BOCA RATON, FLA. — Crocker Partners and Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC have teamed up to acquire Boca Center, a 476,000-square-foot mixed-use development in Boca Raton. The development features three Class A office buildings totaling 360,000 square feet and a high-end retail center totaling 116,000 square feet. The office component was 91 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as FINRA, UBS and Sun Capital. The retail component was 98 percent leased to tenants such as Rocco’s Tacos, Morton’s, Joseph’s Classic Market and Total Wine. Boca Center also features a 256-room Marriott hotel, which wasn’t part of the transaction. Crocker and Cornerstone purchased Boca Center from TIAA-CREF for an undisclosed price.
Florida
MIAMI — Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson PA has renewed and expanded its office footprint in Museum Tower, a Class A office building located at 150 W. Flagler St. in downtown Miami. The law firm has increased its office space to 110,000 square feet, a 7,000-square-foot expansion. Carol Brooks and Steven Hurwitz of CREC represented Stearns Weaver Miller in the lease transaction. Kirk Fetter of Gaedeke Group represented Museum Tower’s owner, Gaedeke Holdings Limited.
TAMPA, FLA. — Fairlead Commercial Real Estate has purchased Westshore 500, a Class A, 129,728-square-foot office building in Tampa. The asset is located at 500 N. Westshore Blvd. in Tampa’s Westshore submarket. Fairlead Commercial acquired the asset along with equity partner Bridge Investment Group Partners, managers of the ROC Funds, for an undisclosed price. Christian Lee, Dale Peterson, Charles Foschini and Marcos Minaya of CBRE’s capital markets group represented the seller in the transaction. Fairlead has selected Claire Calzon and Joanne LeBlanc of Colliers International to lease Westshore 500.
MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — Nakash Holdings, an investment firm controlled by founders of jean designer Jordache Enterprises, has purchased The Setai Hotel in Miami Beach’s South Beach neighborhood for an undisclosed price. Nakash Holdings will own and operate 130 guest rooms in the historic Art Deco building, as well as units in the tower portion of the hotel. The hotel’s amenity package includes three infinity pools, four food and beverage outlets, an upscale spa and fitness center and more than 45,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space. The hotel’s Art Deco portion was built in the 1930s, and in 2004 Jean Michel Gathy and Jaya Ibrahim developed the hotel’s tower portion. The Art Deco building was redesigned in 2004 as well.
MIAMI — Skanska USA has signed a $101 million contract to build The Patricia & Phillip Frost Museum of Science in Miami. The 250,000-square-foot property will be located within the new Museum Park complex adjacent to the Perez Art Museum Miami overlooking Biscayne Bay and PortMiami. The new museum will include a planetarium, 500,000-gallon saltwater aquarium, five-story Innovation Center, sustainable roof with a hydroponic garden and exhibition galleries. The architect, Grimshaw Architects, is designing the museum to achieve LEED Platinum certification. Skanska USA plans to complete the museum in the summer of 2016.
HOLLYWOOD, FLA. — CBRE has brokered the $31.5 million sale of Emerald Place, a 300-unit apartment community located at 3910 N. 56th Ave. in Hollywood. The property includes a swimming pool, clubhouse, two tennis courts, children’s playground and night-time security. Emerald Place Apartments LLC purchased the asset from Emerald Place LLC. Calum Weaver and Robert Given led the CBRE South Florida Multifamily team in representing the seller.
MELBOURNE, FLA. — BishopBeale plans to construct Pineda Landings, a 50,000-square-foot, 17.5-acre retail development at the corner of Wickham Road and Jordan Blass Drive in Melbourne. The shopping center will be anchored by The Fresh Market, the first location for the specialty grocer in Brevard County. The shopping center is expected to open for business by the fall of 2015. BishopBeale will handle all leasing and development management for the project.
BOCA RATON, FLA. — Crocker Partners has purchased two office towers in Boca Raton’s Town Center Mall area from MetLife Real Estate Investors for an undisclosed price. The two properties, known as One Town Center and The Plaza, span 339,000 square feet and were 42 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Wells Fargo and Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors. Crocker Partners purchased the two towers, which were both originally developed by Crocker entities, in a partnership with Siguler Guff. Crocker Partners will manage the properties and CBRE will handle leasing responsibilities.
DELAND, FLA. — Equus Capital Partners Ltd. has sold Madison Carrington Place, a 224-unit apartment community in Deland, roughly 30 miles north or Orlando. The private equity real estate fund manager sold the asset to Bluerock Partners for $14.3 million. Constructed in 1987, the apartment community features a clubhouse, pool, fitness center, tennis and volleyball courts and a playground. The property was 94 percent leased at the time of sale. Luke Wickham and Sheldon Granade of CBRE represented Equus Capital Partners in the transaction.
Are Hikes in Construction, Rent Around the Corner for Jacksonville Industrial Market?
by John Nelson
Over the last four years, North Florida’s industrial market appears to have stabilized. While rental rates remain flat offering a variety of expansion opportunities for users and tenants, rental increases and new construction opportunities may be right around the corner. Consider the facts: the Jacksonville industrial vacancy rate now hovers around 8.5 percent, the lowest in the last five years and down from a high of 11.4 percent in 2010. Rental rates, now in the $3.98 per square foot range for the last two quarters, have stabilized from a high of $4.38 per square foot reported in the first quarter of 2010, according to CoStar. Because of a finite supply, with an increase in demand for Class B and Class C space, a rent increase may be in the forecast. Add with the lack of choices for large blocks of Class A space, expect more build-to-suit activity, or speculative construction. In 2014, two speculative industrial projects were announced in Jacksonville. In order to meet a contractual construction deadline within the city of Jacksonville’s master developer agreement, Hillwood Investment Properties launched a 510,000-square-foot cross-dock project at Alliance Florida. Hillwood was chosen as the master developer of Alliance Florida, formerly Cecil Commerce …