What has been a slow but steady rebound of the commercial real estate industry is on track to pick up pace in 2012, according to a new forecast by commercial real estate services firm Cassidy Turley.

After spending a year considering strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value, American Realty Capital Trust Inc., the flagship REIT of investment advisory firm American Realty Capital, has decided to take on the form of a self-administered REIT.

Malkin Holdings L.L.C., supervisor of Empire State Building Associates L.L.C., owner of the world-renowned Empire State Building in Manhattan, has gotten everyone’s attention with the revelation — in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission — that ESB Associates plans to become a REIT.

Wells Core Income REIT has acquired the Franklin Center, a 200,600-square-foot office building in the Baltimore submarket of Columbia, Md., from Principal Real Estate Investors.

Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II picked up $166.5 million worth of commercial real estate from the partnership of Westport Capital Partners and Reichmann International Development in the form of 10 skilled-nursing facilities across the Southwest.

Continuing in its quest for “stabilized assets that show cash flow above and beyond rent,” according to president & COO Danny Prosky, the newly minted Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II has made an 11-property pickup for $174 million.

Less than two years after CANMARC Real Estate Investment Trust completed its initial public offering, there appears to be no end in sight to its shopping spree. The REIT has committed to the purchase of three commercial properties across Canada for a total $213 million investment.

Grubb & Ellis has finalized the transfer of the dealer and advisory agreements of its REIT — formerly the Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II — to a co-sponsorship between American Healthcare Investors and Griffin Capital.

Vornado Realty Trust rang out the old year by completing a $330 million refinance for 11 Penn Plaza, a 1.1-million square-foot office building in Manhattan.

Retail REIT Taubman Centers Inc. has completed the $560 million purchase of three shopping centers from Davis Street Properties.