NEW YORK CITY — A partnership between developers Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners and Cain International has begun leasing a 260,000-square-foot speculative office and retail project located at 125 W. 57th St. in Midtown Manhattan. Designed by FXCollaborative, the 30-story building houses 180,000 square feet of office space starting on the 14th floor, with an average of 10,300 square feet of rentable space per floor. Most suites will have access to private terraces. Gensler designed the office amenity deck, which includes a conference center, tenant lounge, event space with catering facilities and private meeting rooms. Office tenant build-outs are scheduled to begin this fall, and the development team expects move-ins to begin during the first quarter of 2025. JLL is the leasing agent.
Office
Fenton Developers to Add New Tribute Hotel, Sign Office Tenants at 92-Acre Mixed-Use Campus in Metro Raleigh
by John Nelson
CARY, N.C. — The development team behind the 92-acre Fenton mixed-use development in Cary, which includes Hines, Columbia Development and Affinius Capital, has announced a new 186-room hotel coming to the development. The master developers are bringing on Mainsail Lodging & Development and Ross Hotel Partners to co-develop the seven-story hotel, with Mainsail also signed on to operate the property upon completion. The developers will break ground in first-quarter 2025 and open the hotel in first-quarter 2027. Designed by BRPH, the hotel will be a member of the Tribute Portfolio Hotels by Marriott International family of brands and will feature a second-floor signature restaurant and bar; a lobby bar and coffee shop; 6,000 square feet of event space spanning six meeting rooms; a ballroom to accommodate groups up to 300 people; and a 1,500-square-foot culinary studio for cooking demonstrations and ticketed experiences. Other amenities will include a fitness center and an outdoor heated pool with an expanded sundeck. Additionally, the master developers have signed office leases with two new tenants. The deals include a nearly 17,000-square-foot lease with Burns & McDonnell, an engineering, construction and architecture firm, and an approximately 4,400-square-foot lease with Surety Systems, an enterprise resource planning, human …
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Fidelity Security Life Insurance Co. (FSL) has unveiled plans to move its headquarters to Crown Center in Kansas City. FSL and its affiliate, Forrest T. Jones & Co., will occupy three-and-a-half floors and about 75,000 square feet at the 14-story office building at 2600 Grand Blvd. The Kansas City-based specialty insurance company will relocate from its current office one mile away at 3130 Broadway Blvd., a six-story building that it has occupied since 1969. FSL expects to take occupancy of its new office by January 2026 upon completion of a new design and renovation of the space. Nearly 340 employees will occupy the office. FSL has expanded in recent years with the formation of Fidelity Security Life Insurance Co. of New York and Fidelity Security Assurance Co. (FSAC), a property and casualty insurer. FSAC is licensed in 33 states, eyeing nationwide licensure in the coming years. These developments have made it the right time to move offices, according to Brad Jones, FSL vice chairman. Crown Center is an 85-acre complex that serves as the international headquarters of Hallmark Cards and offers more than 1.2 million square feet of office space across four buildings. Crown Center is …
LISLE, ILL. — CBRE has negotiated five office leases totaling 41,802 square feet at The Westwood in Lisle. The leases include: Westpoint Financial (11,179 square feet); Mission Wealth Management (3,263 square feet); Ottosen, DiNolfo, Hasenbalg and Castalado (14,630 square feet); Paycom (6,830 square feet); and Vantage Point Financial (5,900 square feet). Pete Adamo and Adam Lawler of CBRE represented ownership, Briar Meads Capital. Located along I-88, The Westwood is a Class A property totaling 300,000 square feet across two buildings. There are multiple tenant lounges and a fitness center as well as newly renovated lobbies and a new deli.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Social Lights, a marketing agency, has signed an 11,000-square-foot office lease at Steelman Exchange in the North Loop of Minneapolis. Tom Tracy, Katie Tufford and Harrison Rust of Cushman & Wakefield represented ownership, while CBRE’s John Lorence represented the tenant. Studio BV is the designer for the tenant’s new workspace. Located at 241 N. Fifth Ave., Steelman Exchange is a newly constructed creative office property that totals 220,000 square feet and features a tenant lounge with rooftop space, fitness center and podium parking garage. The Social Lights joins other tenants Grant Thornton, Calabrio and a global financial institution at the building, which has 75,000 square feet available for lease.
