KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT has purchased the Westmoor Center office complex in the Westminster, Colo. submarket for $86 million.

Located at 10055-10385 Westmoor Dr., the six-building Class A Westmoor Center office portfolio totals 612,890 square feet and is situated between Denver and Boulder, close to the expanding city of Broomfield, with views of the Heritage Golf Course at Westmoor and the Rocky Mountains.

The area is the hub of hi-tech employment, which can be attributed in part to the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus, with thousands of graduates trained for hi-tech research, manufacturing and information technology services.

Constructed in 1998-99, Westmoor Center offers gazebos wired with Internet access for working outside, Broomfield park-n-ride is nearby and there is a free shuttle service to and from the FlatIron Crossing shopping mall.

The six buildings that encompass Westmoor Center are part of the larger, 10-builidng, Ten West at Westmoor Business Park.

At the time of the sale, the center was 81-percent occupied by such tenants as Ball Corporation, Lender Processing Services and Datalogix.

According to a company release, KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT plans to invest in and manage a diverse portfolio of real estate-related loans, opportunistic real estate, real estate-related debt securities and other real estate-related investments.

The public non-traded real estate investment trust based in Newport Beach, Calif., and its affiliated companies now owns six office properties in the area, totaling more than 1.7 million rentable square feet. This includes the 561,691-square-foot Granite Tower in Denver, the 264,194-square-foot Peakview Tower in Centennial, Colo., Denver’s 128,845-square-foot 210 University, the 92,099-square-foot Academy Point Atrium I in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the 82,320-square-foot Crescent VIII in Greenwood Village, Colo.

KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT was sponsored indirectly by Charles Schreiber, Jr., Peter Bren, Keith Hall and Peter McMillan III and is advised by KBS Capital Advisors L.L.C., an affiliated entity, which is indirectly owned and controlled by KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT’s sponsors, said or implied by such forward-looking statements.

The New England Executive Park, a 10-building office park in suburban Boston with more than 1 million square feet and approved for another 750,000 square feet of new development, was acquired for $216 million by Charles River Realty Investors and National Development.

The 56-acre office park located off Route 128 in Burlington, Mass., is the latest office property to be sold by Equity Office and Blackstone. Built in the 1970s and acquired by Equity Office more than 10 years ago, NEEP is 86 percent leased to a mix of technology, legal, finance and professional services firms. It is 12 miles from downtown Boston in one of the region’s top submarkets and includes 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 12, 15, 16, 17 and 24 New England Executive Park.

“Charles River Realty Investors and National Development expressed significant interest in the portfolio due to the property’s redevelopment potential, unmatched location and quality of the buildings and tenancy. This sale is certainly mutually beneficial on both ends,” Mark Smith, market managing director, Equity Office, said in a news release.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets team of Robert Griffin Jr., Edward Maher, Jr., Matthew Pullen and leasing specialist Mark Roth represented the buyer and seller.

“New England Executive Park is one of the best ‘super parks’ in New England,” Griffin said in the release. “This was a great opportunity for Charles River Realty Investments and National Development to purchase an asset with strong, diverse tenancy in a thriving and transforming area.”

The local government has already approved development of an additional 750,000 gross square feet that is expected to include more mixed-use offerings. The campus, which has parking for more than 3,350 vehicles, has two full-service restaurants, a fitness center, bank and credit union, dry cleaner and tailor and a conference center. It is currently permitted for office, commercial, retail, hotel and structured parking.

New England Executive Park is in the busy 128 Central submarket that has the highest average rent per square foot of any of the suburban Boston submarkets – $25.67 per square foot in the first quarter of 2013, according to a market report by Cassidy Turley. Of the total office inventory of 35,123,236 square feet in the submarket, just less than 7 million was available during the first quarter. The vacancy rate was 12.6 percent, the report said. In its MarketWATCH report, Cassidy Turley described growth in the 128 Central submarket as “steady and organic” with leasing occurring mainly by smaller tenants taking less than 20,000 square feet.

The Boston Business Journal reported that the joint venture beat out bidders that included Clarion Partners, Davis Cos., Rockpoint Group and Walton Street Capital.

Charles River Realty Investors and National Development, founded in 2006 to make value-added investments for institutional clients, are located in Newtown, Mass., and have been active in several area development projects. They are partners, along with Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., and Clarion Partners, in the $300 million Longwood Center, a 414,000-square-foot medical research center in Boston. National Development is also ready to begin the redevelopment of the former Boston Herald headquarters in the city’s South End into a mixed-use project that is expected to cost at least $200 million.

Blackstone, which acquired Equity Office in November, 2007, for $39 billion, has been shedding many of the office properties in the Boston region and elsewhere in the United States. The three-tower, 1.2 million-square-foot Lakeway Center in Metairie, La., was sold this month by Equity Office to The Feil Organization for an undisclosed amount. In early April, Hines Global REIT, Inc., acquired Riverside Center, a 510,000-square-foot, three-building office complex in Newtown, Mass., from Equity Office for $197.3 million.

It has a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and now it has $127.5 million in financing. A 2.3 million-square-foot portfolio encompassing 37 industrial, office and retail properties in metropolitan Philadelphia and Melbourne, Fla., has landed a three-year loan provided by Natixis Real Estate Capital L.L.C. 

The diverse collection of assets is industrial heavy, with 33 warehouse and light industrial facilities, the majority of which are located in the Folcroft East Business Park and Folcroft West Business Park, in Folcroft, Pa., roughly five miles from the Philadelphia International Airport. Additional flex and warehouse buildings are sited in Melbourne, within close proximity of Melbourne International Airport. Rounding out the portfolio are three office buildings and one retail destination. The overall occupancy level of the group of properties is 87.5 percent. 

Henderson and Trinity relied on commercial real estate and capital markets services provider HFF to orchestrate the floating-rate loan, which the partners are utilizing to refinance existing debt on the portfolio and consolidate ownership under Wilbur Henderson, who founded the Henderson Group and incorporated it in 1986. 

Lenders haven’t been too shy about providing financing for mixed-property portfolios this year, and HFF can attest to that. In January, the firm arranged a $607 million financing package through M&T Realty Capital Corp., Principal Global Investors and Bank of America for a group of office, retail, industrial and multi-family properties totaling more than five million square feet and nearly 3,500 residential units.

And it’s not just real estate services firms that have been orchestrating such deals. This week, mortgage banking concern Newmark Realty Capital, acting on behalf of a private real estate fund, announced that it has placed $148.5 million of financing with one of its correspondent insurance company lenders for a multi-state portfolio of office, neighborhood retail and community retail properties.

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by Adriana Pop, Associate Editor

In a $13.2 million deal, Albany Road Real Estate Partners of Boston has purchased the four-story, 117,000-square-foot Gateway Center in Downtown Providence. According to the Providence Journal,the transaction closed on May 23. Bank Rhode Island financed the acquisition with a $10-million, 10-year loan.

Located at 15 Park Row West, the building is 86 percent leased, Albany Road partner Christopher J. Knisely told the newspaper. TIAA-CREF, Admirals Bank, software firm Andera, Precision Design, and the Big East athletic conference are among the property’s tenants.

