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This is the talk page for the sandbox article on Westbrook Partners. Content from the French wikipedia is being used to create content for this sandbox article. Texts from sources have been temporarily added to this page to extract content and will be deleted.Oceanflynn (talk) 18:25, 21 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Gecina, Paris[edit]

In 2002, Westbrook has signed an agreement with Gecina, subject to the success of the tender offer ongoing Simco.[1]

In 2003, Westbrook has bought 3500 items from the land Gecina, stating its intention to sell the cut. Westbrook, however, opted for resales block in 2007, to cut short the more stringent provisions of the Aurillac Act of June 2006 [2]. It has sold 400-500 Parisian housing at below-market prices (about 30% [3]), of which about 140 French Union Management (UFG), a subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe [4] [2 ].

She bought the hotel in 2006 at Saint-Lazare SOVAFIM, sparking opposition associations poorly housed. [5]

Shell Mex House, London, UK

In 2007 when investors were paying record prices for office buildings in London,[2] Westbrook acquired Shell Mex House, an Art Deco style "office building overlooking the Thames river, for about 490 million pounds ($988 million)."[2] The former headquarters of Shell in London, the building, is , grade II listed building,[3] built in 1930-1931 and designed by Ernest Joseph at number 80, Strand, London.[2]


Its sales practices for cutting are controversial: in 2008 in New York, some residents of buildings belonging to Westbrook spoke of "harassment"[4] [8] [9].

Some observers indicated in 2008, for example it does dramatically increase the price of real estate in the East Village and Lower East Side, Manhattan.[5]

Opérations immobilières[edit]

Shell Mex House, London, UK

Shell Mex House is an Art Deco style, grade II listed building, built in 1930-1931 and designed by Ernest Joseph at number 80, Strand, London, UK. The building was lsita grade II listed building[6] It was purchased by Westbrook in 2007 for $988 million dollars.

En 2002, Westbrook a signé un accord avec Gecina, conditionné au succès de l'offre publique en cours sur Simco[7].

En 2003, Westbrook a ainsi acheté 3 500 lots auprès de la foncière Gecina, affirmant son intention de les vendre à la découpe. Westbrook a cependant opté pour des reventes en bloc en 2007, afin de couper court aux dispositions plus contraignantes prévues par la loi Aurillac de juin 2006[8]. Il a ainsi vendu 400 à 500 logements parisiens à des prix inférieurs au marché (environ 30 % [9]), dont environ 140 à l'Union française de gestion (UFG), une filiale du Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe[10] · [8]. 

Elle a acheté en 2006 l'hôtel Saint-Lazare à la SOVAFIM, suscitant l'opposition d'associations de mal-logés [11].

Elle a racheté en juillet 2007 le siège de Shell, à Londres (le Shell Mex House, un bâtiment art déco), la transaction s'élevant à 988 millions de dollars[12].

Ses pratiques de vente à la découpe sont controversées: à New York, certains habitants d'immeubles appartenant à Westbrook ont parlé de « harcèlement.» [4][13][5]

Certains observateurs signalent par exemple qu'elle fait monter dramatiquement le prix de l'immobilier à East Village et Lower East Side, à Manhattan[5]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ Capital 2002.
  2. ^ a b c Packard 2007.
  3. ^ http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-427801-shell-mex-house-greater-london-authority
  4. ^ a b Monahan & Sederstrom 2008.
  5. ^ a b c Townsend 2008.
  6. ^ http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-427801-shell-mex-house-greater-london-authority
  7. ^ Gecina signe un protocole d'accord avec Westbrook, Capital, 14 octobre 2002
  8. ^ a b Christine Lagoutte, Immobilier : des ventes à la découpe bradées, Le Figaro, 10 avril 2007
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Monde was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Westbrook va vendre 400 à 500 logements à Paris sous les prix du marché, AFP-Le Moniteur, 10 avril 2007
  11. ^ Les mal logés occupent la SOVAFIM, 20 minutes, 15 avril 2008
  12. ^ Bloomberg: Westbrook to Acquire Shell-Mex House for $988 Million ...
  13. ^ Monahan & Sederstrom 2008a.

