Kenneth E. Cruse, who has served as chief executive of Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. since 2010, has resigned to pursue other opportunities. His responsibilities have been taken over by John Arabia, the Aliso Viejo, Calif., REIT's president. Cruse...

Palisades Private Capital Fund I has paid $34.5 million, or $234/sf, for 4141 North Scottsdale Road, a 147,356-square-foot office building in Scottsdale, Ariz. The fund, sponsored by Palisades Mexico Partners, bought the three-story building from Westport Capital Partners,...

New York Life Real Estate Investors has provided a $21.2 million loan against 1440 Beacon St., a 136-unit apartment property in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Mass. A venture of Samuels & Associates and Visconsi Cos. recently paid...

Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. has agreed to pay $43.5 million, or $187,500/room, for the 232-room Marriott Memphis East hotel in Memphis, Tenn. The Dallas REIT said the price it's paying results in a 7.6 percent capitalization rate, based...

Walker & Dunlop Inc. has written a $145 million Fannie Mae mortgage against the Moanalua Hillside Apartments, a 696-unit complex in Honolulu. The floating-rate loan is locked out from prepayment for one year. After that, the property's owner,...

MG Properties Group has paid $38.85 million, or roughly $176,591/unit, for the 220-unit Tuscany Ridge Apartments in the Los Angeles suburb of Temecula, Calif. The San Diego investor acquired the property, at 41995 Margarita Road, from a venture...

Red Lion Hotels Corp. has agreed to sell its 181-room hotel in Bellevue, Wash., for $35.4 million, or $195,580/room. The Red Lion Hotel Bellevue at 11211 Main St. is being sold to Wig Properties, a local developer in...

Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. has paid $52.25 million, or $251.75/sf, for Quebec Square, a 207,561-square-foot shopping center in Denver. The Oak Brook, Ill., REIT, whose shares do not trade on any exchange, bought the property, at...

ASB Real Estate Investments has paid $92.6 million, or nealry $670/sf, for 444 De Haro St., a 138,430-square-foot office building in San Francisco's Potrero Hill area. The Washington, D.C., investment manager bought the property from a fund affiliated...

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. has provided $267 million of financing against 1801 K St. NW, a 569,769-square-foot office building in Washington, D.C. The property recently was purchased by Mirae Asset Financial Group...

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report Look for Lennar Corp. to launch an investment fund to capitalize its apartment-development business. The Miami homebuilder, which in 2011 started pursuing investments in the apartment sector to diversify its core business,...

Westcore Properties has paid $52.7 million, or $318/sf, for 1390 and 1400 Kifer Road, a 165,497-square-foot office and data-center property in Sunnyvale, Calif. The San Diego investment manager bought the property, comprised of a three-story office building and...

Principal Real Estate Investors has formed a venture with GMH Capital Partners that plans to make $650 million of student-housing acquisitions over the next 12 to 18 months. Principal is a Des Moines, Iowa, investment manager with $54.3...

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report Pearl Hospitality, which last year completed the $81 million redevelopment of Houston's Samuel F. Carter building into a 328-room JW Marriott hotel, has lined up $115 million of financing for the property....

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report Blackstone Mortgage Trust has provided $247.5 million of floating-rate financing against 180 Maiden Lane, a 1.2 million-square-foot office property that recently was purchased for $470 million, or $392/sf, by a venture of...

Behringer Harvard Holdings is making a push into the hotel sector. The Dallas investment manager sponsors a number of investment vehicles that primarily pursue office and apartment properties. It has, however, invested in hotels, so its foray into...

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report Rouse Properties Inc. has sold the Shoppes at Knollwood, a 457,000-square-foot retail center in St. Louis Park, Minn., for $106.7 million, or about $233/sf. Heitman LLC, a Chicago investment manager, bought the...

By Susan Persin, Trepp LLC Senior Research Director REITs are maintaining the solid growth trajectory of 2014 into the current year. During the first two weeks of the year, they broadly continued to outperform the major stock indices....

Gail Cardwell, who rejoined the Mortgage Bankers Association as head of its commercial/multifamily policy and member engagement group, is stepping down at the end of next month. She'll be leaving to head the northern Virginia chapter of Christians...

A venture led by TMG Partners and Northwood Investors has agreed to sell a downtown San Francisco development site to Oceanwide Holdings Co. of China for $296 million. The property at Mission and First streets is zoned for...

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report The first CMBS conduit deal of 2015 has hit the market. The transaction, Morgan Stanley Bank of America Merrill Lynch Trust, 2015-C20, is backed by 88 mortgages with a balance of $1.1...

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report A venture of Lincoln Property Co. and Artemis Real Estate Partners has sold the 97,945-square-foot Cornerstone Heights Corporate Center in San Diego for $23.1 million, or about $236/sf. Buchanan Street Partners bought...

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report Buccini/Pollin Group injected $6 million of preferred equity into the Wharf at Rivertown, a 394,479-square-foot office property in Chester, Pa., whose $55.2 million securitized mortgage was recently modified. As reported, the CMBS...

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report A venture of Ivy Equities and CenterSquare Investment Management is offering for sale two office buildings with 127,645 square feet in Morristown, N.J., which is in northern New Jersey. It has hired...

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report The 974,268-square-foot James Center office complex in Richmond, Va., that secures $150 million of CMBS debt has been appraised at a value of $136 million, according to a report on TreppWire. The...