The facility was developed by Gateway Eight in 1989. Construction was financed through $23 million in state bonds, which the state retirement system acquired. In 2004, the building’s developer went bankrupt and the pension fund took control of the property.

In 2006, a Connecticut developer acquired the building. Most recently, in 2009, U.S. Bank purchased the property at a foreclosure auction for $13 million.

Earlier this year, Albany Road acquired a four-story office building in Warwick’s MetroCenter office park for $13.6 million.

In regional news, the Providence Business News reports that Johnson & Wales University has sold its 86-room inn in Seekonk, Mass. for $1.65 million. The Sarchi Group acquired the property, which it has renamed the Hilltop Hotel & Conference Center.

“As the university’s first hotel internship property, the inn, purchased in the early 1980s, has played a significant role in JWU’s history and has been an important venue to the local community,” Michael Downing, the university’s vice president of auxiliary services, said in a statement.

As a condition of the sale, the Sarchi Group will honor all contracts, including pricing, for events scheduled at the Inn. The company owns and manages retail, mixed-use and apartment buildings as well as motels and hotels in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

]]> http://www.cpexecutive.com/property-types/office/boston-investor-acquires-gateway-center-in-downtown-providence-for-13-2m/feed/ 0 http://www.cpexecutive.com/property-types/office/1-2-msf-office-complex-sold-in-metairie/ http://www.cpexecutive.com/property-types/office/1-2-msf-office-complex-sold-in-metairie/#comments Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:13:38 +0000 elizat http://synd.yardi.com/?p=139136 By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

One of Louisiana’s biggest office complexes has just sold. The three-tower Lakeway Center in Metairie was purchased by New York-based The Feil Organization for an undisclosed amount.  Holliday Fenoglio Fowler marketed the property on behalf of Equity Office Properties.

Located at 3900 North Causeway Blvd., the 1.2 million-square-foot office complex sits at the foot of Lake Pontchartrain, within easy access to downtown New Orleans, the New Orleans International Airport, as well as the affluent Metairie and Northshore residential areas. The Class A office complex comprises three towers, all of which are among the 10 tallest buildings in Jefferson Parish. One Lakeway Center is 14 stories and 193 feet tall and was completed in 1982. It is the sixth-tallest structure in Jefferson Parish, while Two Lakeway Center, at 259 feet and 19 levels, is the third highest. Three Lakeway, at 34 floors and 403 feet high is the tallest structure in Jefferson Parish and the 13^th highest in the Greater New Orleans area.

Lakeway Center currently boasts a 90.5 percent occupancy, rate with a tenant roster that includes names such as People’s Health Network, Fresenius Medical Care, EDG Inc. and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Some value-add renovation could soon be undertaken at the office complex, as Jeffrey Feil, the new owner’s CEO, declared in a press release: “We plan to continue to maintain and upgrade Lakeway Center to ensure it remains a top-tier office destination,” adding “This transaction builds on our nearly 40-year track record of investment and job creation in the greater New Orleans community.” Forbes has named that community the third best U.S. city for job growth in the information, publishing, software, entertainment and data processing industries.

Three Lakeway Center also includes a hotel component, not part of the purchase.

The Feil Organization, an investment, development and management firm based in New York City, owns, develops and manages more than 26 million square feet of retail, commercial and industrial properties, as well as in excess of 5,000 residential units throughout the United States. The company also has several hundred net-leased assets in its portfolio, as well as thousands of acres of undeveloped land.

Its holdings in the greater New Orleans area include four office properties in the same area as the Lakeway Center–namely, 3445 North Causeway Blvd. and Causeway Plazas I, II and III–as well as other Metairie properties, such as the Metairie Towers and The Galleria, and the Oakwood Corporate Center in Gretna. The Feil Organization also owns the Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie, located just a mile from Lakeway Center, as well as the Carrollton Avenue site in New Orleans where the city’s first Costco is currently under development. (Click here to read more about the New Orleans Costco’s road to development.)

Image courtesy of Equity Office Properties.

One of Louisiana’s biggest office complexes has just sold. The three-tower Lakeway Center in Metairie was purchased by New York-based The Feil Organization for an undisclosed amount.  Holliday Fenoglio Fowler marketed the property on behalf of Equity Office Properties.

Located at 3900 North Causeway Blvd., the 1.2 million-square-foot office complex sits at the foot of Lake Pontchartrain, within easy access to downtown New Orleans, the New Orleans International Airport, as well as the affluent Metairie and Northshore residential areas. The Class A office complex comprises three towers, all of which are among the 10 tallest buildings in Jefferson Parish. One Lakeway Center is 14 stories and 193 feet tall and was completed in 1982. It is the sixth-tallest structure in Jefferson Parish, while Two Lakeway Center, at 259 feet and 19 levels, is the third highest. Three Lakeway, at 34 floors and 403 feet high is the tallest structure in Jefferson Parish and the 13^th highest in the Greater New Orleans area.

Lakeway Center currently boasts a 90.5 percent occupancy, rate with a tenant roster that includes names such as People’s Health Network, Fresenius Medical Care, EDG Inc. and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Some value-add renovation could soon be undertaken at the office complex, as Jeffrey Feil, the new owner’s CEO, declared in a press release: “We plan to continue to maintain and upgrade Lakeway Center to ensure it remains a top-tier office destination,” adding “This transaction builds on our nearly 40-year track record of investment and job creation in the greater New Orleans community.” Forbes has named that community the third best U.S. city for job growth in the information, publishing, software, entertainment and data processing industries.

Three Lakeway Center also includes a hotel component, not part of the purchase.

The Feil Organization, an investment, development and management firm based in New York City, owns, develops and manages more than 26 million square feet of retail, commercial and industrial properties, as well as in excess of 5,000 residential units throughout the United States. The company also has several hundred net-leased assets in its portfolio, as well as thousands of acres of undeveloped land.

Its holdings in the greater New Orleans area include four office properties in the same area as the Lakeway Center–namely, 3445 North Causeway Blvd. and Causeway Plazas I, II and III–as well as other Metairie properties, such as the Metairie Towers and The Galleria, and the Oakwood Corporate Center in Gretna. The Feil Organization also owns the Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie, located just a mile from Lakeway Center, as well as the Carrollton Avenue site in New Orleans where the city’s first Costco is currently under development. (Click here to read more about the New Orleans Costco’s road to development.)

Image courtesy of Equity Office Properties.

Bellevue’s Central Business District is running out of room for development, as one of the last spots in the area that could support a large commercial building was recently snapped up in a $31 million deal. Kidder Matthews representatives Andy Miller, Jason Rosauer, Dave Speers and Rob Anderson handled the sale on behalf of longtime owners Milt and Sue Walter. The couple had owned the property for three decades prior to its recent trade to NIU Enterprises.

Located at 437-527 108th Ave. N.E., the 58,000-square foot property currently houses two restaurants, Las Margaritas and Nibbana. Given current zoning regulations in Bellevue’s CBD, the property could be torn down and become the site of a 450-foot tower. The fee paid by the new owner far outpaces the current per-square-foot rate, setting a new record at $535 per square foot. The previous record holder for the area was 10503 N.E. Fourth St., which in 2008 traded for $476 per square foot. Although coveted for a long time by potential buyers, 437-527 108^th Ave. N.E. was only put up for sale in 2012.

