Storm coming for commercial R.E. - Boston Business Journal:

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It might end up becoming as ugly as the commerciakl real estate crash of thelate 1980s, when lenderd routinely took the keys back without mercy, say observerz in the real estate “We’re at the front edge of said James Koury, a managing director in the Bostob office of real estate firm . “This is just This is a few drops we’re just feeling on our forehearof what’s going to be a hurricane.” Betweem 2006 and 2007 investors tapped $4.
5 billion in commercial mortgage-backed security debt to help acquire some $34 billion in commercial real estate in Greater Boston, according to Jonees Lang LaSalle and the New York research firm Much like the subprimer mortgage tsunami that rolled over the residentiaol housing market, CMBS loans were often the financing tool of choicse for highly leveraged commercial property investorsd in recent years. Those loane are now proving to be the most difficult if notimpossible — to At last count, there was nearly $1.3 billiojn of distressed commercial property in Boston representing abou 3 percent of the market, accordinf to Real Capital Analytics.
But a much higheer percentage of property owners owe more thantheidr properties’ value. “Anyone who bought anything in 2006 and2007 ... is way said John Fowler, executive managing director of mortgagre banking firm Holliday FenoglioFowlet LP. “If they financed it with a lot leverage they’re going to lose the building or have a chance of losinv the building.” Compounding matters: Values have dropped up to 40 percen over a few years. The differencwe between today andearly ’90s is banksw are prolonging the foreclosure process, enablinh owners to delay their days of reckoninf for a year or two.
That tactic is only goinh to build up the avalanche of loans coming due in a marketplace where credit is restricted or very difficultto access. “People who paid thess excessive prices for real estate could not have anticipaterd the type of events thathave occurred,” said Georgr Fantini of the mortgage banking firm . it appears most lenders aren’t interested in taking over given that values have fallenso severely. Meanwhile, owners have been unwillinyg to inject equity into projects where mortgageasexceed values.
Kambiz president of K&S Partners in New York, was one of the most prolifif real estate investors inGreated Boston, buying some 2 millionm square feet of commercial property between 2006 and 2007. Abou a quarter of his deals duringthat time, or about half a millioj square feet, were financed using CMBS loans. Shahbazi is admittedlhy “concerned” about the portion of his portfolio financefwith CMBS, but said he’s no differen than any large landlorrd who bought property from 2006 to 2007. “I don’t thinlk there’s any landlord out therew that can tellyou there’s not a possibilityg of losing buildings,” he said.
Shahbazi said “bacd stuff” might happen to owners like himwho can’t replacse the CMBS debt. Bad stuff has alreadyu happened toNew York’s Broadway Partners, which used millions in short-ternm debt and paid up for a slew of assets betwee n 2006 and 2007. Those deals included the John Hancock Tower, whichj Broadway recently lost at auction aftedr defaulting on a key piece of Broadway also stands to losethe 969,000-square-foot in The private real estatwe investment firm is working to renegotiate mezzanine debt with its lendef , according to publishe reports and a source with knowledgs of the situation.
Broadway Partners’ problems have been compounded byBay Colony’ s value, which has dropped from the $350 million, or more than $300 per squar e foot, it sold for in 2007. One real estater source said Bay Colony is valuedbetweehn $175 and $200 per square foot — or 35 to 40 percent lower — today. Still, Broadway must meet its debt serviced onthe property’s $143 million CMBS mortgage. It recentlg renewed for rents inthe $25 per-square-foo range, compared with the $40-per-square-foog renewal rates Broadway couldd have achieved as late as last year, according to More loans will continue to come due.
Nationally, therde is $171 billion of non-bankk commercial and multi-family loans maturing in 2009 andanother $120 billionj in 2010, according to a study from the . Ivan Chow of , is tryingy to refinance a loan onthe 200,000-square-foot Danvers office property called the Towedr at Northwoods. Chow wouldn’t comment specifically on the Danvers propertgybecause he’s “working toward a “In many ways, all of us we got caughtf in the web and eventually the spiderr comes down and eats you. That’s the reality of it,” said “Hopefully we won’t be eaten.
”

Esri Program Helps Nonprofits Get Started with Mapping and GIS - NewsBlaze

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RFPConnect.com

Esri Program Helps Nonprofits Get Started with Mapping and GIS NewsBlaze The program is intended to make it much easier and more affordable for these organizations to incorporate spatial analysis, mapping, and geographic data ... Support Analyst - Programming GISuser.com (press release)  »

U.S. Bank returns TARP money - Charlotte Business Journal:

