Commercial Real Estate News

FD council buys buildings (The Fort Dodge Messenger)
Fort Dodge officials continue to buy property near First Avenue South and 13th Street to prepare for possible new development there. On Monday, the City Council bought two buildings from Michael Buhr and Mary Ann McSweeny Buhr, of Fort Dodge, for a total of $285,000. One building, which houses McSweeny's School of the Performing Arts at 101 S. 13th St., was purchased for $155,000.

MMM Donates Legal Services, Office Space to the Nathanial Anthony Ayers Foundation (dBusinessNews.com)
Ayers is the title character in the new film “ The Soloist,” which is based on a series of columns written by Los Angeles Times writer Steve Lopez. It chronicles Lopez’ unlikely friendship with the former classical music prodigy.

QUICK POLL (GlobeSt.com)
CHINO HILLS, CA-A 1031-Exchange buyer paid $25.53 million for Crossroads Entertainment Center, a 90,879-square-foot regional retail center anchored by an 18-screen Harkins Theatres complex.

Budget inaction means REIT distribution under strain, say BPF and REITA (TrustNet)
The REIT sector was a big loser from the Budget says Peter Cosmetatos, finance and investment director at the British Property Federation (BPF). This is because the Treasury failed to respond to recent demands from the industry for tax changes that could improve the standing of companies.

Commercial real estate (Houston Chronicle)
LAND: Vasudev Properties purchased 7.5 acres on Garden Road in Pearland from the estate of Luther Sawyer. Mauris Hardcastle of Hardcastle Real Estate brokered the sale.

SL Green Realty Corp. Reports First Quarter 2009 FFO of $1.48 Per Share and EPS of $0.57 Per Share (Finanzen.net)
SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG) today reported funds from operations, or FFO, of $88.1 million, or $1.48 per share (diluted), for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, an increase of 8.8% compared to $1.36 per share (diluted) for the same quarter in 2008.

Media advisory - Crombie REIT Q1 Fiscal 2009 Conference Call (CNW Group via Yahoo! Finance)
Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust will hold a conference call on Thursday, May 7, 2009, beginning at 3:00 p.m. during which senior management will discuss the REIT's financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2009.

One Liberty Properties, Inc. Announces Results of Dividend Elections (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)
GREAT NECK, N.Y.----One Liberty Properties, Inc. announced the results of its stockholders' elections relating to its quarterly dividend of $.22 per share, payable on April 27, 2009 to record holders of March 30, 2009.

Gulf's real estate market outlook negative: Moody's (Zawya)
25 April 2009 JEDDAH - The outlook for the Arabian Gulf real estate market for 2009 is negative, reflecting tightening access to funding, declining demand and a need to preserve cash, said Moody's Investors Service in a new report entitled "Arabian Gulf Real Estate Market Industry Outlook".

TowneBank Announces Cash Dividend On Preferred Stock (GlobeNewswire via Yahoo! Finance)
SUFFOLK, Va., April 27, 2009 -- Hampton Roads based TowneBank announced today that its Board of Directors on April 22, 2009 declared a quarterly cash dividend of $2.00 per preferred share on its 8% Non-Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock, Series A.