High office building vacancies may mean trouble for banks (New London Day)
Vacancy rates in office buildings exceed 10 percent in virtually every major city in the country and are rising rapidly, a sign of economic distress

West Valley park becomes shrine to 2 slain boys (The Arizona Republic)
Jesse Ramirez, 7, and Edwin Pellecier, 10, died in the hospital after being beaten to death at a park inside a housing development at 91st Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road.

Sell versus lease stalls DeSoto Police Jury land deals (The Shreveport Times)
Police jurors had agreed to sell land at the west industrial park for $6,000 an acre. The verbal agreements were moving forward until District Attorney Don Burkett advised the Police Jury in December that it must first get an appraisal, advertise the land for sale and have a public hearing to allow comments.

DGAP-News: alstria office REIT-AG: Main Shareholder Appoints New Trustee (Financial.de)
Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Keystone Commons fire snarls Tri-Boro Expressway traffic (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Firefighters extinguished a blaze at an abandoned building in the Keystone Commons industrial park in East Pittsburgh this afternoon, according to Allegheny County 911 dispatchers.

Planners Look to Pax River as Guide Ahead of Military Base Expansions (Washington Post)
Where once there were trees and fields there stand office buildings adorned with the names of giant military contractors: Northrup Grumman, Sikorsky, Raytheon and more. The road leading to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station has widened from two lanes to six and become lined for miles with shopping...

PRESS RELEASE: Fitch Downgrades Triton CMBS (Nasdaq)
UK commercial property values have declined significantly since the transaction closed, while the securitised portions of the loans do not amortise, resulting in increased balloon repayment risk.

Office Demand Is Down, and So Are the Deals (New York Times)
By most accounts, the commercial property market reached its pinnacle in early 2007 with the Blackstone Group ’s acquisition of Equity Office Properties Trust and its prized cache of more than 500 office buildings.

Suit targets FEMA, business park in St. Peters (Suburban Journals)
An environmental group with a long-standing opposition to building on flood plains has launched another legal battle involving the development of a business park near the Mississippi River in St. Peters.