RICHMOND, VA—Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. reports it has closed on the acquisition of one hotel in Florida and two hotels in California for a combined purchase price of approximately $103 million.

NEEDHAM, MA—Retail investment sales veteran Michael O'Mara has joined locally-based Atlantic Retail Properties and Atlantic Retail Investment Services.

NEW YORK CITY—The developers reportedly are in contract to acquire a couple of sites in Downtown Brooklyn.

BOSTON—Investment has been intense in the multifamily arena in Greater Boston for some time. However, a recent phenomenon in the city is the lack of new condominium product and a sense that some developers may be mulling converting their projects from rental to condo.

BOSTON—A review of the operations of the Boston Redevelopment Authority criticized the organization's lack of vision and the dearth of proactive planning in a highly critical report.

NEW YORK CITY—Nearly 58% of area residents of working age (16 and older) had jobs last month—the highest level of employment on record—according to the NYS Depart. of Labor, which released some heady economic statistics on Thursday.

BALTIMORE—MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services has arranged the sale of a single-tenant net leased office building in the Rutherford Business Park to F&M Development.

CAMBRIDGE, MA—Joel S. Marcus, chairman, CEO and founder of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. tells Globest.com that his Pasadena, CA-based firm has never seen demand as strong for life science/biotech space here in the company's 20-year history.