TalB

Globes [online] – business and technology news from Israel
Tshuva's LA tower billed as haven from paparazzi

"The Los Angeles Times": Elad promises "Israeli-trained VIP" security guards.

Ariel Rosenberg 20 Aug 08 16:42

"The Los Angeles Times" reports that Yitzhak Tshuva's Elad Properties LLC has come up with a new way to entice wealthy buyers. The firm is developing of the Carlyle Residences, a 24-storey high-rise on Wilshire Boulevard which is being billed as paparazzi-proof and as the first building specifically designed to thwart prying lenses.

Elad plans to open the building in 2009. According to the paper, the company also promises round-the-clock patrols by "Israeli-trained VIP security guards", private elevators that open directly into apartments, and high hedges that shield the swimming pool and yoga lawn from shutterbugs. Even the shape of the tower, a crescent, is advertised as an anti-paparazzi device. According to the developer, it minimizes views into the Carlyle from neighboring buildings.

"The Los Angeles Times" quotes Elad Properties West CEO Thomas Elliott sa saying that the company was responding to complaints from celebrities and elected officials about aggressive tabloid photographers. "We are reaching out to the Hollywood community to do what we can to ensure their safety and security," he said.

The paper noted that it remains unclear whether any of the Carlyle's so-called anti-paparazzi measures will actually work - or whether their pitch is drawing any of Hollywood's elite. Elliott declined to say whether any celebrities had been convinced to buy any units. Prices range from $2.9 million to $20 million for one of four units on the penthouse floor.

"The Los Angeles Times" said that paparazzi were unimpressed by the claims about the building's paparazzi-free design.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - Globes [online] – business and technology news from Israel - on August 20, 2008

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008

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TalB

Globes [online] – business and technology news from Israel
BSR Projects bets on Las Vegas bank for help

"BSR Projects was on verge of issuing a going concern warning."

Avi Shauly 3 Sep 08 13:06

"I hope that we'll soon be able to reach a deal with a Las Vegas bank forIsraeli investors to buy our project," disclosed BSR Projects Ltd. (TASE: BSRP) controlling shareholder Eitan Eldar at the company's bondholders meeting yesterday.

Investors were apparently encouraged by the meeting; the companies Series B bonds rose 5.7% in response. The share, however, closed 2.8% lower.

BSR Engineering & Development Ltd owns 66% of BSR Projects. BSR controlling shareholders, president Nachshon Kivity, Eldar, and Roy Gil, convened the bondholders meeting in Ramat Gan to allay fears after the yield on BSR Project's Series B bonds rose to 34%.

BSR Projects published its financial report for the second quarter of 2008 last Friday. The company lost NIS 44 million and wrote off NIS 53 million in the quarter for projects in the US. These projects resulted in a shareholders' equity deficit of NIS 66.5 million. The share has plummeted 43% in the past year.

Eldad also told the bondholders the reasons behind a notice to the TASE regarding the loan. "A going concern warning should have been appended to the company's financial report, but after BSR Europe undertook to finance a NIS 5 million loan for BSR Projects, the company's accountant agreed not to append the warning."

BSR Europe Ltd. (TASE:BSR) is a sister company of BSR Projects.

Eldad noted that the company's projects in the US were in a very difficult situation, a mezzanine loan was in big trouble, and a major project was heading for receivership. He specifically referred to the company's residential project in Las Vegas, for which the company made an $11.5 million write-off in the second quarter. "This is an example of very bad timing of US investments," he concluded.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - Globes [online] – business and technology news from Israel - on September 3, 2008

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008

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TalB

Globes [online] – business and technology news from Israel
Gazit-Globe unit opens Toronto's first green mall

FCR opens a mall in compliance with LEED standards.

Merav Ankori 28 Sep 08 15:36

Gazit-Globe Ltd. (TASE: GLOB) subsidiary First Capital Realty Inc. (TSX:FCR) has opened Toronto's first ecofriendly mall that complies with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria, the Morningside Crossing Shopping Center.

The LEED Green Building Rating system of the US Green Building Council has become a benchmark of environmental construction in the US.

In an interview with "Globes" a year ago, FCR president and CEO Dori Segal said, "Environmental construction has several meanings. Use of non-polluting building materials, very efficient energy systems, such as the use of natural lighting, air conditioning, and waste treatment to separate materials for recycling, and so forth. It also refers to gardening and irrigation, such as the use of recycled water and ensuring that water for irrigating gardens and green spaces percolates into underground tanks for reuse."

FCR also said that, in May 2006, it became the first shopping center developer in Canada to announce that all of its new development projects would be constructed to LEED standards and principles. In 2008, FCR has invested more than $160 million in 33 properties developed to LEED standards in Canada, including new shopping centers, redevelopment properties, and expansion space.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - Globes [online] – business and technology news from Israel - on September 28, 2008

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008

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TalB

Globes [online] – business and technology news from Israel
Israeli developers in New York find demand evaporates

Lev Leviev and Shaya Boymelgreen find their inventory of apartments is stuck in the wake of the financial crisis.

