HOUSTON — HFF has arranged the sale of Norfolk Tower, a 207,562-square-foot office building located at 2211 Norfolk St. in Houston. The 11-story tower was 83 percent leased at the time of sale. Dan Miller and Martin Hogan of HFF represented the seller, Boston-based TA Realty, and procured the buyer, Houston-based Nitya Capital. Susan Hill and Kelly Layne of HFF secured an undisclosed amount of acquisition financing for Nitya, which plans to invest in capital improvements and rebrand the building as Nitya Tower.
Office
ALEXANDRIA, VA. — Los Angeles-based Lowe (formerly Lowe Enterprises) and San Antonio-based USAA Real Estate have completed construction on a 19-story, 700,000-square-foot office building located at 2415 Eisenhower Ave. in Alexandria, eight miles south of Washington, D.C. The new building will serve as the headquarters for the National Science Foundation (NSF), a U.S. government agency that supports research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Balfour Beatty Construction and WDG Architecture led the design team for the project, which is LEED Silver-certified. The building includes two interconnected towers with 19,000 square feet of ground floor retail space and three levels of below-grade parking. The NSF headquarters building features 36 conference rooms, a fitness center, health center, bike storage and electric vehicle charging stations. In addition, the property is located adjacent to the Eisenhower Avenue Metro Station.
TULSA, OKLA. — Sales of net leased properties settled in at nearly $11.4 billion during the third quarter of 2017, up 15 percent over the average for the past five third quarters ($10 billion), according to a recent report from Stan Johnson Company, a national brokerage and advisory firm specializing in net leased assets. The report tracks net leased properties across the office, industrial and retail real estate sectors. “This was the largest third-quarter move in six years and represents resilience in the net lease sector,” says John Zimmerman, director of Tulsa-based Stan Johnson Company. “We may be on our way to another record sales year.” The total is the highest quarterly sales volume in the past 12 months and follows a lackluster second quarter that saw investment sales volume drop more than 20 percent below the average for the past five second quarters. Growth occurred across all net lease sectors, with office, industrial and retail increasing 35 percent, 43 percent and 55 percent, respectively. The results were overwhelmingly driven by growth in the sheer number of transactions — more than 750 — as opposed to the amount of the assets traded. “In recent years, a lot of the growth …
MINNETONKA, MINN. — CBRE has arranged the sale of Baker Technology Plaza in Minnetonka for $18.6 million. The five-building, 254,274-square-foot office property is located at 6121 Baker Road. The property was 74 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Advanced Imaging Solutions, Element Materials Technology and Anchor Wall Systems Inc. Judd Welliver, Ryan Watts, Sonja Dusil and Tom Holtz of CBRE represented the seller, the Utah State Retirement Investment Fund. Tryperion Partners, a private real estate investment firm based in Los Angeles, purchased the property. The new owners plan to renovate and reposition the property, originally constructed in 1985, with a new name of Baker Tech. Proposed upgrades and amenities — including an on-site bike loan program, food trucks, brewery taproom and outdoor gathering areas — are slated for completion in spring 2018. Jason Simek, Joe Owen and Peter Mork of Colliers International are marketing the property for lease.
ST. LOUIS PARK, MINN. — Herzing University is relocating its Minneapolis campus from Crystal, Minn., to Metropoint Office Park in St. Louis Park. The 30,000-square-foot campus is slated to open in early 2018. Herzing, an accredited private nonprofit institution, will occupy the top floor of 435 Metropoint, a class A office tower visible from Highway 169 and I-394. The new campus will feature upgraded labs to support Herzing’s dental and nursing programs. Amenities will include an on-site coffee shop and cafeteria as well as covered parking. Dan Buettner and Brian Woolsey of Cushman & Wakefield represented Herzing in the new lease.
BONITA SPRINGS AND FORT MYERS, FLA. — CRE Consultants has arranged the $43.2 million sale of a 421,324-square-foot, three-campus office portfolio located in Bonita Springs and Fort Myers. Randal Mercer and Brandon Stoneburner of CRE Consultants represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. Massachusetts-based Brookwood Financial acquired the assets, which include 15 individual buildings located throughout three office campuses: Riverview Corporate Center and Bonita Executive Center in Bonita Springs and Renaissance Center in Fort Myers. Brookwood Financial has retained Mercer and Stoneburner to handle leasing efforts for the portfolio.
ATLANTA — IT management consulting firm CapTech has expanded its operations and relocated to the Bank of America Plaza, located at 600 Peachtree St. N.E. in Midtown Atlanta. The Richmond, Va.-based company announced its expansion into the Atlanta market in September 2016, creating 50 new technology and consulting jobs. As part of the expansion, CapTech plans to add 50 more jobs by next year. The company leased 6,000 square feet at the building, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The Bank of America Plaza is located a half-mile from the Georgia Institute of Technology campus and Tech Square.
DALLAS — Dallas-based development firm Crescent Real Estate and Boston-based investment firm Long Wharf Capital have broken ground on The Luminary, a 105,000-square-foot office project located in the West End area of Dallas. Upon completion, the Class A property will offer 462 parking spaces and 52 bike racks, as well as a rooftop terrace. The opening is currently scheduled for early 2019, according to D Magazine. JLL will handle leasing of the property.
Cove Property Group Obtains $479M in Construction Financing for 25-Story Office Tower in Manhattan
by Nellie Day
NEW YORK CITY — Cove Property Group and an institutional partner have received $479 million in construction financing for Hudson Commons, a 701,364-square-foot trophy office building in the Hudson Yards/Penn Plaza submarket of Manhattan. The 25-story building is located at 441 Ninth Ave. between 34th and 35th streets. Hudson Commons will comprise a 17-story structure atop an existing eight-story building. The development will feature 14 private terraces and balconies and onsite basement parking for up to 140 vehicles. The design will incorporate varied floor plans with high ceilings, as well as sustainable elements, such as terraces and green roofs. Kohn Pedersen Fox is designing Hudson Commons. The new building will be equidistant between Penn Station and the new 7 Train extension that services Hudson Yards. It will also feature access to the Port Authority and Lincoln Tunnel. Cove Property Group purchased the asset in December 2016 for $330 million. EmblemHealth had owned the existing 423,000-square-foot building since 1994. The structure was originally built as a warehouse in 1962 before it was converted to office space in 1983. Loan proceeds will reposition and redevelop the asset into a Class A office tower with full-block frontage along Ninth Avenue. The project is …
The Financial District, Back Bay, and Seaport continue to experience strong tenant demand with a vacancy of 10.3 percent and continued rent appreciation. The Seaport, which has experienced tremendous growth for the last four years, received national attention with GE committing to move its corporate headquarters to the market and continues to make headlines with Amazon committing to 150,000 square feet. In addition, 121 Seaport Boulevard just leased to PTC (250,000 square feet) and Alexion (150,000 square feet). One of the biggest trends throughout Boston continues to be the popularity of the Class B buildings. Most people think of Cambridge as one of the premier lab markets in the world. Cambridge has the lowest office vacancy of all the submarkets in Greater Boston at 4.2 percent, making it one of the strongest office markets in the country. Even pre-leasing is strong, with Alexandria Real Estate receiving commitments for all 431,000 square feet at 100 Binney Street, signing Facebook and Bristol-Meyers Squibb as the lead tenants. Space is so tight that, even when you include sublet space, a tenant looking for more than 50,000 square feet only has four options in the submarket. Top Class A product is now achieving rents …