July 7, 2000 (NewsTraders.com) – HRPT Properties (NYSE:HRP) was cut to "hold" from "buy" today in coverage by First Union Securities analyst Stephen Swett, who said that a cash crunch at the REIT led him to make the...

July 7, 2000 Escrow Bank USA, a unit established by GMAC Commercial Mortgage to establish and hold escrow accounts for commercial loan servicers, has named Richard L. Mason as vice president and business development officer.Mason was formerly with...

July 6, 2000 ARLINGTON, Va. – Charles E. Smith Residential Realty Inc. (NYSE:SRW) has acquired Reston Landing, a newly built 400-unit apartment complex in Reston, Va.The property was purchased for $44 million and funded via a tax-free exchange...

July 6, 2000 NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Transit Authority has put its headquarters office space in Midtown Manhattan up for sale. The agency, which will eventually relocate its headquarters to Two Broadway in downtown Manhattan, could raise...

July 6, 2000American Center buildings on the blockThe Tennessean, July 6NASHVILLE, Tenn. – One and Two American Centers, office buildings along Nashville's West End Avenue, are on the market. The sale price was not disclosed, but according to...

July 6, 2000 ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Home Properties (NYSE:HME) has paid $20.6 million, or $40,900/unit, for Elmwood Terrace, a 504-unit apartment complex in Frederick, Md.Home funded the purchase by assuming $4.7 million of debt, paying $4 million in...

July 6, 2000ROCKVILLE, Md. – Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) has sold for $48.6 million, the Peninsula Shopping Center in Palos Verdes, Calif., to Principal Life Insurance Co.The sale will provide Federal Realty a gain of $3.7 million.Peninsula,...

July 6, 2000 Associated PressNASHVILLE, Tenn. – Doctor R. Crants has resigned as board member and vice chairman of Prison Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE:PZN), severing his ties to a company he co-founded and built into the world's largest...

July 6, 2000 BETHESDA, Md. – CoStar Group (Nasdaq:CSGP) has launched CoStar Exchange, where investors can buy and sell commercial real estate.CoStar Exchange lists information for more than 44,000 commercial properties for sale throughout the United States. Each...

July 6, 2000 Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Deutsche Bank are in talks to provide $3.8 billion of debt financing to British Land Co. for its proposed bid to buy Liberty International PLC. According to reports in The...

July 5, 2000 BINGHAM FARMS, Mich. – Malan Realty Investors Inc. (NYSE:MAL) expects its second quarter and yearend net income and funds from operations will be negatively impacted as a result of expenses incurred during its proxy battle...

July 5, 2000 ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (NYSE:OHI) is being sued for breach of contract and anticipatory breach of contract by one of its clients.Bryan Gordon of Incline Village, Nev., and Ronald Dickerman of...

July 5, 2000 LOS ANGELES – David Murdock, chairman of Castle & Cooke Inc., could again be the lone bidder for the development company.An unidentified real estate group that had conducted an extensive review of Castle & Cooke...

July 5, 2000 DALLAS – Archon Financial has provided a $19 million acquisition loan to Simmons-Vedder & Co., a Texas investor, for its purchase of One Shoreline Plaza in Corpus Christi, Texas.The 10-year loan carries a fixed rate...

July 5, 2000 Equity Office Properties Trust (NYSE:EOP) has sold an office building in Pleasanton, Calif., for about $17.5 million.Central Building LLC paid about $201/sf for Park Plaza, an 87,040-square-foot building.Park Plaza is one of six assets that...

July 5, 2000 (NewsTraders.com) – Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) moved onto Chase H&Q's brokerage scene, as analyst Lori Price served up a "strong buy" rating and a 12- to 18-month price goal of $24 for the hospital...

July 5, 2000 Associated PressDENVER – Commercial and industrial real estate sales in the Denver metro area are on a pace to hit $850 million to $950 million this year, well below last year's $2.2 billion, according to...

July 5, 2000 CHICAGO – Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (NYSE:JLL) plans to launch an offering of 165 million euro ($157 million) in senior notes due 2007 to foreign investors. The company is making the offering Jones Lang LaSalle...

July 5, 2000 NEW YORK – Fitch has downgraded the $9.9-million class J of Mortgage Capital Funding Inc.'s multifamily/commercial series 1997-MC1 to triple-C from single-B-minus. Fitch affirmed the following tranches of the deal: the $71.6-million class A-1, the...

July 5, 2000Marriott International Inc. (NYSE:MAR) has agreed to lease a 263,000-square-foot office building that Fremont Properties Inc. is developing in Gaithersburg, Md.Terms of the lease, which runs through 2019, were not disclosed. Fremont, a San Francisco developer,...

July 5, 2000 Declaration of beachside blight on tapDaytona Beach News-Journal, July 5DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Marriott's proposed $55 million time-shared resort has sparked city commissioners to consider designating an area of South Atlantic Avenue as blighted. Creating...

July 5, 2000 ATLANTA – Vinings Investment Properties Trust (OTC:VIPIS) is shedding its REIT status. The company's board of trustees decided that since the company is not currently generating taxable income, the change in tax status should not...

July 5, 2000 Condo project to close Music Gallery hallThe Globe and Mail, July 5TORONTO – The Music Gallery will close its doors at 179 Richmond St. at the end of July. A 10-year lease was terminated after...

July 5, 2000 Archon Group was formed as a result of Goldman Sachs' acquisition of a unit of J.E. Robert Cos. A story that ran earlier today, "Conway, O'Neal Named Co-CEO at Archon; Sabshon Moves Back to N.Y.,"...

July 5, 2000 BETHESDA, Md. – GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. has provided $92 million of mortgage financing to Crestline Capital Corp. (NYSE:CLJ) The financing – one of several planned by Crestline – allows the REIT to gradually shift...