Buyer NIU Enterprises is a limited liability company created by a Chinese investment group that seems intent on developing a new project, one that would take advantage of the growing appeal of Bellevue’s Central Business District. Kidder Matthews is one of the largest commercial real estate firms operating on the West Coast, offering a wide range of industry services.

CIM Group, of Los Angeles, and Kushner Companies, of New York, have purchased the 26-story office building at 2 Rector Street in Manhattan’s Financial District, CIM and the seller, Savanna, announced late last week. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Beaux-Arts building was built in 1907 and encompasses about 466,000 net rentable square feet. Its ornate façade has been preserved by the Trust for Architectural Easements (formerly known as the National Architectural Trust).

The property is across the street from the historic Trinity Church and is just blocks from the World Trade Center development, with several major subway lines, ferry services and PATH trains to New Jersey.

Laurie Grasso from Hunton & Williams represented Savanna on the sale.

At the end of 2007, Savanna had initially acquired part of 2 Rector Street’s first mortgage from a bank. After the property lost its largest tenant in 2009, Savanna originated a mezzanine loan to fund the re-tenanting of a large block of vacant space. In 2012, Savanna acquired the majority interest and control through a partnership with Stellar Management.

The Cincinnati City Council approved plans for a 30-story apartment tower at the northwest corner of Fourth and Race streets in the city’s downtown. The project is expected to cost about $80 million.

Flaherty & Collins, an Indianapolis-based company, is the project’s developer. It plans to demolish the dilapidated Pogue’s Garage and the vehicular and pedestrian skywalk bridge that connects it to the adjacent Tower Place Mall, and build a luxury apartment tower with approximately 300 units in its place. The project also calls for the construction of a 15,000-square-foot grocery store on the first floor of the residential tower and a new public parking garage with about 1,000 parking spaces, also part of the tower.

The city voted to lease the site to Flaherty & Collins and also agreed to grant a $12 million forgivable loan to the developer for the construction of the parking garage. Under the terms of the deal, the city will lease the garage to Flaherty & Collins for $1 per year for 75 years. The developer has the option to purchase the parking garage for $1 at the end of the 75-year term. The deal also requires that Flaherty & Collins keep the grocery store open for at least five years. If the developer fails to do so,  it will have to return the $12 million loan.

According to 9 On Your Side, rents in the apartment tower will be between $1,000 and $2,000 a month. Construction could begin later this year and would take about 24 months to complete.

Last Wednesday, the city council approved two deals that will bring $18 million in new development to the city’s Northside and Oakley neighborhoods.

Milhaus Development will buy from the city the former home of the Myron Johnson lumberyard in Northside and will use the 2.4-acre site to build a mixed-use complex with at least 100 apartments and 8,000 square feet of commercial space. The development represents about $10.5 million in private investment.

The Morelia Group will purchase three acres of land at the corner of Ibsen and the future Kennedy Avenue in Oakley on which to build a 15,000-square-foot daycare center and a 40,000-square-foot office building. The two projects represent $7.5 million in private investment and will create at least 150 new jobs.

Both Milhaus and Morelia Group agreed to purchase city-owned property at fair market value. “The neighborhoods of Northside and Oakley are getting two great projects that will put people to work,” said Odis Jones, economic development director. “We hope to continue this momentum into our other focused neighborhoods.”

Photo credits: Flaherty & Collins

Trammell Crow Co. and joint venture partner USAA Real Estate Co. plan to break ground on a $160 million build-to-suit office project in Fort Worth’s Alliance Park.

To be constructed on a 45-acre tract at the northwest corner of Heritage Parkway and Interstate 35W, the six-story Class A facility will serve as the new Southwest region headquarters of the Federal Aviation Administration, as part of a 20-year lease agreement.

“The Trammell Crow and USAA Real Estate Co. team appreciates the opportunity to collaborate with GSA, FAA and the city of Fort Worth to give rise to a vibrant office environment that celebrates the long and compelling history of the FAA, energizes this section of the city of Fort Worth and the I-35W corridor, and of which we can all be proud for decades to come,” said Tom Finan, a managing director of Trammell Crow Co.  in Washington, D.C., in a statement.

Designed by Gensler, the project includes 357,214 square feet of office and support space, which meets both the government’s security and energy-efficiency requirements.

Construction is expected to begin in September 2013, with a completion date set for October 2015. Manhattan Construction Co. will serve as general contractor.

The General Services Administration, which bids out the FAA’s development work, was represented by Nancy Lopez of GSA and Kelly Winn of Studley, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

In other news, the Dallas Business Journal reports that Houston-based Grocers Supply Co. plans to build a $50 million regional distribution hub near Cleveland and Blanco roads in South Dallas.

The company is seeking a 90 percent tax abatement on real property for 10 years, as well as a $1.85 million economic development grant, both subject to city council approval.

If it comes to fruition, the 129-acre project will feature a 740,000-square-foot refrigerated and dry warehouse facility, which could be further expanded to reach 1.2 million square feet. Completion is slated for November 2014.

Rendering of planned FAA Southwest Regional Office courtesy of Trammell Crow Co. via FWBP.

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust recently announced a major renovation plan for 7900 Westpark Drive, a Class A office complex in the hub of Tysons Corner, Va. It selected Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. to market the property.

7900 Westpark Drive is a three-building, 540,000-square-foot complex located in the heart of Tysons Corner. Its on-site amenities include a fitness center, conference facility, cafe, daycare center, travel agency, convenience store with dry cleaner drop-off, common areas with Wi-Fi and a four-level parking garage. The surrounding area also offers many retail and dining options.

Recently, the complex received a LEED EB Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Another WRIT building, 2000 M St., was certified LEED Gold. WRIT now has six LEED EB certified properties.

The renovation project will begin in the fourth quarter of 2013. It is expected to cost between $30 million and $35 million. Plans call for a new glass curtain wall façade on the Tower building, an illuminated two-story entry and up to nine-foot finished ceilings with floor-to-ceiling windows in new tenant spaces.

“7900 Westpark Drive’s prime location offers high visibility from the Capital Beltway and Route 123, making it an excellent candidate for a renovation of this magnitude. We believe the Tysons Corner real estate market is a strong long-term investment, supported by the recent completion of the 495 express lanes and anticipated completion of the Silver Line of the Metro, along with the strong amenity base already existent in the submarket,” Thoma Regnell, senior vice president & managing director of WRIT’s office division, said in a statement for the press.

The Jones Lang LaSalle Northern Virginia agency leasing team is handling leasing for the complex on behalf of WRIT.  “The renovation will enhance the complex’s already striking presence, and the new design will provide a breathtaking experience for tenants and visitors as they enter the buildings,” said Marc Bassin, senior vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle. “It will be one of the area’s most enticing complexes.”

Click here for more market data on Washington, D.C.

by Adriana Pop, Associate Editor

Sourwine Real Estate Services, a locally based three-generation real estate owner, developer and property management company, is about to complete the first speculative office building in the Indianapolis area since 2008.

