JV Nabs $430M Times Square Gateway Development Site ...

October 19, 2012

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

Construction of the first mixed-use development in Times Square in 25 years can move ahead now that a joint venture of Maefield Development, Infinity Urban Century L.L.C., The Witkoff Group and New Valley has completed the $430 million acquisition of the site for its Times Square Gateway Center.

The 340,000-square-foot, 36-story development will stand at the northern end of Times Square at 47^th Street and 7^th Avenue and feature a 500-room hotel, 130,000 square feet of retail on multiple levels and a 24,000-square-foot LED sign wrapping around the fa?ade. The building will also have a rooftop and entertainment venue that overlooks Time Square. The LED sign will be the largest in the United States.

?The Times Square Gateway Center will greatly enhance the North end of Times Square,? said Ike S. Franco, co-managing partner of Infinity Urban Century. ?With the combined strength of Maefield Development, New Valley and The Witkoff Group, this project has the potential to become one of the most innovative New York City developments in decades and to further cement the image of Times Square as the most vibrant global retail and entertainment district.?

Starwood Capital is providing $475 million in acquisition and construction financing. Of that, $375 million was funded at closing.

Maefield and Infinity Urban Century spent several years assembling all the purchase agreements for the fee simple interest in the land from the owners of 701 Seventh Ave. They needed lease buyout agreements from the long-term retail tenants that had occupied the ground floor and repurchase agreements from the existing fa?ade signage lease holders.

The 11-story story building at the site, more than 100 years old, will be partially demolished. Within two years, the retail and LED sign should be completed. The JV expects to spend $170 million on the retail portion and $200 million on the hotel tower.

Times Square has been transformed into a retail, lodging and entertainment mecca that is visited by hundreds of millions of people. The Cushman & Wakefield Marketbeat Retail Snapshot for the second quarter notes that, ?Tourism continues to play a vital role towards the success of major retailers.? The report said that prime Manhattan markets including Times Square should ?continue to see stable to moderate growth in rents and activity as the availability of quality space remains low.? The average asking rent for Times Square properties in second quarter was $1,850, second only to the prime retail stretch of Fifth Avenue from 49^th to 60^th street that saw rents of $2,067.

Wallace Schwartz and Douglas Heitner of the law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres and Friedman represented The Witkoff Group and New Valley, a subsidiary of Vector Group, in the acquisition.

The Witkoff Group is a real estate investment firm with diverse commercial real estate assets. Founded by Steve Witkoff, it specializes in acquiring undervalued properties in key central business areas. Its portfolio features office and industrial properties, residential buildings, and land and hotel development interests. Along with Cammeby?s International, it recently sold a $68 million stake in the landmark Woolworth Building in Manhattan to Alchemy Properties Inc. which will turn the upper floors into luxury residences.

New Valley is the real estate investment subsidiary of Vector Group Ltd. It owns a 50 percent ownership interest in Douglas Elliman Realty, the largest residential real estate brokerage in New York City. New Valley has also invested in projects in California, New York and Washington, D.C., including the St. Regis Hotel, a luxury hotel which it sold after extensively renovating the property.

Maefield Development is a privately-owned real estate company headed by CEO Mark Siffin. The firm focuses on developing undervalued properties into award-winning and successful properties in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Kansas City. It has developed over 5 million square feet of retail and office space and nearly 5,000 multi-family and single-family properties.

Infinity Urban Century is the urban property investment arm of Infinity Group, a privately-held investment holding company led by Franco and his partners Steven J. Kassin and Etienne Locoh. The firm?s portfolio has more than 50 commercial and development projects. The principals have led more than $2.5 billion of real estate investments and are known for repositioning under-valued properties, particularly urban retail and mixed-use assets.

Source: http://www.cpexecutive.com/regions/mid-atlantic/jv-nabs-430m-times-square-gateway-development-site/

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Interest Only Loans can be Right Solution to Finance Business ...

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Source: http://www.prmaine.com/2012/10/interest-only-loans-can-be-right-solution-to-finance-business/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interest-only-loans-can-be-right-solution-to-finance-business

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On to Columbus; out in Columbus ? Sports ? The Daily Citizen ...

TUNNEL HILL ? Northwest Whitfield shortstop Ashley Conner took it personal.

During the opening game of Wednesday night?s Class 4A second-round state playoff series with Carrollton, the Lady Trojans walked Northwest catcher Bayli Cruse to load the bases in the fourth inning, bringing Conner to the plate.

?I was a little mad,? Conner said. ?When they walked Bayli to get to me, all I wanted was to hit it and hit it really hard.?