DALLAS — Dallas-based Westdale Real Estate Investment & Management has received a $115 million loan for the refinancing of a portfolio of three commercial properties in Texas. The portfolio comprises Epic I, a 282,873-square-foot office building located in the Deep Ellum district of Dallas; Colonnade, a 168,255-square-foot office building located on the north side of San Antonio; and Woodmeade, a 304-unit multifamily property in Irving. The five-year loan carried a fixed interest rate of 7.11 percent and a 70 percent loan-to-value ratio. Giryes Capital Group, an intermediary that connects American borrowers and Israeli lenders, sourced the debt through Pando Cos., a Dallas-based company that is also owned and managed by Giryes founder and CEO Amir Giryes.
By Andy Gutman, Farbman Group Until recently, the post-pandemic headlines and trend lines have been clear: the office market is struggling. Lower volumes and businesses closely evaluating their operational models and space needs in the wake of a COVID-altered world have prompted concerned conversations about what’s next for an evolving office sector. Here’s the good news, however: the Detroit office landscape reflects a changing narrative around not only the commercial climate, but the entire city of Detroit. To be clear, the office resurgence in Detroit has been modest, and is clearly still in its early stages. Whether you are entering a recession or starting a recovery, there is always a transitional period where sector activity is starting to change before the shift becomes impossible to deny. Motown momentum While the understandable indecision and uncertainty of the last few years has led to some stagnation in the office space, many of the COVID-era lease expirations seem to have resolved and activity has been gradually, but steadily, picking up in the last six to 12 months. Decisions are being made and lease volume is trending up — but deals and leases are moving slower, are taking longer to get done and we …
CHICAGO — During a conference call held yesterday, executives of Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC) announced that the Chicago-based office REIT is going to wind down its operations and liquidate its four remaining office assets. David Helfand, president and CEO of Equity Commonwealth, cited “uniquely challenging market conditions” as the impetus behind the move as the company was previously pursuing a major acquisition that ultimately wasn’t executed. “After working through our pipeline, we have been unable to consummate a compelling transaction,” said Helfand, who noted that the firm had also been trying to sell three of its remaining office properties as discussed in the first-quarter earnings call. “As a result, our board of trustees has determined that it’s advisable and in the best interest of our shareholders to proceed with the wind down of our operations and the liquidation of our assets in order to maximize value for shareholders.” Equity Commonwealth was founded in 1986 by Barry Portnoy under the name CommonWealth REIT. In 2014, the late REIT champion and billionaire investor Sam Zell took over operations of the company alongside a new board of directors, including Helfand. The REIT was rebranded to Equity Commonwealth and began trading on the New …
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Colliers and Northmarq have brokered the sale of Twin Towers, a 203,221-square-foot office complex that sits on a 7.2-acre site in Austin’s Windsor Park neighborhood. The lobbies, restrooms and conference spaces at the two buildings were recently renovated, and the complex was 59 percent leased at the time of sale. Doug Rauls of Colliers, in conjunction with Scott Lamontagne and Chase Gardner of Northmarq, represented the seller, California-based Omninet Capital, in the transaction. Michael Bullard of Dovetail Commercial represented the buyer, Sock Club, which also plans to occupy the building.
SUGAR LAND, TEXAS — Agha Engineering has signed a 9,744-square-foot office lease renewal and expansion in the southwestern Houston suburb of Sugar Land. According to LoopNet Inc., the 14-story, 349,190-square-foot building at 1080 Eldridge Parkway was constructed in 2009 and renovated in 2023. Nathan Buckhoff of locally based brokerage firm Oxford Partners represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Matthew Asvestas of Stream Realty Partners represented the landlord, Broadshore Capital Partners.