AUSTIN, TEXAS — Barnes & Noble will open an approximately 20,000-square-foot store at Southpark Meadows, a regional power center located along I-35 in South Austin. The book retailer is backfilling a space previously occupied by Office Max with one of its smaller-format stores. Charlotte-based Big V Property Group owns Southpark Meadows, which is also home to tenants such as Walmart, Target, PetSmart, Ulta Beauty, Old Navy, J.C. Penney and Marshalls. A tentative opening date was not disclosed.
EAGAN, MINN. — Transwestern Real Estate Services has negotiated a 48,563-square-foot office lease in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan. Leonardo DRS Inc., a defense technology company, will occupy space at Grand Oak VII within the Grand Oak Business Park. The lease term is 10 years. Leonardo DRS is relocating from Burnsville and is expanding its footprint this fall. Grand Oak VII is a 107,076-square-foot, single-story office building completed in 2002. Mike Honsa of Transwestern represented Group RMC, the owner of the 100-acre, 10-building business park. Chuck Bower and Jerry Moroe of RV3 Solutions represented the tenant.
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Lee & Associates’ Report: Q2 Net Absorption Declines Across All Property Sectors Except Multifamily
Lee & Associates’ 2025 Q2 North America Market Report looks back at shrinking (or negative) net absorption for industrial, office and retail sectors in the last quarter. Meanwhile, multifamily tenant demand beat previous expectations in the same three months, as a feared recession failed to materialize. The mix of factors for absorption varied by property type: industrial and office markets saw increases in vacancy, while competition for retail space remained high, even in the face of high-profile closures. Lee & Associates’ full market report is available to read here (plus detailed vacancy rates, cap rates by city, market rents, square footage information, information on Canadian markets and more). The recaps for industrial, office, retail and multifamily sectors below detail trends and outlooks for each property sector in the remainder of 2025. Industrial Overview: Vacancies Rise, Rent Growth Slows Concern over the impact of tariffs has added to slowing tenant growth in logistics and manufacturing across North America. But the continued easing demand has resulted in more choices and benefits for users that have been subjected to a prolonged stretch of steep rent growth. Vacancies in the United States have risen to 7.4 percent, a decade-long high, while deliveries continued to outpace tenant expansion. Net absorption fell …
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Cummings Electrical has signed a full-building, 66,882-square-foot industrial lease in Fort Worth. The electrical engineering and contracting firm is relocating from the nearby building at 14900 Grand River Road to Centreport Tech Center, a two-building complex on the city’s northeast side, via a 10-year deal. Jason Finch, Erik Blais and Michael Spain of Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services represented the landlord, Fort Capital, in the lease negotiations. The deal brings Centreport Tech Center to full occupancy.
HOUSTON — Representative Materials Co. has signed a 119,355-square-foot industrial lease in northeast Houston. The manufacturer and distributor of conduit raceway systems is taking space within the building at 1055 W. Lake Houston Parkway, which is located within Generation Park Distribution Center. Jarret Venghaus, Jeff Venghaus and David Holland of JLL represented the owner, Outrigger Industrial, which recently bought the property, in the lease negotiations. Ryan Fuselier and David Buescher, also with JLL, represented the tenant. The deal brings the building to 46 percent occupancy.
DURHAM, N.C. — The Ardent Cos. has closed on the land acquisition for Westside Bottling, a mixed-use development located on the former Durham Coca-Cola Bottling Co. warehouse site in Durham. Ardent plans to break ground in August on the development, which at full build-out will feature 70,000 square feet of retail space, 370 multifamily residences and 35 for-sale townhomes. Westside Bottling’s retail component is currently 70 percent preleased to tenants including Sprouts Farmers Market, Shake Shack, Ulta Beauty, Club Pilates, First Watch and Vernis Nail Salons. First Citizens Bank, which had an existing bank branch on the site, will continue to operate at Westside Bottling. The development sits three miles west of downtown Durham and north of Duke University and Duke University Medical Center.
NEW YORK CITY — Telecommunications giant Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has selected the PENN 2 office tower in Midtown Manhattan for its new corporate headquarters. The company will staff approximately 1,000 employees at its new office. Verizon signed a 19-year lease with the landlord, Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO), to occupy approximately 200,000 square feet of space on floors eight through 10. The timeline for Verizon’s occupancy at PENN 2 was not released. Josh Kuriloff, Peyton Horn, Heather Thomas and Kyle Ernest of Cushman & Wakefield represented Verizon in the lease negotiations. Glen Weiss, Josh Glick, Jared Silverman and Anthony Cugini represented Vornado on an internal basis. Located directly above the Penn Station public transit hub, PENN 2 offers direct access to 15 subway lines, the Long Island Railroad, New Jersey Transit, PATH, Amtrak and the upcoming Metro-North Railroad, which is scheduled to debut in 2027. Other tenants at PENN 2 include Major League Soccer, MSG Entertainment Corp. (operator of nearby Madison Square Garden) and Universal Music Group, which recently signed an 88,000-square-foot lease at the tower. As part of the lease agreement, Verizon employees at PENN 2 will have exclusive access to more than 25,000 square feet of outdoor space at …
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Institutional Investors Resume Activity Amid Stabilizing Conditions
Since the Federal Reserve began raising rates in March 2022 to combat inflation, the real estate market has faced challenges such as rising interest rates, capital market volatility and economic uncertainty. These factors caused many institutional investors to pause their real estate investment activities compared to historical levels. Despite ongoing volatility, investors are gradually re-entering the market, driven by several factors. Key reasons for the pause included a challenging fundraising and capital markets environment, the unpredictable cost of capital, a scarcity of transactions leading to a lack of pricing discovery and widening bid/ask spreads. Some institutional investors were impacted by the “denominator effect,” resulting in an overweighting to real estate and the need for portfolio rebalancing. Additionally, to create bolster funds for other portfolio issues, some institutional investors entered redemption queues seeking liquidity. Broader capital market constraints reduced the availability of equity, while simultaneously driving a growing preference for structuring investments as debt rather than equity among those who remained active. During this period of muted transaction activity, private investors capitalized on the market’s dislocation. These investors increasingly prioritized their acquisition efforts toward newer vintage core and core-plus assets over value-add or development opportunities, reflecting a shift toward higher quality …
NEW YORK CITY — WeWork will open a 60,000-square-foot coworking space at 250 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. The space will encompass five of the 648,000-square-foot building’s 31 floors. Peter Riguardi, Clark Finney, Alexander Riguardi and Dana Goldman of JLL represented WeWork in the lease negotiations in conjunction with two of the company’s real estate leaders, Peter Greenspan and Whitney Anderson. Brad Gerla, Michael Rizzo and Alex Benisatto of CBRE, along with internal agent Anne Holker, represented the landlord, Am Trust RE. The opening is slated for December.
RED BANK, N.J. — Regional healthcare provider Hackensack Meridian Health has signed a 50,000-square-foot office lease in Red Bank, located near the Jersey Shore. The space is located within River Centre, a six-building, 668,107-square-foot campus. Jamie Drummond , Andrew Perrotti and Luke Reid of Newmark represented the landlord, Paramount Realty, in the lease negotiations. Suzanne Macnow of CBRE represented Hackensack Meridian.