Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Chinese money has flooded the Bay Area real estate market — and you can expect more, way more.

Investors in Asia have plenty of reasons to put their capital in the United States and with our economy still recovering from the 2008 recession, domestic capital for projects is still relatively hard to come by.

On Wednesday, developers of Oak to Ninth in Oakland’s Brooklyn Basin announced a $1.5 billion commitment from a Chinese investor making it the second, large-scale, master planned development project to secure funding from the far east after developers for Treasure Island announced a similar agreement late last year.

Tishman Speyer also brought in significant Chinese bucks into two condo towers of 42 and 37 stories at 201 Folsom St. in San Francisco.

Other examples include a Chinese biotech firm buying the former Berlix factory in Richmond and the San Francisco Regional Center funneling Asian money into Oakland deals to buy office and industrial buildings.

Those deals are just a sampling, or a harbinger of what’s to come.

In the case of Oak to Ninth, the investor, Zarsion Holding Co. is an expansive owner developer and owner of real estate in China and the Oakland investment is their first in the United States.

Anton Qiu, a veteran broker with TRI Commercial, told me that this kind of deal is appealing to more Chinese companies and investors for a variety of reasons.

At the macro level, China holds more than $1 trillion of U.S. debt, but the dollar has been weak since the recession, so investing in assets is much more attractive. In the last few years, the Chinese government has made it easier for investors to borrow money from the government to invest in foreign countries. In the U.S., the motivation is clear — the better our economy, the more the dollar and thus, the value of China’s holdings go up.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/04/why-chinese-money-is-flooding-bay-area.html

LOS ANGELES
Lee Associates Taps Toumazos as Principal

Commercial real estate veteran Paulette Toumazos joined Lee Associates-LA North/Ventura Inc. in Sherman Oaks, CA, as a principal.

The 25-year industry professional focuses on the sale and leasing of office and medical office properties. Toumazos is a former first vice president at DAUM Commercial. For the past dozen years, she’s worked with landlords, specifically financial institutions, on selecting sites in Southern California.

UGL Services hired top Bay Area producers Christopher Johnke (pictured, far left) and Cale Miller (left) as senior vice president and vice president, respectively, in the firm’s San Francisco office.

The duo joined UGL from Grubb Ellis Co. where they focused on client portfolio/tenant representation as the Johnke-Miller Team. The business partners worked with clients like CH2MHill, Regional Center of the East Bay, SC Electric Co., Bayer AG and M+W Group.

Johnke has advised on deals totaling more than $500 million and more than 3 million square feet during his 15-year career. He has a bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University.

Miller’s six years of experience includes a specialty in portfolio cost analysis and transaction opportunities. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona.

“Cale and Chris are cornerstones to the growth of our presence in the Bay Area,” said Eric Danielson, senior vice president and managing director of the San Francisco regional office.

Danielson plans to double its professional staff by September and increase its number of transaction brokers to 25 in San Francisco, the East Bay and Silicon Valley this year. The company is also looking to strengthen its Bay Area Industrial practice by hiring other leading brokerage teams.

ATLANTA
CBRE Adds Leader to Debt Equity Finance Group
Jeffrey Ackemann returned to the CB Richard Ellis Capital Markets group in Atlanta as a regional leader of the debt and equity finance team. He’ll work with southeast regional leaders Robert LaChapelle and John Farrell and report to Brian Stoffers, head of capital markets. Ackemann will oversee commercial production in the debt and equity finance practice.

His commercial real estate career spans nearly 30 years. Ackemann spent the last eight years at Jamestown Management Corp. and most recently served as president and managing director overseeing capital markets deals and 18.5 million square feet in office and retail assets.

BOSTON
Berkshire Income Realty Hires New CFO

After nearly nine years as chief financial officer of Berkshire Income Realty Inc. (Nasdaq:BIR.PR.A), David C. Quade stepped down from the post last week. Quade will continue to oversee operations of the Boston-based real estate investment trust as president and director.

Berkshire hired Shereen P. Jones (pictured, left) as the new CFO to oversee financial strategy, operations while providing oversight of corporate activities. Jones is the former CFO and executive vice president of Boykin Lodging Co. (NYSE:BOY), a hotel REIT she joined in February 2002. The senior executive also served as director and global head of hospitality investment banking at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York; senior vice president and head of the real estate, lodging and gaming mergers and acquisitions practice at Lehman Bros.; vice president of corporate finance at Kidder, Peabody Co.; and vice president of corporate finance at Oppenheimer Co.

DALLAS
CBRE Expands Debt Equity Finance Practice in DFW
CB Richard Ellis added five brokers to its debt and equity finance practice in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Mike Bryant was named executive vice president and co-lead for the firm’s Texas debt platform, and Mike Landon, Brad Peters and Jon Wooton were tapped as vice presidents. All four are from Berkadia Commercial Mortgage. Mike Ernst, previously from Behringer Harvard REIT, was appointed senior vice president to manage production and oversight for the practice.

Bryant is a 30-year industry veteran and former co-manager of Berkadia’s Texas Production team. He’s originated more than $1 billion in commercial property loans since 2004 and led the office in production of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae loans. Bryant is on Freddie Mac’s Seller Servicer’s Advisory Council.

Landon has three decades of industry experience with a focus on mortgage banking, Before joining Berkadia, he spent 13 years with HFF and helped launch its Dallas office, and opened and oversaw the Dallas and West Coast offices of the Robert C. Wilson Co.

Ten-year veteran Peters specializes in analyzing, underwriting and closing loans for multiple property types. He’s held positions at JP Morgan Mortgage Capital, GMAC Commercial Mortgage and Capmark Finance.

Wooton is a 13-year veteran who focuses on completing financing and capitalizations for commercial properties. He spent nearly 11 years at Berkadia and two years at Archon Financial in Dallas.

Ernst is the former chief financial officer and treasurer of Behringer Harvard REIT. He was also an executive vice president and CFO for UDR Inc. and Prentiss Properties Trust.

NEW YORK CITY
Eyzenberg Joins NewOak Capital
By Fran Koerner

David Eyzenberg joined NewOak Capital as managing director and head of commercial real estate. Eyzenberg will be responsible for directing NewOak Capital’s principal activities for their commercial real estate sector.

He was previously at Prodigious Capital Group, where he served as president. Eyzenberg has experience in the execution of real estate investment banking transactions, as well as work with single asset, portfolio, and entity level financings; joint venture and structured financing; debt, equity, and hybrid products; and commercial mortgage-back securities.

LONG ISLAND
Hess Joins TerraCRG as SVP
By Tara Salbeck

Adam Hess joined TerraCRG as partner and senior vice president of investment sales. Hess will be responsible for continuing the growth of TerraCRG’s investment building sales division, and also increasing its market share in Brooklyn.

He was previously at Massey Knakal as a first vice president of sales, where he focused on multifamily and mixed-use sales in Brooklyn. Hess performed valuations on over 700 mixed-use and multifamily assets in Brooklyn, and completed more than 40 transactions with an aggregate value of over $200 million while at Massey Knakal.

NEW YORK CITY, PHILADELPHIA
LCOR Inc. Promotes O’Brien, Sigman to EVP
By Steve Wilson

LCOR Inc., a real estate investment, development and asset management company, named Thomas O’Brien and David Sigman as executive vice presidents.

Thomas O’Brien recently completed 25 years of service with LCOR in various capacities, most recently as CFO in the Berwyn, PA office.

David Sigman is responsible for developing and managing mixed-use and office projects in the New York region.

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Article source: http://www.costar.com/News/Article/CoStars-People-of-Note-March-20-26/127444