AvalonBay Communities is offering for sale the Avalon on the Sound East, a 588-unit apartment property in the New York City suburb of New Rochelle, N.Y., that could fetch about $225 million, or $382,653/unit. HFF is marketing the property.

Columbia Property Trust has put a portfolio of 17 office properties with 4 million square feet in 11 states up for sale through CBRE. The offering is an effort by Columbia Property, the former Wells REIT II, to fine-tune its portfolio as it moves toward executing a liquidity event. It bought the buildings in the portfolio over the years for a total of $590 million.

KeyBank Real Estate Capital has agreed to buy Bank of America's $110.5 billion commercial mortgage servicing portfolio, nearly doubling the size of its own portfolio to $205 billion. The portfolio includes some $77.2 billion of loans that BofA handles as master servicer on behalf of CMBS trusts and some $14 billion on which it's named special servicer.

Angelo, Gordon & Co. has launched its third investment fund designed to acquire net-leased properties. AG Net Lease Realty Fund III has thus far raised $130.1 million of equity commitments, according to a recent regulatory filing. It's a follow-up to a vehicle that had raised $550 million three years ago.

Beech Street Capital has originated $94.4 million of Freddie Mac financing against a portfolio of 12 apartment properties with 488 units in Manhattan owned by Henry and Robert Moses. Proceeds of the financing were used to defease some $83 million of financing that didn't come due for another two years. Some of that debt was securitized.

Majestic Investments is offering for sale a Van Nuys, Calif., office complex, and is said to be looking for about $60 million, or $224/sf, which would be 21 percent more than it paid for the 267,834-square-foot property in 2011. The Southern California investor and property manager has tapped Madison Partners to offer it for sale.

Non-traded REITs are raising capital at a feverish clip and should easily top the $10.3 billion they raised last year. During the first quarter, the industry raised $3.9 billion, according to Robert A. Stanger & Co. That would put it on pace to raise a record $15.6 billion of equity.

The $190 million CMBS loan against One Congress St., a 313,527-square-foot office and retail building in Boston that became delinquent last year, has been modified. Its coupon has been slashed to 2 percent from 6.07 percent to allow cash to be used for tenant improvements and leasing commissions at the 71 percent-leased property.

With expectations that investor demand for structured tax-deferred exchanges will continue to grow, Louis J. Rogers, a seasoned player in the sector, has set up his own shop, Capital Square Realty Advisors. His is one of what is expected to be a number of new sponsors of Delaware statutory trusts.

The former Feldman Mall Properties Inc. has transformed itself into an apartment investment company and is aiming to raise fresh equity to acquire high-yielding properties. It's looking to sell shares through a public offering and has a number of acquisitions pending.

CommonWealth REIT has listed a portfolio of 62 office and industrial properties with 3.3 million square feet for sale through Cushman & Wakefield. The offering is part of a portfolio repositioning effort by CommonWealth, a Newton, Mass., REIT. It has a vacancy rate of roughly 26 percent.

The $375 million CMBS loan against the 215-unit Belnord apartment property on Manhattan's Upper West Side has had its interest rate slashed and term extended as part of a modification. But the loan hasn't been split into two pieces. The property's rents are regulated as a result of tax benefits it received. But those burn off by 2016. So the loan's longer term allows the property to eventually enjoy improved cash flow.

A total of $7.3 billion of CMBS loans defaulted last year, according to a tabulation by Fitch Ratings, marking the third straight year in which loan defaults declined from the previous year. The latest defaults brought the volume of cumulative defaults to $78.8 billion, or 13.4 percent of the $586.4 billion universe tracked by the rating agency.

Greater demand, a scarcity of available properties and low interest rates have led to a decline in capitalization rates for apartment properties selling in South Florida. About $2.3 billion of properties traded last year in Miami, Broward and Palm Beach counties, up from $1.2 billion in 2011, according Real Capital Analytics. In 2010, $2.1 billion of properties changed hands.

