After muddling through the post-recession with office vacancy rates stuck around 20 percent for the overall Phoenix office market, the office sector has begun to show elements of stabilization in the Valley of the Sun. The unemployment rate in Phoenix plummeted to 5 percent in April this year, down from more than 11 percent near the end of 2009. The overall office vacancy ended the first quarter of this year at 17.2 percent. Second quarter figures were not available at press time, but my colleagues and I think it will dip below 17 percent at mid-year. If it does, the vacancy rate will have dropped nearly 300 basis points over the previous 24 months. The submarkets with the lowest vacancy rates are the usual suspects in our marketplace: Scottsdale (11.2 percent), 44th Street Corridor (aka Camelback Corridor at 11.6 percent) and Tempe, which houses the main campus of Arizona State University (12.7 percent). The slow and steady recovery makes for a healthier market than boom and bust swings. Some of the region’s larger office occupiers have expanded in recent years, which account for a substantial amount of office space absorption. A short list of growing companies with significant footprints here …
JERSEY CITY, BRICK AND NEPTUNE, N.J., AND COBLESKILL, N.Y. — Cronheim Mortgage has secured $26.9 million in financing for four individual properties located in Jersey City, Brick, Neptune and Cobleskill. Each loan was structured on a 10/30 basis for affiliated entities of New York-based National Realty & Development Corp. The properties include Old Colony Square, a 100,073-square-foot retail center in Jersey City owned by Grand Street Realty; LHOP Holding LP’s 13-building Lions Head Office Park in Brick; two retail pads in Neptune owned by Red Baron Property Resources LP; and C.P. Plaza LP’s 24,500-square-foot retail center in Cobleskill. Andrew Stewart, Dev Morris and Allison Moravec of Cronheim Mortgage arranged the financing.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Beacon Partners has begun construction on 500 East Morehead, a 180,000-square-foot office building on Morehead Street in Midtown Charlotte. The property will be located next door to the Dowd YMCA and adjacent to the Carson Boulevard light rail station, Southend Rail Trail, Little Sugar Creek Greenway and Latta Park. Upon completion, the asset will feature 15,000 square feet of retail space targeted for a coffee shop, lunch restaurant and an upscale restaurant. The property will also feature a 1,000-square-foot Sky Terrace, three private outdoor terraces, a lounge area with TVs, on-site fitness center, conference centers and an attached parking deck. Charlie Swanson and Kristy Venning of Beacon Partners are the leasing agents for 500 East Morehead. The design team includes architect BB+M and general contractor Balfour Beatty. Beacon Partners expects to deliver the asset in November 2016.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — DTZ has brokered the sale of Crown Pointe, a Class A office building in Columbia. The property was fully leased at the time of sale to Allstate, CGI Technologies and Sharp Corp. Rob Cochran and Jared Londry of DTZ represented the seller, Charleston, S.C.-based Durlach Associates, in the transaction. The buyer, East West Capital, purchased the office building for an undisclosed amount. Crown Pointe is East West Capital’s first purchase in South Carolina.
SMITHTOWN, N.Y. — Damianos Realty Group LLC has acquired an office building located at 50 Route 111 in Smithtown. The three-story, 50,000-square-foot property sold for $10.6 million. Built in 1984, the property is 96 percent occupied by a variety of corporate and medical tenants, including Merrill Lynch, New York Commercial Bank, Devitt Spellman Barrett LLP and State Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick. The buyer plans to renovate and upgrade portions of the property, and has engaged Mancini Architecture PLLC to redesign the building’s exterior and lobby. John LaRuffa of NAI Long Island represented the seller, while John Finn of Damianos Realty Group provided in-house representation for the buyer.
PARSIPPANY, N.J. — CBRE Group Inc.’s Capital Markets Debt & Structured Finance team has arranged a $5 million short-term bridge loan for One Gatehall Drive, a 113,220-square-foot office property in Parsippany. James Gunning, Donna Falzarano and Evan Kleppe of CBRE arranged the financing with a local commercial bank for the borrower, GLB Gatehall LLC. The borrower is a partnership of Glenborough, a privately held full service real estate firm, and a large institutional real estate investor.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Jim Turano of Henry S. Miller Brokerage’s office division represented the buyer in the acquisition of a 30,000-square-foot site in Arlington. TNA Realty LP purchased the site, located at 2712 Matlock Road, from an undisclosed seller. The new owners plan to construct an 8,000-square-foot medical office building on the property. Bobby DeRiso of DeRiso Development represented the seller in the transaction.
BETHESDA, MD. — HFF has arranged $66.3 million in joint venture financing for the acquisition of Atrium at Rock Spring Park, a three-story, 237,000-square-foot office building in Bethesda. Located at 6555 Rock Spring Park Drive, the office asset was 86 percent leased to seven tenants at the time of sale, including The National Institute of Health and SAIC. Dek Potts, Stephen Conley, Jim Meisel, Andrew Weir and Matthew Nicholson of HFF arranged the equity venture between affiliates of Meritage Properties and an unnamed institutional equity investor.
ATLANTA — Atlanta-based Regent Partners has arranged 80,000 square feet of new leases at Concourse Corporate Center, a 64-acre, 2.2 million-square-foot office campus in Atlanta’s Central Perimeter submarket. The owner, Building and Land Technology (BLT), tapped Regent Partners to manage and lease the campus, which includes the famous “King and Queen” buildings. The center’s new tenants include 35,000 square feet for Amtrak for its North American IT headquarters. Since purchasing Concourse in April, BLT has made capital improvements to the property, including enhancements to restrooms, common areas, lobbies and public spaces, as well as additional capital for spec suites and tenant improvements.
HOUSTON — Boxer Property has concluded lease negotiations on a 67,504-square-foot lease with a financial services company. The property is located in the Northwest Commerce Building at 14405 Walters Road, which is owned and managed by Boxer Property. Brian Hines, Trey Miller and Alex Kakhnovets negotiated the agreement on behalf of Boxer Property. Brokers Rich Pancioli, Peter Livaditis and Ian Murphy represented the tenant on behalf of CBRE. In 2014, the ownership completed a capital investment campaign in the property to upgrade common areas and amenities including renovated lobbies, outdoor and indoor seating areas, Wi-Fi service, tenant conference facilities and bolstered security service