Conner delivered a stinger down the third-base line that went off the outstretched glove of Carrollton?s Shelby Yates to bring in a pair of runs to give the Lady Bruins a 4-0 lead.

With pitcher Emily Boyd getting stronger and stronger as the night went on, Conner?s moment was more than enough to push the Lady Bruins (31-3) to their third trip in four seasons to Columbus for the eight-team, double-elimination state tournament. Boyd struck out 21 in the doubleheader sweep of the best-of-three series as Northwest won 5-0 and 15-1.

?We?ve always wanted to be in this position,? Conner said. ?Winning region and winning in the playoffs is cool to have, but we have always been focused on winning a state championship, and we have a good chance.?

The Lady Bruins, the top-ranked team in the Ga.PrepCountry.com coaches poll and the Region 7-4A champs, will open the tournament next Thursday at the South Commons Softball Complex. Carrollton (27-9) came into the series ranked sixth.

?We have been so close to winning in the past, and I don?t think that we will be satisfied without winning a ring,? said Boyd, who led the Lady Bruins to a fourth-place finish last year.

For first-year Northwest head coach Jason Brooker, giving his seniors a last chance at a state title is the best part of the return.

?They know that we don?t just want to get to Columbus,? Brooker said. ?They are experienced, they have been there before and they are ready to go. They are ready for that challenge.?

Northwest got off to a fast start in the opening game with Cruse delivering a single to center to bring in Colbie Thomas, who had walked, for a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Boyd kept it that way until the fourth, when first baseman Mallory Souther started the inning with a single to left and Karlie Henson laid down a sacrifice bunt. Jamison Payne followed with a grounder that was misplayed at short to put runners at the corner and Colbie Thomas followed with an infield single between the pitcher?s circle and third to bring in Souther.

A sac bunt by Hannah Godfrey put runners at second and third to bring up Cruse. The intentional walk followed and Conner responded with her rip down the line. Conner struck again in the sixth after Godfrey started off the inning with a triple to right-center. Conner?s bloop double to left gave Boyd all the cushion she needed.

The senior right-hander ended the game with a three-up, three-down seventh, striking out a pair to end with 11 strikeouts. Cruse, Souther and Conner were all 2-for-3 in the game.

With Carrollton playing as the home team in the second game, Northwest took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second off an RBI double from Thomas and a sacrifice fly by Godfrey.

But the Lady Trojans responded in the bottom half of the inning as a Northwest error and an RBI single from Montana Miles allowed an unearned run.

Northwest answered when Souther blasted a two-run homer to left for a 4-1 lead. Singles from Conner and Macy Weeks drove in two more in the fourth, and Northwest scored an unearned run in the fifth for a 7-1 advantage.

A Souther sacrifice fly in the sixth stretched the lead to 8-1 and then the wheels came off for Carrollton in the seventh. Northwest scored seven runs on four hits, three Lady Trojan errors, two walks and two hit batters.

Fittingly, Boyd struck out the first and last batters she faced in the bottom of the inning.

Godfrey was 3-for-5, Karlie Henson was 2-for-3 and Souther was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

?We are ready for Columbus,? Souther said. ?When we start scoring like that, we know that Emily is going to take care of the rest. It is easier for her to relax, and we always want to score first and let her take care of the rest.?

Click here to sign up to receive text alerts on your team.

Source: http://daltondailycitizen.com/sports/x1400177646/On-to-Columbus-out-in-Columbus

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New app from Finland takes crime fighting to phone screen

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/app-finland-takes-crime-fighting-phone-screen-010156003--sector.html

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Movie Review: 'Sinister' ? CBS Philly

(Ethan Hawke stars as a writer who finds some old movies of murders, in ?Sinister.?)

?

By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio 1060

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) ? It is, at its core, a haunted house flick, but one squarely dancing the found-footage fandango.

Sinister is a supernatural horror thriller that, if it doesn?t transcend the limitations of the genre, does at least have its share of moments, especially in the early going, that do just what they?re designed to do: scare the courage right out of your convictions.

Ethan Hawke stars as self-absorbed true-crime novelist Ellison Osborne, who has uprooted his family ? wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance), daughter Ashley (Clare Foley), and son Trevor (Michael Hall D?Adarrio) -? and moved them into a new home so that he can research his next book.

(2? stars out of 4)

What he hasn?t shared with them, however, is the fact that the house that they have moved into was a horrific crime scene, the location of the slaughter of a family of four and the subsequent disappearance of the family?s fifth member, a young daughter.

This is what he wants to write about in his next book, one that he hopes will get him back on the bestseller list for the first time in a decade.

