With rumors circulating of a sale price around $100 per square foot, the sale of the 66-story American International Group headquarters in Lower Manhattan likely set the bar for the biggest sale in the area market thus far in 2009.

A new report by Real Estate Econometrics, based on FDIC data, puts the commercial real estate loan default rate at its highest level in more than a decade and a half, at least those loans held by regulated deposit-taking institutions—banks and thrifts, for the most part. The default rate soared from 1.62 percent in the last quarter of 2008 to 2.25 percent in the first quarter of 2009. That rate doesn’t include defaults on loans associated with multi-family rental properties, which Real Estate Econometrics put at 2.45 percent in the first quarter of 2009, up 68 basis points from the previous quarter.

Clothing retailer Men's Wearhouse has emerged victorious from a feverish nine-hour auction of assets belonging to off-price chain Filene's Basement, which fell victim to the retail market's downward spiral and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early May, just two weeks after its purchase by Buxbaum Group affiliate FB Acquisition II. Acting through its affiliate, K&G Acquisition Corp., Men's Wearhouse put forth the winning bid of $67 million for 17 to 20 of Filene's store leases, as well as the leases on the company's Massachusetts corporate headquarters and distribution center, its Maryland storage facility and-- possibly most important--the Filene's Basement trade name.

• NEW on CPN Radio: Extra: Bjorn Hanson on Hotel Performance & the NYU Hospitality Conference  • NEW on CPN TV: From the Field: NAREIT Economist Brad Case Comments During REIT Week  • From the Inside, CPN’s Experts Blog: Latest Posting from Ed Padilla  • Today on RealTalk: Blog with CPN Writers and Editors • Special Feature: CPN-Nielsen Claritas Retail Report • Also on CPN Radio: Log on for Simon Rubinsohn’s Comments on the RICS-CPN Global Sustainability Survey and Marc Heisterkamp’s Green Report • Guest Column: Buildings’ Weak Link by Bruce Lang  • Also CPN Radio: Industry Update with Amanda Metcalf

Plagued by the global recession that has slashed both business and pleasure travel, the hotel market is suffering on an international level and investors have backed away from buying or building in most locations, with a few exceptions--like Brazil. According to a new report by real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, the positive long-term growth forecast for Brazil is popping up on the radar of those who are in the position to invest.

It's an office trade of such a size that has not been seen in Connecticut, no less challenged by job losses and economic malaise than most other markets, in quite a while. Matrix Connecticut L.L.C. has just taken over ownership of the 1 million-square-foot Danbury Corporate Center in Danbury, Conn., from GERA Danbury L.L.C. in a $72.4 million merger transaction. The deal is a coup for Connecticut, as well as its neighbors, as it marks the largest multi-tenant office transaction in the suburban New York Tri-State area so far this year.