Deal Summary In June 2004, Los Angeles-based The Kor Group sold the 224-unit Villa Venetia apartment community (13900 Fiji Way, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292) to Lyon Capital Ventures, LLC for $34.25 million or $154,279 per unit.  The 1960s-built Villa Venetia apartment community consisted of four three-story buildings totaling 292,808 square feet situated on 6.4 acres of land, … Continue reading The Story and Lessons Behind the Acquisition and Renovation of the Villa Venetia Apartment Complex in Marina Del Rey

Deal Summary In 2012, with home prices remaining near bottomed-out levels following the Great Recession, Blackstone founded Invitation Homes, with the intention of acquiring tens of thousands of single family homes throughout the United States.  In founding Invitation Homes, Blackstone created a vertically-integrated, scalable company with in-house capabilities of acquiring, renovating, leasing, maintaining, and managing single family homes. Blackstone hoped that its plan of … Continue reading The Story and Lessons Behind Invitation Homes: Blackstone’s Acquisition of 50,000 Single Family Homes for $10 Billion Between 2012 and 2016

Deal Summary In 1997, Douglas Emmett, a real estate investment company specializing in Class-A office buildings, acquired the Sherman Oaks Galleria for $51 million in an off-market transaction. The Sherman Oaks Galleria, which consisted of approximately 1,000,000 square feet of retail and office space, became a cultural icon during the 1980s after being featured in movies … Continue reading The Story and Lessons Behind Douglas Emmett’s Acquisition and Redevelopment of the Sherman Oaks Galleria

Deal Summary During 2004, New Pacific Realty Corporation (NPRC) acquired 8 acres of land underlying the Beverly Hills Robinson's-May from Equitable Life Assurance Society for $33.5 million.  At the time of the transaction, the 240,000 SF department store and accompanying 1,100- car parking structure that were situated on the 8-acre parcel were owned by May Department Stores, … Continue reading The Story and Lessons behind New Pacific Realty’s Acquisition and Sale of the Beverly Hills Robinson’s-May for a $450 Million Profit

Introduction to Part 2:  The Selloff, Ownership Process, and Aftermath First off, this blog post is the second post in a series of two posts about Blackstone's 2007 buyout of Equity Office Properties.  The first post can be accessed via the following link: How Blackstone Tripled its Initial Investment through its 2007 Buyout of  Equity Office Properties - … Continue reading How Blackstone Tripled its Initial Investment through its 2007 Buyout of Equity Office Properties – Part 2: The Selloff, Ownership Process, and Outcome

Deal Summary In February 2007, after 25 years of working its way to the top of real estate private equity, The Blackstone Group, led by Jonathan Gray, acquired Sam Zell's Equity Office Properties Trust (EOP) for $39 Billion (including debt).  At the time of the buyout, Equity Office was the country's largest owner of office … Continue reading How Blackstone Tripled its Initial Investment through its 2007 Buyout of Equity Office Properties – Part 1: The Background, Negotiation and Closing

During the depths of the recession, billionaire investor Carl Icahn submitted the one and only qualified bid in a Miami bankruptcy court to acquire the land and improvements of the former FontaineBleau Las Vegas, for $150,000,000. The price Icahn paid for the approximately 70% completed megaresort and tallest hotel tower in Nevada amounted to less than 10% of what had already been invested in constructing the improvements. In 2016, five years after acquiring the property, Carl Icahn is reported to be close to finalizing a sale of the property for an estimated $650,000,000. By reviewing the complete story and analyzing Icahn's investment, we'll try to gain a deeper understanding of real estate investing, and walk away with some lessons which will help us in making better investing decisions in our own lives.