Fisher Media Services Co. has finalized the $160 million sale of Fisher Plaza, a two-building office complex in Seattle, to Hines Global REIT. Fisher Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fisher Communications Inc., as well as ABC affiliate KOMO, call the building home. Hines will assume property management responsibilities on behalf of its REIT arm.

“Over the past several years, we have strategically repositioned Fisher for the opportunities we see as a leading local media company,” Colleen Brown, president of Fisher Communications, said. “Fisher Plaza has been an asset that is not a central component of our business model.”

The disposition, however, opens the door for Hines. “We are happy to have the opportunity to invest in one of the highest quality multi-tenanted data centers in the region, with outstanding access to telecommunications providers,” Ty Bennion, vice president of Hines, said.

Completed in 2003, Fisher Plaza features two buildings, one of five stories and the other, six. It totals 293,722 square feet of office, retail, broadcast, telecommunications and data-center space, and is 96 percent leased to tenants including the former owners, Fisher Communications, which has a 12-year lease for its corporate headquarters.

Data centers have become a priority for both Hines and the market in general. The company already owns the 661,553-square-foot One Wiltshire Building in Los Angeles, which houses more than 300 telecommunications and data carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner and China Telecom.

2011 saw large deals for properties that have data-center capabilities, with only 35 megawatts of capacity remaining in the Chicago area after 40 megawatts were taken in deals this year. “There is an insatiable amount of demand happening around the globe,” Bo Bond, co-lead of Jones Lang LaSalle’s data-center solutions team, said. “As speculative development commences, we will begin to see a new crop of winners and losers in the data-center arena.”

Lenders are warming up to the alternative-energy market, as evidenced by the $210 million financing package First Wind just acquired on behalf of its subsidiary, Palouse Wind L.L.C. The funds will allow for the continued construction of Palouse Wind, a 105 MW project in Whitman County, Wash., that, upon completion, will be the largest renewable energy facility in the U.S.

Financing for the project, which will be able to power 30,000 homes in the Whitman county area through the generation of clean energy, came in the form of a $170 million construction and term facility loan, and letters of credit totaling as much as $40 million. Serving as joint-lead arrangers were KeyBank N.A., which also took on the role of administrative agent, Nordduetsche Landesbank Girozentrale, CoBank ACB, and Banco Santander.

Construction of Palouse Wind, located approximately 40 miles south of Spokane near the town of Oakesdale, got underway in October with RMT Inc. onboard as general contractor. The project has been four years in the making and, with the necessary financing in place, it remains on track to come online before the end of 2012.

Wind projects are popping up across the country at an increasing rate. The total installed wind capacity in the U.S. totaled 43,461 MW as of the close of the third quarter, according to a report by the American Wind Energy Association, and 90 projects accounting for an additional 8,400 MW were under construction at that time.

Banks blew plenty of money in the direction of alternative energy endeavors this year. In October, Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. and Rabobank arranged a $300 million, three-year project finance revolving credit facility for SunEdison’s construction of utility and rooftop solar projects across the U.S. and Canada. Wells Fargo & Co. has also been quite active on the renewable energy scene, having provided over $200 million as the construction lender for SunEdison’s five-site photovoltaic solar power project in New Mexico.

However, it is not just the banking industry that is supplying financial backing for such pursuits. Earlier this year, with a combined $500 million investment, Google Inc., Itochu Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. became partners with GE Energy Financial Services and Caithness Energy in the ownership of the $2 billion, 845-MW Shepherds Flat wind farm under construction in Oregon. Google also joined Citigroup Inc. to provide $102 million each for the 1,550 MW Alta Wind Energy Center under development by developed by Terra-Gen Power L.L.C. in California.

Harvest Properties and Prudential Real Estate Investors have snagged a tenant for nearly half of the Towers at Great America, the partners’ 645,700-square-foot office complex in Santa Clara, Calif. Avaya, a global business-communications firm, has signed on to occupy approximately 275,200 square feet at the Silicon Valley-area property.

