MIAMI — Crocker Partners has signed international law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP to a 24,000-square-foot lease renewal for the full 25th floor at Miami Center, a 34-story office tower in Miami’s central business district. Rashid Siapoosh of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, along with Gerard Cruse and Fran Tuffy of Hughes Hubbard, represented the tenant in the 10-year lease renewal. Jon Blunk, Laurel Oswald and Cristina Glaria of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — CBRE Capital Markets has arranged the sale of 550 Bailey, a recently renovated, Class A office building in Fort Worth’s cultural district. The seven-story, 122,828-square-foot asset was renovated in 2008. It includes an adjacent multi-level parking garage and surface parking, which has an overall parking ratio of 3.5 parking spaces per 1,000 rentable square feet. Transwestern Investment Group, on behalf of Diversified International Partners, purchased the asset for an undisclosed price. Gary Carr, John Alvarado, Eric Mackey and Robert Hill of CBRE’s Dallas office represented the anonymous seller. Since 2008, ownership invested approximately $6 million to transform the former single-tenant corporate headquarters building into a multi-tenant office property. An additional $5 million went into leasehold improvements over the same period. Renovations include the remodeling of the lobby and common areas, upgrades to the elevators, exterior landscaping enhancements and the construction of a covered walkway from the parking garage to the office building.
FRISCO, TEXAS — Colliers International North Texas has negotiated the sale of Stewart Creek Office Center II, a Class A office building in Frisco. Creighton Stark and Jack Minter of Colliers International represented the seller, Stewart Creek International Investors. Stewart Creek Office Center II is located at 5750 Genesis Court near the Dr. Pepper Ball Park, Frisco Convention Center and Toyota Stadium. The property was developed in 2006. The building is fully leased to 10 tenants.
DALLAS — Solana Business Park and architecture firm 5G Studio Collaborative have released final architectural design renderings of Solana Business Park’s $50 million campus renovation. Renovations will update campus offerings and facilities. Local graphic design firm 70kft will design a new Solana logo to be displayed throughout the property. 5G’s renovation strategy for Solana includes prairie colors and weathered metal materials. Additionally, a new gateway entrance will be added to the property. Campus buildings have also been renamed to better align with the new property identity. The new names include: The Vista at Solana (formerly 1 E. Kirkwood), The Terrace at Solana (formerly Campus Circle) and The Plaza at Solana (formerly Village Circle). Renovations are underway and should be completed by the end of 2015.
VIENNA, VA. — Navy Federal Credit Union plans to invest $114.6 million to expand its headquarters campus in Vienna, a city in Fairfax County. The credit union plans to add 600 employees as a result of the expansion. The investment will include a new four-story, 234,000-square-foot office building and parking deck on a 10.8-acre lot. The property will feature an elevated walkway that will connect the new building to the rest of the headquarters campus. The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority worked with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership to secure the project for Virginia. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe approved a $1 million grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to assist Fairfax County with the project. Additional funding and services to support Navy Federal Credit Union’s employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.
PALO ALTO, CALIF. —TIBCO Software has sold a 292,000-square-foot office/R&D campus in Palo Alto to Morgan Stanley’s Prime Property Fund for a reported $330 million. The campus is located at 3301-3307 Hillview Ave. within the Stanford Research Park. The acquisition was the largest sales transaction in Palo Alto history, according to Cushman & Wakefield, which marketed the property. The infrastructure and business intelligence software provider signed a long-term leaseback agreement with the new owner. The sale transaction was led by Adam Lasoff and Grant Lammersen of the firm’s Northern California Capital Markets team. They were assisted by Michael McMillan.
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — Phase I of the Water Garden office complex in Santa Monica has received a $260-million refinancing. The complex is located at 2425 Olympic Blvd. and 1620 26th Street. Phase I includes 673,660 square feet situated in two, six-story office buildings. Tenants in this phase include Amazon, Edmonds, Group M Worldwide, Sony Computer Entertainment and AMC Networking Entertainment. Phase I is part of the larger 1.27-million-square-foot Water Garden office complex. It sits catty-corner to a light rail station that will be completed next year. The 12-year, fixed-rate loan was arranged by HFF’s Mike Tepedino, Paul Brindley and Jennifer Keller through New York Life Real Estate Investors. The borrower is composed of institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
HOUSTON — TexWhouse Inc. has purchased two office/warehouse buildings in Houston. The two single-tenant buildings, spanning 6,000 square feet and a 10,000 square feet, are located at 3103 and 3113 Farrell Road, respectively. Mike Spears, Thomas Leger and Robert McGee of TNRG represented the buyer, TexWhouse, and the seller, Farrell Road Park North LLC.
RESTON, VA. — A partnership between Atlantic Realty Cos. and Angelo, Gordon & Co. has purchased four office buildings in Reston totaling roughly 500,000 square feet for $82 million. The portfolio was 50 percent leased to more than 40 tenants at the time of sale, including the Reston Association and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Eastdil Secured brokered the transaction. The four properties include Reston Corner I at 12001 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston Corner II at 12005 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston Corner III at 12007 Sunrise Valley Drive and Parkridge V at 10780-10790 Parkridge Blvd. The new ownership plans to invest roughly $5 million to improve the properties’ interiors and outdoor common areas.
NEW YORK — Led by Manhattan, the United States occupies seven of the 10 most expensive office markets in the Americas region as determined by Cushman & Wakefield’s annual Office Space Across the World report. The Americas region is defined as North and South America. The top three — Manhattan, Rio de Janeiro’s Zona Sul and Sao Paolo’s Faria Lima — were unchanged from the 2013 report. Worldwide, Manhattan came in at No. 3 following London’s West End and Hong Kong’s central business district (CBD). New York City’s Manhattan market continued to post employment growth in 2014, much of which is office-using jobs in the technology, advertising, media and information industries. Leasing activity in Manhattan totaled roughly 32.8 million square feet in 2014, which is the highest net absorption in the market in the past 15 years, according to the report. Leasing was bolstered by 28 leases in excess of 100,000 square feet. The market’s vacancy rate dipped into the single digits in December 2014 for the first time since July 2012. The market fundamentals pushed rates to $130 per square foot in Manhattan, barely edging out Rio de Janiero. “The U.S. economic recovery is quickly propelling the Manhattan office …