Sure sounds worth risking the affection and perhaps the lives of his loved ones for, huh?? Because they?re also unaware of the box of cans of 8mm home movies that he?s discovered in the attic that reveal that a partial family of four, the previous occupants of this abode, had been hanged from a tree with hoods over their heads in a carefully orchestrated execution.

And as he goes through the other snuff reels, each depicting families being gruesomely, ritualistically murdered, emboldened by his ever-increasing imbibing, he struggles to ascertain the connections among the savage, premeditated killings.

Some nights, while he sleeps, the noise of the home movie projector awakens him. But who?s threading the film and turning the projector on? And why?

Or is he just hallucinating?

Scott Derrickson -? who directed the more-than-respectable remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still and the masterfully terrifying supernatural horror drama, The Exorcism of Emily Rose ? co-wrote the screenplay with C. Robert Cargill.? The collaborators do an especially effective job with the film?s creepily disturbing buildup, which is restrained and ominous and unnerving.

But once a full explanation of the mythology is offered, once the intimated becomes explicit, there?s a palpable dip in tension and intensity and the air comes out of the balloon: the big reveal comes at least a reel too early and perhaps shouldn?t come at all.

Consequently, by the time the coda arrives,we?ve stopped worrying, fearing, or caring ?- all of which we were hitherto doing.

Pity, because Derrickson?s handling of the suddenly ubiquitous found-footage device is something to see.? Literally.? Not only are the home movies voyeuristically gripping, grittily chilling, and emotionally upsetting, even the sound of the whirring projector becomes a remarkably effective scare technique.

Hawke provides enough in the way of edges and flaws to make his novelist a bit more interesting than the standard-issue horror-flick protagonist, while Derrickson manages all the horror-flick behavioral improbabilities and children-in-peril thrusts so they?re not too objectionable.

Which is why we?ll project 2? stars out of 4.? For most of its running time, Sinister lives up to its title.

?

More Bill Wine Movie Reviews

?

CBS Philly Entertainment News

?

?

Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/10/16/movie-review-sinister/

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CDPHP Extends HWAY Program - Zacks.com

Well-being enhancement company Healthways (HWAY - Analyst Report) and CDPHP recently revealed that they have extended by three years until 2015 their commitment to provide Healthways? SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The understanding between the two parties has been in existence since 2004. The SilverSneakers curriculum may be availed by over 30,000 qualified CDPHP Medicare Advantage enrollees in 24 counties of New York state.?? ?

The most recent CDPHP SilverSneakers annual member survey reveals favorable results. As per the findings in 2011, about two-thirds of CDPHP and SilverSneakers members stated their health to be either very good or excellent. This metric is much higher than the nation-wide figure of 30% for the elderly.? ?

Set up in 1984, CDPHP is a non-profit health plan which provides health insurance schemes to enrollees in 24 counties of New York.

The Healthways model encourages people to make favorable lifestyle changes that lead to enhanced well-being, reduced healthcare costs, improved performance and economic value for customers. The company has invested in technology platforms that provide scalable support with large populations. It has tie-ups with a large proportion of U.S. health plans and counts many millions of lives in its customer base.

Due to its unique scalable business model, Healthways shares may present a long-term investment opportunity, although it faces many challenges in the short term.

Healthways is the leader in a strategically critical and rapidly evolving part of the health care services market. Its fitness program (SilverSneakers Fitness Program) for seniors is available at over 15,000 centers across the U.S. and is available to over nine million eligible enrollees through Medicare Supplement, Medicare Advantage plans and group retiree plans. Healthways competes with Express Scripts Holding Company (ESRX - Analyst Report) among others.

We currently have an Outperform recommendation on Healthways. The stock retains a Zacks #1 Rank, which translates into a short-term Strong Buy rating.

Read the full analyst report on HWAY

Read the full analyst report on ESRX

Source: http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/84939/cdphp-extends-hway-program

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Sprint suitor Son stands apart in sober Japan

TOKYO (AP) ? The Japanese billionaire behind a deal that will create the world's third-biggest mobile company spent his childhood in a slum, where he proudly rode in a stinking wheelbarrow filled with pig feed, pushed by his grandmother, a Korean immigrant.

The unlikely success story of Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son has taken another leap with his latest mega-deal, announced Monday, to take a 70 percent stake in U.S. mobile phone carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. for $20 billion.

The biggest foreign acquisition in the history of Japan Inc. underlines Son's unusual status in a corporate culture that has long favored stability over risk-taking. Yet Son has stood out not only for his big deals over the years.

He studied in the U.S., graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, and boasts American friends in high places such as Microsoft's Bill Gates. He was also close to Apple Inc.'s late founder Steve Jobs. But his willingness to acknowledge his Korean roots may be what most sets Son apart in Japan, which has a history of discrimination against its Asian neighbor.

