Timeshare Tycoon Revs up Company, Restarts 90,000-square-foot Orlando Residence

David and Jackie SiegelTime-share tycoon David Siegel and wife, Jacqueline, are back in the nAt least Siegel's wife, Jackie, seems to be relishing the limelight as the documentary movie about their luxurious Orlando lifestyle, "The Queen of Versailles," recently debuted in their hometown of Orlando. At the same time, the Siegels are all smiles as construction begins anew on their 90,000 square-foot dream residence called Versailles

Believed to be the largest residence under construction in America, Versailles was put on hold in the aftermath of the Great Recession that dramatically cut into Siegel's Westgate Resorts timeshare empire. Versailles was the focal point of the movie, showing how even high-net worth individuals were affected to some degree by the global downturn.

After the movie came out, however, David Siegel, whose family initially cooperated with the filmmaker, was angered by the film, which depicted a not-so-flattering portrayal of Siegel's personal and business affairs. Consequently, Siegel sued the filmmaker for making "false and defamatory statements" and demanded an epilogue be added to the film to communicate that his financial empire is firmly intact.

Once the Great Recession set in, freezing worldwide capital markets and forcing Siegel to drastically cut back on his billion-dollar timeshare empire, Siegel put on hold the construction of his Versailles palace.

Oh how times have changed in one short year. Central Florida Investments Inc., Westgate Resorts' parent company, is now a leaner, stronger organization, sales are roaring back inside the timeshare gates, and the mood of the company is as positive as it's been since Westgate was generating $1 billion in annual revenue five years ago.

"We're feeling extremely good," said David Siegel, founder/president and CEO of one of the largest privately owned timeshare companies in the world. "At the first of this year, we gave pay raises to our employees for the first time in awhile and we're enhancing our employee benefit programs. This is a great time to be at Westgate because we have a great future.

Westgate Resorts Park City, Utah

"We have a very supercharged and energized sales team. They're very excited because they are seeing a lot of new and upgraded amenities at many of our resorts. When you see that kind of activity going on and you're making more money. ... It really puts a lift in the step of our team. Morale right now is at an all-time high within Westgate."

Indeed, Westgate Resorts, which Siegel started 32 years ago when he launched Westgate Vacation Villas one mile from Walt Disney World in Orlando, truly couldn't be a more exciting place to be around these days.

A year ago, timeshare juggernaut Westgate Resorts was not feeling all that mighty. The company was still reeling from the effects of the recession, the credit markets remained frozen and Siegel's company revenue was half of what it was in the peak year of '07.

According to Siegel, Westgate was forced to cut its sales in half to approximately $500 million - mostly due to the tightened credit markets - and lay off nearly half of its 12,000 employees. Appearing at a "Meet the Leaders" panel at Interval International's annual "Shared Ownership Investment Conference," last October in Orlando, Siegel said it was the first time in 31 years that his company didn't have any new timeshare project under construction.

Perhaps the biggest symbol of Siegel's turn of events was his future Orlando residence. The $100-million estate sat half-finished and was reportedly up for sale at one time. Then the highly publicized film came.

Today, the timeshare icon, couldn't be happier. In fact, during a recent interview with company COO Mark Waltrip, Siegel's longtime right-hand man, Waltrip was interrupted by a phone call from an Orlando official.

"That was a about a permit being issued," Waltrip says with a smile. "David is restarting his house."

Indeed, Westgate Resorts and Siegel both have their respective 'houses in order' these days

Malaysia 's First Grand Hyatt Opens

Grand Hyatt Malaysia Skyline

Hyatt Hotels Corporation recently announced the opening of Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, the company's first Grand Hyatt hotel in Malaysia.

Situated in the Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC) next to Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, the 370-room hotel is within walking distance of the iconic Petronas Twin Towers, Suria KLCC, KLCC Park, Dewan Filharmonik Petronas as well as the Golden Triangle shopping and entertainment district.

The Pavilion Shopping Center is less than a ten minute walk by the covered sky-bridge outside the hotel.

"We are thrilled to be able to bring the Grand Hyatt brand to the Malaysian community," said Larry Tchou, Managing Director, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts - Asia Pacific. "Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur's opening echoes again Hyatt's development strategy, which is to focus on the gateway cities and markets where customers are traveling. We are very excited to introduce our authentic hospitality to Kuala Lumpur and cater to travelers from Asia and other continents around the globe."

Designed by award-winning architecture firm, Bilkey Llinas Design, the hotel exudes contemporary grandeur, including 42 suites. The ground floor lobby is decorated with specially commissioned art pieces.

Grand Hyatt Malaysia

One is a circular art feature inscribed with a well-known welcoming Quranic verse, "A thousand dinar," that is well positioned at the main entrance and the second art piece by Malaysian artist, Abdul Multhalib Musa, is a gold/bronze sculpture resembling an elegant tower.

A crescent-shaped sculpture, symbolic to Brunei and Malaysia, is the center piece of the ground floor lobby, sitting perfectly in the calm pond by the grand staircase. To check-in to the hotel, guests are whisked to the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur's sky lobby, strategically positioned at the highest level of the building to allow for a captivating view of the city's skyline with the iconic Petronas Twin Towers as the backdrop.