Citations[edit]

  • Monahan, Rachel; Sederstrom, Jotham (22 August 2008), Starrett-eyed equity firm hit with tenants' complaints, New York: New York Daily News, retrieved 21 November 2014 {{citation}}: ref stripmarker in |ref= at position 1 (help)

Tenants of Manhattan apartment buildings owned by an equity firm hoping to buy Starrett City Wednesday unloaded a list of complaints against the landlord. Warning Starrett City residents to be wary of East Village Westbrook Partners, tenants charged the company refuses to make simple repairs, uses hardball tactics to evict residents - including leaving residents without hot water for up to 15 days. Westbrook is one of four finalists competing to buy Starrett City, the largest federally subsidized housing complex in the country. "Just like a leopard doesn't change its spots, neither does an unscrupulous landlord," said City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez (D-East Village), flanked by tenants and housing advocates at one of the 17 East Village buildings Westbrook owns. "Starrett City: Watch out because Westbrook Partners are coming." Tenants from three Westbrook East Village buildings said yesterday the landord routinely deceives renters about their legal rights, drags its feet on repairs and skimps on heat and water. When tenants are finally evicted or forced out - sometimes through lengthy housing court cases - Westbrook renovates the apartments and raises the rent. "When I came home, it was raining through the ceiling," said a teary-eyedTiffany May, 29, a fashion industry production manager who lives in a Westbrook-owned building on E. 12th St. "I can't believe they're doing this for any other reason than to entice me to leave," added May, who said that since April she has reported cracks in the ceiling of her apartment, broken locks at the entrance and bathroom leaks. A Westbrook spokesman said they were only recently made aware of residents' complaints, and insisted many tenants voiced appreciation for building improvements. The complaints came as city, state and federal officials and owner Starrett City Associates approach a September deadline for choosing a group to take over the 46-tower complex in Spring Creek on the southern edge of Brooklyn. The finalists are expected to bid $600 million to $1 billion for the complex, well below a $1.3 billion offer by Clipper Equity last year that was rejected because of the rent hike it would have been forced to implement.

Tenants at Manhattan apartment buildings owned by an equity firm hoping to buy Starrett City yesterday unloaded a list of complaints against the landlord. Warning Starrett City residents to be wary of East Village Westbrook Partners, tenants charged the company refuses to make simple repairs, uses hardball tactics to evict residents - including leaving residents without hot water for up to 15 days. Westbrook is one of four finalists competing to buy Starrett City, the largest federally subsidized housing complex in the country. "Just like a leopard doesn't change its spots, neither does an unscrupulous landlord," said City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez (D-East Village), flanked by tenants and housing advocates at one of the 17 East Village buildings Westbrook owns. "Starrett City: Watch out because Westbrook Partners are coming." Tenants from three Westbrook East Village buildings said yesterday the landlord routinely deceives renters about their legal rights, drags its feet on repairs and skimps on heat and water. When tenants are finally evicted or forced out - sometimes through lengthy housing court cases - Westbrook renovates the apartments and raises the rent. "When I came home, it was raining through the ceiling," said a teary-eyed Tiffany May, 29, a fashion industry production manager who lives in a Westbrook-owned building on E. 12th St. "I can't believe they're doing this for any other reason than to entice me to leave," added May, who said that since April she has reported cracks in the ceiling of her apartment, broken locks at the entrance and bathroom leaks. A Westbrook spokesman said they were only recently made aware of residents' complaints, and insisted many tenants voiced appreciation for building improvements. The complaints came as city, state and federal officials and owner Starrett City Associates approach a September deadline for choosing a group to take over the 46-tower complex in Spring Creek on the southern edge of Brooklyn. The finalists are expected to bid $600 million to $1 billion for the complex, well below a $1.3 billion offer by Clipper Equity last year that was rejected because of the rent hike it would have been forced to implement.

