ALLENTOWN, PA. — City Center Investment Corp. has purchased a 250,000-square-foot office building, located at Sixth and Linden streets in downtown Allentown, for $8.5 million. Approximately half of the building is long-term leased to The Morning Call, which uses the property as office space and to print the daily paper. The buyer plans to lease out the building’s vacant space. The acquisition also includes a nearby parking deck. City Center Investment Corp. purchased the property from Tribune Media using financing through Peoples Security Bank & Trust Co.
SAN ANTONIO — JLL has entered into an agreement to acquire Travis Commercial, a San Antonio-based real estate leader in property leasing and management, multi-market corporate services, tenant representation, investment sales and construction management. The acquisition is scheduled to close in the next few weeks, subject to customary closing conditions. Commercial principals Mark Krenger, Chuck King and Jeff Miller will join as managing directors and share leadership positions of the combined business. Senior team members Roger Hill and Lisa Mittel will join the firm along with more than 30 industry experts and staff. Krenger and King will oversee agency leasing, and Miller will lead the tenant representation and markets corporate solutions groups. The leadership trio will work under the direction of Jeff Staubach and David Carroll, president and market director of the south-central region. Travis Commercial was co-founded by Krenger and King in 1998, with Miller joining in 1999, and has since grown into a full-service commercial real estate firm.
RICHARDSON, TEXAS — Steve Doyle has been promoted to vice president of business operations at Hill & Wilkinson General Contractors. Doyle will serve as the firm’s general counsel and oversee all legal activities of Hill & Wilkinson, including risk management and contracts. Steve’s experience includes the application of construction law and developing an understanding of the risks in the construction industry. Prior to joining Hill & Wilkinson, Steve served as corporate counsel for Austin Industries. He earned his bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas School of Law. Steve teaches a construction law course at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. He is a member of the construction law section of the State Bar of Texas and the American Bar Association Forum on the construction industry. He is also a past chair of the construction law section of the Dallas Bar Association.
SAN ANTONIO — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of North Central Federal Clinic, a 34,500-square foot office property located in San Antonio. Joshua Murphy and Kenneth Hartmann of Marcus & Millichap’s San Antonio office marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a private investor, and also secured and represented the buyer, a private equity fund. North Central Federal Clinic is located at 17440 Henderson Pass. The United States Department of Veteran Affairs and the Department of Defense built the property to serve the medical needs of veterans.
MEMPHIS, TENN. — Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) has arranged the 315,450-square-foot lease relocation and adaptive reuse project for ServiceMaster, a home and commercial services provider whose products and services include home warranties, home inspections, furniture repair, residential cleaning, disaster restoration and termite and pest control. The publicly traded company plans to transform the former Peabody Place mall in downtown Memphis into Class A office space for its global headquarters. ServiceMaster will consolidate its office operations currently headquartered in four buildings within the suburban Poplar Avenue Corridor in Memphis. Neal Golden and Aaron Sommer of NGKF represented ServiceMaster in the two-year site selection process and lease transaction. ServiceMaster was considering relocating its corporate headquarters to other markets such as Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, Orlando and Tampa before selecting Memphis. The company plans to move approximately 1,200 employees to the renovated building by the end of 2017.
CHICAGO — Power Home Remodeling Group has signed a long-term lease for 31,000 square feet at the Bradley Business Center in Chicago. The company is relocating from 9450 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. in Rosemont where it occupied 7,000 square feet. Power Home Remodeling will use 21,000 square feet of space for offices and the remainder of the space will be used as warehouse space. The facility, located at 2500 W. Bradley Place, will serve as the company’s Midwest headquarters when the lease goes into effect this November. The mixed-use building features amenities such as a fitness center, rooftop deck, conference center, event space, bike storage and ample parking. Hansen Realty Services and Centrum Partners own the 500,000-square-foot Bradley Business Center, which is 86 percent occupied. Brett Berlin represented the ownership in-house. Marilyn Lissner and Joseph Gatto of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant in the transaction.
SUGAR LAND, TEXAS — Heavy Construction Systems Specialists (HCSS) has moved into a new office building located at 13151 W. Airport Blvd. in Sugar Land. Designed by Studio RED and built by Rosenberger Construction, the commercial office building features a climbing rope net in the lobby and an adult slide. HCSS’s goal was to create a fun, energetic and creative atmosphere to serve as a catalyst for retaining and recruiting talent. The 15,400-square-foot building, intended for HCSS’s software development group, is organized into pods that accommodate six to eight employees. A lounge space joins the pods together and is open to both floors. Conference rooms, manager offices and support spaces are also included.
SAN ANTONIO — Transwestern’s San Antonio office has secured a lease with Sorenson Communications Inc. at Fountainhead Business Park in San Antonio. Sorenson Communications, a provider of communications products and services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, has leased over 25,000 square feet of office space. Transwestern’s Larry Mendez and Kelly Ralston represented the owner, Shorecliffs Investments, and CBRE’s Mike Sawtelle and Sherri Fesperman represented the tenant. Fountainhead Business Park consists of two, Class A office buildings in San Antonio’s northwest submarket at 3846 Medical Drive and 4511 Horizon Hill Blvd.
ALPHARETTA, GA. — Hines and Cousins Properties have signed Microsoft Corp. to a 43,000-square-foot office lease at 8000 Avalon, a 224,000-square-foot, Class A office development under construction in Alpharetta. With the Microsoft lease, 8000 Avalon is now 19 percent pre-leased with initial occupancy slated for the second quarter of 2017. Hines and Cousins are co-developing the $72 million project, which is the only office building in Phase II of Avalon. Pete Shelton and Drew Levine of Colliers International’s Atlanta office represented Microsoft in the lease transaction.
LYNDHURST, N.J. — Bergman Real Estate Group has acquired 1099 Wall Street West, an office building located in Lyndhurst’s Meadowlands submarket. A private equity fund sold the property for an undisclosed price. Situated on 7.5 acres, the three-story building comprises 120,000 square feet of office space. At the time of sale, the property was 50 percent leased to more than 30 companies. M&T Bank provided a flexible acquisition loan for the purchase. Rick Steel and Mark Zurlini with M&T Bank arranged the loan. Patrick Arangio and Christopher McGlone of CBRE’s National Loan & Portfolio Advisory Group, in collaboration with Jeffrey Dunne, Kevin Welsh and Brian Schultz of CBRE Institutional Properties, represented the seller in the deal.