According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, construction on the $12 million, three-story structure at 8335 Keystone Crossing will wrap up this month. The 80,700-square-foot Class A office building has been designed by CSO Architects. Shiel Sexton was the construction manager. As reported by the Commercial Property Executive, Sourwine broke ground on the project last summer.

Known as 8335 Keystone Crossing, the facility is part of the company’s Keystone Office Centre. The complex is located southeast of 86th Street and Keystone Avenue and includes two other buildings, at 8395 and 8365. One of the properties is fully leased, while the other has an occupancy rate of 96 percent.

In the true nature of speculative development, the new building has yet to find an anchor tenant. Leasing is being handled by the Indianapolis office of Cassidy Turley.

“We have belief not only in our own product but a belief in the Keystone submarket to perform above average,” Joe Sourwine, the developer’s asset manager told the newspaper. “We just think it’s an advantageous time to bring this to the market.”

With a current vacancy rate around 20 percent, and few projects in the pipeline, the Indianapolis office market is beginning to rebound from the economic downturn. The Keystone at the Crossing area in particular has been showing very positive signs recently. The only other office project in this submarket that matches Sourwine’s offering is the 80,000-square-foot Three Woodfield Crossing.

Five years ago, Indianapolis-based Edgeworth Laskey Properties completed the most recent speculative office development in central Indiana. Known as Lake Pointe Center 5, the six-story, 150,000-square-foot building is located at the southwest corner of Interstate 465 and Allisonville Road.

Photo credits: Sourwine Real Estate Services

Photo: Kenneth Berke

Lakeway Center, a 1.2 million-square-foot office property in Metairie, La., just outside of New Orleans, has come under new ownership. The Feil Organization now calls the asset its own, having purchased the three-building complex from Equity Office Properties for a rumored sum of roughly $150 million.

Commercial real estate and capital markets services provider HFF orchestrated the sale of Lakeway Center on behalf of EOP, which had owned the premier office buildings since late 1993. Investors took note when the complex became available.

“While there are a handful of properties on the market that are candidates for adaptive re-use development, the true Class A assets do not regularly trade and as such, when they are marketed for sale, they typically attract strong interest,” Andrew Levy, senior managing director with HFF, told Commercial Property Executive.

Carrying addresses on Causeway Blvd., along Lake Pontchartrain, the Lakeway Center towers sprouted up between 1981 and 1987, and all three underwent renovations in 1996. Today the complex is 90.5 percent leased, with such names as People’s Health Network and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration taking up space on the tenant roster. Feil plans to upgrade Lakeway Center to ensure that the property–one of the largest office developments in the State of Louisiana–maintains its sheen.

It’s no Manhattan, but the New Orleans office market is certainly moving up investors’ radar. “Although still considered a secondary market, New Orleans office properties are attracting a significant amount of private and institutional capital from outside of the region,” Levy said. “The market offers investors a higher return than what they would typically expect from a comparable asset in a primary market and the office market is on extremely solid footing given the high existing occupancy in the Class A properties, strong job growth and lack of new construction on the horizon.”

Nashville-based OakPoint Investments purchased two of Austin’s office buildings in partnership with local Haverwood Management. Details about the transaction have not been disclosed.

“Given our cost basis and the dynamic locations of both buildings, we are excited about the long term potential of these assets. We have spent considerable time searching for value in the Austin market, believing that the comparability of Nashville to Austin will allow us to employ a similar strategy in both cities successfully,” said James Granberry, one of the four members of the company’s leadership team. 

The latest acquisition represents number ten in the company’s portfolio since its launch two years ago. The two office buildings are the Briarcroft Building located at 12710 Research Blvd and the Continental Building at 9101 Burnet Rd. Briarcroft is a class B office development built in 1984, encompassing 65,318 square feet. The Continental is also class B of 58,700 square feet with 205 parking spaces.

“We’ve found success by focusing on investment opportunities that are too big for the average private investor, but are also under the radar screen of institutional capital. Although the purchase price on this asset would typically garner institutional attention, the fact that they were in different submarkets with different tenant profiles kept many of the typical players away,” explained Justin Albright, a principal at OakPoint.

The new owners are planning to invest in upgrades and renovations for both buildings. Haverwood Management will manage and lease both buildings.

OakPoint is a real estate advisory and investment company that handles lease negotiations, acquisitions, sales, and management projects on behalf of corporate and investor clients. The partners have completed over $2 billion in transactions on behalf of clients and over $425 million in principal transactions. The targeted investments are in the office, multifamily, residential, retail, and light-industrial sectors.

Photo credits: CBRE

Oxford Properties Group has unveiled plans to develop the new 40-story Ernst & Young Tower in the heart of downtown Toronto.

Upon completion in June 2017, the class AAA, LEED Platinum skyscraper will offer 900,000 square feet of space.

Ernst & Young, a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services, will anchor the property, which is currently 45 percent pre-leased. Another major tenant includes TMX Group, whose key subsidiaries operate cash and derivative markets and clearinghouses for multiple asset classes including equities, fixed income and energy.

Located at 100 Adelaide St. W., between Bay and York streets, the Ernst & Young Tower will be part of Oxford’s full block Richmond Adelaide Centre mixed-use complex.

“Oxford creates exceptional workplaces for high-performing organizations,” said Blake Hutcheson, president & CEO, Oxford Properties. “Working closely with Ernst & Young and TMX Group, we are helping to create today’s state of the art knowledge workplace at 100 Adelaide West. This LEED Platinum building is another example of Oxford’s leading sustainability program and of our world class development program in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. We are excited to work with both Ernst & Young and TMX Group, and to be building what will be one of our city’s most enduring office towers.”

Designed by architects Kohn Pederson Fox and locally based WZMH Architects, the building will create a high-quality, energy and cost efficient environment through the use of smart technology and productivity tools. The high-rise will feature multiple outdoor spaces, including a 5,000-square-foot terrace on the sixth floor, high performance building envelope and mechanical systems, on-demand fresh air, daylight and motion sensors, state-of-the-art lighting controls, bicycle storage, change rooms, showers and electric car parking.

Additionally, through stunning floor-to-ceiling windows and 9’6″ ceiling heights, the tower will offer 360 degree views of Toronto’s downtown skyline.

The leases at the Ernst & Young Tower represent Oxford’s first official use of a “Green Lease,” which incorporates commitments on how the building is to be occupied, operated and managed in a sustainable way.

“This new LEED platinum building represents a true workplace of the future, and Ernst & Young is very proud to be at the heart of it,” said Eric Rawlinson, Ernst & Young, Managing Partner, Greater Toronto Area. “Having the right workplace is a strategic business tool that empowers us to make a difference for our people, our clients, and our wider community. From the sustainable construction to the leading-edge design, we’re looking forward to watching the project come to life and become a new Toronto landmark.”

“As we have grown and diversified our organization, our efforts to integrate our acquisitions and optimize synergies have made clear the importance of a work space that fosters innovation and teamwork,” said Michael Vivaldi, TMX Group, Vice President, Finance & Administration. “We are excited about the LEED Platinum building at 100 Adelaide Street West, which will provide a state-of-the-art, sustainable workplace in close proximity to key local clients and readily accessible to transit options for employees.”

