Trizec Properties Inc

This year's Real Estate Summit will feature a couple of political poles--James Carville and Mary Matalin. The husband and wife team, who stand on opposite ends of the political spectrum and served as presidential campaign advisors, will deliver the luncheon keynote address. The third annual commercial real estate conference will run from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Among the presenters is John Cushman III, president of Cushman Realty Corp.

Kimco Realty Corp., a leader in purchasing, developing and operating shopping centers anchored by supermarkets, said Monday that it would buy Pan Pacific Retail Properties Inc. for about $2.9 billion, beefing up its presence in the Western United States. The deal continues nearly two years of rapid acquisition activity in the U.S. real estate investment trust sector, and came a day after Australia's Centro Properties Group agreed to buy mall owner Heritage Property Investment Trust Inc. for $1.

Yet another area mall has been snapped up. Developers Diversified Realty Corp., the builder of the Pike retail project on the Long Beach shore, said it and a partner would buy the Paseo Colorado shopping center in Pasadena for $114 million from Trizec Properties Inc. Developers Diversified said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it was acquiring 25% of the site for $28.4 million. The lead buyer was not identified, but Pasadena real estate sources say it is Lehman Bros.

Dataproducts Corp., responding to a hostile suitor, unveiled plans Thursday for a major overhaul that includes eliminating 400 domestic manufacturing jobs, mostly in Woodland Hills. Dataproducts, a leading independent maker of computer printers, said the plan also calls for a special cash dividend and the sale of a subsidiary. The company also will proceed with the previously announced sale of its 22-acre headquarters property in Woodland Hills to Trizec Properties Inc.

Chicago real estate tycoon Sam Zell agreed Sunday to sell his Equity Office Properties Trust, the nation's largest office portfolio, to the world's biggest buyout fund for about $20 billion in the largest real estate deal of all time. The buyer is Manhattan-based Blackstone Group, one of the most active real estate investors in the world with about 2,450 properties valued at more than $43 billion before the Equity Office acquisition.

Spiky-haired "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest announced Wednesday that he'll soon start taping a daily TV show live from the Hollywood & Highland complex in Hollywood. Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, who was on hand for the announcement, touted the news as a major economic coup for the city and as further evidence of an ongoing Hollywood revival.

The owners of the Glendale Galleria have put the giant shopping mall up for sale, and industry observers say strong demand for such properties should prompt a long line of bidders. The mall is expected to sell for more than $400 million. Institutional investors and some of the nation's largest mall operators, including Santa Monica-based Macerich Co. and Westfield America Inc.

Two large Los Angeles County hotel properties have traded hands and a third has hit the market as the region experiences a spate of hotel sales. Vivendi Universal's entertainment division has sold the Sheraton Universal Hotel and the ground under the nearby Hilton Universal City & Tower to separate buyers. A few miles away in Hollywood, the developer of the Hollywood & Highland retail and theater complex has put the adjoining Hollywood Renaissance Hotel up for sale.

Shopping mall owner Macerich Co., which announced a $662-million agreement to buy the largest mall operator in Phoenix last week, also will expand its holdings in Ventura County with the purchase of The Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks. The Santa Monica-based real estate investment trust will pay about $150 million for the popular 1-million-square-foot Conejo Valley property, Macerich's Chief Executive Arthur Coppola said Monday.

Post Paseo Colorado Apartments, a 391-unit complex set atop the Paseo Colorado shopping center in Pasadena, have been purchased for $98 million by a subsidiary of MetLife Inc. SSR Realty Advisors Inc. bought the luxury apartments from a joint venture of Post Properties Inc. and the New York State Common Retirement Fund. The apartments were part of a major makeover of an aging mall on Colorado Boulevard east of Old Pasadena that was completed by Trizec Properties Inc. in 2001.