Mr. Sharpe will be speaking on the subject of Property Tax tomorrow at the ICSC Phoenix Law Conference

Mr. Sharpe will be speaking at tomorrows ICSC Law Conference in Phoenix, AZ.  

The Law Conference provides retail real estate legal professionals the opportunity to gain industry-specific knowledge and insight from leading authorities, network with 1,300+ industry peers, and earn general and ethics CLE credits. This high-energy conference offers over 70 sessions presented in four different formats with interaction strongly encouraged between panelists and attendees. 

If you happen to be in attendance, be sure to stop by.

Sam Zell sells $5.4 billion worth of Apartments to Starwood Capital

A recent Wall Street Journal article has reported on a transaction that everyone should pay attention.

"Sam Zell has agreed to sell more than 23,000 apartments controlled by his real-estate company, Equity Residential, for $5.4 billion to Starwood Capital Group, the companies said."

 This is a especially note worthy transaction because of Sam Zell.  In 2007, Mr. Zell predicted the top of the real estate market.  At that time he sold a company to Blackstone for $23 billion.  “There’s an awful lot of apartments under construction,” Mr. Zell said, “and the majority of them are garden apartments in suburban areas.”

 This translates to Equity Residential selling off 25% of their Apartment holdings.

No, the transaction does not mean the sky is falling, but we should make sure our eyes are open.  Anytime a large investor makes a move, especially when that investor has a history of making "right" decisions, it is noteworthy.

http://www.wsj.com