PHILADELPHIA — A joint venture between Ensemble Real Estate Investments, Mosaic Development Partners and Oxford Properties Group has broken ground on a 137,000-square-foot life sciences project at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The project is being developed on a speculative basis for cell and gene therapy users and will be able to support tenants with space requirements ranging in size from 5,000 to 35,000 square feet. CRB is designing the project. A completion date was not disclosed.
ATLANTA — PCCP LLC and Portman Holdings have formed a joint venture with plans to develop O4W Office, a 143,500-square-foot boutique office building in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward district along the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail. Construction is slated to be complete by the summer of 2023. O4W Office will include three stories of offices, 6,900 square feet ground-floor retail space and two levels of parking. Building amenities will feature a coffee bar, bicycle and scooter storage, restrooms with showers, outdoor terraces and 11,000 square feet of outdoor space. Located at 667 Auburn Ave., the office development is situated three miles south of Midtown and two miles east of downtown Atlanta. Nearby retail to the project includes Krog Street Market and Ponce City Market, which both are walkable along the BeltLine and include food halls and shops.
HOUSTON — Texas-based developer Constellation Real Estate Partners and a fund advised by Crow Holdings Capital will develop Constellation Post Oak, a 426,200-square-foot industrial complex that will be located in Houston. The property will comprise a 304,400-square-foot, cross-dock building with 36-foot clear heights and a 121,800-square-foot front-load building with 32-foot clear heights. Powers Brown Architecture is designing the project with Langan Engineering. Zack Taylor of Colliers represented Constellation in its acquisition of the 33-acre site on which the property will be developed. Colliers has also been retained to lease the development. Construction is set to begin in June 2022 with completion scheduled in the second quarter of 2023.
DALLAS — Stream Realty Partners has broken ground on The Quad, a 350,000-square-foot project in Uptown Dallas that will consist of a 335,000-square-foot office building and 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Office amenities will include a fitness center, rooftop terrace, club lounge, conference center and a full acre of outdoor space. Stream acquired the 3.8-acre site, which also houses a 131,000-square-foot office building, in 2019. Delivery of the new space is slated for early 2024. Colby Mueck, Jim Curtin, De’On Collins, Rex Cruz and Kristi Leonard of JLL arranged an undisclosed amount of construction financing through MSD Partners, the investment advisory firm of tech magnate Michael Dell, on behalf of Stream Realty Partners.
HARPER WOODS, MICH. — NorthPoint Development has unveiled plans to build Eastland Commerce Center in Harper Woods, a northeast suburb of Detroit. The speculative industrial project will consist of three buildings ranging from 200,000 to 536,000 square feet each. The development will be situated on an 80-acre site formerly occupied by Eastland Center shopping mall, which opened in 1957 and closed in late 2021. Joe Hamway and Greg Hudas of Signature Associates will market the project for lease. Pre-leasing is underway for Building 1, which will span up to 297,000 square feet and is slated for completion in early 2023. All three buildings are slated for completion by the end of 2023.
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Miami-based 13th Floor Investments has acquired 168 acres in Greenville with plans to build the first phase of On The Trail, a mixed-use project. The sales price for the land was not disclosed. In partnership with Miami-based developers Dean Warhaft and Warren Zinn, the team plans to redevelop the abandoned 250 acres surrounding Greenville’s historic Union Bleachery mill, which fronts the Swamp Rabbit Trail, a 22-mile, multi-use recreational greenway. Originally built in the 1990s, The Union Bleachery mill formerly was used as a commerce center but has sat vacant since a fire shut down its operations in 2003. 13th Floor Investments, which now owns a majority ownership stake in the development project, will take over the management, construction and implementation of Warhaft and Zinn’s strategic vision for the site. Warhaft is a licensed professional land surveyor with experience as a real estate development lawyer and manager of all aspects of construction projects. Zinn is an attorney with experience acquiring, developing and managing commercial properties. On The Trail will be built in multiple phases, featuring a variety of residential, commercial, office, retail and hospitality uses. Construction of the project’s first phase is slated to begin later this year …
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Los Angeles-based REIT Kilroy Realty Corp. (NYSE: KRC) has acquired a 2.9-acre site near The Domain in North Austin that is zoned for the development of a 493,000-square-foot office building. The sales price was $40 million. The seller was not disclosed. Entitlements have been fully secured, and construction could commence as soon as this summer, with delivery occurring in 2024.
FRISCO, TEXAS — Locally based firm Caddis Healthcare Real Estate will develop Frisco Medical Pavilion II, a 60,000-square-foot medical office building that will be located on the northern outskirts of Dallas. The site is located just north of Texas Health Frisco Hospital. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2022, with an estimated completion date of summer 2023. Transwestern has been tapped to lease the property. Caddis broke ground on the Frisco Medical Pavilion I in 2018, and the building is now fully leased.
CARY, N.C. — Merritt Properties has bought 142 acres in Cary for $9 million with plans to build Merritt RDU Business Park, a 738,750-square-foot industrial park. The transaction includes three parcels. Construction is expected to begin early 2023. The seller of the land was not disclosed. Merritt RDU Business Park will span up to 13 single-story buildings ranging from 8,400 to 108,225 square feet. The industrial park will offer clear heights from 18 to 32 feet, leasable bays starting at 1,500 square feet, traditional rear-loaded docks and drive-in capabilities and free surface parking. The first phase of the project will include three buildings on the western side of the site, near the corner of Nelson and Pleasant Grove Church roads. The park will be located three miles from RDU International Airport, and will be close to Interstates 540 and 40, as well as US Highway 70. The project will be Merritt’s’ sixth speculative industrial project in the state, as well as the company’s largest North Carolina project since 2020. Merritt has nearly 2 million square feet of leasable space that is developed, proposed or under construction across five other projects in the Triangle area.
CLAYTON, MO. — Franklin Partners has unveiled plans to renovate The Plaza in Clayton, a western suburb of St. Louis. The firm acquired the 340,529-square-foot office building in October 2017. The property was completed in 2001. Franklin Partners expects to bring approximately 160,000 square feet of renovated space to market in April 2023. There will also be a new amenity space named The Plaza Six. Offerings will include flexible spaces, private meeting rooms, two lounges, a game room, golf simulator, fitness center, rooftop deck and a tenant experience app. Mark Palmer and Artie Kerckhoff of CBRE are the leasing agents for the property. Wright Heerema Architects is the project architect.
