SAN FRANCISCO — Paramount Group Inc. (NYSE: PGRE) has agreed to acquire One Front Street, a Class A office building located in the Market Street corridor of San Francisco, for $521 million. The 38-story, LEED Gold certified property is located in the heart of San Francisco’s central business district, within two blocks of the $6 billion Transbay Transit Center development set to open in 2017. The Transbay center will act as a regional transportation hub, accommodating up to 45 million passengers per year. The property consists of 651,000 square feet of office space and a 290-space parking garage. The building was 99 percent occupied at the time of sale by tenants including Lookout Inc., Kite, Wells Fargo Bank, Covington & Burling LLP, Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP, FTI Consulting, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) and BNP Paribas. Market Front Associates LP sold the property, according to reports by the San Francisco Business Times. JLL manages and handles leasing for the office space. Paramount is considering various strategic options including bringing in a joint venture partner for the property or selling an asset within its current portfolio to help fund the transaction. The deal is expected to close before the end of …
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Daniel Corp. has purchased the Financial Center office building, an 18-story, 311,201-square-foot tower located in downtown Birmingham’s Financial District. As part of the acquisition, Daniel Corp. will relocate its headquarters to the office building. Built in 1982, Financial Center is located at 505 20th St. North at the intersection of 20th Street and 5th Avenue. The seller was undisclosed, but AL.com reports Allegiance Realty Corp. purchased the asset in 2013 for an undisclosed price.
HOUSTON — Jason Whittington of NAI Partners has represented Houston Engineering & Scientific Society Inc. (HESS) in renewing a 21,466-square-foot special events and meeting facility lease in Houston. HESS is the only occupant in the two-level, freestanding building located at 5430 Westheimer Road. HESS moved into the property in 1996. Henry Hagendorf and Dean Wilkens of Tanglewood Property Group represented the landlord, Franklin Post Oak Ltd.
NEW YORK CITY — HFF has arranged $26.9 million in acquisition and construction financing for 314 Scholes Street, a three-building industrial complex located in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. HFF arranged the five-year, floating-rate loan through M&T Bank for the borrower, The Hudson Companies. The borrower plans to convert the 97,475-square-foot complex into 83,211 square feet of creative office space and 14,543 square feet of retail space. Designed by S9 Architects, the project is slated for completion in 2018. Christopher Peck and Rory Shepard of HFF secured the financing for the borrower.
WICHITA, KAN. — Ferguson Property Group has acquired the former Winfield Wholesale Grocery Building, a warehouse building located at 701 E. Second St. in Wichita’s historic district. SBJ Properties sold the 50,000-square-foot building for an undisclosed price to Memphis, Tenn.-based Ferguson. The buyer has a $20 million renovation planned for the property to convert it into retail and office space. Built in 1910, the property features underground parking. Patrick Ahern of NAI Martens represented the seller, while Mike Marrara of First Commercial represented the buyer in the deal.
NEW YORK CITY — Cushman & Wakefield advised L.H. Charney Associates Inc. on a $185 million senior mortgage financing for 10 Times Square, also known at 1441 Broadway, in New York City. The fixed-rate financing was provided by an affiliate of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. The 36-story building features more than 540,000 square feet of office/showroom and retail space, including 31 floors of fully-leased office/showroom space and 55,000 square feet of ground-floor, concourse and second/mezzanine-level retail space. The building’s newly designed retail space and lobby will be delivered in 2017. Alex Hernandez, Steve Kohn, Chris Moyer and Alex Lapidus of Cushman & Wakefield’s Equity, Debt and Finance team arranged the the financing.
BOSTON — O’Connell Hospitality Group is merging its Northeast hotel brokerage practice with HREC’s national hotel platform effective Sept. 8. With the merged companies, Jim O’Connell will be principal at HREC Investment Advisors, as well as HREC’s practice leader in the new Boston office. Combined the two firms will offer hotel investors expertise and contacts of approximately 40 dedicated lodging and gaming insiders across the North American hospitality industry.
FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS — Farmers Branch city manager Charles Cox has promoted Allison Cook to director of economic development and tourism for the city of Farmers Branch. Cook has been an employee of Farmers Branch since 2011, when she started the first city program focused on business retention. She was later promoted to economic development manager. The previous director of economic development and tourism John Land, has been promoted to deputy city manager. Cook previously worked for Catalyst Commercial, a real estate analytics company, and was also the leasing manager for another commercial real estate company focused on retail development in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
OAK CREEK, WIS. — Colliers International has arranged the lease and sale of the former headquarters of Caterpillar’s Global Mining division located at 6744 S. Howell Ave. in Oak Creek. Master Lock Co. leased the two-building, 120,883-square-foot office campus under a long-term agreement. Master Lock will relocate from its current Oak Creek location in early 2017 after tenant improvements are completed at the property. Additionally, Bucyrus Wisconsin Property, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., sold the property to W.P. Carey for $16.8 million. Tom Shepherd and Matthew Stauber of Colliers represented Caterpillar in the lease and sale of the campus.
Growth. It is occurring all across the Rio Grande Valley. From the residential sector to the retail development industry, regional statistics indicate there is an overwhelming boom in the Valley. The rise in the region’s population and the increasing number of yearly visits from Mexican nationals, among other factors, are contributing to the boom. The Rio Grande Valley commercial real estate industry has seen steady, consistent growth over the last two years. National retailers looking to incorporate themselves into the local economy or expand their existing business include Main Event Entertainment, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt, Dave & Busters, Dick’s Sporting Goods, HomeGoods, Chick-fil-A and Walmart. Local and international retailers including Super Cream Restaurant & Bakery, Kurai Sushi Buffet, and Dona Tota are also expanding in the region. Other entities helping to spur growth in the commercial real estate industry are the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) campuses in Edinburg, Harlingen and Brownsville, and a number of large investment retail projects in the upper and mid-valley including the development of the 8,500-seat Bert Ogden Arena in Hidalgo County. Impact of UTRGV The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is less than two years old and boasts …