PREI relied on commercial real estate services firm CBRE for representation in the lease transaction, while the tenant turned to Cornish & Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank. Avaya’s new agreement is actually an extension of its current commitment to Great America. The company presently sublets 200,000 square feet at the complex, which PREI purchased from Nortel Networks in 2001 in a sale-leaseback transaction. PREI, later bringing in Harvest as the management team, transformed what had been a single-tenant site to an upgraded, multi-tenant destination with such offerings as an upscale café and state-of-the-art fitness facility. Other names on the tenant roster include Tellabs Operations and Citrix.

Avaya’s new lease deal is indicative of the ongoing recovery of the Silicon Valley office market. The vacancy rate has been on the decline, dropping to 14.69 percent in the third quarter, as per a report by commercial real estate services firm Kidder Matthews, and positive net absorption reached nearly 1 million square feet. It’s the large blocks of contiguous space that are paving the road to a full rebound. “Leasing activity among the big users in Silicon Valley once again kept the Class A office market very active over the last three months,” according to the report. Major transactions included Google’s agreement for 715,300 square feet at the Technology Corners complex in Sunnyvale, and Polycom’s commitment to 213,800 square feet at 6001 America Center Dr. in San Jose.

The forecast for 2012 is for more of the same. “Demand for high-image Class A space with considerable transportation options should remain high as companies seek to position themselves in the best location possible,” the report noted.

The Avaya deal was a boon for the Santa Clara submarket in particular, which closed the third quarter with a vacancy rate of 18.39 percent. “This sizable transaction bodes well for the overall local market,” Kristin Paul, a director with PREI, said. However, Avaya is not the only one that has demonstrated its faith in Santa Clara recently. KPMG signed on for approximately 82,700 square feet at 3975 Freedom Circle.

Mobile, flexible, technology-driven. That was the picture of the office of the future that emerged this week at the CoreNet Global Summit in Atlanta. Through case studies, panel discussions and town hall-style sessions, the 1,800 corporate real estate professionals gathered at the Georgia World Congress Center grappled with the challenge of shaping a workplace suitable for a business world changing at the speed of light.

At a press briefing Monday afternoon, a panel of experts from the consulting and corporate worlds offered a snapshot of next-generation workplace strategies. The traditional picture of the cubicle-filled office is quickly giving way to a more open, collaborative environment scenario where workers will use a variety of spaces in a typical day, contended Kay Sargent, vice president of architecture, design and workplace strategies for Teknion, an office furniture designer and manufacturer. “We have to be able to move around,” she said. “We need to change that concept of ‘this is my only space.’” Function, rather than hierarchy, will guide space configuration.

A survey of 30 leading U.S. companies conducted by Teknion suggests that business in the U.S. is already gravitating toward this new model. Almost nine out of 10 of the firms polled said that they plan to step up investment in technology by 2015. Forty-six percent are involved with cloud computing, and more than half—54 percent—use social media as a tool to engage employees. Leading the list of qualities that attract knowledge workers most effectively are workplace flexibility, cited by 41 percent of the companies surveyed, and cutting-edge technology, mentioned by 39 percent.

During the next decade, distinctions between personal and digital technologies will become less clear, and IT computing will be mostly outsourced to the Cloud, predicted Richard Kazdis, CoreNet Global’s vice president for strategic communications. The spread of personal technology will have immense consequences for business, as six billion people will have mobile communications devices by 2020. “People will have a mobile phone before they have electric lights,” said Peter Miscovich, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.’s managing director for corporate solutions. And the use of office space is in for an overhaul as technology extends its influence. By 2015, the standard space allocated for a worker will drop from 200 square feet to between 50 square feet and 100 square feet, depending on the industry, Miscovich estimated.

Yet the panelists also agreed that shifting concepts will transform the workplace rather than eliminate it. Nearly 90 percent of Cisco’s 85,000 employees in 90-plus countries telecommute at least once a week, reported Relina Bulchandani, director of the internet business solutions group for Cisco Systems Inc. The company is pursuing innovative workplace initiatives such as a “smart work center” in Amsterdam, which is a public-private partnership. “People still need to come into work,” Bulchandani said. “It’s about coming into work and multi-tasking that space.”

