RICHMOND, VA. — Capital Square 1031 has completed the stabilization and sale of Forest Office Park, a 19-building, 710,000-square-foot office campus in Richmond, for $24.1 million. The firm served as a replacement sponsor and manager of NNN Forest Office Park LLC, a tenant-in-common (TIC) ownership. Forest Office Park was under TIC ownership for the past 11 years. Capital Square 1031 assumed sponsorship and management in February 2016, replacing the previous manager after more than a decade, to take over sponsorship, management and serve as loan guarantor for the TIC program. Forest Office Park is situated in Richmond’s West End at the corner of Three Chopt Road and Forest Avenue. Located within six miles of Short Pump and downtown Richmond, the property was approximately 95 percent leased at the time of sale. CBRE | Hampton Roads, CBRE | Richmond and the Atlanta office of CBRE Group Inc. brokered the sale on behalf of the TIC ownership.
NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between Boston Properties and Rudin Development has closed on a $250 million construction loan for Dock 72, a creative office development at Brooklyn Navy Yard. The financing was led by J.P. Morgan, M&T Bank and U.S. Bank. The previously announced 16-story project will feature 675,000 square feet of office space. WeWork, acting as co-developer, will occupy 222,000 square feet of the property and will curate the amenity space, including a health and wellness center, specialty food and beverage offerings and a rooftop conference center. Construction broke ground in May 2016. The project will be ready for tenant fit-out late this year with completion scheduled for early 2018.
NORWICH, CONN. — Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III has acquired a two-building medical office portfolio in Norwich for $15.6 million. Totaling 56,265 square feet, the portfolio includes Wawecus Medical Center and a building located at 105 Wawecus St. Yale Cardiovascular, Eastern Connecticut Endoscopy, Connecticut GI and Norwich Ophthalmology occupy the portfolio. Lisa Menin of Jacobson Properties and John LaBella of RE/MAX Right Choice brokered the transaction. The name of the seller was not released.
SCHAUMBURG, ILL. — Retail Properties of America Inc. (RPAI) has renamed the office property formerly known as Zurich Towers to Schaumburg Towers. RPAI also signed two new leases at the property with Great American Insurance Group and Swiss Re for approximately 78,000 square feet. Schaumburg Towers is an office building with twin 20-story towers totaling approximately 895,000 square feet and is located in Schaumburg, Ill. The property is situated adjacent to Woodfield Mall, a Class A shopping mall. Great American Insurance Group and Swiss Re are both insurance companies. Steven Kling and David Florent of Colliers International are marketing the property for lease. Mark Kolar of JLL represented Great American Insurance Group, while Sven Sykes and Thomas Volini of Colliers International represented Swiss Re. Zurich Insurance relocated to a new 783,000-square-foot headquarters in Schaumburg near the corner of Meacham Road and Interstate 90.
CINCINNATI — Woolpert, a national architecture, enginnering and geospatial (AEG) firm, has opened a new Cincinnati office in Over-the-Rhine. The office, located at 1203 Walnut St., will be home to at least 20 full-time architects, engineers, surveyors and support staff. Woolpert will occupy the second floor with a total of 6,302 square feet. Woolpert’s new Cincinnati office, which was funded by the City of Cincinnati through the Job Creation Tax Credit, will expand its commercial renovation and housing development, higher education, energy, government and aviation services. Woolpert’s headquarters will remain in Dayton.
BURBANK, CALIF. — Co-working office space provider WeWork will open a 75,000-square-foot location in Burbank. The space will be located at 3900 W. Alameda Ave. in the city’s Media District. It will sit adjacent to the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. Studios and ABC Television. The space is located within the 31-story, Class A office building called The Tower, which boasts a renovated lobby, large-scale artwork, cafe, gym and pool table. The co-working space will include shared kitchens, private offices, brainstorming rooms and a green room for editing or filming needs.
MIAMI — Ytech-1428 Brickell LLC, an investment affiliate of Ytech International, has acquired the 100,762-square-foot BankUnited Office Building located at 1428 Brickell Ave. in Miami’s Brickell district. The purchase includes $26.5 million for the real estate and “tens of millions of dollars more” to settle claims and non-real estate matters. The transaction also includes development rights for up to 80 stories and 825,000 square feet of mixed-use space. Ytech provided the immediate capital to stave off the impending foreclosure, and in a series of separate transactions and agreements involving both the real estate and non-real estate matters, Ytech and its outside general counsel, Stuart Kapp of Kapp Morrison LLP, negotiated to bring an end to years of litigation that included claims by neighboring property owner Walter DeFortuna, lender ESJ Capital Partners and New York investor Shahab Karmely. Ytech International is a Miami-based real estate investment and development company that has invested in, developed and redeveloped more than 7,000 residential units in the Southeast over the past decade.
RICHMOND, VA. — Riverstone Properties has acquired James Center, three office towers in the heart of Richmond’s central business district, for $108 million. The James Center comprises the 21-story One James Center, the 22-story Two James Center and the 14-story Three James Center, all developed in 1985. LNR Property, a subsidiary of Starwood Property Trust, sold the towers free and clear of existing debt. The three buildings include 986,000 square feet of Class A office space, a fitness facility, five restaurants, 1,600-car parking garage and a 50,000-square-foot retail atrium that connects to the Omni Richmond Hotel. Additionally, an outdoor area named The Plaza hosts activities, concerts and the Grand Illumination holiday lighting tradition. Situated on 3.4 acres at 901, 1021 and 1051 E. Carey St., James Center is located in downtown Richmond’s River District along the James River. The HFF investment sales team of Ryan Clutter, Dek Potts, Scot Humphrey and Christopher Lingerfelt represented LNR in the transaction. Starwood Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: STWD), an affiliate of global private investment firm Starwood Capital Group, claims to be the largest commercial mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. Riverstone Properties is the commercial real estate arm of the Riverstone …
New Orleans may be The Big Easy, but when it comes to understanding this unique Southern city’s commercial real estate marketplace, very little is easy or simple. The numbers, at least, are fairly straightforward. New Orleans currently has around 8.8 million square feet of Class A office space and 1.6 million square feet of Class B. Average rental rates are approximately $19.00 per square foot and $15.50 per square foot for Class A and Class B, respectively, with current occupancy rates at 89.5 percent for Class A and 71 percent for Class B. By way of comparison, the popular suburban Metairie market has around 2 million square feet of Class A and 1.5 million square feet of Class B office space, with occupancy rates at 93 percent and 88.2 percent, respectively (both down slightly from 2014 highs of 95 percent and 92 percent). Average rental rates are approximately $24.00 per square foot in Class A properties and $19.50 for Class B. The numbers in the suburban North Shore market are similarly healthy, with rates and occupancy numbers in the same general range as Metairie. Look beyond the surface numbers, however, and things get interesting, and a little more complicated. In …
LITTLETON, MASS. — SVN|Parsons Commercial Group|Boston has brokered the sale of a high-tech office building located at 305 Foster St. in Littleton. Foster Street Acquisitions sold the building to 2641-2651 Santa Anna Avenue LLC for $4.4 million. Situated on 10.3 acres, the building offers 80,064 square feet of office space for high-tech and R&D tenants. At the time of sale, the property was more than 80 percent occupied. Marci Alvarado, Jake Parsons and Marilyn Santiago of SVN|Parsons represented the seller in the transaction.