Wachovia Bank saw its commercial mortgage servicing portfolio increase in size by 6.5 percent in the first half, to $434.3 billion. That despite anemic CMBS issuance, which had been the primary engine behind the growth in its portfolio in the past. It benefited from an increase in agency-lending business.

The pace of office property sales in Los Angeles has picked up in recent months as the spread between what sellers are asking for and investors are willing to pay has narrowed. The gap had widened in the face of the credit crunch, which had stymied sales during the first part of the year. Still-solid fundamentals have improved investor demand.

With joint-venture partners for portfolio sales difficult to arrange, the retail REIT is instead selling individual assets to established ventures and other investors. It's also making more room at its properties for larger tenants that it feels might be less vulnerable to the consumer spending downturn.

The Japanese investor is paying $225 million for one of the Manhattan office buildings being marketed by lenders that took them over from Macklowe Properties. And German insurer Allianz Group is co-investing in another of the buildings.

American Realty Capital Trust, which was launched last year by the former president and chief executive of American Financial Realty Trust, has already accumulated $85 million of assets and has struck a deal to buy another $42.3 million of bank branches. The non-traded REIT is one of three components of the company's three-pronged investment strategy.

Despite more than $200 million of loan liquidations during the month, the volume of delinquent CMBS loans continued inching up in July to $4.2 billion. A big chunk of the $201.9 million of loans that were liquidated during the month had defaulted upon maturity and resulted in tiny losses.

July proved especially tough on investment-sales activity as closed deal volume fell 70 percent from the same time last year. Meanwhile, offerings have far outnumbered closings. September could prove to be a major test of how much sellers and buyers are able to bridge wide gaps between bid and ask prices.

CB Richard Ellis Investors is once again offering for sale the former headquarters of the now-defunct soft-drink maker. The Los Angeles investment manager has tapped its brokerage to market the vacant Phoenix property, this time with an asking price of $85 million. It remains to be seen if the 530,856-square-foot property can attract that price.

General Properties Trust, reeling from asset writedowns, is looking to market for sale more than $1 billion worth of U.S. properties to focus investment activity on its home turf. Up first would be a portfolio of seniors properties valued at about $610 million. Next year, it would begin liquidating a venture that owns retail and apartment properties.

The tenant-in-common industry is facing unprecedented challenges. A declining investor base and an inhospitable debt market are making it difficult to complete transactions. And several high-profile TIC deals have soured, further impacting sponsors' ability to attract investor capital.