The 234 Apartment

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc agreed to sell property group Archstone to two real estate investment trusts for about $6.5 billion, taking advantage of a strong market for apartments and marking an end to a 2007 gamble that helped push the investment bank into bankruptcy. The buyers, Equity Residential ( EQR.N ) and AvalonBay Communities Inc ( AVB.N ), will split the assets 60-40 and will also take on Archstone's debt, for a total transaction value of $16 billion. Lehman collapsed at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, in part because of soured real estate bets , including the $23. 7 billion leveraged buyout of Archstone. The firm filed for bankruptcy and has been liquidating assets to pay back creditors , who are still owed more than $30 billion. Archstone, one of the largest owners of U.S. apartments, has a large portfolio of properties in metropolitan areas, where apartment buildings have been pricey and difficult to come by. The acquisition would...

The Horizons at Rock Creek apartments in Superior have been sold in the largest multifamily transaction in Colorado history . In a deal that closed Monday, real estate investor Bell Partners of Greensboro, N.C., will pay about $250 million for the 1,206- unit luxury apartment complex to the southeast of U.S. 36 and South 88th Street . It marks the first western U.S. acquisition for Bell Partners, whose $ 5 billion apartment portfolio is based primarily in the Southeast. “They were looking for an opportunity to get into this market and establish a beachhead,” said Terrance Hunt, executive managing director of ARA, a Newmark Co., which brokered the transaction. “This was a prime opportunity for them to set up shop here.” The 80- acre property features a 13-acre lake and a 24,000-square-foot clubhouse. Horizons at Rock Creek sits west of the Interlocken business park and the FlatIron Crossing mall in Broomfield. “They will really be able to take advantage of the Interlocken mar...

Earlier this month, Skift published a comprehensive look at Airbnb’s Road to an IPO, or initial public offering on the stock market. While the story primarily focused on all of the many things the company is doing (and needs to do) as it pursues that inevitable IPO, it wasn’t necessarily a story about what it takes for a company like Airbnb to go public. Indeed, what Airbnb is doing right now in its efforts to become a “super brand of travel,” or a new breed of online travel agency (OTA), speaks to the very future of travel. Already, we’ve seen the company expand into tours and activities with the November launch of its Trips business, adding to its already robust 4-million-listing- strong Homes business . CEO Brian Chesky has also hinted the company may soon enter the flights sector as well. It’s a glimpse of what we as travelers can expect to see and to experience in the next few years as platforms like Airbnb continue to evolve and to attempt to solve the many pain points we st...

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) Q2 2017 Earnings Call August 03, 2017 1:00 pm ET Executives Jason Reilley - AvalonBay Communities, Inc. Timothy J. Naughton - AvalonBay Communities, Inc. Sean J. Breslin - AvalonBay Communities, Inc. Matthew H. Birenbaum - AvalonBay Communities, Inc. Kevin P. O'Shea - AvalonBay Communities, Inc. Analysts Nicholas Joseph - Citigroup Global Markets , Inc. Nick Yulico - UBS Securities LLC Richard Allen Hightower - Evercore ISI Juan Sanabria - Bank of America Merrill Lynch Andrew T. Babin - Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. Austin Wurschmidt - KeyBanc Capital Markets , Inc. Dennis Patrick McGill - Zelman & Associates Wes Golladay - RBC Capital Markets LLC Alexander Goldfarb - Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP Vincent Chao - Deutsche Bank Conor Wagner - Green Street Advisors , LLC Richard Hill - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC Robert Stevenson - Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Operator Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to AvalonBay...