Brookwood Financial Partners L.L.C.,a private equity firm based in Massachusetts, has acquired Four Points Business Park, a three-building, multi-tenant property in Kearny Mesa.

The deal marks the third San Diego-area transaction in the past 20 months for Brookwood, which previously added the Mission Valley Crossroads and Bernardo Executive Center properties to its holdings.

Located at the corner of Ruffin Road and Chesapeake Drive, the 124,712-square-foot Four Points complex was 86 percent occupied at the time of the acquisition.

The area is a favorite of professional service firms, regional sales offices and back office operations of national and regional corporate tenants. According to the buyer, the San Diego office market has seen 12 consecutive quarters of positive absorption, with the Kearny Mesa submarket also seeing constant improvement over the past several years.

Brookwood represented itself in the transaction while the seller was represented by Bob Prendergast and Lynn LaChapelle of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The new owner has enlisted CBRE Group Inc. as the property’s leasing agent.

Brookwood has acquired around 10 million square feet of office, retail, flex and R&D properties, as well as 143 hotel guest rooms, 138 condominium units, 572 apartment units and 1,360 residential lots.

Image courtesy of bfplp.com

The iconic 2.2 million-square-foot Prudential Plaza in Chicago will be upgraded and repositioned thanks to a $100 million recapitalization and ownership change at the Class A office towers in the city’s East Loop neighborhood.

An investment group led by Mark Karasick of 601W Companies and Michael Silberberg of Berkley Properties now has the controlling interest in a new partnership with longtime owner and operator, BentleyForbes. The Los Angeles-based private real estate investment firm bought the property, comprised of the 41-story One Prudential Plaza at 130 E. Randolph St. and the 64-story Two Prudential Plaza at 180 N. Stetson Ave., for $470 million from Shorenstein Properties in 2006.

BentleyForbes has been trying to restructure its debt for the last several months before it defaulted on its loans.

“We couldn’t be happier. It’s a long-term win for the property. It will allow it to continue to be a gem of the East Loop submarket,” Chad Lasdon, managing director at BentleyForbes, told Commercial Property Executive.

The new partners plan to immediately move forward with a significant asset improvement program, including redevelopment of the retail concourse, which features more than 90,000 square feet of retail space. The group will focus its immediate attention on One Prudential Plaza, which was built in 1955 and recently lost a significant tenant when law firm Baker & McKenzie L.L.P. gave up about 250,000 square feet of space. Another large tenant, Integrys Energy Group, Inc., does not plan to renew its lease for approximately 196,000 square feet when it expires in 2014. Two Prudential Plaza was built in 1990.

“The partnership is committed to the long-term ownership of the towers and is investing significant resources to attract both traditional and progressive companies to Prudential Plaza that are seeking to secure a Class A office space at one of Chicago’s landmark addresses,” the new ownership stated in a news release.

Prudential Plaza occupies a full city block overlooking Michigan Avenue at East Randolph Street. It has unobstructed views of Lake Michigan, Michigan Avenue, Grant Park, Millennium Park and the Chicago River.

Lasdon didn’t have details on the redevelopment and when work would begin but called it a “broad-based improvement program.”

“It creates an opportunity to reposition, to do some capital expenditures and put new tenants in,” he said. “It’s a big win and will really bring this building back to where it needs to be.”

Lasdon thanked Karasick and Silberberg and the investment team.

“We appreciate the hard work that the new investors have done to help make this happen,” he said. “It’s a great deal in the long run.”

601 W Companies and Berkley Properties, both based in New York, have been active in the Chicago office market. They were part of the investment team that purchased the Bank of America Building at 231 S. LaSalle Street in November 2012 for $97 million. An affiliate of Berkley Properties bought the 915,000-square-foot Civic Opera Building at 20 N. Wacker Dr. in February 2012 for $126 million.

Allied Partners and Brickman have something to sing about. The real estate investment company and the private equity firm have completed the acquisition of The Brill Building, the landmark Manhattan tower that has long been synonymous with the music scene, for $185.5 million. Allied and Brickman purchased the 175,000-square-foot office and retail property from Invesco Real Estate and Stonehenge Partners Inc. in a deal that, when anticipated building renovation and leasing costs are incorporated, has a total value of $250 million. 

The change of ownership, brokered on the sellers’ behalf by Eastdil Secured, comes approximately six years after the asset last changed hands in a $151 million transaction. Allied and Brickman relied on Starwood Property Trust for a $158.5 million first mortgage loan to acquire the Brill Building, and the team secured $40 million in financing from Square Mile Capital Management L.L.C. 

An 11-story structure that has stood at 1619 Broadway since 1931, the Brill Building was designed by Victor Bark Jr. in the Art Deco style that Allied plans to respect in the process of transforming the property into a state-of-the-art destination envisioned as a creative environment for tenants in the fashion, arts, media and entertainment industries.  The Songwriters Hall of Fame will call the building home, and according to Allied, additional office and retail leases are presently in the works.

But it’s not just the Brill Building’s history as a longtime music business hub that Allied believes will help reel in occupants.

As Eric Hadar, chairman of Allied, told Commercial Property Executive, it’s also the property’s “location in Times Square, excellent foot traffic for retail tenants and the new and dynamic space we are going to create.”

Real estate services firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank has been tapped to spearhead leasing of the retail space at Brill Building and Brickman will oversee leasing for the office segment. 

The Brill Building renaissance is scheduled for late 2014.

Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer announced the sale of a Charleston County office asset for $340,000. Located at 3405 Salterbeck St., the office property is composed of two condominiums totaling 2,300 square feet and was purchased by MLD Properties, LLC from Charleston-based East Bay Company, LTD. Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer’s Mark Erickson represented the seller and was contracted by the new owner to stay on to handle leasing operations.

The asset is located in the Park West Development, a 1,700-acre premier planned development in Mt. Pleasant, SC. Park West is South Carolina developer LandTech, Inc.’s flagship mixed-use community composed of 29 neighborhoods. The project contains both single and multifamily developments (from townhomes to condominiums, live-work residences and senior housing including assisted living), as well as extensive commercial space such as retail and office space, and educational and healthcare facilities. The community features extensive recreational facilities such as pools, softball, baseball, football, soccer, lighted tennis courts, parks, playgrounds, walking, hiking and biking paths as well as indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

In other local news, Colliers International announced securing new assignments through its South Carolina chapter, thus growing its property management portfolio by 1.3 million square feet. The new additions include circa 100,000 square feet of office space, 400,000 square feet of distribution and industrial space and 800,000 square feet of retail and the following assets: The North Charleston Faber Centre, the West Columbia Westside Plaza, Parkland Plaza in Cayce and Wesmark Plaza in Sumter.

Located at 4000 Faber Dr., in North Charleston’s The Executive Park at Faber Place, Faber Center features 97,000 square feet of Class A office space and is Energy Star-certified. Tenants include SunTrust, Charleston economic Development, MetLife and Walgreens. Full-service commercial real estate developer Holder Properties developed the property. Durlach Associates has also been involved.

Image courtesy of Holder Properties

Chart courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer

Five Columbus Circle, the 225,700-square-foot office tower at 1790 Broadway in Manhattan, has been refinanced to the tune of $55 million. With the assistance of Meridian Capital Group L.L.C., the owner, 1790 Broadway Associates L.L.C., reeled in a senior loan from a national balance sheet lender.

