Birthday Bash
Look who’s turning 50! It’s Philadelphia-based architecture firm BLT Architects (BLTa), which holds its 50th anniversary celebration at The Phoenix Condominiums in Center City, Philadelphia, today. On hand will be entrants in the firm’s 2011 "Student Design Sketch Competition," which challenges architecture students to design a mixed-use property at Ridge Avenue and Calumet Streets in Philadelphia. The winner (in addition to everyone else in attendance) gets to have his or her cake and eat it, too: BLTa celebrated with a cake created by TLC’s The Cake Boss outlining a map of Philadelphia with BLTa’s signature products in 3-Deelicious. Some of those projects (out of the 2,000 designed by the firm since its inception in 1961) include the renovation of The Phoenix; the Loews Philadelphia Hotel; the Symphony House; and The Borgata and The Water Club in Atlantic City. I wonder if that’s where the after party's at?
Ka-Ching
Talk about a credit score! Highlands Ranch, Colo.–based UDR announced on Oct. 25 that the firm had entered into a new, $900 million, unsecured revolving credit facility, replacing the company’s prior $600 million facility. The new facility has an initial term of four years, includes a one-year extension option, and contains an accordion feature that allows UDR to increase the facility to $1.35 billion in the event some serious acquisition or development polka dancing needs to occur. Based on the firm's current credit ratings, the credit facility carries an interest rate equal to LIBOR plus a spread of 122.5 basis points and a facility fee of 22.5 basis points. In conjunction with the fierce float, UDR amended and repriced its $250 million unsecured term loan due in January 2016. The term loan was repriced to LIBOR plus 142.5 basis points from LIBOR plus 200 basis points, and its underlying covenants were aligned with those of UDR’s new revolving credit facility. Now that’s some money management.
Head Honchos
The Chicago-based Institute of Real Estate Managers (IREM) just installed its 2012 cadre of officers, with James Evans of Grand Blanc, Mich. (president), Beth Machen of Charlotte, N.C. (president-elect), and Joseph Greenblatt of San Diego (secretary/treasurer) named as the incoming Executive Committee. Evans, president and CEO of both Bruce G. Pollock & Associates and KEB Investments, first earned IREM’s certified property manager (CPM) designation in 1998 and has since served as a regional vice president and member of several IREM committees, including the Legislative and Public Policy Committee, the Asset Management Committee, the Income/Expense Analysis Committee and Advisory Board, and the Executive Committee. Machen is president of Machen Advisory Group and boasts a résumé that includes facilitating property takeovers and rehabs, stabilizing properties, analyzing property performance for prospective buyers, and serving on due diligence teams. She also specializes in disaster and emergency training and has served as the LEED AP on several LEED projects. That sounds lean, mean, and green to us.
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