All of the hotel's guestrooms and suites were designed with floor-to-ceiling windows to maximize natural daylight, and this resulted in the rooms having expansive views of the city, the greenery of KLCC Park or the Petronas Twin Towers. Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur has some of the largest rooms in the city, starting at 505 square feet (47 square meters).

Additionally, the hotel features three dining options, more than 35,530 square feet (3,300 square meters) of exclusive meetings and events space and the Essa Spa.

Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur was also designed and built to be able to qualify for certification by the Green Building Index organization. The hotel's certification process was initiated during its construction phase, where ground water from the basement levels were collected for two-and-a-half years for the purpose of site cleaning, water tests and washing of out-going vehicles.

Grand Hyatt hotels are large-scale, distinctive hotels in major gateway cities and resort destinations. As of June 30, 2012, Hyatt's worldwide portfolio consisted of 492 properties in 45 countries.

Brazil's Largest Residential Broker on Expansion Kick

Sao Paolo, Brazil

With $124 million in the cash register (250 million reais), Brasil Brokers Participacoes SA (BBRK3), the country's largest real estate broker, has contracted to buy two brokerages in Sao Paulo that is expected to increase its revenue from sales of existing homes to 35 percent in five years, from 15 percent today. 

Brasil CEO Sergio Newlands Freire, made that estimate in an interview with Bloomberg.  Freire said he is banking on that revenue increase from buyers who are now obtaining more bank credit for home purchases.  Near full employment in the country should also stimulate buyer demand, he said.

Brasil has contracted  to buy 65 percent of real-estate broker Miranda Imobiliaria for 6.6 million reais ($3.2 million US)  and 55 percent of Bamberg Planejamento & Empreendimento Imobiliarios for an estimated 25.5 million reais $12.6 million US).  It has committed to acquire the remaining 45 percent of Bamberg over four years.

Brasil plans to buy at least  three more companies this year as part of a strategy to expand in the secondary housing market.

"The secondary real estate brokerage market in Brazil is made up of small companies, so acquisitions to consolidate this market are part of our growth strategy," Freire told Bloomberg.

But current economic figures don't exactly support Freire's optimism.  The first half of the year was marked by slowing housing credit amid weakening economic growth.

Brazil's gross domestic product will expand by only 1.75 percent this year, its second-weakest performance in nine years, according to economists in a survey by the central bank published Aug. 20.

Freire, however, is confident new projects and sales of existing units will increase in the second half, he told Bloomberg.

The company's largest markets remain in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Bloomberg reports Brasil Brokers had net income of 21 million reais ($10.4 million US) in the second quarter, a 34 percent drop from the 31.7 million reais ($15.6 million US) posted a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing on Aug. 14. Contracted sales fell 8 percent to 4.6 billion reais ($2.27 billion US). 

Global Commercial Property Markets Emerging From Economic Fog in 2Q, Says New JLL Report

This week global real estate consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) released thier second quarter Global Market Perspective, which captures in-depth data and analysis on the global property market in the year to date.

According to the report, following a lull in activity during Q1, the global property market has resumed a steady recovery path. Investment volumes recovered to US$108 billion in Q2, up 24 percent quarter over quarter, signaling that capital markets are on track to achieving US$400 billion volumes for full-year 2012.

Josh Gelormini, Vice President of Research at Jones Lang LaSalle tells World Property Channel, "In the office leasing markets, a combination of corporate relocation, consolidation, and - very selectively -  specific industry-related expansion is continuing to motor measured improvement globally."

Gelormini further continues, "Meanwhile, investors continue to seek opportunities to purchase well-located core product across a diverse mix of cities and property types, motivated in large part by attractive relative yields, compared with other asset classes."

Other key JLL global market highlights in 2Q include:

• The global economic outlook has weakened as euro strains re-emerge.  Asia Pacific markets will continue to drive global growth this year, however, a deceleration is increasingly apparent. 

• In a climate of uncertainty, corporate occupiers have adopted a "wait and see" approach to expansion as global take-up volumes have fallen year-on-year. Corporates are trending towards sale and leaseback transactions as they look to release capital. 

• Leasing activities have improved from the Q1 lull, but are still below 2011 levels due to weak jobs growth, slow corporate hiring and the downward reset of global growth projections. Gross leasing volumes for full-year 2012 expected to be 10 percent lower than in 2011.

• On the other hand, vacancy continues to edge downwards, with the global office vacancy rate falling to 13.3 percent in Q2, the lowest since 2009.  Regionally, the Americas and Asia Pacific regions have continued to see vacancy rates fall, while they have remained unchanged in Europe.

• With global office supply still falling, the Jones Lang LaSalle Global Office Index, which tracks the rental performance of prime office space across 90 major markets, has continued to grow, up by a further 0.6 percent during Q2 2012.

• In residential, high trading volumes have been recorded for Germany, while momentum has been maintained in the U.S. rental apartment market. In Asia, residential sales have improved in China and Hong Kong and remain resilient in Jakarta, driven by investor interest, low lending rates and rising rental returns.

• Retail exhibited a mixed picture. While Greater China recorded strong demand and healthy rental growth, market conditions were relatively flat in the US. In Europe, demand is expected to drive rents in the top retail locations in London, Moscow and Paris in the second half of 2012, while most other European markets will remain broadly stable.