Success in real estate requires optimism and the ability to identify opportunity under any circumstances. This year’s Urban Land Institute Fall Meeting opened with plenty of advice for tackling both short-term challenges and long-term market shifts.

Stan Ross, chairman & senior fellow for the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California, opened the day and the ULI/Stan Ross Real Estate Trends Conference with an eye to benefits in the current troubled economy. Among his recommendations, he noted the growing number of bankruptcies among U.S. cities, which began with the city of Vallejo, Calif., and was recently followed by Harrisburg, Pa. With 92 percent of cities finding it difficult to pay for basic services, according to National League of Cities data, he noted a growing tendency to outsource such services (everything from parking meters to water to airports and zoos) and a resultant opening for real estate companies to become involved. “Everything is up for grabs,” he said, including state-level services.

At the federal level, Ross advised a look toward a wide range of agencies: Agriculture, Farmers, the General Services Administration, the government-sponsored enterprises. In a recent move, the Securities & Exchange Commission renegotiated a 900,000-square-foot lease and sized it down to 300,000. When asked what the developer should do with the rest, the agency responded, “That’s your problem.” Government entities are increasingly downsizing, Ross cautioned, and Washington, D.C., itself, as a result, is no longer the solid real estate market it once was. Nonetheless, he believes there is opportunity there, too.

Legislation currently under discussion may require some immediate action in order to benefit, Ross said. There will be changes to capital gains and dividend taxation, he noted, as well as home mortgage interest deductions (although he does not expect that to be entirely eliminated—just limited or perhaps treated as a refundable tax credit). Congress has floated the idea of capping deductibility for debt and proposed limiting the tax exemption on low municipal interest and eliminating tax credits. It is looking at a change in carried interest—“a very significant and major change”—as well as in some way addressing partnerships, REITs and 1031 exchanges. And next year may be the last year to take advantage of the gift and estate tax as it now stands.

Looking further into the future, a panel of top real estate executives offered big-picture predictions for larger changes that will impact the way people live and work—and therefore use real estate–during a media roundtable. Joseph Azrack, managing partner for Apollo Global Real Estate, noted technological advancement and innovation as benefits that will create a “different and I think on balance a better world,” particularly improving both developing countries and political systems as a whole.

Thomas Toomey, president & CEO of UDR Inc., tackled the popular subject of Generation Y characteristics versus the Baby Boomers and noted he looks in particular at college students, the next big group to enter the workforce and the residential market. In their lifestyles, he said, he sees a greater focus on community and desire for interaction—but largely through handheld technological devices. For rental apartments, that means increased focus on quality of Internet connections and centralized business centers that are open 24/7. In addition, they require flexible housing that meets their price and other terms.

Gen Y also prefers different neighborhoods than older generations, put in Victor MacFarlane, CEO of MacFarlane Partners. He pointed to his own daughter’s preference for Brooklyn over Midtown Manhattan as evidence of a desire for walkable places where this group can easily get together with their friends. Such preferences combined with those of the also-huge Baby Boomer generation—a generation that will continue to work long past the traditional retirement age– means a need for multifaceted urban areas, Azrack added.

And urban areas will continue to be the place to focus, with suburbs likely to see significant change as people shift closer to the best places to work, the group observed. Peter Rummell, principal of the Rummell Co. and ULI’ s chairman (and formerly  CEO of the St. Joe Co.), sees the location of suburbs changing and a resultant long-term need to develop or redevelop those areas close to downtowns. Such areas are not cheap, but Azrack anticipates a repricing to an affordable level. “The sooner we can get through that … the better off we will all be,” he declared.

Finally, on the debt front, while still-murky Dodd-Frank and Basel 3 elements make it tough to know exactly what needs to change, certainly CMBS will need to evolve further, he said, as will the banking system overall. Nor will debt alone suffice. The panel agreed there will need to be a higher equity component in all deals, which will produce particular challenges for developers. MacFarlane expects them to either integrate into institutions or at least joint venture with such entities in order to obtain the levels of capital they will need.

