Wall Street Journal Commercial Real Estate News

• Deal Is Near to Develop Willets Point May 17, 2012
  The Bloomberg administration is nearing a deal with the Related Cos. and a real-estate firm controlled by owners of the New York Mets to build a retail and residential development on a gritty swath of Queens near Citi Field. […]
• If Kids Can Play, Will Mom Shop? May 16, 2012
  In their bid to keep shoppers from deserting to the Internet, more malls are adding sprawling play spaces. […]
• Brookfield to Spin Off Holdings May 15, 2012
  Brookfield Asset Management plans to bundle together its wide array of commercial-property holdings into a new publicly traded subsidiary, with an eye toward further growth. […]
• Pointed Spat Over World Trade Spire May 10, 2012
  One World Trade Center's owners are sparring with their architects over what goes on top—a dispute that could stop the structure being recognized as America's tallest. […]
• Tax Terms Amended in Empire State Building IPO May 9, 2012
  The Malkin family that controls the Empire State Building has agreed to change the terms of the skyscraper's public offering, making the tax treatment less punitive to small investors. […]
• Plots & Ploys: Looks Don't Matter May 9, 2012
  Strange looks of a building apparently aren't enough to scare off big-name investors. That's the case with 100 Federal Street in Boston—the so-called "pregnant building" recently purchased by Boston Properties. […]
• U.K. Pushes 'Social' Housing REIT Plan May 9, 2012
  Facing a dearth of new-home construction, the U.K. real-estate industry and government are looking at ways to encourage the formation of new real-estate investment trusts that would focus on subsidized housing. […]
• Ohio REIT Heads Upscale May 9, 2012
  Associated Estates Realty Corp., which owns rental-apartment buildings in cities like Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, is pushing into the upscale Los Angeles market despite some investor concerns. […]
• Builder Is Constructing REIT for Home Rentals May 8, 2012
  Beazer Homes has formed a REIT with KKR that will buy and then rent single-family homes, one of the largest and most talked-about asset classes in the real-estate business. […]
• REITs Spring an Unnerving Surprise May 7, 2012
  Investors are discovering the downsides of some nontraded REITs: They are being valued at prices far lower than investors had expected. […]