert Development and architect firm Sandy & Babcock as key...

March 15, 2002 NEW YORK – Fitch Ratings has downgraded Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp., 1997-C2, because of concerns it has with the performance of a large chunk of the collateral pool.The rating agency said it...

March 14, 2002 St. Joe begins work on Fla. retail complexPANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – The St. Joe Co. has begun construction of a retail complex here. Pier Park is a venture between the company and the city....

March 14, 2002 DALLAS – HQ Global Workplaces and 32 of its affiliates have filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. In conjunction with the filing, HQ has received a commitment...

March 14, 2002 BOISE, Idaho – Food and drug retailer Albertson's (NYSE:ABS) intends to exit four under-performing markets in Tennessee and Texas through store closures and sales.The markets are in Memphis, Nashville, Houston and San Antonio.Combined, the markets...

March 14, 2002 ARLINGTON, Texas – The Bauer Partnership Inc. (OTC BB:BUER) has agreed to buy the Six Flags Mall for $23.5 million.The real estate investment company's subsidiary, Bauer Capital Management Ltd., is buying the 1.2 million-square-foot mall...

March 14, 2002 Developer pays C$29Mln for development site in VancouverThe Vancouver SunVANCOUVER, British Columbia – Developer Peter Wall has out-bid four rivals to purchase one of the most coveted development sites in downtown. Wall Financial Corp. is...