Morgan Stanley Invests in Duke Energy Property Unit

[SmellyCat]

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2060108...&refer=home

I think this is a good thing. Morgan Stanley's Prime Property Funds and its other real estate arms are pretty aggressive buyers and developers of real estate. I think it's smart that Duke partner up with a true real estate home run hitter.

[atlrvr]

I was meaning to mention this....it is a great thing. They are the financial partner already for C. I like their experience on investing in urban properties....something that Duke always seemed to have an issue with. I think we will really start to see Crescent become a major developer...hopefully they don't forget their hometown.

[monsoon]

Ahh yeah, this means they have more money to build McMansion neighborhoods on Charlotte's lakes and or that matter all of the lakes on the Catawba system. Lake Norman has become wall to wall McMansions and they continue to cut down trees on the remaining few areas where there are still some trees. Thankfully a great deal of Mountain Island Lake is protected or that would be ruint too.

I was recently on boating/camping trip on Lake Hartwell on the SC/GA border. Lake Hartwell is a huge lake operated by the United States and for the most part it is pristine, well marked, and what development there is, is tightly controlled. Its a great place to go boating.

In comparison, Lake Keewee just above it, is a Duke Power lake and like all Duke power lakes, the hazards are poorly marked if at all, there are no navigation beacons (unless volunteers do it) and the facilities are lacking, and yes Crescent Resources is stripping all the land around it and building McMansions.

[SmellyCat]

^don't know much about the Lake area, but Crescent did build the Charlotte Cotton Mills which is a quality apartment building complex in Fourth Ward. They sold it to Camden Property Trust a couple of years back at a tidy profit.

Morgan Stanley is more into developing income-producing properties like apartments and offices, not residential McMansions like you describe above. Perhaps the Crescent vehicle will be steered in that direction.

[dubone]

High-rise apartment building, anyone?