Corporations will also need to reinvent themselves to accommodate more liquid investment by 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans, which are increasingly replacing the defined benefit plans—or pension plans—that have traditionally been such large investors in real estate.

Europe’s growing sovereign debt crisis topped the list of concerns at this year’s EXPO REAL, which drew 37,000 attendees to Munich Oct. 4-6. The euro zone’s challenges prompted mixed sentiment and an intense focus on mitigating risk. Visitor surveys indicated that half of those attending expect no change in the current economic situation; however, fully 25% see conditions worsening. In contrast to the U.S. there was a notable absence of discussion about bank bailouts.

U.S.-based firms dominated Internet buzz, according to CREObuzz, a proprietary ranking of real estate brands by English-language online conversations. Leaders included ARGUS Software, Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, Jones Lang LaSalle, ProLogis and Real Capital Analytics. They were followed by companies based in the United Kingdom, France and German. The top three most media-covered executives were Laurent Lavergne of AXA, Christian Ulbrich of JLL and Reinhard Kutscher of Union Real Estate Investment.

Despite the show’s focus on the host country, cities like London, New York and Paris received significant exposure. In addition, Qatar is now on the radar thanks to the impressive $5.5 Billion sustainable redevelopment project in Doha. Also of note: Eastern Europe and China were conspicuously missing from online media.

(To see how your brand compared with those most mentioned at EXPO REAL, download CREOpoint’s study here.)

GE has selected Aurora, Colo., for the site of a coveted $300 million solar  panel factory that will be the largest facility of its kind in the U.S., the company disclosed late Thursday. Colorado edged New York, the other finalist in a national six-month competition that started when GE announced plans to build the project last April.

According to published media reports, GE will convert a former L’Oreal distribution center into a 200,000-square-foot plant for PrimeStar Solar, acquired by GE earlier this year. Manufacturing equipment will be installed starting in January, and production will begin next year in anticipation of bringing the new panels to market in 2013. GE is touting the Aurora plant as the latest example of the company’s  $600 million investment in solar energy.

State officials had pitched Colorado partly on the strength of its growing renewable energy industry. In revealing the facility’s location, GE cited its proximity to the company’s solar center of excellence. Research and development of the technology that will be used, referred to as thin film, was developed in Colorado by PrimeStar Solar and by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

GE suggests that that the technology itself has broad implications for commercial real estate buildings. Thin-film technology uses cadmium telluride to create photovoltaic panels that GE says are larger, lighter and more efficient than conventional panels. Lightness will promote easy installation, a feature that makes the panels attractive for placement on rooftops. A panel size that is larger than conventional solar products will make the thin-film panels more economical by reducing the number of racking and electrical components needed.

Image Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user Jack W Reid

SunEdison must be glowing over a recent milestone. The solar energy services provider just obtained a $300 million three-year project finance revolving credit facility through Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Rabobank. SunEdison says the transaction marks one of the largest non-recourse revolving credit facilities ever closed for financing photovoltaic projects.

SunEdison will use the capital to finance the construction of utility and rooftop solar projects across the U.S. and Canada. The company, which has already deployed upwards of 500 solar energy systems in the two countries, appears to be on a roll when it comes to securing construction loans. Wells Fargo is providing $200 million for SunEdison’s five-plant project in New Mexico, marking the bank’s biggest renewable energy construction loan to date.

While the credit markets have not completely defrosted, banks appear to be warming up to renewable energy projects again. “Our recent research shows that a corner has been turned in lender attitudes to the renewable energy sector,” Ernst & Young reported recently. “Statistics show that 2010 and 2011 lending levels are returning to pre-crisis levels.”

However, lenders’ increasing activity does not come without some trepidation. “Rooftop solar PV showed a less favorable –at a high-level– view from the population of lenders,” the report said. “This is primarily driven by the need to reach a sufficient scale to justify transaction costs. In many markets, rooftop-aggregation increases risk of an overall portfolio. Large rooftop projects were perceived as lower risk.” SunEdison’s projects frequently fall into that latter category.