The group of US pension fund Westbrook is trying to sell 400-500 Parisian housing block at below market prices, said Saturday AFP Jean-Yves Mano, Deputy (PS) of the Town Hall Housing of Paris, confirming a report in Le Monde. The French Union Management (UFG), a subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe, has signed a sales agreement covering approximately 140 homes for a maximum average price of 5,000 euros per square meter, 30% lower than the market, added Mr. Mano. These homes, many of which are located in uptown, are from the portfolio of more than 3,500 lots acquired in 2003 by Westbrook with land Gecina, the US group announced its intention to sell "to cut." "Westbrook is trying to sell the balance of the housing block, not by consignment, and at lower than market price, because the company arrived in July at the end of the period of four years to benefit from the scheme merchant of goods "that exempts transfer taxes, explained Mano. The City of Paris is "potentially candidate" to redeem a number of lots sold at UFG, said Mr. Mano. In addition to those assigned to the UFG, "Westbrook is in negotiations with partners" to sell other remaining homes, has he added. Selling cutting is reselling apartment by apartment buildings purchased in bulk to institutional (banking, insurance), often at prohibitive prices. Westbrook was particularly pointed after buying housing Gecina accused of pocketing a huge gain by offering tenants to buy their very expensive apartment. Legislation passed in June 2006 on the sale of property to the cut (called "Aurillac Act") gives the tenant a right of first refusal at the time of purchase of its building block.


Brandon Kielbasa, an affordable housing organizer, spoke about East Village buildings owned by Westbrook Partners at Community Board 3’s Housing and Zoning Committee meeting last month. Tenants say investment firm is harassing to cash in. Shortly after Tricia Brouk arrived in New York from St. Louis in the early 1990s, the 20-something settled into her apartment in the East Village and made a career for herself as a choreographer and dancer. More than 17 years later, she still lives at the corner of Avenue A and East 11th St., but what she once called an old-school New York building where people looked after each other has become something of a nightmare. “It makes me feel unsafe,” said Brouk, 37. “It makes feel threatened.” Brouk uses such language to describe life in her apartment at 500 E. 11th St., where she said the building has had sporadic hot water and heat for the past four years. In addition, since the private real estate investment firm Westbrook Partners purchased it — along with 16 other buildings in the East Village for $97 million — in May of last year, conditions have worsened, with ongoing construction, broken front doors and little, if any, response to complaints. City records show that 51 complaints have been made by building residents in the past year, compared to just 10 the previous year. And 20 of the complaints in the past year are still listed as open by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. In the 17 buildings combined, there have been 58 more complaints in the past year compared to the year before. “I can’t live a comfortable life,” said Brouk, who didn’t have hot water for two days early last week in her rent-stabilized apartment. “I’m constantly worried that I won’t have heat or hot water.” Westbrook Partners, which has offices all over the world, including New York, Paris and Tokyo, did not respond to an interview request for this article. Housing advocates believe that Brouk’s troubles over the past year aren’t an isolated incident. Rather, they feel they are part of a coordinated effort by Westbrook and the management company it employs to decrease services and quality of life in order to increase vacancy rates in all the buildings, which include many rent-regulated apartments, and thereby improve returns for their investors. Tenant advocates say these actions coincide with a citywide increase in rent-regulated buildings being purchased by private investment firms; these firms use what the advocates deem harassment tactics to flip rent-regulated apartments to make return rates of 16 percent to 20 percent, which double traditional returns for residential buildings. “They need to drive a strategy that can double the historic rate of profit,” said Benjamin Dulchin, deputy director for the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. “The only way you can do that is creating more vacancies than you would normally see.” The yearly vacancy rates of rent-regulated apartments is about 6 percent. But Brandon Kielbasa, an organizer and affordable housing advocate with the Cooper Square Committee, who has personally surveyed all but two of the buildings, estimates the turnover rate since Westbrook purchased the buildings last year has been about 40 percent, or roughly 100 tenants. “They are pretty savvy on how to get tenants out,” said Kielbasa, who has had tenants from the Westbrook buildings seeking help from his office since last August. “Sometimes it’s subtle things and other times it’s not so subtle.” Kielbasa said tenants have dealt with nonrenewal notices when they had a legal right to the apartment, the management company claiming it didn’t receive a rent check, being pursued in Housing Court and delayed responses to complaints. Housing Court records show that management, via the law firm Bauman Katz & Grill, brought 12 cases against tenants in the past year, six of which resulted in a tenant losing an apartment, with a few others still in court. “It’s very confusing because you don’t know what’s going on,” said a man who lives in a Westbrook building, but didn’t want to be identified. “But it’s been very good that our building has started to talk to each other, and you start to realize that there is a pattern of intimidation. Then you talk to other buildings and see a pattern and what might be done to you next.” A.N.H.D. recently started to call the practice of private-equity firms buying rent-regulated buildings “predatory equity” and estimated that such firms purchased 90,000 units in New York City in the past four years. A.N.H.D. obtained documents from other funds with holdings in the city that explicitly state 20 percent to 30 percent turnover rates in the first year as a goal, but hasn’t found such documents for Westbrook. “It’s only very recently that private-equity funds have felt confident enough to go in more problematic neighborhoods where there is more rent-regulated housing,” Dulchin said. Seth Donlin, an H.P.D. spokesperson, said he recently fielded more questions about private real estate investment firms buying rent-regulated apartments but didn’t know what could be done besides holding them accountable to current laws. “We can’t say which company can buy a building, but they have to follow the rules,” Donlin said. “If there is tenant harassment, there is a way to take care of that through the courts.” The East Village and Lower East Side have thousands of rent-regulated apartments, which is why Community Board 3 last month approved a resolution written by the Cooper Square Committee to create awareness on the issue and to prod Westbrook representatives to show up at a meeting to discuss tenant complaints. Westbrook had declined to attend past meetings. The board had already developed a relationship with the Cooper Square Committee in which C.B. 3 approaches city agencies about problems in the Westbrook buildings and Cooper Square directly helps tenants. “Affordable housing is a priority at this board, and Westbrook is affecting it,” said Susan Stetzer, C.B. 3 district manager, who has lived in a rent-regulated apartment in the district for 30 years. “It’s a huge problem and it’s changing the nature of the community.”

