THE WOODLANDS — Talisman Energy, USA, has leased approximately 218,000 square feet of space in Buildings 2 and 4 in Research Forest Lakeside, a 1.8 million-square-foot master planned community located between Lake Woodlands Drive and Research Forest Drive in The Woodlands. Buildings 2 and 4 are currently under construction and are slated for a spring 2013 completion. Houston-based Harvey Builders is the contractor and ZC+O (a collaboration between Ziegler Cooper Architects and Odell Associates) designed the Building 2 to receive LEED-Silver certification and Building 4 to receive LEED-Gold certification. Additionally, Haynes Whaley is the structural engineer for the project, DBR, MEP and Jones Carter are the civil engineers and Clark Condon Associates is the landscape architect. Greg Cizik and Edward Edson of Colliers International's Houston office, along with David Harvey and Sharma Christi of the firm's Calgary office, represented the tenant in the transaction. JD Warmack LP is the owner/developer of the master planned community.
ATLANTA — Los Angeles-based Cohen & Associates has purchased Renaissance Walk, a mixed-use development located at 171 Auburn Ave. NE in Atlanta, for $12.5 million. The original developer sold 21 of the condominium units before converting the remaining 140 units into apartments. Also included in the property is 30,500 square feet of retail space. The apartments are currently 90 percent occupied. CBRE represented both the buyer and the seller in the transaction. Shlomi Ronen of Los Angeles-based Dekel Capital arranged financing.
BOSTON — Local property developer and investor Raj Dhanda has purchased two Boston properties for $12 million. The buildings, located at 131 Newbury St. and 569 Boylston St., total 12,230 square feet and include a mix of apartment units and retail spaces. The seller was Abbey Road Back Bay LLC, a division of Abbey Road Advisors in Westport, Conn.
MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — NoBe Bay Holdings, a joint venture between Miami-based 13th Floor Investments and Miami-based Key International, has closed on an $18 million construction loan for the 98-unit NoBe Bay, a condominium project located at 6700 Indian Creek Dr. in Miami Beach. U.S. Bank provided the 5-year, interest only loan. Included in the project is a 463-space parking garage and 12,000 square feet of retail space. The parking and retail structure is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2012 and construction on the condominiums will be finished by the summer of 2012.
ROSWELL, GA. — The 62,000-square-foot Sweet Apple Village, an office and retail property located at 12030 Etris Rd. in Roswell, has sold for $6.25 million. Tenants include Menchies Frozen Yogurt and Kumon Math & Reading Center. Craig Taylor of CBRE's Atlanta office represented the seller, the REO department of BB&T Bank, in the transaction. Mount Pleasant, S.C.-based Ziff Properties, the buyer, was self-represented by Christian Chamblee and Shaun Payne.
DETROIT — Rock Ventures Group recently purchased three properties in Detroit, capping a year-long drive to acquire and renovate buildings in the downtown area. The newest acquisitions include the Wright-Kay building, located at 1500 Woodward Ave.; the Lane Bryant building, located at 1520 Woodward Ave.; and the Arts League of Michigan building, located at 1528 Woodward Ave. The six-story Wright-Kay building is slated to offer street-level retail with offices or residential units on the floors above. The 45,000-square foot Lane Bryant building and 43,000-square foot Arts League of Michigan building are both slated to offer a mix of retail and office space. In 2011, Rock Ventures, led by Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, purchased seven properties, three parking structures and one parking lot in Detroit.
DALLAS — M-M Properties has purchased the 1.2 million-square-foot Plaza of the Americas, a mixed-use property located in Dallas' Central Business District, in a partnership with a client of Dallas-based Invesco Real Estate. Plaza of the Americas features two 25-story office towers, a 12-story parking garage, a separately owned Marriott Hotel and 140,000 square feet of restaurants and shops. HFF's Dallas office arranged acquisition financing in the transaction and represented the seller. Dallas-based Peloton Commercial Real Estate has been retained as the exclusive leasing agent for the property and M-M will provide property management services.
PHOENIX — Higley Village, a 44,484-square-foot mixed-use plaza in Phoenix, has sold to Jorde Hacienda for $3,750,000 million. The plaza includes 22,527 square feet of retail space throughout three buildings, 21,957 square feet of office space throughout three other buildings, a 3.53-acre parcel that will house a gas/convenience/fast food stop and a .70-acre pad that will house a 33,061-square-foot office building. Higley Village was built in 2007. The retail portion was 31 percent occupied and the existing offices were 80 percent occupied at the time of sale. Jorde Hacienda intends to stabilize and hold the property. Kevin Petersen of Petersen Properties & Management represented Jorde Hacienda. Rick Danis, Paul Boyle, Ryan Schubert and Michael Hackett with Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial’s Capital Markets Group represented the seller, Meridian Bank.
MADISON, ALA. — GBT Realty Corp. has broken ground on the 122,000-square-foot Madison Corners, a mixed-use development located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 72 and Balch Road in Madison, adjacent to the Madison Medical Park. The property will include two medical office buildings totaling 100,000 square feet and a 22,000-square-foot retail component. Triad Properties Corp. has purchased 3.46 acres of the property to build the first medical office building, totaling 60,000 square feet, which is slated for completion in the fourth quarter of 2012. The retail space, which is pre-leased to tenants including Firehouse Subs, LawLer's Barbecue and Specialized Medical Devices, will be constructed in two buildings and will open in March of this year.
STAMFORD, CONN. — SL Green Realty has secured an $86 million senior mortgage loan for Landmark Square, an 862,000-square-foot mixed-used property in Stamford. SL Green has completed several upgrades to the property since 2007 and is underway with a major capital improvement plan. AIG Asset Management provided the five-year fixed-rate loan on behalf of a wholly owned life insurance subsidiary of American International Group. Steven Kohn, Alex Hernandez, Christopher Moyer and Sridhar Vankayala of Cushman & Wakefield Sonneblick Goldman arranged the financing.