Deutsche Bank was the most-active bookrunner of private-label CMBS deals during the first quarter, receiving credit for managing 6 deals totaling $6 billion, or a 27.6 percent share of the $21.8 billion of deals that priced. It was also among the most-active contributors of loans to the market, writing $3.3 billion of mortgages that were securitized.

Lincoln Property Co. has agreed to pay Prudential Real Estate Investors about $49.6 million, or $220/sf, for 800 Wilshire Blvd., a 225,728-square-foot office building in downtown Los Angeles. Lincoln stepped into the deal after an attempt to sell the building to Edwin Wang of Gold Mountain Investments fell through.

CMBS investors might be getting large-loan fatigue and are demanding greater remuneration in order to buy into deals. A total of 15 single-borrower transactions with a balance of $8.9 billion priced during the first quarter, with $2.5 billion of that getting done through eight deals during the last three weeks.

The shortfalls that hit the super-senior class of Morgan Stanley Capital I Inc., 2007-HQ13, are not expected to be replicated by many, if any, other CMBS deals. For that to happen, a deal would have to have a large percentage of realized losses, large amounts of appraisal reductions and a heavy loan concentration.

A total of 529 CMBS loans with a balance of $5.7 billion were defeased, or replaced by government securities, last year. That's up from the $4.9 billion of loans that were defeased in 2011 and $2.8 billion in 2010, according to a tally by Morningstar Credit Ratings. Volumes are expected to climb further this year as interest rates remain low and sales-transaction activity remains healthy.

James Kasim, the former chief financial officer of Steadfast Income REIT Inc., who resigned his post in 2011 when a criminal complaint was filed against him by C. Frederick Wehba, the head of BentleyForbes, has filed suit against Wehba and his son claiming the complaint they had filed was false.

Interest shortfalls have hit the super-senior AAA class of Morgan Stanley Capital I Inc., 2007-HQ13. According to Trepp LLC, which first highlighted the latest shortfalls, the transaction becomes the first CMBS conduit to see shortfalls hit that high up in the capital stack. The deal's woes are tied to a loan against the Pier Shops at Caesars in Atlantic City, N.J.

A venture of Vantage Properties and Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds is offering for sale a 417-unit apartment property at 6260 99th St. in the Rego Park area of Queens, N.Y., that could fetch as much as $85 million, or $203,837/unit. HFF has the listing.

The spin-off of General Growth Properties Inc. is planning to turn over the Boulevard Mall in Las Vegas to its CMBS lenders, which hold $97.1 million of debt against the property. The proposed turn-over is likely due to the poor prospects for a turn-around at the property, which sits near the Fashion Show Mall, a larger, more modern asset that's owned by GGP.

Non-traded REITs could complete liquidity events resulting in an unprecedented $39 billion of transaction volume this year. Five such REITs have made moves to merge or list their shares on exchanges. They're expected to be joined by at least five other companies. Driving the action is a very hospitable public market for REIT shares.

The Department of Defense has started incorporating less stringent security standards for space it leases in non-federal facilities, giving a potential boost to the Washington, D.C., areas that were hit hard by the federal government's space-consolidation efforts.

Noble Investment Group is looking to raise up to $200 million of equity for its latest investment fund. The vehicle, its fourth, has so far raised $101 million. Like its predecessor, Noble Hospitality Fund, it will pursue properties that could be had for less than their replacement cost. Its aim is to then invest heavily on upgrades.

CommonWealth REIT, which is facing an unsolicited buyout offer from certain investors, continues to reposition its portfolio to be more focused on downtown office markets. It has 76 properties that it hopes to sell by the end of the year. The properties are what's left of a 94-property portfolio that it carried on its books at a value of $332.6 million.

Vornado Capital Partners, an $800 million investment vehicle controlled by Vornado Realty Trust, has paid $95.7 million, or roughly $384/sf, for 800 Corporate Pointe, a 243,000-square-foot office building in Culver City, Calif. The fund purchased the property, at the intersection of the 405 and 90 freeways, from Spear Street Capital.

