LOS ANGELES — Gramercy Property Trust and TPG Real Estate have formed Strategic Office Partners, a platform that will acquire single-tenant office assets in high-growth U.S. metro regions. The platform’s inaugural purchase was a six-property office portfolio valued at $187.5 million. The portfolio contains a total of 1 million square feet of single-tenant, net lease office assets in metro Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay and San Diego. It also includes assets in Nashville and Minneapolis. The buildings have an average tenant tenure of more than 11 years. Half of the assets have been occupied by the original tenant since the buildings were constructed. The weighted average remaining lease term was 3.6 years at closing. Gramercy and TPG committed $400 million to the new venture and secured a $200 million non-recourse credit facility from Morgan Stanley. Strategic Office Partners plans to buy up to $1 billion in assets over a three-year period.
IRVING, TEXAS — The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) has opened its new headquarters facility in Irving. ACEP is a national medical specialty organization representing physicians who practice emergency medicine. The new facility encompasses 60,000 square feet at 4950 W. Royal Lane and includes offices for roughly 150 ACEP executives, staff and volunteers. The space also provides training, meeting and collaboration space and an on-site walking trail. Dallas-based architecture and interior design firm BOKA Powell designed the building and Structure Tone Southwest was the project’s general contractor. The ACEP headquarters project team also included Swearingen Realty Group (brokerage/interiors project management), Cawley Partners (developer), RLG Consulting Engineers (civil and structural engineering), Purdy-McGuire Inc. (mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering) and Belle Firma (landscape design). ACEP employees moved into the space in late August.
ATLANTA — Honeywell International Inc., a global technology company with ties to the aerospace and homebuilding industries, plans to build its Software Center in Midtown Atlanta, bringing more than 730 jobs software-focused jobs to the area over the next five years. The $20 million development will also house the company’s Home and Building Technologies headquarters, which will bring an additional 100 jobs to Atlanta while continuing to maintain a presence in Minnesota. Honeywell intends to invest $19 million in the site, which is set to open in the fourth quarter of this year. The company will also use $2 million in grants from the state of Georgia and Invest Atlanta, the city of Atlanta’s economic development arm. Honeywell also expects to use tax credits totaling more than $10 million, assuming the company hires as scheduled.
NEW YORK CITY — Rudder Property Group has brokered a number of office and retail property sales, including seven that total $72.1 million at 866 United Nations Plaza in New York. Systems Property Development acquired the retail and garage portion of the building for $31.1 million. Glenn Tolchin of JLL represented the seller in the transaction. Michael Rudder and Mike Heller of Rudder Property Group represented the seller in the office condominium sales: The National Spiritual Assembly Of the Baha’is of the United States acquired a 9,938-square-foot office condominium for $12.4 million. James Saunders of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the buyer in the deal. The Government of Monaco purchased a 7,031-square-foot office space for $9 million. Steven Kaufman of Hanley Advisors represented the buyer. MGRM Holding Inc. bought a 3,563-square-foot office condo for $3.6 million. Mike Bhuiyan of DJK Residential represented the purchaser. The Egyptian Building Fund Authority and the Ministry of Egyptian Foreign Affairs acquired a 10,200-square-foot office space for $8.2 million. Joshua Sloyer of Douglas Elliman and Tahani Elrafei of McBride Agency Realtors represented the buyer. The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Djibouti to the United Nations purchased a 4,643-square-foot office condo for $4.9 million. The Military …
WILTON, FAIRFIELD AND WESTPORT, CONN. — Westport, Conn.-based Vidal/Wettenstein has arranged the sales of three properties in Connecticut. In the first transaction, North American Pharmacal sold an office building located at 213 Danbury Road in Wilton for $2.1 million. The name of the buyer was not released. David Fugitt and Bruce Wettenstein of Vidal/Wettenstein represented the seller in the transaction. In the second deal, E&J Twin Properties acquired a multi-tenant office building, located at 303 Linwood Ave. in Fairfield, for $1.8 million. Randy Vidal was the listing broker. In the final transaction, Fin-Max Realty LLC acquired a Shake Shack property, located at 1849 Post Road East in Westport, for nearly $4 million. Robert Lewis represented the buyer and undisclosed seller in the deal.
LIVONIA, MICH. — Friedman Integrated Real Estate Solutions has brokered the lease of 7,680 square feet of office space at Seven Mile Crossing II, located at 38701 Seven Mile in Livonia. Trinity Health – Michigan leased the space from Universal Properties 3. Based in Livonia, Trinity Health – Michigan is a multi-institutional Catholic health care delivery system. Steven Eisenshtadt and Todd Hawley of Friedman represented the landlord in the deal.
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.