Although initially met with some skepticism from credit rating agencies, Son's foray into the U.S. may serve as inspiration for similar moves by other Japanese companies as the strength of the yen makes overseas deals more affordable.

Son, Japan's second richest man with a fortune of $7.2 billion, according to Forbes, said he identified with the entrepreneurial spirit of older Japanese pioneers such as Soichiro Honda, who started the automaker that carries his name, and Sony Corp. co-founders Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka.

He acknowledged he had grown conservative over the past two years as Softbank paid back debt from earlier acquisitions. He didn't like that change in himself. He decided he was ready to take new risks.

"Taking up a challenge always entails a big risk," Son, 55, said at a joint news conference Monday with Sprint's chief executive Dan Hesse.

Son started making headlines in the 1990s with his aggressive acquisitions of companies, which eventually included the Japan units of Yahoo and Vodafone. He became a household name by pushing broadband services more than a decade ago, when the Internet was still relatively new in Japan. He then shifted his focus to the mobile Internet.

Son has always stuck out in a nation of "salaryman presidents," where decision making is customarily done by a team and the man at the top ? as it is almost always a man ? rose through the ranks by not rocking the boat.

Since the nuclear disaster last year in Fukushima, northeastern Japan, Son has also been unusual in speaking out against nuclear power.

While regular people are taking to the streets in droves protesting pro-nuclear policy, the business community which includes nuclear-plant manufacturers such as Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Inc., has largely stayed a nuclear advocate. Son is behind solar panel projects to encourage green energy as an alternative to atomic power.

Son has never made secret of his Korean ancestry, which has historically led to tragic discrimination in Japan, the colonial occupier of the Korean peninsula until 1945. Taunting in schools and difficulty in finding jobs and marriage partners are common experiences for the descendants of Korean immigrants. Two years ago, Son made his downtrodden minority roots a central theme in a company presentation that was a tearful but proud homage to his family.

Japan has its share of successes from poor or minority backgrounds. But because Japanese culture frowns upon diversity and pushes homogeneity, such people rarely talk about it as a positive part of their success.

"This is someone who is very, very precious to me," Son told a packed hall in 2010 as he outlined the company's 30-year strategy, showing on a huge screen a fading black-and-white photograph of a woman, smiling in a dress. "She is my grandmother."

She emigrated when she was 14, married his much older grandfather, and raised hogs in an impoverished part of Kyushu, the third largest of the islands that make up Japan. As a child, Son was happy to ride around on a wheelbarrow filled with scraps for the pigs. But he began to feel ashamed of his Korean background as he grew older, and even rejected his grandmother. He took on a Japanese name.

It was not until his decision to go to the U.S. to study at age 16 that he vowed to become an entrepreneur, seeing it as a way to create a more inclusive world, he said at the end of his two-hour presentation, fighting tears.

Against that backdrop, Son triumphantly declared Monday that with the Sprint deal his company had truly beaten Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., a former government monopoly and an iconic symbol of old Japan, and was on its way, he hoped, to No. 1 mobile company in the world. The combination of Softbank and Sprint will be the world's No. 3 mobile company by revenue.

In Japan, Softbank was always an also-ran third to NTT DoCoMo, NTT's mobile unit, and KDDI Corp. That began to change after Softbank worked out a deal with Apple, thanks to Son's American connections, to be the first to offer the iPhone in Japan where the market was dominated by cellphones compatible only with the country's special network-linking formats.

Softbank users in Japan have grown to more than 30 million from 19 million in 2008, the year it began offering the iPhone. KDDI began offering the iPhone only last year. NTT DoCoMo recently acknowledged it won't offer the iPhone.

Analysts anticipate an even bigger exodus to Softbank with the ongoing rollout of the iPhone 5, potentially catapulting Softbank to No. 1 in Japanese market share in coming months.

"Some people have been waiting four years for DoCoMo to come out with an iPhone. They're fed up with waiting," said Hisashi Kamio, a consultant, who has written books on computer technology. "The iPhone 5 is dealing a serious blow to DoCoMo's brand power."

Daiwa Securities Co. analyst Koki Shiraishi said Son was making a smart move with its Sprint acquisition, noting the risks were minor compared with the 2006 takeover of Vodafone Japan, which Son transformed into a profitable company Softbank Mobile.

"The prospects for the latest deal are several notches better, considering the cash cow in its mobile business," he said.

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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/yurikageyama

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-10-16-Japan-Softbank-Son/id-a22be200f22543208c17f7c759003762

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