American Hotel Income Properties REIT, which raised $93.4 million in an initial public offering, plans to pursue hotels in secondary markets across the United States. The Canadian REIT is mainly targeting select-service and limited-service properties close to railroad stations, airports and major highways.

UBS Real Estate Securities has provided a $125.85 million loan against the 152,299-square-foot loft building at 575 Broadway in Manhattan. The loan is six times more than the $20.8 million mortgage that previously encumbered the property and shows how property values in the area have skyrocketed.

Clarion Partners is offering for sale Broadway Knolls, a 284-unit apartment property in the New York City suburb of Holbrook, N.Y., that could fetch as much $77 million, or $271,127/unit. The investment manager, which owns the property through the Clarion Lion Properties Fund, has tapped HFF to market it for sale.

The buzz is that sovereign wealth funds are looking to get into the commercial mortgage business in the United States. They've been buying up trophy properties in the most stable markets in the country. But in an effort to improve their risk-adjusted returns, they're looking closely at funding mortgages on trophies.

Pension funds in the United States last year increased their equity commitments to real estate investments by 29 percent to $31 billion, and their number of commitments rose by roughly 50 percent to slightly more than 300, according to FPL Associates Consulting.

John Hancock Life Insurance Co. has paid $95 million, or $316.70/sf, for West Windsor Commons, a two-building office complex with 303,756 square feet in West Windsor, N.J. The Princeton, N.J.,-area property was purchased from UBS Realty Advisors, which was represented by HFF.

A total of $9.8 billion of CMBS loans were liquidated last year, suffering losses totaling $3.2 billion, or an average severity of 46.4 percent. If you exclude those that saw little or no loss, the severity figure climbs to 56 percent. LNR Partners liquidated a total of $3.2 billion of loans, or roughly one-third of those that were liquidated during the year.

UBS Real Estate Securities Inc. has provided a $105 million loan against 443 Greenwich St., a vacant office building in Manhattan that is being converted to residential use. The seven-story building is owned by a venture led by Metro Loft Management, which purchased it last year for $150 million.

A subsidiary of Cole Credit Property Trust IV has agreed to pay $205 million for the Plant, the largest power center in San Jose, Calif. The property has 655,000 square feet, but 155,000 sf of that is owned by its tenants. It is being purchased from Vornado Realty Trust.

Allegiance Realty Corp., an investment manager focused on office properties in secondary and tertiary markets, plans to make up to $150 million of acquisitions this year. It expects deal-making to be boosted by its decision to turn over property-management duties to Trigild Inc.

The investment manager's Mesa Core Lending Fund could grow as large as $2 billion within a few years. It will write loans of $15 million to $150 million against core and core-plus properties in major markets. It's the only open-ended vehicle in the country designed to invest exclusively in debt.

Wave Crest Enterprises Inc. has tapped CBRE to sell the 161-room Hilton Garden Inn Carlsbad Beach in Carlsbad, Calif., that it expects will sell for a price in the vicinity of $48 million, or about $300,000/room. The property is being offered as the San Diego area braces for a jump in the supply of hotel rooms.

A total of some $240 million of equity was raised through structured tax-deferred property exchanges last year. That's up roughly 4 percent from 2011, when volumes shot up by 35 percent from the previous year. Volumes are expected to climb further this year, partly because of the easing of capital-raising rules as a result of legislation.

Forge Capital Partners, a retail property investor focused on value-add opportunities, is in the market to raise up to $250 million of equity for its latest investment fund. It has already raised $40 million for the fund, Forge Real Estate Partners III. It will invest in properties in the Southeast.

A group of lenders led by M&T Bank has provided $315 million of financing against the Helmsley Carlton House hotel at 680 Madison Ave. in Manhattan. The financing is comprised of a $115 million loan against the property's 36,000 square feet of retail space and a $200 million loan that will be used to redevelop the hotel into residential condominiums.

The United States Department of Labor has proposed amending rules to broaden the field of agencies that could rate asset- and mortgage-backed securities and still be eligible under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act underwriting guidelines. The move would level the playing field in the CMBS sector for Morningstar and Kroll.

