Blackstone Lodges Several Hotel Moves

Property Investors Spark German Feud

The town of Strausberg, Germany, is at the center of a battle between investors who see riches in Soviet-era housing and The Left party, which is trying block profit-hungry capitalists.

Teachers' Fund Buying Builder

The California State Teachers' Retirement System is buying a majority stake in real-estate developer LCOR Inc. from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Philly Mayor Markets Mall Makeover

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter took to the International Council of Shopping Centers' annual leasing conference to woo retailers as the city of 1.5 million redevelops the Gallery at Market East mall.

Brookfield to Spin Off Holdings

Brookfield Asset Management plans to bundle together its wide array of commercial-property holdings into a new publicly traded subsidiary, with an eye toward further growth.

Builder Is Constructing REIT for Home Rentals

Beazer Homes has formed a REIT with KKR that will buy and then rent single-family homes, one of the largest and most talked-about asset classes in the real-estate business.

Ohio REIT Heads Upscale

Associated Estates Realty Corp., which owns rental-apartment buildings in cities like Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, is pushing into the upscale Los Angeles market despite some investor concerns.

Plots & Ploys: Looks Don't Matter

Strange looks of a building apparently aren't enough to scare off big-name investors. That's the case with 100 Federal Street in Boston—the so-called "pregnant building" recently purchased by Boston Properties.

U.K. Pushes 'Social' Housing REIT Plan

Facing a dearth of new-home construction, the U.K. real-estate industry and government are looking at ways to encourage the formation of new real-estate investment trusts that would focus on subsidized housing.

Paris Business Hub Goes on Defense

Paris's La Défense district, launched more than 50 years ago and now the largest business center in continental Europe, is suffering growing pains that raise questions about how and where Paris will expand in the future.

Chicago's Spire Remains Hole in the Ground

The rubble-strewn Chicago lot where North America's tallest residential building was to have been built is turning into an international money pit.

High Demand for High-End Real Estate in Paris

Storied French mutual insurer Groupama has put some prime Paris commercial real estate on the block. Fortunately for the firm, demand for top properties has stayed strong even as the crisis has raged on the Continent.

• Photos: Prime Paris Commercial Real Estate Sizzles

Paris Luxury Retail Finds New Homes

With a new brand of wealthy clientele—and a shortage of space—Paris's luxury-brand owners are setting up shop in fresh parts of the city.

A Hotel for California

Developer Rick Caruso, Southern California's king of upscale shopping centers, wants to make a splash in another real-estate sector by building a luxury hotel on 16 acres of beachfront in Santa Barbara.

Mall Owners Wage Taxing Fight

Shopping-center landlords like Simon Property Group are pressing for states to levy sales taxes on online retailers like Amazon.com, in a bid to level the playing field.

Creditors Take Control of Atlantis Resort

Resort operator Kerzner International transferred its massive Atlantis resort in the Bahamas to its creditors and sold its half interest in the Atlantis in Dubai to partner Istithmar World.

CBRE Profit Declines 22%

A 14% increase in revenue couldn't offset the charges incurred from the firm's acquisition of the real-estate businesses of ING Groep.

The Best Spots to Set Up Shop

Inside two boutiques' race for a desirable store site in Beverly Hills.

• Map: Location Scouting in Beverly Hills

Cantor Construction Job

Howard Lutnick, the head of Cantor Fitzgerald, is aiming to integrate Grubb & Ellis with Newmark to form what he hopes will be one of the leading commercial real-estate-services companies in the world.

Goldman in Talks On Hotel's Debt

Goldman Sachs, which purchased the massive Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa in Honolulu in 2005, is in talks to extend or modify the hotel's debt, which is probably more than the property is worth.

Starwood Capital to Buy Malls

Investor Barry Sternlicht's Starwood Capital has agreed to buy a 90% stake in seven U.S. malls, including the SouthPark mall in Cleveland, from Australian mall owner Westfield Group for $1.05 billion.

J.P Morgan Strips Shopping-Mall Loan From CMBS Issue

A $49 million loan on a Florida shopping mall that was facing a foreclosure action before it was refinanced has been stripped from an issue of commercial mortgage-backed securities that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is bringing to market this week.

AIG to Return to U.S. Property Investing

American International Group is planning to jump back into U.S. property investing, reversing yearslong efforts to downsize its real-estate business in the wake of its near-collapse and government bailout in 2008.

Europe's Gentler Deals

The commercial mortgage-backed securities market in the U.S. has increasingly resembled a battlefield. In Europe, by comparison, some efforts to fix distressed commercial mortgage securities look refreshingly civilized.

Industrial-Space Showdown

Two real estate powerhouses are angling for control of a massive industrial portfolio hoping to capitalize on an expected economic recovery.

Property Investors Lie in Wait in China

Cash-strapped, debt-burdened Chinese property companies may face a reckoning this year as the housing market slows—and if they do, outside investors are ready to step in.