MELVILLE, N.Y. — Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has signed a five-year renewal for its 28,522-square-foot lease at the Melville Square Corporate Center at 1305 Walt Whitman Road in Melville. The Feil Organization owns the building, which is located in the heart of Long Island’s corporate headquarters corridor on the border of Nassau and Suffolk counties. Merrill Lynch has been a tenant in the building since the property’s renovation in 1999. Feil acquired the three-story, 165,310-square-foot building in September 2015 and plans major upgrades including the relocation and installation of a full-service café, creation of a high-tech conference center, and renovation of the fitness center. David Turino and Nicholas Forelli of Feil represented the landlord. Vince LaManna and Richard Freel of CBRE represented Merrill Lynch.
SOUTH MIAMI, FLA. — TREO Group plans to build an eight-story office building at the corner of US 1 and Sunset Drive in South Miami. The Class A, transit-oriented project will connect directly to the Metrorail at the South Miami station. TREO Group has selected Tony Puente and Jose Juncadella of Fairchild Partners to handle leasing the building, known as SoMi Station. Perkins + Will designed the property to feature ground-floor shops and restaurants. TREO Group plans to deliver the office building in the fall of 2018.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Norvell Real Estate Group has brokered the $7 million sale of Shannon Oaks Office Building, a 57,000-square-foot property located at 201 Shannon Oaks Circle in Raleigh. Frank Norvell of Norvell Real Estate Group, along with Paul Hartley of NAI Avant, represented the buyer, REVA Kay Shannon Oaks LLC. Avison Young represented the seller, Shannon Oaks Holdings LLC.
CLEVELAND — Forest City Realty Trust Inc. has closed on the sale of Terminal Tower, a nearly 600,000-square-foot office building in downtown Cleveland. After owning the building for more than 30 years, Forest City sold the asset to an affiliate of K&D Group for $38.5 million. Cleveland-based Forest City has housed its corporate offices at Terminal Tower since 1997, and the company is currently undergoing site selection for its new headquarters. Opened in 1930 as the Cleveland Union Terminal, the tower was the tallest building outside of New York until 1964. The office tower is now the centerpiece of the Tower City Center mixed-use development. Rico Pietro of Cushman & Wakefield | CRESCO Real Estate represented the buyer in the transaction.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — Gladstone Commercial Corp. has purchased Park Center, a five-story, 119,224-square-foot office building located at 6363 N.W. 6th Way in Fort Lauderdale’s Cypress Creek submarket. Gladstone Commercial purchased the office building from RFP Mainstreet Park/Cypress LLC, a joint venture between Mainstreet Capital Partners and Realty Financial Partners, for $23.9 million free and clear of debt. The asset is fully leased to Citrix Systems, a digital app and data systems solutions provider with annual revenue exceeding $3 billion. Hermen Rodriguez, Jorge Portela and Ike Ojala of HFF represented the seller and procured the buyer in the transaction.
FRISCO, TEXAS, and TULSA, OKLA. — Inventure Design, a Houston-based architecture and interior design firm, has opened two new office locations serving Dallas and Tulsa. The metro Dallas office will be located in Frisco. Inventure Design Tulsa will be the first office located outside of Texas for the firm. The new location will bridge design programs for oil and gas, office, healthcare, retail and multifamily clients with offices in both markets. The new office is located just outside of downtown Tulsa. Inventure Design was established in 1997.
MIDDLETOWN, CONN. — Seavest Healthcare Properties LLC recently sold its two medical office buildings at the Middletown Medical Complex to Healthcare Trust of America, a public REIT. The transaction resulted from an unsolicited offer for the extensively renovated and improved properties at 520 and 540 Saybrook Road, which total which totaling 64,065 square feet, in Middletown. Seavest Healthcare Properties acquired the properties in 2010. The Middletown campus features five buildings and is affiliated with the nearby 275-bed Middlesex Hospital.
NEWARK, DELAWARE — NGKF Capital Markets has arranged the sale of 242 and 248 Chapman Road in Newark. Equus Capital Partners sold the two-building portfolio to Chapman Business Associates LLC for $15.55 million. Both buildings are 100 percent occupied by two long-term tenants; 242 Chapman Road is a three-story, 65,967-square-foot office building and 248 Chapman Road is a two-story, 77,974-square-foot office building. Recent renovations at the property include new ceilings and lighting throughout, updated lobbies and restrooms, a new roof, HVAC upgrades, and a new fire panel as well as new elevators. The NGKF Capital Markets team comprising Mike Margolis, Dave Dolan and Brett Segal, along with area experts, Neal Dangello and Wills Elliman, represented Equus Capital Partners in the transaction.
PITTSBURGH — The Law Firm Group of Fischer has represented law firm Burns White LLC in its relocation to a new headquarters space in Pittsburgh. Burns White will fully occupy a new build-to-suit 108,392-square-foot property starting in March 2017. The Burns White Center will be a five-story freestanding building with parking located in Pittsburgh’s Strip District at the intersection of 26th Street and Railroad Street. Scott Fabean of Fischer was the lead in representing Burns White. Joe Tosi and Mike Daniels of Oxford Realty Services represented the landlord, Three Crossings Riverfront East LP.
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. — Unilever has chosen a joint venture between OVG Real Estate and Normandy Real Estate Partners to acquire and redevelop the company’s 23-acre, 325,000-square-foot North American headquarters. The site is located at 700 Sylvan Ave. in Englewood Cliffs, just across the Hudson River from New York City. The agreement provides that upon closing, the land and the building will be leased back to Unilever via an 18-year triple-net lease. The sale is expected to close prior the end of 2016. The renovated headquarters will be both LEED- and WELL-certified and benefits will include reducing CO2 emissions, reducing energy consumption by 50 percent, reducing water demand via low-flow plumbing and diverting 75 percent of construction waste from landfills. OVG plans to increase the size of the property by 28 percent to accommodate 1,600 employees. Unilever expects the new campus to be largely finished by the fourth quarter of 2017. Cushman and Wakefield advised in the partnership formation. Other partners include Perkins + Will Architects; Unilever’s legal advisor Robinson Cole; Drinker Biddle & Reith and AKD Advocaten, both serving as legal advisors to the OVG-Normandy joint venture; general contractor StructureTone; and insurance advisor Parallel. — Jaime Lackey