Hines is offering for sale a 306,663-square-foot office building at 2100 M St. NW in downtown Washington, D.C. The buzz is that the building could sell for about $120 million, or $391/sf. Hines is said to have hired Eastdil Secured to offer the eight-story building for sale.

Investment managers were spared a tax increase under Congress' recently-approved revenue generating legislation that averted the so-called "fiscal cliff," a series of automatic tax increases and federal spending cuts. The thinking is that the potential tax hike was set aside because of concerns that it would prompt investors to scale back their activity.

Buchanan Street Partners is re-starting its senior bridge and mezzanine lending program and aims to write up to $750 million of loans this year. It will write loans of up to 75 percent of a property's value, for instance, and sell off a senior piece, while keeping the remainder. And it will write bridge loans of up to 85 percent of a property's value.

M&T Bank has provided a $75 million floating-rate loan against 183 Madison Ave., a 257,414-square-foot office building in Manhattan, as part of the property's recapitalization that included IRSA increasing its ownership stake to 82.36 percent from 49 percent. The transaction values the 19-story building at $161.6 million.

Aviv REIT Inc. has filed to go public through an initial offering of common shares. The Chicago company, which owns 247 healthcare properties, primarily skilled-nursing facilities, with 19,200 beds in 29 states, was formerly known as Aviv Healthcare Properties LP. It's now majority owned by a private-equity investor.

Wells Fargo Bank has written a $123 million Freddie Mac loan for a 367-unit apartment building at 4615 Center Blvd. in the Hunters Point area of Queens, N.Y. The 10-year loan was used by the building's owner, an entity controlled by TF Cornerstone, to pay off $92 million of construction financing that Wells provided in 2010.

An attempt by several congressmen to push the federal government to sell under-utilized properties has intensified this year, which could eventually result in a bonanza of available buildings for investors. Bills have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would prompt the government to develop plans to sell excess non-military buildings. The government owns some 77,700 buildings that are underused.

DDR Corp. has agreed to pay $1.46 billion for Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII's 95 percent interest in a portfolio of 30 retail centers with 11.8 million square feet, giving it full ownership of the properties. DDR will fund its purchase with a $566 million cash payment and the assumption of debt, as well as the retirement of preferred equity and mezzanine debt it had provided.

JPMorgan Chase has provided $936.5 million of financing against three upscale resort properties with 2,530 rooms. The properties are: the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix, as well as the Ritz-Carlton Orlando and the JW Marriott Orlando at the Grande Lakes in Orlando, Fla. The bank has launched an effort to securitize a $510 million senior piece of the financing through JPMorgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, 2013-JWRZ.

A venture that includes Nicholas Gouletas, chief executive of American Invsco Corp., a prominent developer and manager of residential condominium properties, has submitted the winning bid of $950 million, or about $257,731/unit, for a portfolio of 13 apartment buildings with 3,686 units being offered by a partnership led by Starwood Capital Group.

Fitch Ratings has taken a jab at the ratings its competitors have given a single-borrower CMBS transaction that's currently in the market, marking the first time a rating agency has openly criticized a deal before it was priced. The rating agency said it would have given the most senior class of Citigroup Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2013-375P, a rating of only A, five notches lower than the ratings it received.

Fowler Property Acquisitions, a San Francisco investment manager and multifamily property specialist, is marketing an investment fund that's slated to have $1.2 billion of acquisitions capability. Its FPA Apartment Opportunity Fund IV has raised $310 million in its early marketing, and is expected to raise more than $350 million by its final closing in late June.

The SEC next Tuesday will hold a roundtable looking into the use of ratings agencies by issuers of asset-backed securities. The roundtable is divided into three panels comprised of investors, academics and analysts and rating agency executives. It will explore the possible creation of a ratings-assignment system, the current lack of unsolicited ratings and alternatives to the current issuer-pay model.

Chanel SA has struck a deal to pay $100 million, or $6,200/sf, for a 16,129-square-foot retail building in Beverly Hills, Calif. The French high-end fashion designer and retailer plans to occupy the building, at 408 North Rodeo Drive, which houses a store operated by its existing owner, porcelain-figurine maker Lladro.

