Just weeks before its opening, the brand new Le Méridien Hotel in Center City Philadelphia has found a new owner–but the transaction comes as no surprise.

According to CoStar’s Q1 State of the U.S. Retail Market, things are still tenous out there. The information, analytics and research firm’s April 29 event looked at availability, vacancy, construction starts and transaction volume – and found that difficulty still provides friction against forward motion.

Real estate investment services firm Marcus & Millichap said Thursday that it has named two employees to higher positions.

Tulsa, Okla.-based net lease brokerage firm Stan Johnson Company has completed the $62.7 million sale of a 20-property retail portfolio fully occupied by CVS/pharmacies.

Tiffany & Co. just signed a deal to occupy 260,000 square feet of office space in the jewel of a building at 200 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Flatiron District. The new 15-year lease agreement with property owner L&L Holding Co. will allow Tiffany to unite employees at the company’s three headquarters locations under one roof.

The eyes of the financial chattering classes are on Greece, whose problems have lately been compared by Angel Gurria, secretary general for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, to (of all things) the fast-spreading, all-consuming viral disease Ebola.

Japanese pharmaceutical firm Astellas US Holding, Inc. today broke ground on its new 425,000 square-foot, two-building U.S. headquarters in Glenview, Ill. The acquisition of the eight-acre former Culligan Water site was done last year, with MB Real Estate’s Corporate Services and Tenant Advisory team representing Astellas.

In a cash transaction that marks the first hotel sale in Ireland in two years, the 73-room Chief O’Neill’s Hotel has just come under the ownership of an international company seeking entry into the city.

Retail development and property management firm NewMark Merrill Companies has expanded its portfolio by 385,712 square feet. The Woodland Hills, Calif.-based firm has inked five new property management contracts, all on shopping centers in Southern California.

Jones Lang LaSalle has reported net income of $0.2 million for the first quarter – a marked improvement from a net loss of $61 million a year earlier.