ProLogis has leased 90,000 square feet of distribution space with two customers in Greenville, S.C.  “We are very pleased to sign lease agreements with two new customers in Greenville,” Reid Dunbar, vice president and market officer for ProLogis said in a release. “Positioned on Interstate 85 between Charlotte and Atlanta, the Greenville market offers our [...]

The quarterly report by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the national GDP is something of a lagging indicator. The fact that the U.S. economy contracted 0.5 percent in the third quarter–July to September–might be worrisome, but it only raises the further question of how much contraction will happen in the fourth quarter. The other [...]

Fidelity National Financial Inc. has closed on the previously-announced acquisition of LandAmerica Financial Group’s two title insurance underwriters, Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co.and Lawyers Title Insurance Corp.. The total price tag of the deal was some $235 million. Fidelity also bought out United Capital Title Insurance Co. Fidelity National Financial [...]

A new type of emergency housing, introduced this month in Galveston, Texas, can be expanded to other uses, such as hotel and office, said maker Smart Holdings L.L.C.The unit, called Amerihome, is 200 square feet, but can be expanded. Amerihomes can be stacked and connected to one another (pictured), to a height of three stories, [...]

At first glance, it may appear that the country’s largest cities will reap the biggest benefits under President-elect Barack Obama’s planned infrastructure initiatives, partially due to his connection to metropolitan areas like Chicago. But according to urban planner Douglas McCoach (pictured), vice president of planning and urban design for global design firm RTKL Associates Inc., [...]

The federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has revealed the investment firms that will act as its strategic partners in managing $2.5 billion in assets and supporting PBGC’s in-house investment staff. The firms are BlackRock, The Goldman Sachs Group and J.P. Morgan Chase, all headquartered in New York City. The PBGC guarantees payment of basic pension [...]

KBS REIT II has acquired a 142,000-square-foot office building in San Jose, Calif., for  $35.7 million. The property, located at 350 East Plumeria Dr., is fully-leased to Netgear Inc., a designer and developer of networking software, which houses its headquarters in the building. KBS Realty Adivsors vice president Peter Mette represented KBS REIT in the [...]

Looking for ways to quickly cut debt and strengthen its balance sheet, industrial REIT giant ProLogis said it was selling its China operations and a 20 percent interest in its Japan property funds to GIC Real Estate for $1.3 billion. The Denver-based provider and developer of distribution facilities said the net proceeds will be used [...]

Bruce Robinson, president & CEO of Balfour Beatty Communities L.L.C.—a developer and operator of military privatization housing projects for the Army, Navy and Air Force—talked recently about military-housing trends and the sector’s 2009 outlook.CPN: Have any amenities become must-haves in military housing?Robinson: Community centers are a big plus, a place where Cub Scout meetings and [...]

San Francisco claimed the top spot of Marcus & Millichap Research Services’ National Apartment Index for the second consecutive year. While the metropolitan area’s large concentration of professional and financial firms is expected to result in job cuts, it ranked close to the top in almost all of the other measurements used in the index.The [...]