Canyon Capital Advisors, a Los Angeles investment manager, is in the market to raise up to $200 million for a multifamily investment fund. The vehicle, Canyon Multifamily Impact Fund, has thus far raised $50 million of equity commitments in a marketing effort that Canyon expects to complete within a year.

Alony-Hetz Properties and Investments Ltd. has agreed to pay $300 million for a 50 percent stake in an entity controlled by a JPMorgan Asset Management fund that owns 24 office properties in the greater Washington, D.C., area. The portfolio is valued at about $1.1 billion in its entirety.

The volume of CMBS loans in special servicing declined for the 14th straight month in April, according to Morningstar Credit Ratings. The 7.8 percent drop in volume, to $62.1 billion from $67.4 billion in March, was the most pronounced percentage drop since the CMBS market started on its road to recovery some two years ago.

The Los Angeles investment manager's new fund is a successor to a vehicle that was the best performer in the federal government's Public-Private Investment Program. Its Oaktree Real Estate Debt Fund will also focus on first mortgages, junior and mezzanine debt and unsecured debt.

Five Mile Capital Partners has sued to get a court to award it a stake in a portfolio of hotel properties against which it held a subordinate piece of debt. It saw its $38 million investment get wiped out when the collateral portfolio of 11 hotels was turned over in a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure to Fillmore Capital Partners, which held debt that was just senior to its investment.

Orix Capital Markets has placed some $1.5 billion of distressed loans and foreclosed real estate up for sale in a pair of offerings that are being overseen by CBRE and Mission Capital Advisors, respectively. CBRE is offering $1.3 billion of the assets, while Mission Capital is offering $205 million. Both will entertain offers for individual assets, pools of assets or the portfolios in their entirety.

Commercial property-investment sales in the first quarter increased by 35 percent from the same period last year to $72.8 billion, fueled largely by portfolio sales, according to Real Capital Analytics, which tracks deals of at least $2.5 million each. The purchase of Archstone Inc. by Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities Inc. accounted for one-fifth of the quarter's volume.

USAA Real Estate Co. is looking to raise at least $1 billion through an open-end investment vehicle, USAA Eagle Real Estate Fund, which will invest in all major property sectors, except hotels, in markets across the country. The fund is targeting investing 80 percent of its equity in core investments, with the remainder earmarked for value-add and opportunistic plays.

A total of 59 CMBS loans with a balance of $2.8 billion were modified during the first quarter, according to Nomura Securities. And so far this quarter, another six loans with a balance of $438.8 million have been modified. That brings the total volume of modified loans since the beginning of 2010 to 1,468 with a balance of $52 billion.

Liberty Property Trust expects to make $100 million to $200 million of property acquisitions this year and spend another $300 million on development activity. It's aiming to make investments in value-add and stabilized properties that could be had at prices that result in cap rates of 6 percent to 8 percent.

Investment manager and hedge-fund operator Paulson Co. has registered with regulators to raise equity for its second real estate investment fund. The New York firm's Paulson Real Estate Fund II is a follow-up to its Paulson Real Estate Recovery Fund, which was launched in 2009 and by the end of last year had reached a value of $298.4 million.

Argosy Real Estate Partners, a Wayne, Pa. investment manager, is looking to raise up to $200 million for its latest investment fund. The vehicle, Argosy Real Estate Partners III, has raised $26.8 million of commitments in its early rounds of marketing. It pursues investments in office, retail, apartment, mixed-use and hotel properties.

Fitch Ratings, which was hired to rate only five of the 20 single-borrower transactions that have priced so far this year, has charged its competitors with requiring credit protection levels on some of those deals that have been insufficient for the ratings they provided.

Liberty Property Trust is said to be the winning bidder for 2100 M St. NW, a 306,663-square-foot office building in downtown Washington, D.C. The buzz is that the Malvern, Pa., REIT turned in an offer of between $133 million and $140 million. It would be buying the property from Hines, which offered it through Eastdil Secured.