July 4 (Bloomberg) — Westbrook Partners LLC, the New York- based property investor, agreed to buy London’s Shell-Mex House, an art-deco office building overlooking the Thames river, for about 490 million pounds ($988 million). The purchase is due to be completed tomorrow, said Mark Donnor, managing principal of Westbrook’s European business, in a telephone interview today. The property at 80 The Strand in the West End district is owned by a group that includes real estate investors Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz. “This acquisition is in keeping with our strategy of investing in high-quality real estate in prime locations in global gateway cities that also offer opportunities to add value,” Donnor said. A shortage of office space in central London, the most expensive location in the world, will enable landlords to charge higher rents, according to real estate consultant Colliers CRE. Shell-Mex House is the headquarters of Pearson Plc, owner of the Financial Times and the world’s largest educational publisher. The property, built in 1931, has about 550,000 square feet of space, 58 percent of which is occupied by Pearson. Other tenants include Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Vodafone Group Plc and Omnicom Group Inc. Average rents are about 48 pounds a square foot and increase each year in line with inflation, according to Donnor. Would-Be Buyers: The group that owns Shell-Mex House, which includes David and Simon Reuben and Jack Dellal, acquired the building for 328 million pounds in May 2002. They bought it from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and real estate investment firm Witkoff Group, who in turn had purchased it three years earlier from Royal Dutch Shell for 164 million pounds. During the past 18 months, investors including Dubai’s Istithmar PJSC, Tishman Speyer Properties LP and Land Securities Group Plc have all sought to buy Shell-Mex House, according to reports in the Financial Times, Property Week and the Times of London. Westbrook Partners was founded in 1994 and its seven funds oversee assets worth almost $28 billion. The funds, which typically use 70 percent or more of debt to finance acquisitions, focus on cities such as New York, San Francisco, Paris and Tokyo. “Westbrook has a reputation for being expert at finding big off-market opportunities and not over-paying,” said Rob Skioldebrand, director of leasing and development in the West End at real estate consultant Jones Lang LaSalle. “They do a very effective job of identifying potential, working income and adding value.” Record Prices: This year, investors have paid record prices for office buildings in London. In April, Metrovacesa SA bought HSBC Holdings Plc’s base in the city for 1.09 billion pounds, the U.K.’s biggest property transaction. The tower in London’s Canary Wharf that serves as Citigroup Inc.’s European headquarters was this week bought by Derek Quinlan, an Irish investor, and Propinvest Holdings Ltd. for about 1 billion pounds. Fourteen properties around the world were sold for at least $1 billion in the first five months, as many as in the whole of 2006, according to real estate consultant Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. “Investors face intense competition for quality assets,” said Padraig Brown, an associate director at Jones Lang. A single trophy asset “can be attractive to many investors, especially when rental growth for prime assets is forecast to outperform,” he said. Knight Frank LLP advised Westbrook, while CB Richard Ellis Inc. acted for the vendors.

