Tokyo-based Seibu Group, a hospitality company with interests in other sectors such as railways and agriculture, has been restructuring its hotel holdings, creating two divisions — hotel operator Seibu Prince Hotels Worldwide and asset-holding company Seibu Realty Solutions.

Australia-based Stay Well Holdings is the management division of the firm, and Prince Hotels & Resorts is the umbrella for seven sub-brands that include The Prince and Park Regis and several independent, spa-style resorts. The restructuring to more of an asset-light model is intended to future-proof the firm by diversifying risk, but it is a major step for a company with a history spanning more than 100 years, said Yoshiki Kaneda, director and executive managing officer.

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The pace of office construction in the Paris region is slowing in the face of high inflation and fears of a pending recession.

Projects underway in the Greater Paris region amount to 1.7 million square meters, according to the latest Grand Paris Office Crane Survey conducted by consulting firm Deloitte with the assistance of Explore and Business Immo. Volume is down 13% year-over-year, but survey authors do not see a “sharp break in production volumes.”

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Family-owned department store operator Fenwick has closed on the sale of its New Bond Street premises to investment firm Lazari Investments for £430 million for a mixed-use redevelopment.

The company confirmed it made the “difficult” decision to sell the 181-year-old property to unlock major investment at its stores across the country, including flagships in Newcastle and Kingston-upon-Thames. “This deal will enable the business to continue to serve communities in stores and online for many years to come,” Fenwick Chair Simon Calver said in a statement.

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Major office and hotel investor Aroundtown is extending its property-shedding strategy by selling a 45,000-square-meter office building in Leipzig, leased to the city, for just under €100 million.

The company, which by 2020 had become Germany's largest listed commercial real estate investor, has looked to shrink in the wake of the pandemic. Aroundtown’s market value took a hit at the start of the health crisis, so the company has been selling properties to buy back its own shares and reduce debt in a climate of rising interest rates.

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Investor calls to cash out shares are quickly spreading across U.S. nontraded real estate investment trusts, with more REITs taking steps to suspend or limit redemptions as economic concerns grow.

At least three more REITs — led by investment firms Starwood, GTJ and Hartman — have disclosed moves to limit the cash dispersals through the buyback of shares since news broke earlier this month that Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust took such a step. The efforts by REITs to hold on to cash also appear to be reducing property purchase volumes.

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While some of Canada's top real estate executives relished spending time with family — and away from the office — during the pandemic, they say it is now time to come back.

Asked to discuss the positives of the pandemic, Oxford Properties Group CEO Michael Turner said during a roundtable discussion at the Real Estate Forum this month: "I struggle with that. As a society we are going to see a long tail of the consequences of how policy was implemented." But Turner, who heads the real estate arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, which has $82 billion in assets, said he also got to see his kids every day. Samir Manir, president and chief executive of Artis REIT, said the real estate community needs to lead when it comes time to return to the office, while Amy Price, president of BentallGreenOak, said "we have to rethink the model and the way we engage with employees."

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This report was compiled from CoStar’s international news publications in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany.