The Helmsley Carlton House is being sold to a partnership between private-equity firm Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Extell Development for about $170 million.

Kennedy Funding, a New Jersey lender to cash-strapped real-estate developers, has plenty of experience going after debtors who fall behind on their payments. But now it's Kennedy's turn to get squeezed.

With European property markets beginning to recover from the market downturn and global recession, there are signs that the REIT revolution could be at hand.

A handful of investors dug to the bottom of the discount bin and snapped up General Growth's convertible bonds at three cents on the dollar. They now trade at 103 cents.

Forty thousand more hotel rooms on the Continent would have Marriott brand names in the next few years under the company's plan.