CHICAGO — CBRE has arranged the purchase of a 15,000-square-foot office building for $5 million in Chicago. Strategic Assets Associates LLC has acquired the property, located at 1132-1140 W. Fulton Market, with intentions of repurposing the building for retail use. The asset is located several blocks from the Chicago Transit Authority’s Morgan stop. The seller in transaction was undisclosed. Keely Polczynski of CBRE represented the buyer.
SAN DIEGO — Union Cowork has signed a 10-year lease for the Unicorn Building in downtown San Diego. The historic space is located at 704 J St. This will be the cowork space’s fifth location in Southern California, which includes two additional outposts in the San Diego submarket of North Park. David Maxwell and Bill Shrader of Colliers International represented both Union Cowork and the landlord, PREF Unicorn, an affiliate of Paragon Real Estate Investments, in this transaction.
SEATTLE — MetLife (NYSE: MET) has purchased Alley24, a 215,402-square-foot, Class A office building with ground floor retail in Seattle’s South Lake Union submarket, for $129.3 million. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the sellers, Vulcan Inc. and PEMCO Insurance Co. MetLife assumed an existing life insurance company loan as part of the purchase. Alley24 is located at 221 Yale Ave. N. Completed in 2006, the property was one of Seattle’s first mixed-use projects to earn LEED certification and features sustainable elements such as natural daylight, operable windows, energy-efficient water flow fixtures, automatic sun-tracking sun shades and environmentally sensitive building materials. The 85 percent-leased property serves as the corporate headquarters for architectural firm NBBJ. Additional tenants include Skanska and Cole & Weber. Alley24 offers tenants two roof decks and flexible floor plans. Todd Tydlaska, Nick Kucha and Michael Leggett led the HFF team. “Alley24 is one of the only true mixed-use assets in the South Lake Union submarket, a centrally located, high-amenity, pedestrian-oriented location that has maintained historical occupancy of more than 96 percent since it was completed,” says Tydlaska. MetLife’s stock price closed at $37.43 per share on Friday, Feb. 12, down from $50.86 one year prior. — …
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.