HOUSTON — CBRE has arranged a 25,000-square-foot office relocation lease for Hughes Watters Askanase (HWA). HWA, a full-service commercial law firm, has moved from Three Allen Center, located at 333 Clay St., to Total Plaza, located at 1201 Louisiana St. in downtown Houston. Kevin Kushner and Lucian Bukowski of CBRE’s Houston office represented the law firm in the lease transaction. The landlord, Brookfield Office Properties, was self-represented by Clint Bawcom, Jon Dutton and Margaret Sigur. Although the new space is smaller than their previous space, HWA will be able to accommodate more lawyers and staff than it did in its old space by taking advantage of a modern layout designed by Kirksey Architecture. Moderate changes, such as shrinking the size of individual offices, providing more access to natural light, creating spaces that encourage collaboration and interaction and reducing storage and library space will give HWA the ability to grow into their space as needed. CBRE also provided project management services, led by Erin Schultz and Ashley Ramos, which included vendor selection, budget management and timeline oversight to ensure the space was delivered on time and on budget. Total Plaza is a Class A, 843,533-square-foot office building located in downtown Houston. …
ADDISON, TEXAS — E Smith Realty Partners has secured a lease for Maxim Integrated at Tollway Center, a 200,000-square-foot, six-story office building located on six acres along the Dallas North Tollway in Addison. Jim Hazard, Sharon Morrison, Brad Struck and Saadia Sheikh with E Smith Realty Partners represented Maxim Integrated, while Jeremy Duggins and Addie Ludwig of Cawley Partners represented the landlord. Maxim Integrated will lease space on the first floor and the company will occupy the entire third and fourth floors. With the addition of Maxim’s lease, Tollway Center’s occupancy is 80 percent.
CHICAGO — Chicago-based Cohen Financial has arranged $28.2 million in acquisition financing for LLJ Ventures LLC. The California-based buyer has purchased several properties in the state of Illinois and Wisconsin. In the first transaction, Dan Rosenberg of Cohen Financial arranged an $11 million loan with a 10-year term for The Armitage Collection, a portfolio of five retail buildings in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. The buildings in the portfolio are 100 percent leased. In the second transaction, Rosenberg arranged a $17.2 million, 10-year CMBS loan for a 57,000-square-foot medical office, Racine Dental, in Racine, Wis.
Dallas is on a hot streak. This is the best market Dallas has seen in years. Companies are expanding and corporate relocations are driving new development in office, industrial and retail. Based on the healthy, active market of 2015, the momentum should carry over and remain strong through the first half of 2016. Office Dallas has become a headquarters hub in the past few years with companies like Toyota and Liberty Mutual putting down roots in the Metroplex. Companies are doing well financially and are growing, which is great news for the office sector. Leasing activity is at an all-time high with all sizes of companies experiencing growth. Office expansions and mid-term lease extensions are becoming the norm. In November, GEICO’s regional headquarters relocated to a larger facility with the goal of hiring nearly 200 employees before year’s end. The insurance company leased 224,000 square feet at 2280 Greenville Ave. in Dallas, brokered by Tom Lynn and Nick Lee, CCIM, of NAI Robert Lynn and Griff Bandy of NAI Partners in Houston. GEICO’s former headquarters building in the North Dallas area is now on the market. We’re also seeing the employment industry shift from focusing solely on clients to employee …
BEDFORD, MASS. — Integrated Builders has completed the exterior renovation of a 51,502-square-foot flex office building, located at 205 Burlington Road in Bedford, on behalf of Calare Properties. The renovation plan included enhancements to the existing façade through the demolition and reconstruction of two exterior canopies and renovation of the two current entryways. Additionally, Integrated replaced walkways, repainted doors and window frames and installed exterior insulation and finishing systems (EIFS) to provide an insulated, water-resistant, finished surface in an integrated composite material system. Architectural design firm ci design inc. provided architectural services for the project.
MONTVALE, N.J. — Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based Deerwood Real Estate Capital has closed a $9 million non-recourse bridge loan on a multi-tenant office building, located at 50 Chestnut Ridge Road in Montvale. The 100,000-square-foot office building was acquired by the borrower, a private investor group, from C-III, on behalf of US Bank, as a foreclosure. Yaakov Leiser of Deerwood negotiated the financing, which was provided by a regional bridge lender.
TYSONS CORNER, VA. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the $92.5 million sale of Tysons Overlook, a 157,021-square-foot trophy office building in Tysons Corner, a northern Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. The Pentagon Federal Credit Union purchased the asset from Logistics Management Institute. Built in 2014 within a mile from the new Tysons Corner Metro Station, the office building features a 3,500-square-foot fitness center, business lounge, on-site café and a furnished event terrace. Bill Collins, Paul Collins, Paul Darr, Dale Powell, James Cassidy, Jud Ryan and Drew Flood of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the transaction.
DALLAS — New York Life Real Estate Investors and Encore Office LLC have acquired 5005 LBJ Tower, formerly known as Occidental Tower, for $95 million, according to the Dallas Business Journal. The 24-story, 549,170-square-foot office building is located at the northwest corner of the Dallas North Tollway and the newly re-constructed LBJ Freeway in Dallas. Occidental Tower Corp., a subsidiary of Dallas-based Occidental Chemical Corp. (OxyChem) had owned the Class A asset since 1992. The property is 94 percent leased to tenants including Susan G. Komen Foundation, Encore Enterprises and OxyChem, which will remain as a tenant in the building. The top five floors of the property will become available in August. The new ownership team intends to complete a multi-million dollar lobby renovation and make improvements to the overall campus. Renovations are expected to start within a few months and will include upgrades to the building’s amenities. Plans include a new conference facility, tenant lounge and fitness center. Stream Realty Partners will manage and lease the asset. J.J. Leonard, Sara Terry and Chase Lopez of Stream’s office division in Dallas will lead the leasing efforts for the property.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Citrix, a software company that specializes in mobile workspace technologies for on-demand access, has expanded its footprint at its corporate headquarters in Raleigh by 14,000 square feet. The company now fully occupies its 186,000-square-foot headquarters at 120 S. West St. in downtown Raleigh’s Warehouse District. Charlie Coyne and Christina Coffey of CBRE | Raleigh’s retail services team represented the landlord, JMC Holdings, in the lease transaction. Austin Koon and Gardner Gibson of Davis Moore represented Citrix.
NEW YORK CITY — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of a development site located at 431 Carroll St. in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood. Alloy Development purchased the property from MCP President Street LLC, managed by EcoRise Development, for $2.7 million, or $338 per buildable square foot, in an all-cash transaction. Situated in an M1-2 zoning district, the site allows for approximately 8,200 buildable square feet and offers 50 feet of frontage along Nevins Street and 82 feet of frontage along Carroll Street. The buyer plans to develop the corner site into an office building. Winfield Clifford and Brendan Maddigan of Cushman & Wakefield handled the transaction.