Commercial mortgage origination volumes shot up by another 32.5 percent last year to $244.2 billion, according to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. It's the third straight year in which origination volumes have increased. The housing-finance agencies were responsible for 31.8 percent of the total.

Only four banks with $465.1 million of assets failed during the first quarter. That's the fewest number of bank failures in any quarter since the capital-markets downturn in 2008 and compares with eight bank failures in the fourth quarter of 2012. Those institutions held $2.17 billion in assets.

Developer Armada Hoffler Properties Inc. of Virginia Beach, Va., is taking its portfolio of office, retail and apartment properties public through an offering of common shares. The company would become only the second REIT to go public through an IPO so far this year, after CyrusOne Inc.

Start-up companies continue to move to offices in Boston's Seaport District from nearby Cambridge, Mass., where space is limited and rents are generally higher. That has resulted in the Seaport's office vacancy rate decreasing to 9.5 percent last year from 13.5 percent in 2011. Asking rents for class-A space have declined, but they've jumped by 30 percent for class-B space.

Southwest Value Partners, an investment manager with its main offices in San Diego and Phoenix, has raised $170 million for its latest investment fund, which is in its early stages of marketing. Its Southwest Value Partners Fund XVI is designed to raise up to $250 million. It is a follow-up to Southwest's Fund XV, which raised $133.5 million in 2010.

Michigan's Court of Appeals has upheld a state law that precludes commercial mortgages from losing their nonrecourse status when their borrowers become insolvent. It effectively ruled against Wells Fargo Bank, which previously had won a $2.1 million judgment against Schostak Bros. & Co. after it defaulted on an $8.1 million loan against the Cherryland Center in Garfield, Mich.

An affiliate of hedge-fund manager Terrapin Partners has launched a closed-end vehicle that aims to accumulate shares in at least 33 non-traded REITs, providing liquidity to owners of those shares. It would swap shares in the fund, REIT Exchange Fund Inc., for shares in the targeted non-traded REITs. Its shares would be listed on the Big Board.

Three years after abandoning plans to sell shares of itself in a public offering in the United States, Welsh Property Trust of Minnetonka, Minn., plans to roll up the bulk of its portfolio into a newly-registered Canadian REIT. The proposed REIT, WPT Industrial REIT, would start life with a portfolio of 35 industrial properties and two office buildings.

South Florida's multifamily market has surged, four years after rents had plummeted and vacancies spiked during the depths of the recession. Asking rents and occupancies exceed levels that had been reached during the market's 2007 peak, pushing up prices for development sites.

Rockefeller Group has raised $250 million for an investment fund that will target office properties in the United States. The New York firm is still in the market raising additional equity commitments for the vehicle, Rockefeller Group U.S. Premier Office Fund. The company has focused on acquiring trophy properties in major markets in ventures with its parent, Mitsubishi Estate Co. of Japan.

Capital Trust Inc., which last year sold its investment-management business and a stake in itself to Blackstone Group for $20 million, is planning on a come-back in the lending business. It's looking to raise public equity that it would use to develop a lending platform to originate a variety of commercial real estate debt instruments.

A California judge has rejected an attempt by real estate investor Richard Cohen to get back a 320-unit apartment property in San Francisco that he lost to foreclosure in 2010. The property, Rincon Towers, had been encumbered by a $110 million loan that Bear Stearns had provided, but was later sold to Carmel Partners, which foreclosed against it.

A $146.5 million loan backed by a 1 million-square-foot office portfolio has been moved to special servicing because the properties' declining performance has put the CMBS debt at risk of default. A venture led by Corporate Office Properties Trust owns the portfolio, which was 77 percent occupied last year and generated $9.1 million of net cash flow, or 1.12 times its debt-service requirement, according to servicer data compiled by Morningstar Credit Ratings.

Starlight Investments has registered with Canadian regulators to raise up to $75 million for an investment vehicle designed to acquire apartments in the United States. The proposed Starlight U.S. Multi-Family Core Fund will focus on the Southeast and Texas and on class-A properties with stabilized income levels.

