General Electric's Finance Arm Bulks Up in Canada--Plots & Ploys

GE Capital is bulking up in Canada.

The financing arm of General Electric Co. this month purchased a $530 million portfolio of commercial mortgages tied to 16 Canadian properties from Bank of America Corp.

The move is part of the "company's strategy to grow our debt business in Canada," Brad Totter, president of GE Capital Real Estate's North America division, said in an email.

The portfolio would be a big gulp for the company in Canada. The value of the commercial-property loan portfolio of the GE Capital division that includes Canada increased to $5.9 billion in the second quarter, up from $5.2 billion in the year-earlier period. Meanwhile, its portfolio of U.S. loans fell to $8 billion from $10.2 billion in the same period.

Bank of America, advised by real-estate-services firm JLL Inc., began looking for buyers this year for the portfolio. The loans are performing and were sold without a discount on their face value, according to a person familiar with the deal.

Eliot Brown Buying Low by the Snow

A real-estate investor known for buying buildings and property debt in New York is turning his sights to Utah ski bums.

Zohar A. Cohen recently paid $15 million to acquire the Grand Lodge at Brian Head, a 100-suite resort in southern Utah near the ski area.

Now, he has his eyes on a 2,600-acre development at nearby Braffits Mountain. In December, Mr. Cohen bought a $67 million first mortgage on the property, which went into default three years earlier. He expects to take ownership of the land from a local developer at a court hearing next month.

The site has about 400 shovel-ready lots for private homes, with 12 miles of roads and utilities in place. Mr. Cohen plans to start building model homes on the land this year. He said the current developer sold six lots already, with an average price of about $600,000.

He will target residents a three-hour drive away in Las Vegas. "People want to escape the heat in Vegas and have a second home," Mr. Cohen said.

Craig Karmin San Francisco High II

A San Francisco developer that made some of the city's best bets in the downturn by buying and redeveloping properties on the cheap is moving forward with two towers that would include the city's second-tallest skyscraper.

TMG Partners last week began work on an environmental review for the adjoining buildings in the city's Transbay neighborhood, one 910-feet and the other 605-feet tall and both designed by Norman Foster.

TMG and its partner, Northwood Investors LLC, plan to include about one million square feet of office space topped by condominiums in the taller of the two buildings.

TMG gained renown for taking control of multiple properties from 2009 to 2011 that it then sold for big gains, including a building bought by Dolby Laboratories for more than double what TMG and partner DivcoWest paid a year earlier.

Matt Field, TMG's chief investment officer, said he hopes construction will start next year, although the company hasn't secured debt financing and hasn't decided whether to move ahead before securing a tenant.

"We're just big believers that we have the right product at the right time," he said.

Eliot Brown

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