The winners of the 2011 CREW Network Impact Awards talk on CPE TV about leadership, business success and giving back during a difficult economy.

The Elysian Hotel Chicago, a luxury lodging destination, has been purchased by a joint-venture investment group and will soon reopen under the Waldorf-Astoria brand.

In the city’s largest transaction this year, a joint venture of Champion Partners and Lincoln Property Co. has grabbed the 953,622-square-foot, three-building Energy Square office complex in Dallas.

DeBartolo Development and partner Optima are building the 332-residence mixed-use Optima Center multi-family property at a cost of $114 million in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood.

The supercommittee on Monday conceded that compromise on deficit reduction is impossible. The NAR reported that existing-home sales inched upward in October. And the Chicago Fed’s activity index is still negative.

Specialty investment bank Ziegler has helped Greystone Communities take a big step forward with the development of The Terraces at Bonita Springs, a continuing care retirement community in Bonita Springs, Fla., with the closing of an approximately $143.2 million issue.

Thomas Properties has sold the 578,300-square-foot Class A tower called 2500 CityWest in Houston to Crimson Real Estate Fund.

Jones Lang LaSalle is opening a new office in Bogota, Colombia, to serve as the base of its operations in the Northern Cone, CPE has learned exclusively.

The road has been paved for the former Ritz Plaza Hotel in Miami Beach to be reborn as the 142-room SLS Hotel South Beach with the closing of a $51.2 million construction loan.