Bank Of America Plaza Acquired By Atlanta's Most Active Office Investor

A federal grand jury indicted a group of Atlanta certified public accountants, including one already facing federal fraud charges, for allegedly orchestrating a $1.3B conservation easement scam. In a 135-count indictment unsealed Tuesday, accountants Jack Fisher, James Sinnott, Herbert Lewis, Yekaterina Lopuhina (aka Kate Joy) and Victor Smith, along with…

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Global real estate investment giant Hines is considering exiting its Russian real estate assets and weighing the future of its presence in the country following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bisnow has learned. 

“We are concerned for the safety and well-being of people impacted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. We have limited exposure to Russia and no presence in Ukraine,” a spokesperson for Hines said in an emailed statement. “Our employees in Russia are safe and our assets are operational.

“We are in discussions with our partners to reevaluate a large percentage of our assets in Russia and our presence in the country. We will continue to actively monitor the situation.”

Like Hines, some of the biggest names in global real estate and finance made significant bets on Russian property in the past 15 years. As sanctions in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut the country off from the global economy, those investors are left with portfolios facing an uncertain future.

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Large hotel landlords reported that revenues to close out 2021 were near or exceeding 2019 levels as the hospitality industry's comeback now appears imminent and ahead of schedule.

While business travel has yet to return in earnest and hotel performance broadly is still behind where it was pre-pandemic, executives at the nation's largest hotel real estate investment trusts said finding efficiencies with staffing — including hiring managers to oversee multiple hotels in a market — have allowed them to beat expectations toward the end of 2021 and plan for growth this year.

"More cylinders will be firing six months from now or 12 months from now than there are presently,” said Michael Bellisario, a senior research analyst at R.W. Baird & Co. “There’s a lot of noise in the world right now … but the fundamentals are getting better here. The trend is your friend.”

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French government sanctions on the Russian Federation have blocked delegations and exhibitors from Russia from attending global property conference MIPIM, which is due to begin in two weeks.

In a statement, RX, which organises the annual property fair on the French Riviera, said that it is following government sanctions and that there would be no Russian pavilion at MIPIM this year. All Russian exhibitors have also been removed from the list of attendees at the event, which takes place between 15 March and 18 March. 

A spokesperson for MIPIM confirmed that one of the judges of the 2022 MIPIM awards, Chief Architect of Moscow City Sergey Kuznetsov, would also not be attending the event. 

“RX strongly condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine," the company said in a statement. "RX stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, particularly with our employees around the world who have family and friends in Ukraine.

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