A 21-story, landmark structure with 8,600 square feet of ground-level retail space, Five Columbus Circle was originally developed in 1911 as the home of the U.S. Rubber Co.  The lender came through with a loan featuring a 10-year term with full-term interest-only payments at a rate of 3.45 percent. According to Meridian, more than a few were eager to provide financing for the asset, given its location and stable operating history. And surely, Five Columbus Circle’s occupancy level didn’t hurt either. The Carrere & Hastings-designed building–home to the likes of Columbia Artists Management, Columbia University and Fordham University–is 96.5 percent occupied. 

Well-sponsored, high-quality office buildings in good locations with high occupancy levels clearly attract attention in the capital markets, but lenders are certainly keeping open minds these days. A full tenant roster, for example, is not necessarily a prerequisite.

“There is plenty of liquidity for well-located properties with vacancy,” Aaron Appel, managing director at meridian, told Commercial Property Executive. “Most institutions would offer floating rate 3-5 year term debt which would provide capital to stabilize the asset and allow the borrower to then re-enter the market for longer term debt.  Most long-term capital is lent solely based on in-place cash flow, to the extent that exists in an unstable asset, institutions will provide long-term capital based off a multiple of the in-place cash flow.” 

It almost seems like old times–but it’s not. “There is a prevailing sense the market place is beginning to resemble the irresponsible lending parameters of 2006/2007, given some of the low-debt yields getting financed,” Appel said. “I would say that the market is competitive, but even low-debt yield loans have significant amounts of pure equity behind them rather than sub-debt and financially engineered capital stacks which were prevalent in 2006/2007.”

Global real estate owner, operator and developer Tishman Speyer has acquired Tour Pacific, a 570,000-square-foot office building in Paris, France, from Ivanhoe Cambridge. 

“We have been looking for opportunities to increase our footprints in major European cities, and Tour Pacific fits very well with the rest our portfolio,” Tishman Speyer co-CEOs Jerry and Rob Speyer said in a company press release. “We look forward to transforming it and offering it to tenants as one of the most desirable business locations in the Paris market.”

Located in the La Defénse business district, the building was completed in 1992, and features a 24-story, two-tower design. Currently, the building is 70 percent occupied with its main tenant being the financial company Société Générale, which has a short-term lease expiration.

This latest acquisition expands Tishman Speyer’s already large portfolio in the region, which now includes 12 buildings totaling approximately 4.4 million square feet. One of those is Tour Esplanade, adjacent to Tour Pacific, which is fully leased to the French government, following the signing of 2012’s largest lease in Paris.

Tishman Speyer is expected to undertake a full renovation of the building that will include significant sustainability improvements. The firm has emerged as a sustainability leader in France with more than half of its portfolio achieving certified high environmental ratings, including three buildings ranked among France’s top 10.

Financing for the transaction was provided by Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank.

Jones Lang LaSalle brokered the sale as part of a co-exclusive mandate with Catella France.

As Seattle’s office market soared over the past year, a number of major office building transactions have been completed. The Russell Investments Center, at 1201 Third Ave., and Vulcan’s Amazon campus have drawn massive amounts of money as investment companies are focusing on Seattle real estate. Continuing that trend is the recent sale of the Wells Fargo Center to Canadian real estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge for a fee of $390 million. According to a press release issued by the buyer, the acquisition brings the total amount of office space in Seattle’s financial district that is owned by Ivanhoé to 8 percent.

Wells Fargo Center is a 47-story, Class A office tower that offers around 983,600 square feet of leasable space. The building, located at 999 Third Ave., is one of the mainstays of the city’s skyline and has joined the ranks of major office assets in the Pacific Northwest that feature energy-efficient fixtures and environmental systems. It boasts a high Energy Star rating and LEED Gold certification. The skyscraper offers great views of the neighboring area, as well as Elliott Bay and the city.

According to Ivanhoé Cambridge CEO Daniel Fournier, the move for Wells Fargo Center is “an excellent investment opportunity brought to our attention through our partner, Callahan Capital Properties, and contributes to our strategy aimed at building a national platform of assets comprising superior-quality office buildings.”

The company also owns a 50 percent stake in another major Seattle office building. The U.S. Bank Centre offers around 943,600 square feet of office space in the city’s financial district. Ivanhoé Cambridge handles a variety of activities, including investment, development, asset management, leasing and operations for a portfolio of assets located in around 20 countries and worth almost $34 billion.  

Photo courtesy of  users Rahula59 and Mrwojo via Wikimedia Commons

Trammell Crow Co.  and Principal Real Estate Investors have joined forces to develop Legacy Towers, a speculative two-phase office project in Plano’s Legacy business park.

The joint venture has begun demolition of the former Stacy Furniture headquarters building at the southeast corner of the Dallas North Tollway and Legacy Drive to make way for the new high-profile development.

Phase I calls for a 13-story, 342,066-square-foot, Class AA office tower and a 1,200-car, six-level parking structure connected by a conditioned walkway. Phase II is expected to be a seven-story, approximately 192,500-square-foot Class A office building.

“Legacy is one of the best office markets in the country, and this truly is the best site in Legacy Business Park,” said Denton Walker, a senior managing director for Trammell Crow’s Dallas/Fort Worth business unit, in a release. “We are excited to officially begin this speculative project with our partner Principal Real Estate Investors to deliver a high-quality office project located at the gateway to Legacy Town Center. We are excited to deliver a product with a level of design and construction materials that we believe will be unmatched in Legacy.”

Designed by Dallas-based architectural firm HKS Inc., the project seeks LEED Gold certification and will be available for occupancy in the third quarter of 2014. Wells Fargo is the project lender. CBRE Dallas Senior Vice President Dennis Barnes, First Vice President Celeste Fowden and Associate Hunter Lee of CBRE Dallas are marketing and leasing the state-of-the-art office building, according to company statements.

In other news, Colonial Properties Trust completed the acquisition of the 252-unit Colonial Reserve at Frisco Bridges (formerly Ablon at Frisco Bridges), in a $36.2 million deal.

The newly developed Class A mid-rise apartment community is located in the Frisco submarket and features direct access to more than 17 million square feet of office space within a five-mile radius, including major employers such as Hewlett-Packard (EDS), Dr. Pepper, Frito-Lay Inc., Ericsson, BofA Home Loans and JC Penney.

Amenities include a resort-style pool, state-of-the-art fitness center, structured parking with controlled access and gourmet kitchens with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.

The property is currently in lease-up, with 30 percent of the units leased at the time of acquisition.

Rendering: Plano Economic Development

In a $73 million deal, an affiliate of Phoenix-based JDM Partners L.L.C. has acquired State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.’s operations center in Tempe.

Built in 1999, the 372,408-square-foot complex sits on a 21-acre tract at 2700-2925 S. Sunland Drive and 2980 S. Priest Drive, within the master-planned Fountainhead Corporate Park in Tempe. The property consists of four Class A office buildings, one inspection and storage facility, along with two above-grade parking structures.