Blackstone Group is in the market to sell 1888 Century Park East, a 500,000-square-foot office property in Los Angeles' Century City area. It has tapped Eastdil Secured to market the trophy property that's expected to fetch at least $425 million, or $450/sf, according to local brokers not directly affiliated with the listing.

A total of seven non-traded REITs have been registered over the past six months, to raise a collective $13 billion. That follows an eight-month stretch during which only three REITs registered to raise a total of $4.8 billion. Each of the seven new entries are follow-ups to existing investor programs sponsored by some of the most active managers in the non-traded REIT world.

Torchlight Investors has filed a foreclosure lawsuit against a $52.3 million mortgage on the Cheltenham Square Mall in suburban Philadelphia. The property's owner, Thor Equities, has not made payments against the loan, which was securitized through Banc of America Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2004-5, since last August, when the property was appraised at a value of $31.7 million.

Two Michigan shopping malls that previously were owned by General Growth Properties Inc. and were encumbered by $61 million of CMBS debt have been sold for a total of $16.75 million. The properties had been taken in lieu of foreclosure by CWCapital Asset Management, special servicer of the two CMBS trusts that held their debt.

The CMBS trust that in February took Dallas' Thanksgiving Tower, after foreclosing on $52.8 million of debt it had backed, has listed the 1.4 million-square-foot office property for sale. The downtown trophy property, which is being offered through CBRE, could sell for up to $70 million.

AT&T Inc. is offering for sale its 410,230-square-foot office property at 3033 Chain Bridge Road in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Oakton, Va. It is being offered through Cushman & Wakefield and could sell for as much as $89 million, or roughly $217/sf. AT&T would continue to occupy it under a long-term net lease.

A venture of Invesco Real Estate and the Milestone Group has sold 52 apartment complexes with 16,944 units in the Southeast and Southwest United States, along with the portfolio's management company to a newly-launched Canadian REIT for $1.1 billion.

American Realty Capital Properties Inc., which only last month completed its merger with American Realty Capital Trust III Inc., creating a $3.1 billion operation, has offered to buy Cole Credit Property Trust III Inc. in a deal valued at $8.9 billion, including assumed debt. Cole Credit III, meanwhile, had recently struck a deal to buy its manager as part of an effort to list its shares on the Big Board.

Mast Capital of Miami has sued Hypothekenbank Frankfurt, the former EuroHypo, alleging the bank breached an agreement to sell a $41.2 million mortgage against the 110-room Thompson Beverly Hills hotel in California. The bank, it says, had agreed to sell the loan in order to gain leverage in its discounted pay-off talks with the borrower.

Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital has provided a $275 million loan against the ground beneath the 1,331-room property. The land was acquired by a venture of David Werner and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management for $325 million. The loan takes out $175 million of debt that Goldman Sachs had provided in 2011.

Moody's Investors Service says it would have rated Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, 2013-ALTM, a CMBS deal backed by a $160 million loan against the Altamonte Mall near Orlando, Fla., four to six notches lower than the ratings the deal actually received. It said it would have valued the property using an 8.5 percent capitalization rate, instead of the 7-7.8 percent cap rate its competitors used.

TA Associates Realty has raised $1 billion of equity commitments for its latest investment fund, Realty Associates Fund X, through which it aims to raise $1.25 billion. Investors include the Texas Education Agency, which committed up to $75 million, and the Illinois Municipal Retirement System, which committed $50 million.

Torchlight Loan Services has sued Credit Suisse's Column Financial lending unit, alleging that it breached certain representations and warranties when it sold two loans with a balance of $16.3 million to a CMBS trust in 2007. The loans have been in special servicing since 2009. Torchlight wants to get a court to order Column to buy back the two loans and pay it nearly $20 million in damages.

Improving hotel fundamentals are making the sector a darling for lenders, especially those selling their loans into securitization. The volume of hotel loans that were contributed to CMBS deals last year increased by 72 percent from a year earlier. Spreads on hotel loans have shrunk by 85 basis points over the past eight months.