SUNRISE, FLA. — Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Bank has provided a $44 million non-recourse loan for Sawgrass Lake Center, a 239,373-square-foot office building in Sunrise, a city in Broward County. The owner, Foundry Commercial, will use the loan proceeds to refinance debt on the six-story property. Sawgrass Lake Center is LEED certified and features a five-level parking garage and an onsite café.
PLEASANT GROVE CITY, UTAH — Four Foods Group (FFG) has acquired five acres of land for the development of a new corporate headquarters in Pleasant Grove City. FFG plans to begin construction on the parcel by this fall. In addition to the new headquarters, the company will develop a restaurant cluster housing some of its fast-growing brands, including R&R Barbecue, which is slated to open in July. The restaurant development, operations, finance and management company currently owns or manages 158 restaurants employing more than 5,000 workers in 11 states, 1,500 of those in Utah. The FFG family includes local Utah chains: Kneaders Bakery & Café, Mo’Bettahs Hawaiian Style Food, Swig and R&R Barbecue. Out-of-state restaurants include 74 Little Caesars locations across the south, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.
The Inland Empire office market got off to a slow start in 2018, continuing a trend of positive momentum with little excitement. The average asking rent registered $1.81 per square foot, down 3.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 and $0.01 below the first quarter of 2017. Preliminary sales and lease volumes are off 39.1 percent over the prior year. However, the Inland Empire is seeing one of the lowest vacancy rates since 2007, with more than 108,000 square feet of new construction added to the market this quarter. As of the first quarter of 2018, vacancy was 7.9 percent, down 30 basis points over the quarter and 90 basis points below last year at this time. Nine projects totaling 201,671 square feet are under construction, with the largest being Rady Children’s Medical Plaza at 60,000 square feet. Much of the new growth in the office sector is being driven by the healthcare industry. Office medical space comprised more than half of the space under construction, as the education and health services sector employment has grown by 4 percent between January 2017 and January 2018. This has accounted for 8,800 of the 13,500 new jobs in the office-occupying sectors. …
NEW YORK CITY — The Feil Organization has signed three tenants to nearly 52,000 square feet of office leases at 841 Broadway, 250 Park Ave. South, and 257 Park Ave. South in Manhattan. Global professional services firm Ernst & Young renewed its lease at 841 Broadway for a total of 27,000 square feet; cryptocurrency trading firm Digital Currency Group signed a new 11,985-square-foot lease at 250 Park Ave. South; and digital marketing agency Bulletproof signed a new 13,000-square-foot lease for the entire eighth floor of 257 Park Ave. South. Feil’s three-building portfolio in Manhattan is 98 percent occupied following the transactions.
PLANTATION, FLA. — Encore Capital Management has signed an 85,000-square-foot lease with Aetna at Plantation Walk, a $350 million mixed-use project under development in Plantation. The healthcare company will move from its current location in Sunrise, Fla., to a 160,000-square-foot office building at the new development in December. Aetna’s new location will house several divisions of the company including commercial business, Medicare, Medicaid and Aetna International. At full build-out, Plantation Walk will feature 700 multifamily units, 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 160,000 square feet of office space, a 263-room Sheraton Hotel and two parking garages. Aetna is the first announced tenant at the new office building.
MINNEAPOLIS — A joint venture between TriCoastal Group and The Davis Companies has acquired Renaissance Square in Minneapolis for an undisclosed price. The companies plan to renovate the 140,000-square-foot office building and rename it The Andrus in homage to the building’s first owner, John Emory Andrus. The scope of the renovation includes a new street-level façade and retail space, a new tenant lounge, upgraded lobby and conference facility. RSP Architects will manage the design and renovation work for the 11-story building. Construction is expected to begin this summer and be completed by early 2019. Cushman & Wakefield is providing leasing, property management, engineering and construction management services. WSP, Sedgwick, Cue Inc., Genus Technologies, Fastbridge, CBX and DLR Group currently occupy the property, which first opened in 1898.
HENDERSON, NEV. — Denver-based Fairfield Asset Advisors has arranged the sale of a medical office building located at 10561 Jeffreys St. in Henderson. An undisclosed buyer acquired the property for $20.7 million. The seller was a physician group. Built in 2008, the property features 48,000 square feet of medical office space. The anchor tenant is an orthopedic surgery center operated by USPI and Dignity Health.
ALLEN, TEXAS — WatchGuard Video, a provider of video systems for law enforcement, has opened its new, 140,000-square-foot corporate office in Allen, a northeastern suburb of Dallas. Designed by Texas-based GFF Inc., the two-story property can accommodate approximately 500 employees and offers amenities such as a fitness center, racquetball court, recreation room and an in-house medical clinic for employees. Adolfson & Peterson handled construction of the building, which began in April.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CBRE Global Investors has acquired 615 South College, a newly constructed office building located in Charlotte’s Uptown district. The sales price was not disclosed, but the Charlotte Business Journal reports the asset sold for $222 million, or roughly $590 per square foot. The seller, Atlanta-based Portman Holdings, delivered the 375,865-square-foot property in 2017. The 18-story building is connected to The Westin hotel and features 10-foot ceiling heights, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, multiple two-story balconies and a parking garage with 1,456 spaces. CBRE will manage 615 South College, and Anne Vulcano and Joe Franco of CBRE will handle the building’s leasing assignment. At the time of sale, the property was 84 percent leased to tenants including Regions Bank, WeWork and BDO USA.
FRONTENAC, MO. — HDA Architects is designing a 36,000-square-foot office building on behalf of The Desco Group in Frontenac, a suburb of St. Louis. The property will feature underground parking, first-floor retail space and two floors of office space. The building is part of an $80 million mixed-use development that will include a Life Time Fitness and two stand-alone restaurants. The Desco Group is demolishing the Old Shriners Hospital in order to make way for the project. Completion is slated for fall 2019.