Is the epilogue of the series of sales at the cutting started in 2003? The company Westbrook, who manages several US pension funds, prepares, according to our information, to settle quietly between 400 and 500 Parisian homes. It should give the bulk to institutional, thus renouncing the market lot by lot.

The French Union Management (UFG), a subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe, is about to sign a sales agreement covering approximately 200 units for an average price of 5000 euros square meter, lower than 30% b the market. They are from the portfolio of 3,500 lots acquired by Westbrook in May and July 2003 to land Gecina and many are located in the beautiful areas of Paris. The transaction was EUR 1.2 billion, at the time, caused a sensation in its scope as well as its purpose, since the intention of the US was to sell after "cut" the condominiums and pocket the gain. Square du Roule, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, Westbrook has acquired 113 logements, from No. 1 to No. 7 this address for 79 million euros (3800 euros per m2), 28 May 2003. For offer tenants a year later, at a price between 4500 and 5900 euros per m2, a gain of nearly 40%.

"GUERRILLA" JUDICIAL: Square du Roule and elsewhere, many tenants who had no other solution than buying at a high price or go, rebelled against the operation of Westbrook. They formed over a hundred federated associations in the "Collective cut" and mobilized the media and politicians of the left and right. Especially since among them were people like Jeanne Moreau, Lionel Jospin and Jean-Jacques Aillagon. The case is raised in Parliament, which, after much procrastination, adopted June 13, 2006, the law Aurillac - the name of the UMP of the 7th arrondissement. But this text - the buyer of one or more batches of apartments must now sell their apartments to tenants at wholesale prices or renew their lease for six years - which de facto makes sales to cutting less attractive arrived too late for most of the "cut" Paris Westbrook. For its part, the City of Paris saw a dim view of it disappear rental housing. It has, in some cases, exercised its right of pre-emption: "Between 2001 and 2006, [it], directly or indirectly, purchased 8200 housing wholesale price, 900 to Axa, AGF 520, 1150 and Gecina two buildings in Westbrook, "said Jean-Yves Mano, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of housing. The "cut" also conducted a "guerrilla" in the judicial field, involving fifty procedures with some victories, such as the cancellation of new sales offers of 91 Avenue La Bourdonnais (7e), but also setbacks, with validation leave sales by several district courts, particularly in the 18th arrondissement. Today, Westbrook is eager to sell its 400-500 unsold homes for a period of four years to benefit from the tax regime realtor, which exempts transfer taxes, ends in July. For this, she agrees discounts from 13% to 25% of potential new buyers: the price of an apartment of 130 m2, rue de Bourgogne (7th), increased from 1.2 million to 800,000 euros; that of another, of 182 m2, square du Roule (8th), 1.05 million euros to 878 700. These discounts forced to reformulate the offer to tenants, which opens a new right of first refusal. "But this operation is completed in good conditions. We achieved 90% of the targets," comments Jacques Bienvenu, president Boccador representing Westbrook in France. The unit sales, they continue in the capital, at a rate of 3 000 to 4 000 per year, according to ad valorem special agent, (6 000 to 7 000 in 2004 and 2005), but more quietly and without property dealers intermediaries.

Westbrook Partners, a global real estate private equity firm, hired Gary Palmer as managing principal in its new San Francisco office. He was formerly the head of Morgan Stanley's real estate investing and investment banking group in the western United States. Palmer is joined by Timothy Yantz, who has relocated to San Francisco from Westbrook's New York office. In addition to New York and San Francisco, Westbrook has offices in London, Paris and Tokyo. Westbrook's investments cover many types of real estate priced between $5 million and $2 billion. Most of the firm's investments are made in privately negotiated deals or limited-competition transactions. Typically, Westbrook's deals involve joint ventures with operating partners who have extensive experience in the local market or with a specific type of real estate. Since 1992, through six investment funds, Westbrook has invested $5 billion of equity in $20 billion of real estate transactions. Westbrook raises its money from institutional investors, including public and corporate pension funds, endowments, foundations and financial institutions.

  • Category:American pension funds
  • Category:American real estate
  1. ^ Monahan & Sederstrom 2008a.
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