Ariel Rosenberg2 Nov 08 14:55

Apartment sales by Israeli developers in New York have ground to a complete halt, according to a study by "Globes" on sales data by two leading Israeli developers in the city - Lev Leviev and Shaya Boymelgreen. The financial report for 2007 Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL; Pink Sheets:AFIVY), controlled by chairman Leviev, published in March 2008, included an impressive Big Apple property portfolio; jewels in the company's crowns. That financial report now appears to have been swan songs.

The largest project of Africa-Israel and Boymelgreen Developers LLC joint venture, Leviev Boymelgreen, is 20 Pine Street, in Manhattan. The 38-storey building in the heart of the financial district was bought in late 2004. Leviev Boymelgreen planned to convert the building, occupied by Chase Manhattan Bank into 408 condominiums for financiers, especially the singles and young couples among them, who wanted to live adjacent to their jobs. Four years later, when Leviev and Boymelgreen dissolved their partnership, and divided up its properties. However, whereas 319 apartments in the project were sold by the end of 2007, only five were sold during the first quarter of 2008, the last figures that Africa-Israel provided in its financial reports.

Since then, the developers have not been able to move the remaining 20% of the apartments in the project, nearly three years after beginning the marketing in January 2006. According to "Street Easy", 58 apartments at 20 Pine Street were still unsold by July 2008, just before the financial meltdown, and there is no demand at all. Although five contracts are being negotiated, the process has already lasted seven months.

The situation is even worse for Africa-Israel's project at 111 Fulton Street, Manhattan, held through Africa-Israel Properties Development USA. In the financial report for the second quarter, Africa-Israel reported that it had sold 87 of the 163 condominiums in this project, 11 of which were sold during the first quarter, since beginning marketing in May 2007. However, "Street Easy" reports that, since April, no sales have been made at all, and some condominiums have been taken off the market. 24 condominiums have been waiting for buyers for months to no avail.

The asking price at another Africa-Israel project, known as the "District", at 60 Ann Street in Lower Manhattan, has dropped to $11,850 per square meter. Condominiums in this project are now going for $625,000 to $3.4 million, but there have been no buyers since the beginning of the year.

Boymelgreen also has problems across the East River. Boymelgreen Developers' Novo project at 343 Fourth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, has 113 apartments on 12 floors. Boymelgreen bought the lot in 2002, and obtained an occupancy license for the project in June 2008. The license infuriated local residents, because he did not meet his promise to renovate a nearby park used by the building's residents.

The most recent sales in the Novo project were in a month ago, and most of the apartments have been sold - but at substantial discounts on the original asking prices. Nine apartments are now being offered for between $499,000 and $905,000, but most were sold at a discount of 5-10% for an average price of $7,350 per square meter. Some apartments have been on the market for over a year. The price for a top-floor apartment was reduced from $1.05 million in June to $920,000 in August, but has still not yet found a buyer.

Boymelgreen also has a large Israeli portfolio held through Boymelgreen Capital Ltd. (TASE:BMGN) subsidiary Azorim Investment, Development and Construction Ltd. (TASE: AZRM).

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - Globes [online] – business and technology news from Israel - on November 2, 2008

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008

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TalB

Globes [online] – business and technology news from Israel
US bank demands repayment of loan to BSR project

In August, BSR Projects made a NIS 53 million write-off on US investments.

Avi Shauly29 Oct 08 16:52

BSR Projects Ltd. (TASE: BSRP) reports that the bank financing the company's residential project in Fort Myers, Florida, is demanding immediate repayment of the $16 million loan the to the company managing the project, which defaulted on October 21. BSR Projects indirectly owns 13.8% of the project company.

BSR Projects has stated several times in recent months that it was struggling to secure financing for the project, and that it was in negotiations with the lender bank. When additional debts and related expenses are added, the bank is demanding a total of $18.5 million from the Florida company; BSR Projects' share of this amount is $2.5 million.

BSR Engineering and Development Ltd. (TASE:BSRE), controlled by chairman Kalman Sufrin, president Nachshon Kivity, Eitan Eldar, and Roy Gil, owns 64.2% of BSR Projects. The company's investments in the US have caused it heavy losses. In August, it made a NIS 53 million write-off on two failed projects in Florida and Las Vegas. The company is also invested in two other projects, one in Saint Petersburg, Florida, and the other in Phoenix, Arizona, which the company says are valued at $14.3 million.

BSR Projects fell 13% today and BSR Engineering fell 5.6%.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - Globes [online] – business and technology news from Israel - on October 29, 2008

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008

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