For those of us in construction, a big story is always front page stuff but for the rest of the world not so much (they are more interested in politics, economy or other non-essential information). So when 2 stories break on the same day that actually get on the evening news or the front page of the paper, that’s a big deal. Yesterday was such a day.

The hot commercial real estate news was the sale of EQT Plaza to Highwoods Properties. The sale is the second landmark property the Raleigh-based Highwoods has purchased downtown. Like with PPG Place, the price for EQT has kept the bar high. The local media outlets are even calling it a hot market. Highwoods paid $99.2 million for the 616,000 sq. ft. EQT Plaza or $161/sq. ft. That’s $2 more than their price for PPG. EQT comes nearly full, however, compared to the roughly 20% vacant PPG – at the time anyway.

The other hot story yesterday was the rumored NVR acquisition of Heartland Homes. NVR representatives were allegedly at Heartland’s Lawrence PA headquarters. Whether that or the acquisition rumor is true remains to be seen. NVR is the parent of Ryan Homes and the acquisition would leave the company with the 2 largest builders in the region, effectively giving them about a 40% market share.