SHANGHAI-Britain's biggest retail group has entered the Chinese market with the purchase of a 50% stake in the Hymall supermarket chain for $260 million (£140 million).
PORTLAND-More details emerge on GlobeSt.com's GSA story. The agency inks four leases totaling 116,000 sf at annual lease rates in the $24 range on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. With occupancy in the 222,777-sf office building now pushing 90%, it might be headed to market.
STOCKHOLM-A fund managed by Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH pays Skanska Project Development Sweden $35.7 million (265 million Kronor) for Northern Europe's largest package-sorting terminal.
DUPONT, WA-The furniture retailer is under contract to purchase about 14 acres here from Opus Northwest for development of a 300,000-sf distribution facility. The sale is expected to close later this year.
VANCOUVER, WA-The Port of Vancouver board of commissioners authorizes $5.9 million for the purchase of 265 acres of farmland adjacent to the port's operating terminals that will provide for near-term business development opportunities while it works towards the necessary approvals for its 1,075-acre Columbia Gateway project.
SAN JOSE, CA-CarrAmerica buys two class A office/R&D buildings here totaling 176,280 sf from GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. The buildings each are net leased to a publicly traded company at annualized rates between $13 and $14 per sf per year.
MILAN-The Denver-based provider of distribution properties signs a build-to-suit agreement with the third party logistics company for a 355,804-sf building 22 miles west of here in the city of Romentino, where ProLogis has 47 acres to play with.
ST. LOUIS-The May Department Stores Co. prices a private placement of $2.2 billion of securities in the long-term public debt markets to partially fund its acquisition of the Marshall Field's department store group and nine Mervyn's stores.
SYDNEY-Locally based Macquarie CountryWide Trust acquires shopping centers in Portland, OR and Washington, DC from Jacksonville, FL-based Regency Centers Corp. for $43.5 million.
COLUMBIA, SC-In the process of liquidating assets in certain secondary markets, Trizec Holdings of Chicago sells the 14-story Wachovia Building here to an affiliate of Wakefield, MA-based Franklin Street Properties Corp.