It has convenient access to the regional freeway network, Sky Harbor International Airport, downtown Tempe, Arizona State University and a wide variety of nearby amenities. Barry Gabel, Mindy Korth and Chris Marchildon of CBRE Group Inc.’s Phoenix office represented the seller. The five-building corporate campus is completely occupied by State Farm Insurance.

In other transaction news, San Diego-based Pathfinder Partners, L.L.C. has expanded its Phoenix footprint with the $16.4 million acquisition of Copper Creek, a 21-building community in Tempe, from Equity Residential.

Developed in 1984, the 144-unit property features one- and two-bedroom apartments and townhomes ranging from 711 to 1263 square feet. Common amenities include two pools, a spa, clubhouse, fitness center, barbecue grills and picnic area.

Pathfinder plans to give the property a $1.6 million makeover. Highlights will include a new clubhouse/gym, landscaping, a dog park and new exterior paint. Some units will get new flooring, cabinetry, countertops, finishes, fixtures, appliances and fresh paint. Additionally, Pathfinder will rename the property and install new signage.

Other recent Pathfinder acquisitions in the Phoenix area include:

- Academy Apartments, a 96-unit, four-building community near the city’s central business district
- Dorsey Place, 84 units in a 90-unit new condominium project in Tempe, in partnership with San Diego-based Stratford Partners
- Dobson Springs Apartments, a 120-unit complex in Mesa, an REO acquisition in partnership with Arizona- and British Columbia-based Bruckal Properties and its affiliate New Summit Partners
-Barolo Place, a high-end townhome project at 10757 North 74th St. in Scottsdale. Pathfinder acquired the remaining 16 units in the 65-unit community. (Pathfinder)

Photo: Fountainhead Corporate Park

This past week was quite an eventful one for CBRE’s Orlando office. Not only has the team grown by adding Jay Dixon—a former senior office leasing professional at Lincoln Property Company in Orlando with over ten years of experience—as an office building sales professional, but it has also managed to close on the sale and acquisition financing for The Element, and land a new tenant for the HD Supply Building.

CBRE arranged the $27 million sale and the $20.25 million financing of The Element, one of Orlando’s premier gated communities. CBRE’s Debt & Equity Financing Group worked on behalf of Optimus Element, LLP, advised by Miami-based, TM Real Estate Group, LLC, to secure acquisition financing through J.P. Morgan of Atlanta, Georgia. Proceeds were used to acquire the property. CBRE’s Capital Markets Group also exclusively represented the seller, Karlin Real Estate of Los Angeles, California.

CBRE Vice Chairman Charles Foschini and Vice President Christopher Apone, both with CBRE’s Debt & Equity Financing Group, along with Christian Lee, vice chairman with CBRE’s Capital Markets Institutional Group, arranged the financing. From CBRE’s Investment Properties Group in Orlando, Shelton Granade, executive vice president, Luke Wickham, vice president, and Justin Basquill, associate, represented the seller.

The Element is a luxury community with frontage on the MetroWest Golf Club, Orlando’s only Robert Trent Jones Senior-designed signature golf course. Extensively rehabbed in 2009/2010, The Element offers beautiful golf course views and Class A features such as private garages, 9-foot and vaulted ceilings, crown molding and full-size washers and dryers.

CBRE was also in charge of negotiating the lease with TravelClick—a provider of products and services for the hospitality industry—that plans to expand its presence in Florida. TravelClick has signed a 36,748-square-foot lease for the entire third floor of the HD Supply Building, a five-story office building at 501 Church Street in Orlando’s Central Business District. CBRE represented both the tenant and the landlord in the negotiations.

TravelClick will consolidate its offices in Winter Springs and south Orlando with the move, planned for July 2013. The new space—larger than both of the company’s two existing offices combined—will accommodate the company’s forecasted expansion that could include up to 450 new employees.

HD Supply Building was built in 2004 and is strategically located at Church Street and Division Avenue, with easy access to Interstate 4 and East/West Expressway. The building is adjacent to the new Amway Center and is within walking distance to popular restaurants and retail.

Image via Apartment Guide

A 10,106-square-foot corner parcel located at 644 East 14th Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan is being marketed by Avison Young’s New York-based investment sales team led by principals Neil Helman and Charles Kingsley. According to a press release from the company, the property is occupied by a one-story building—a former R&S Strauss auto parts store that closed in early 2009.

The site has over 65,000 square feet of development rights for residential, retail and community space use, and its development potential is enhanced by more than 200 feet of frontage on 14^th Street and Avenue C, which means that separate entrances can be created for different uses.

“Well poised for redevelopment, this corner lot is ideally suited for a multitude of uses, including residential (condos or rentals), retail, and community facility use—including dormitories for student housing, making this a great opportunity for schools and other non-profit institutions,” said Neil Helman in an official statement.

The additional 70,000 square feet of unused development to the west of the property from 626 to 642 East 14^th St. can be incorporated onto the site with a zoning lot merger. According to Helman, the site has no restrictions on height limitations. This means that a tower could be erected here, which would take advantage of the great East River views.

EV Grieve, an East Village real estate blog, reports that in 2009 the building was sold for $12.3 million to Arun Bhatia, a private investor who wanted to demolish the existing structure and construct a new 11-story building. His plans were rejected by the city in 2010, and the site remained unchanged ever since.

For more market data from New York City, please click here.

Image via Avison Young

Federal Capital Partners has acquired Erwin Square Plaza, a 238,800-square-foot office and retail building in downtown Durham, N.C. The real estate investment company purchased the Class A property from National Asset Services Inc. in a $37.5 million transaction. 

Commercial real estate services firm CBRE Group Inc. orchestrated the sale on behalf of NAS.

Erwin Square sprouted up on a 7.5-acre parcel at 2200 W. Main St., in 1990. The 10-story building encompasses approximately 215,000 square feet of office space accented by 23,800 of retail space in wings on either side. FCP plans to invest in capital improvements to reposition the retail segment and, as Esko Korhonen, managing partner at FCP, noted in a prepared statement, bring the property “back to its institutional-grade potential.” 

Facelift or not, Erwin Square Plaza has long been a coveted office destination in downtown Durham. The property’s occupancy level has held strong over the last several years, hovering in the mid- to upper-90 percent range, even during the Great Recession. Today, the building is 96.2 percent occupied, with a roster featuring the likes of Duke University, Princeton Review, UBS Financial Services and other creditworthy tenants. 

FCP has a strong presence in the Triangle area, having provided financing or holding an interest in an additional 350,000 square feet of commercial space and nearly 2,000 apartment units. However, FCP does not have tunnel vision; the company casts a wide net when hunting for transactions. 

“Besides the Triangle area, FCP continues to look at acquisition opportunities in all sectors–commercial, residential, manufactured housing–throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, including Washington, D.C., and its suburbs, Philadelphia and other areas of the Carolinas such as Charlotte,” Korhonen told Commercial Property Executive. “Within those markets, we can invest outright, provide structured debt or venture with a strong local partner.” In May, the company, along with Cross Properties and Alterra Property Group, commenced the historic renovation and transformation of Philadelphia’s 1616 Walnut St. property into a 206-unit luxury apartment community.  Earlier this year, FCP closed a $10 million mezzanine loan for the $52 million development of a 240-unit apartment community in Alexandria, Va., just outside of Washington, D.C.

Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., the commercial mortgage lending business of Prudential Financial Inc., has provided $73 million in financing for Hines Global REIT’s recent purchase of One Westferry Circus, an office building in London’s Canary Wharf district, Pru announced Wednesday.

One Westferry Circus is an eight-story, 219,800-square-foot office building built in 1992 by Olympia & York, the company that originally started the boom in the Canary Wharf/Docklands area in east central London. The building is 96 percent leased to Valero Energy Ltd., De Vere Venues Ltd. and Littlejohn LLP.

Commercial Property Executive reported on the sale itself on March 7. Hines paid $124 million for the property, acquiring it from an affiliate of TIAA-CREF.

The Prudential loan, apparently, takes out the bridge financing portion of the funding described in the initial news story: a combination of proceeds from a Hines IPO and a revolving line of credit with JPMorgan Chase.

“Prudential has tailored this seven-year loan to meet our needs,” Ian Brown of Hines UK said in a release. “It extends beyond several lease events and allows us to focus on our property strategy without the complication of maturing debt.”

“Increasingly, we are seeing companies from a diverse range of industries exploring Canary Wharf as a viable location due to its low occupancy cost compared to other established office markets and the area’s improving infrastructure and access,” Drew Abernethy, head of European originations for Prudential Mortgage Capital, said in the same release.

The Docklands market has experienced “muted” absorption recently, according to London-based GVA, the UK’s largest independent commercial property consultant, though a significant increase in demand is expected to start playing a role later this year.

The overall vacancy rate for Docklands office space was stable at 8.1 percent at the end of the first quarter, according to a GVA report, representing 1.6 million square feet of available space.

Only one office property is currently under construction in the Docklands, the partially preleased 542,000-square-foot building at 25 Churchill Place, which is scheduled for completion next year.

The hot Midtown South office market in Manhattan saw a trophy property change hands this week with Clarion Partners L.L.C. acquiring 100-104 Fifth Ave, a 17-story, 277,412-square-foot building from the Kaufman Organization and Invesco Real Estate for $230 million.

“100 Fifth Avenue is one of the top institutional-quality assets in the Midtown South submarket,” Gary Rufrano, a director at Clarion Partners, a New York-based real estate investment manager, said in a news release. “The Class A vacancy rate in the area is just 3.2 percent and with limited potential for new competition, we are very pleased with this addition to our portfolio.”

Studley’s Capital Transaction Group handled the sale.

“The interest in Midtown South properties among institutional investors has grown exponentially over the least several years,” Woody Heller, executive managing director of Studley’s Capital Transaction Group, said in the release. “This is entirely justified by the appeal of the area and spaces to many of the city’s fastest-growing tenants.”

The property, located near Union Square between 15^th and 16^th streets, is two contiguous buildings that were built in 1906 and 1911. When Kaufman and Invesco bought the site in 2010 for $93.5 million, they began a $9 million capital improvement plan to upgrade and modernize the French Gothic building. Renovations included upgrades to the lobby, buildings systems, elevators, security and HVAC. Kaufman, which is being retained as the property’s exclusive leasing and managing agent, began leasing up the repositioned building with technology, new media, fashion, advertising, finance and real estate clients. The building is now fully leased with tenants like Apple iAd and Yelp, which has its New York headquarters at the site and recently took another 29,505 square feet, according to the Union Square Partnership. The New York Times reported in October that Timberland, the New Hampshire-based outdoor footwear and apparel company, had taken 9,500 square feet for a showroom under a 10-year lease.

“After repositioning, rebranding and leasing the property, our partnership decided that this was the right time to sell 100-104 Fifth Avenue and that Studley was the right firm to market it. The Midtown South market is active and we believe that investors from across the country want to own here. This sale marks one of the largest deals in the neighborhood so far this year,” Fred Leffel, president of Kaufman’s New Ventures division, said in the release. “We’re happy to still lend our expertise to the building by staying on as the leasing and managing agent.”

Rents in the building, which has floors that are structurally aligned to create a flexible, loft-style plan that many tech companies like, have reportedly been in the $50 to $55 per square foot range, about average for the neighborhood. In its Manhattan Office Market Report for April, Cassidy Turley said the overall asking rents for Midtown South were up 3 percent to $57.60 per square foot. The commercial real estate services firm noted that Midtown South “is the only market where current average asking rents have surpassed its historical highs, which are 16 percent higher than 2007 asking rents.”

The Union Square Partnership put the Union Square neighborhood’s vacancy rate at 2.6 percent and the overall Midtown South vacancy rate at 8.6 percent in its 2013 Commercial Market Report. The report by the non-profit neighborhood advocacy group noted that 100-104 Fifth Avenue had three of the top lease transactions for the 2012, including the Yelp expansion. The other tenants listed in the report were Knewton, Inc., which took 16,000 square feet and  FirstMark Capital, which leased 10,600 square feet.

The American Institute of Architects Illinois has awarded top prizes at the 2013 Honor Awards to Randolph Tower, the Hairpin Lofts and Hairpin Arts Center—all projects of Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture. The evening’s highest project honor, the Louis Sullivan Award, went to Randolph Tower in Chicago. The adaptive reuse project succeeded in transforming the landmark Steuben Club Building into a mixed-use residential community in the heart of Chicago’s Theater District.

Standing at 463 feet tall, the circa 1929 building is one of the tallest terra cotta-clad towers in Chicago, featuring numerous Gothic Revival architectural elements such as ornate buttresses, gargoyles and arches. Designed to house offices, retail stores and a private German social club, the building was shut down in 2001 by city officials due to hazardous conditions.

The building remained abandoned for over a decade until it was adapted into a mixed-use development with 313 mixed-income apartments, commercial office space and retail storefronts.

Brandy Koch, 2013 AIA Illinois president—who convened the national jury and served as an ex officio member, said: “The jury recognized the daunting challenges of the rehabilitation of Randolph Tower and was impressed by its ambitious scale and complexity.”

The award was accepted by Paul Alessandro, a partner with HPA and the company’s director of interior design, George Valdez. Alessandro told the audience: “This project was 13 years in the making, and getting it completed took one of the most amazing public-private partnerships ever assembled. Both of us will be proud of this project for the rest of our careers.”

The second award won by HPA, the Crombie Taylor Honor Award, was for the Hairpin Lofts and Hairpin Arts Center in Chicago. The award recognizes a project that has enhanced the natural and built environments of a community through preservation and restoration.

The rehabilitation of the former Morris B. Sachs Building converted a commercial office and retail structure into a multi-use development with a 6,000-square-foot community arts center, 7,000-square-foot of retail storefronts and 28 loft apartments—out of which 25 units were dedicated as affordable housing.

The circa 1929 flatiron building, listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings and a Chicago landmark, is well known for its triangular footprint and camel logo of the original occupant—the Hump Hair Pin Manufacturing Company.

The project is LEED Gold certified and features rooftop solar panels that provide heat for domestic hot water; a high-performance building envelope; a green roof; and ground-source heat-pump wells.

Photo Credits: Randolph Tower – Leslie Schwartz; Hairpin Lofts – Patsy McEnroe