Monument plans micro-hotel in Chinatown

Monument Realty has formed a joint venture with Modus Hotels and the Cafritz Co. to develop a micro-hotel on an H Street NW site in Chinatown once planned for an 80,000-square-foot office-and-retail building.

The partners are planning to build a 230-room micro-hotel at 627 H St. NW with ground-floor retail space. Construction on the $60 million project is slated to start later this month with delivery expected in 2016. While the site was initially planned for office, Monument President Michael Darby…

Boston Globe: Liberty Mutual identifies Plano as one of six U.S. call center sites

The speculation of Liberty Mutual’s expansion in Dallas-Fort Worth could be over as the Boston Globe reports that Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance plans to put one of its six national call centers in Plano.

This could be the first official confirmation of rumors that have been circulating in the North Texas real estate community.

Word on the street: Liberty Mutual plans to lease, or own, a nearly million-square-foot service center in a campus-like setting in a project that could bring 4,000…

Shareholders approve $35 billion energy megadeal

More than 98 percent of voting shareholders from both companies easily approved the $34.6 billion megadeal for Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) to acquire Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) at special meetings on March 27.

The combination of the two Houston-based oilfield services giants is not expected to close until “late in the second half” of the year after going through the federal regulatory process and the sales of some business units and assets by both companies, according to Halliburton Chairman…

Experts wonder if penalty for Duke Energy execs is serious or symbolic

Business and environmental experts say Duke Energy rightly cut the compensation for its top executives to hold them accountable for last year’s coal ash spill on the Dan River. The question is whether Duke did enough.

The Duke board of directors cut CEO Lynn Good’s cash incentive by $606,000 and reduced payments to other top executives because of the spill. Good’s total incentive package for 2014, which includes estimated values for stock and option grants made this year that will vest in later…

Mexico signs second pipeline deal to import Eagle Ford natural gas

Mexico’s national oil company PEMEX has signed a deal with U.S.-based investment firms BlackRock and First Reserve to begin the second phase of a pipeline that will bring natural gas from the Eagle Ford shale to cities hundreds of miles south of the border.

PEMEX CEO Emilio Lozoya-Austin signed the deal with representatives from both companies in Mexico City on Thursday.

Under the 25-year deal, BlackRock is investing $4.6 billion and First Reserve is investing $30 million in the Los Ramones II…