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Opus Southwest changes name to reflect expansion in California Reflecting its growing presence in California and the West, Opus Southwest Corp., Phoenix, has become Opus West Corp. Since 1979, Opus has completed (or is developing) more than 13.5 million sq. ft. in California. Randall Ackerman has been named real estate director for the group.

Northland Financial acquires Stockton, Leudemann Minneapolis-based Northland Financial Co. has acquired Stockton, Leudemann, French/Jackson & West of Houston and Dallas. Northland's combined commercial loan servicing portfolio is now at $4 billion, with annual origination volume over $2 billion.

Lehndorff plans consolidation under Camreal name The Lehndorff USA Cos. plans to consolidate the U.S. and Canadian real estate partnerships of The Lehndorff Group under the name Camreal. The new vehicle will be based in Toronto, with U.S. headquarters in Dallas and European headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. Camreal will hold over 80 retail, office and industrial properties in 12 major North American markets and will have over 16 million sq. ft. of leasable space under management.

First Industrial Realty Trust acquires Sealy and Co. First Industrial Realty Trust, Chicago, represented by The Podolsky Northstar Realty Partners, LLC, Westchester, Ill., has acquired the operations, management and industrial portfolio of Sealy and Co. for $138 million. The 63-building, 4.6 million sq. ft. transaction involved property in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, greater New Orleans and Tampa, Fla. Structured as an UPREIT, the deal calls for $108 million in cash and the issuance of $30 million worth of limited partner units in First Industrial, L.P.

Philips International forms REIT in reverse merger transaction In one of the few REIT transactions to use the reverse merger form, Philips International, a New York real estate firm headed by Philip Pilevsky, has formed a new REIT called Philips International Realty Corp. that is valued at approximately $200 million. Pilevsky and his partners contributed nine shopping center properties to the new REIT and are taking title to the sole property of existing REIT National Properties Investment Trust in return for issuing to the shareholders of National Properties approximately 1.5% of the REIT. The properties are located in New York, Florida, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Philips International was represented by the New York-based law firm Pryor, Cashman, Sherman & Flynn.

LaSalle Partners expands project management services Creating one of the largest project management services in the country, LaSalle Partners, Chicago, has acquired two business segments of Satulah Group. LaSalle acquired Satulah Project Management operations and the project and facility management software known as SWIMware. Not included in the transaction is the Brookwood Design Group, an Atlanta-based architectural design business formerly under the Satulah banner that now will operate as an independent entity.

Insignia to add Goldie Wolfe, changes name of Chicago entity Marking its eighth commercial acquisition in 12 months, Insignia Financial Group, based in Greenville, S.C., entered into a definitive agreement in January to acquire Goldie B. Wolfe & Co. (GBW), a Chicago-based real estate services firm primarily focused on tenant representation. GBW will be combined with Insignia's existing Chicago-based commercial services company, Insignia/FC&S, and the resulting entity will operate under the name Insignia/ESG. Goldie B. Wolfe, chairman and CEO of GBW, will serve as executive managing director of Insignia/ESG with responsibility for overseeing all brokerage services throughout the metropolitan Chicago area.

Earlier in the month, Insignia acquired a 4.1 million sq. ft. Chicago-area property management and leasing portfolio from Cohen Financial, which plans to focus on its core business.

Boston Properties, Whitehall to buy part of Boston's Pru Center Boston Properties Inc., a self-managed, self-advised real estate investment trust, and Goldman Sachs' Whitehall fund have entered into a letter of intent with Prudential Insurance Co. of America to acquire the commercial property and development rights associated with the Prudential Center in Boston. The commercial portion consists of two office buildings totaling 1.72 million net rentable sq. ft., a 477,000 net rentable sq. ft. retail complex and a parking garage with 2,700 spaces.

The development rights allow approximately 1.75 million sq. ft. of new construction. It is contemplated that Prudential will participate with Boston Properties and Whitehall in the future development activity.

Prudential anticipates selling the residential portion of the complex, consisting of 782 apartment units, to a separate entity.

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