SAN ANTONIO — Global architecture firm Gensler and Joeris General Contractors have begun the repositioning of the Bexar County IT Suite in San Antonio. The project team is reducing the gross leasable space from 37,640 square feet to 21,750 square feet to favor more as-needed flex office and meeting and collaborative spaces, over assigned workstations and offices. Employees will continue to have access to the building’s café, lobby and loading dock while work is ongoing. The project is slated to be complete this summer.
BOSTON — DivcoWest has topped off a 480,000-square-foot life sciences building at 250 Water St. within Cambridge Crossing, a 43-acre mixed-use development that is located at the intersection of the cities of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville. Global biopharmaceutical firm Bristol Myers Squibb has preleased 360,000 square feet at the building, which is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2022. Other life sciences users at Cambridge Crossing include Sanofi and Cerevel Therapeutics.
NEW YORK CITY — Transit Wireless has signed a 32,499-square-foot office lease at 1400 Broadway in Manhattan. Michael Gottlieb, Susan Kahaner, Jennifer Ogden and Martin Cottingham of Avison Young represented the tenant, which is relocating to the 37-story building from 1350 Broadway, in the lease negotiations. Scott Klau, Erik Harris, and Neil Rubin of Newmark, along with internal agents Keith Cody and Shanae Ursini, represented the landlord, Empire State Realty Trust.
DENVER — MetLife Investment Management has completed the disposition of 4600 S. Syracuse, an office building located in Denver’s southeast market. A joint venture between Miller Global Properties and Principal Real Estate Investors acquired the 304,059-square-foot asset for an undisclosed price. Completed in 1999 and renovated in 2013, 4600 S. Syracuse features floor-to-ceiling windows, efficient 25,000-square-foot floorplates and recently updated conferencing and fitness facilities. Additionally, the 13-story building features a 727-space parking garage, as well as the development upside through excess land that could potentially host an office tower or multifamily development. At the time of sale, the property was 90 percent leased to 19 tenants across eight industries. Mark Katz and Peter Merrion of JLL Capital Markets represented the seller, while Eric Tupler and Josh Simon, also of JLL Capital Markets, arranged acquisition financing for the buyer.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — New York City-based real estate giant Tishman Speyer has entered the Austin market with the acquisition of The Foundry, a 240,000-square-foot office complex located on the city’s east side. Tishman Speyer’s acquisition of Foundry I, which opened in 2019, was completed on February 3. The purchase of Foundry II will close when Austin-based developer Cielo Property Group delivers the building in May 2021. Sixth River Architects and Michael Hsu Office of Architecture designed the first and second buildings, respectively. Amenities include bike storage, outdoor terraces on every floor and underground parking. Mike McDonald and Katy Jane Jenevein of Cushman & Wakefield represented Cielo, which will continue to manage the buildings, in the transaction. Tishman Speyer has tapped CBRE to lease The Foundry.
ALLEN, TEXAS — Locally based developer JaRyCo will build FarmWORK One, a 102,000-square-foot office building that will be part of Phase I of The Farm, a 135-acre mixed-use project in the northeastern Dallas suburb of Allen. The building will offer various features that promote health and wellness, such as outdoor workspaces with Wi-Fi connectivity on every floor, oversized elevators, additional restrooms on every level and high-efficiency air filtration systems. JaRyCo is the master developer of The Farm, which upon completion will consist of 1.6 million square feet of office space, 142,000 square feet of retail space, a 150-key hotel, 60,000 square feet of restaurant space, townhomes and 2,400 urban residential units. Construction on FarmWORK One will begin this year and is scheduled to be complete in summer 2022. Avison Young will handle leasing of the building.
EDWARDS, COLO. — Avison Young Capital Markets has arranged the sale-leaseback of All Points North Lodge, a comprehensive wellness and treatment campus in Edwards, approximately 20 minutes west of Vail. WC Acquisition Holdings LLC acquired the asset from All Points North Lodge (APN Lodge) for $57 million. The seller will lease back the building as part of a long-term deal. Opened in March 2020, the 77,000-square-foot facility offers addiction and mental health treatments, trauma therapy, crisis management, coaching and personal development workshops, concierge medicine, athletic performance programs and advanced practices and activities. The patient-centered facility recently underwent a $20 million improvements program. Jonathan Hipp, Richard Murphy, Stan Wyrwicz and Rich Egitto of Avison Young Capital Markets represented the seller in the deal.
WATERTOWN, MASS. — Boston-based Berkeley Investments has purchased the historic Chase Mills building in the western Boston suburb of Watertown with plans to modernize the property’s utility systems and add life sciences space. Over the years, the 97,000-square-foot building, which is located at 64 Pleasant St. and currently houses the headquarters of architecture firm Sasaki, has also served as a paper factory and garment manufacturing plant. Sasaki sold the building, which it has owned and occupied since the 1950s, to Berkeley Investments for an undisclosed price.
BOSTON —Gazit Horizons, a subsidiary of global real estate firm Gazit-Globe, has purchased a 50,000-square-foot office and retail building located at 1430 Massachusetts Ave. in Boston. University Common Real Estate sold the property for $45 million in an off-market transaction. The historic building is located within the Harvard Square area and was originally constructed in the 1830s as a dormitory for the Ivy League university. Gazit Horizons will implement a value-add program that will renovate the lobby, common areas and building systems and will operate the building in a joint venture with private investment firm Hennick & Co.
NEW YORK CITY — Walker & Dunlop Inc. has arranged a $205 million loan for the refinancing of Hudson Research Center in Manhattan’s Midtown West neighborhood. Located along the Hudson River at 619 W. 54th St., the Class A life sciences and medical office property spans 320,000 rentable square feet. Originally built in 1930 as a film-editing house for Warner Brothers Pictures, the Art Deco property came to be known as The Movie Lab Building. Taconic Partners purchased the asset in October 2012 and undertook a capital improvement plan, including creating several floors of research space; updating the building’s façade, interior and crown; and adding tenant amenities such as bike storage and private showers. In 2017, Taconic recapitalized the asset with Silverstein Properties Inc. Since the end of 2013, the number of life sciences jobs nationally has increased by 70,000 per year, according to Walker & Dunlop. Demand for well-located, modernized life sciences and medical office space has soared nationally amid industry growth and lack of available product, adds the finance company. A Walker & Dunlop team led by Aaron Appel and Keith Kurland arranged the loan, with Square Mile providing the funds. The interest-only financing features a floating rate, …