Unlike the old Edison incandescent light bulbs, LED lights don’t suddenly burn out. “It’s a gradual process,” says Robert Horner, director of public policy for the Illuminating Engineering Society. “They fade away, getting dimmer and dimmer. That’s why a standard is needed for defining the life of the product.” Such is the role of the IES, which is tasked with helping the lighting industry and the public make a smooth transition to new light sources such as LED.

Standards are changing around the globe. Many governments are proposing that incandescent light bulbs be phased out in an effort to switch over to more energy-efficient lighting alternatives like compact fluorescent lamps and LED lamps. Brazil and Venezuela began their phase-outs in 2005; the European Union and Australia began in 2009; Argentina, Russia and Canada in 2012; and the United States in 2014. Despite the promises of energy savings, the program has stirred controversy due to the potential for mercury pollution.

Experts at the Lighting Legislation media lunch organized by GE Lighting during GreenBuild 2011 shared a surprising statistic. According to the panel, only 35-40 percent of consumers are aware that incandescent bulbs are being phased out — so education and outreach are clearly needed. And, to help the public feel comfortable about new products being rolled out, according to Shelli Sedlak, GE Lighting’s North American Specification Engineering Team Manager, Federal Trade Commission labeling requirements will be implemented. “It’s the same concept as nutrition facts on [food products].”

Right now about 70 percent of the energy being consumed in North America is used by commercial and residential buildings. We will need to reduce that amount drastically in the coming years. Horner noted that lighting affects us in a much broader way than other energy guzzlers like air conditioning. “Whether you have very low light levels — or very high levels — somehow the human eye adapts. But, improper lighting affects productivity and shapes our perception of how comfortable we feel in a space.”

Other trends the panelists will be watching: an increased use of daylighting and LEDs; net-zero energy buildings; and wind and other recoverable energy sources. From now and through 2020 they expect to see even more regulations including energy regulations on LEDs. Anything that uses power — motors, air conditioning, refrigerators — will be looked at every five to six years. Also, they noted that the price and availability of rare-earth elements from China will likely affect the pricing of lighting products going forward.

Following the panel discussion, GE Energy Industrial Solutions announced a new partnership with Inovateus Solar, a U.S. solar-power distribution and integration company, to build new solar carports with electric vehicle chargers.

Pillar Commercial is the new owner of the former Nortel Networks Inc. U.S. headquarters in Richardson, Tex., courtesy of a $43.1 million transaction. Pillar, which took the two-building, 807,40-square-foot complex off the hands of creditors as part of Nortel’s bankruptcy proceedings, calculates that the property’s high-tech infrastructure plus its location in the city’s reviving Telecom Corridor will equal success. “Demand for office space is increasing dramatically,” Manny Ybarra, Pillar founder and principal, told CPE.

Nortel’s one-time home-base, built specifically for the telecommunications company 20 years ago, occupies approximately 18 acres just 15 miles north of Dallas and within close proximity of a light rail station and the mixed-use Galatyn Park Urban Center district. The campus includes the 16-story tower encompassing 413,300 square feet at 2201 Lakeside Blvd. and a 394,100 square-foot research and laboratory building at 2221 Lakeside. Perhaps the property’s most distinguishing feature is its modern technological and mechanical infrastructure with data center, telecommunications and power generating capabilities.

Commercial real estate services firm CB Richard Ellis came aboard in January of this year to commence an aggressive marketing campaign that ultimately resulted in nine firm bids before the bankruptcy court signed off on the purchase and sale agreement between Pillar and Nortel in May. Pillar turned to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. to orchestrate financing, which was provided by Viewpoint Bank.

Pillar has preliminary plans to spend several hundred-thousand dollars to update the property’s lobby and make a few cosmetic upgrades to complete the company’s scope of improvements for both buildings, thereby enhancing the complex’s ability to attract top tenants. “Over the last six to eight months we’ve seen a resurgence of the telecom industry,” Ybarra said. “We’re seeing a lot of interest from large corporate users in both the telecom and tech industries, looking to add a substantial number of jobs and make a significant investment in new facilities.”

Pillar’s purchase of the former Nortel campus marks the seven-year-old company’s largest acquisition in its history.