Correspendence indicated that the Applicant decided not to proceed with the project at this time after evaluating the proposal in light of Cape Cod Commission requirements, the estimated length of review process, and uncertainty regarding both the review and potential mitigation.

As previously reported, the proposal included the construction of a 10-pump facility with five gas islands covered with a canopy. In addition to a 60 square foot kiosk, (1) 10,000 gallon and (1) 30,000 gallon underground storage tanks were also specified.

Reportedly, the Boston office of Eastdil Secured LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank has been retained to market the New England Portfolio. Based on the published reports, the firms directly involved have declined comment and offering details are unclear.

However, according to a source close to the mega offering who was contacted in connection with this report, only a partial interest in the portfolio held by an unidentified joint venture partner, is what is actually being marketed at this time.

The 725,000 square foot Cape Cod Mall is one of fourteen mall properties which were jointly acquired in 1999 by Simon Property Group, Inc., JP Morgan Investment Management’s Strategic  Property Fund and TIAA from New England Development Co. in two transaction phases. In the first, the Cape Cod Mall (which was undergoing a major expansion) and nine additional mall properties were acquired. A short time later, the investment group purchased four more malls from New England Development Co..

In the blockbuster $1.7 billion deal, the fourteen malls collectively known as the New England Portfolio totaled 10.6 million square feet. The portfolio includes ten properties in Massachusetts, two in New Hampshire and one in each Connecticut and Virginia.

Bill Zammer

Southborough, MA - William “Bill” Zammer, Jr., owner/operator of several lodging and foodservice facilities on Cape Cod (known as Cape Cod Restaurants, Inc.), was selected as the 2010 – 2011 chairman of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA).

Zammer is a veteran in the Foodservice Industry, having been in the business and operated a number of establishments over the past 40 years. He has served as President and CEO of the Seilers/Sodexo Company, a foodservice firm. He is the Past President of the MRA Hospitality Institute (now the MRA Educational Foundation) and was inducted into the Massachusetts Hospitality Hall of Fame in 2003. Last year he was honored by the MRA as the 2009 Restaurateur of the Year. Linda Zammer, Bill’s wife  has also been active in the MRA for many years. Recently, Linda was elected Vice President of the MRA Educational Foundation.

Currently, Mr. Zammer is the Chairman of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, Vice Chairman of the Cape Cod Health Care and Hospitals, on the Board of Trustees of Cape Cod Community College (where he and his wife Linda started the Linda and William Zammer Hospitality Institute), on the Advisory Board of the Upper Cape Regional Technical High School, and is a board member on Ray Tye Medical Foundation. He is also a director for the Police Athletic League of Cape Cod, Boys and Girls Clubs of Cape Cod, Cape Cod Business Roundtable, Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, Cape Cod & Islands Workforce Investment Board, and serves the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board and Marine Biological Laboratories at Woods Hole.

The recently renovated two level building has 4,560 square feet of GBA and is sited on a .64 acre lot offering a prominent location with multiple curb cuts and excellent signage.

The May 2009 transfer equated to a price of approximately $166 per square foot of GBA. Coastal Community Capital  arranged the financing through the Bank of Cape Cod .

The year round restaurant was built in the early to mid 1930′s as the first Howard Johnson’s  franchise in the US. In the years that followed and until about 2005 the restaurant was the well known Fog Cutter Restaurant.

File Photo: The former Fog Cutter

Despite these pessimistic economic and industry outlooks, respondents’ attitudes toward their own companies remain much more positive. Half of the respondents express an optimistic outlook for their own companies in the coming year, and only 12 percent had a pessimistic outlook. In 2006, 80 percent of respondents had a positive outlook for their own companies in the next year.

When asked about the single most important issue facing their industry in the next year, more than one-third of real estate executives (36%) chose the national economy. Other concerns included earnings and operation results (21%), the ability to access capital (19%), tenant relationships (10%), and rising costs (5%), among others. 

Survey respondents also weighed in on anticipated rate changes in the market. These are some of the predicted rate changes in the coming year:

• 69 percent think the unemployment rates in their market will increase.
• Three-fifths (61%) predict vacancy rates will rise in their market.
• 79 percent of respondents expect capitalization rates to increase nationally.
• 76 percent believe the capitalization rates will increase in their market.
• Half of respondents (51%) think interest rates will decrease.

Survey respondents are focused on a wide range of issues and strategies, including:

Grant Thornton LLP’s 2008 Real Estate Survey was designed to elicit the opinions and activities of a broad range of real estate industry professionals. The real estate executives were polled in two ways. First, an invitation to participate in the online survey was sent to nearly 1,900 real estate contacts in Grant Thornton’s database. This effort was followed up with a communication to 4,000 developers, owners and investors who are members of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP). NAIOP’s members include developers, owners, investors and other professionals in the industrial, office and mixed-use real estate industry. A total of 341 survey responses were collected between March 2, 2008, and March 26, 2008.

Respondents of the survey described themselves as developers (41 percent), real estate investors (17 percent), real estate owners (11 percent), and asset managers (9 percent). Others included real estate property managers (5 percent) and construction contractors (1 percent).

Grant Thornton LLP is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the leading global accounting, tax and business advisory organizations. Visit Grant Thornton LLP at www.GrantThornton.com.