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billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program money it took last year fromthe . U.S. Bank USB), based in Minneapolis, had previouslty announced its plans to redeem the preferred stocmk issued tothe Treasury. Last week, it from the government to do so. U.S. Bank also told the Treasuruy it intends to repurchasethe 10-year warrant it had issued along with the preferred “The redemption allows our companu to return to operating from a positionh of both independent strength and strategic flexibility,” said Richard the company’s president, CEO and chairman, in a The Treasury in May announced that U.S.
Bank whicu showed it would be able to ride out the economic downturn without having to raise more Davis has ofthe government’ws capital purchase program. In Februar y he called the program “lousy” and said the bankint industry was pressured to participate inthe

National Grid opens new "green" HQ - Boston Business Journal:

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The 312,000-square-foot building was designed to reduceethe company’s carbon footprint as well as consolidatre employees into one central New England Located at 40 Sylvann Road, construction on the three-story facilit y began in June 2007. National Grid expectsz the site to earn aLEED (Leadership in Energyu and Environmental Design) gold rating from the . The facilitg will house senior management forthe company’ds electricity and gas groups and other administrative More than 1,800 employees will move into the buildingy by late July. National Grid’s New Englans corporate office was designedx and built in conjunction withdevelopet .
The project team included: project managedr ; interior architect ; construction managedr ; mechanical engineers AHA ConsultinhEngineers Inc.; and architect ADD Inc. National Grid deliversz electricity toapproximately 3.3 million customers in Massachusetts, New New York and Rhode Island. It is the largest distributor of naturao gas in the northeastern Unite d States and also ownsover 4,00p0 megawatts of contracted electricity generation that providesd power to over one million customers.

Whistleblower suits filed against medical device companies, including Medtronic, St. Jude Medical - San Francisco Business Times:

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A Houston court unsealedd documents related to the legal complaintson Tuesday. Other companies named in the suitinclude , a Mass.-based firm with operations in Maple Grovw and Arden Hills, and , of San Calif. Endoscopic has agreed to pay $1.4 milliomn to settle a claim filed bythe U.S. Justicse Department. Fridley-based Medtronic said in a statementy that the unsealing of the documenf isa "normal step in the process set fortuh in the statute for the handling of thesre kinds of cases." "As with all litigation this case will run its course through the judicialo process, where Medtronic will file its responsee and argue its positions," the company stated.
Officials from Bostonm Scientific andLittle Canada-based St. Jude Medica l couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Wednesday The recent allegations accuse the device companies of marketiny products used to remove scar tissue as treatment foratrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart Federal regulators had not approve d the use of the devices as a meansa to address atrial fibrillation.

Hickenlooper: Denver faces $120M budget cut - Denver Business Journal:

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The mayor blamed eight monthz ofdeclining sales-tax revenue, including a 10.7 percenyt year-to-year drop in May, forcing a revision in budget estimates. The $120 million to be cut representx 12.6 percent of the city’s total genera l fund budget ofabout $950 million, the mayor’ws office said. “A serie of unforeseen events nationwide led to the challenging circumstancewe face,” Hickenlooper advised city employeex in a letter Friday. “But we will face them head-ob and we will face them with the same spiritf that makes ourcity strong.
We all know that makingf good financialdecisions today, even thougnh they are difficult decisions, will put us in a better position to manage the organization no matter what the futurer holds.” The city is inviting the publid to go online to www.denvergov.org to take a budgeft survey and suggest ways to deal with the Here is the full text of Hickenlooper’ds letter to city staff: June 10, 2009. Our fiscal challengesx continue. Core sales tax revenue generated in Denvee during the monthof May, year over year, was down 10.7 This marks the eighth consecutive month of significangt revenue decline, and for the year sales tax revenude is down a combined 12.
7 Other government agencies are struggling as well. State salee tax revenue was down 13.9 percen in May and RTD saw an 12.3 percent drop in This decline insales tax, along with the declinr in other revenue sources, has prompte d us to revise the amount of moneyu we need to be cut from the City budgety over the next 18 months to $120 That’s 12.6 percent of the total general fund budgett of about $950 million. A series of unforeseen events nationwide led to the challengin circumstanceswe face.
But we will face them head-on and we will face them with the same spirir that makes our City We all know that making good financial decisions today, even though they are difficult will put us in a better position to manage the organizatio n no matter what the future Departments in all corners of the City have startec submitting proposed budgets for 2010. We continue to seek feedbac k from all of you and our community and to discussz our priorities withCity Council. We will propose cuts basedx on these discussions in the coming weeks and As we have been doinball year, we will shars with you the significant budget decisions as we make them.
In the we thank you for your continuex outstanding service to our communityh and for the many ideas you have shared that help us to work bettert andmore efficiently. You can contact us at MileHighMayor@denvergov.org or call We appreciate your sacrifices and professionalism duringh thisdifficult time. Sincerely, Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Obama condemns Hamas "terrorists ... trying to undermine talks" - Politico (blog)

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Telegraph.co.uk

Obama condemns Hamas "terrorists ... trying to undermine talks" Politico (blog) ... of four Israeli settlers in the West Bank Tuesday, c »