Tallest Building in Boston

Short :

Iconic John Hancock Tower in downtown Boston, has been that city’s tallest building for over 20 years and represents something of a standout assets for its owners and occupiers.

Broadway Real Estate Partners and New York based property management business took over ownership of the property in what sources say is a $3.3 bn USD deal, which includes 9 more smaller properties.

Norah B.

Vietnam Metropole

Short: US hotel operator Hilton Hotels Corporation is expected to exchange contracts for the sale of its Hilton Metropele Hotels in London and Birmingham for �420 mn GBP to Tonstate Property Group.

Tonstate are said to be keen to retain the operator as de facto manager/operator after the purchase.

Source

Footfalls

Laying the turf at Wembley Stadium - Homzz.net

In the debacle that has dogged their star contract to project manage and build the UK’s premier soccer stadium in Wembley, London, Multiplex the Australian builder, had experienced what many market observers described as an implosion of problems.

The �800 million project gave the company a profile other builders could only envy and should have made the firm into an international giant had the project been successful. The last thing Multiplex needed was any kind of problem, leave alone the litany of ‘cock-ups’ that ensued.

A third rate Public Relations business would have quietly said to the board of Multiplex, get this one right and the only way is up.

The last thing a project which involves such a colossal sum of public money in the UK, is political capital for the Establishment’s, Fleet Street assassins to get their teeth into….oh boy, how easy it was.

It was fast becoming a new Dome….great idea, great political football, great success when the political Hacks Parasites have long since found another victim….then everyone new it was alright really!!

Never a day went by that Multiplex leaked news of supply delays, construction flaws. Whilst marketing worked hard and determinedly tried to cover up much of the issues as ‘standard practise’, the daily drip of bad news, became a flood. Moreover, as is the case with such political footballs even non stories became stories.

It has become clear that in the last 18 months, the company has given up putting any kind of positive spin on their woes and whilst the project has somewhat clawed back some sense of control, for many people including the UK government, the damage had already been done.

In the weeks running up to February 2005, the Wembley project overruns the board was in possession of information which subsequently lead to a substantial fall in the share price.

The Australian Securities and Investment commission set up an investigation in the matter with a particular view to the timing of announcing bad news which subsequently saw the share price plunge.

As an excuse for holding on to the bad news, Multiplex have asserted that the extent of the bad news was to be verified by their auditors before any public announcements.

The ASIC have concluded that the market should have been provide with such critical intelligence the moment the facts were learnt by the company.

Multiplex has now agreed to set up a $32 mn Australian Dollar compensation fund as a means of compensating about 1000 eligible out of pocket investors.

Wembley Back on track....

All images courtesy of Wembley Stadium

City Square - City On The Red Sea

City of the Red Sea Coast near Jeddah is to treble in size from the present $27 bn (USD) to an estimated $100bn. Developed by Dubai based developer and called The King Abdullah Economic City, construction started last December and is seeking to stimulate enormous economic activity, creating 000’s of jobs.

The expansion plans are personally backed by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Sud who sites local economic stimulation as a key aim of the project. In keeping with recent real estate development in the Middle East, the proposed capacity of the project is expected on a gargantuan scale.

A specially developed seaport area will have capacity for the largest sea-going vessels in the world. An industrial area will house up to 3000 tenants comprising light manufacturing and trading businesses.

As well as several thousands apartments, villas and houses, the are will be intertwined with a network of “Amsterdam like” canals, a major feat in itself given the area’s desert conditions . Work is projected top complete in 2012.

Now Let Me See...! - Homzz.net

Personal Comment :

The continued strong showing of house price rises in the UK has “baffled” many a market observer and pundits who messed up their forecasts flounder around scrabbling for excuses.

Several who enjoy ludicrously high salaries in the City Of London [Ed: no bitterness there then? Eh?] have been telling anyone who would listen that “no one” predicted the strength of the housing market.

Codswallop or some such expletive, serves the lot of them right. In ignoring market conditions and substituting their personal politics as an excuse for serious extrapolations.

Like lambs to the slaughter, the same bandits continue to make similar predictions without understanding the underlying issues that drive market conditions.

The same fools fall into the same trap. Once again the professional pundits are obliged by their over-inflated salaries and bosses who seem incapable of finding intelligent analysts. The traditional jollities of year end predictions for the following year has begun.

In the crass style that has become indicative of the Public School fools that populate much of the City Of London banking institutions, Dresdner Kleinwort Sage David Owen is quoted in the Torygraph as predicting: “We do think that the wheels will come off the UK economy, as the housing market slows significantly in the second half of the year.” The all seeing Owen with great clairvoyance adds with great gravitas: “Then the Bank Of England will have to cut interest rates back down to 4.5pc by 2008”.

Really? Not sure that the Bank’s own Monetary Policy Committee has idea from month what conditions are likely to be with THAT level of certainty!!

Still some one has to employs these fools.

The raft of predictions demanded by the large financial institutions would in part be guilty of perpetuating the mediocrity, but I can’t help but think that it’s the idiots that take them seriously to the extent of basing their investment decisions on these analyses!!

GOOD GRIEF. [Ed: There, there….better now?]

Raser