Office

Westerre I & II

RICHMOND, VA. — The Simpson Organization has acquired Westerre I and II, a Class A office portfolio in the Westerre Office Park in Richmond, for $22 million. The office assets total 163,290 square feet and are 92.1 percent leased to 26 tenants, including Tridium Inc., Interbake Foods LLC, Comcast and Batzli Stiles Butler Law Firm. Eric Robison of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer’s Richmond office represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The Simpson Organization has hired Dean Meyer and Mac Wilson of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer to lease the properties going forward.

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San Francisco is a veritable boom town that has already surpassed the market roar of 1999. It can even conceivably be compared to 1849, when gold was discovered 100 miles east. In fact, this year is so utterly off the charts that most of us in the commercial real estate industry have never seen an upcycle like this in our entire careers. Witness the fact that through the first three quarters of 2014, San Francisco’s gross office absorption reached 7.6 million square feet. Net absorption in this same period was 2.4 million square feet. This compares with 1999, the record year, when gross absorption was 7.4 million square feet – and that was for the entire year! It is quite possible we’ll hit 10 million square feet of gross absorption by the time 2014 closes out. Incidentally, net absorption for 1999 was “only” 526,000 square feet. Not surprisingly, three out of the four biggest leases in the third quarter were completed by tech companies. The tech frenzy in San Francisco has been well documented. Most of the Silicon Valley companies want, or need, to have a presence in the city. The trend is employment-driven. Young techies don’t want to commute …

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DALLAS — CBRE has arranged the lease of 125,000 square feet of office space to SoftLayer, an IBM Co. SoftLayer will occupy space within the Stanford Corporate Center located at 14001 N. Dallas Pkwy. The firm will relocate its Dallas corporate headquarters in February 2015 from its current location at 4849 Alpha Road. IBM acquired SoftLayer in July 2013. The new headquarters has capacity for more than 700 employees. Clay Vaughn, Steve Rigby and Mike Cleary of CBRE represented SoftLayer in the transaction. Brooke Scheurich and Fred Noblett of CBRE’s project management team are guiding the design service selection and construction process for SoftLayer’s new office. Jerry Averyt and Greg Trout of Henry S. Miller Cos. represented the landlord, TCI Stanford LLC.

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MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIF. – True Religion Apparel has leased a 72,246-square-foot office building in Manhattan Beach. The new space is located at 1888 Rosecrans Ave. The jeans and apparel company will be relocating its corporate headquarters from nearby Vernon. The landlord is Continental Development Corporation. The transaction was executed by John Minervini, Erik Larson, Robin Dodson, Chris Tolles, Michael DeSantis and John Doyle of Cushman & Wakefield.

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SAN FRANCISCO – A 600,000-square-foot office building in San Francisco has received a $150-million loan. The 48-story property is located at 345 California Center in the city’s Financial District. The loan was secured by JLL’s Keith Largay, John Manning, Alex Witt and Fiorentina Malko. It was provided to an affiliated entity of Metropolis Investment Holdings by Cornerstone Advisers, which acted on behalf of MassMutual.

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BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. – Jenel Management Corp. has acquired a 26,500-square-foot office building in Beverly Hills for $47.2 million. The building is located at 461-469 N. Beverly Drive, within the Beverly Hills Triangle. The former Bank of America building was fully redesigned in 1995 by Richard Meir and the Paley Center for Media, which previously was known as the Museum of Television and Radio. It is situated on the southwest corner of North Beverly Drive and Little Santa Monica. Jenel Management was represented by John Bertram of Savills Studley. The seller in this all-cash transaction was composed of several trusts representing several generations of the original business partners who had initially purchased this property in the 1920s from Burton Green. At the time, the space served as the buyers’ lumber company headquarters. The seller was represented by Chris Holland and Patrick Sheekey of Coldwell Banker Commercial WESTMAC.

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SAN DIEGO – Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation has renewed its lease for 182,870 square feet of office space at the Kearny Mesa Spectrum Center. The three-building office campus is located at 9326 and 9356 Spectrum Center Blvd. and 4830 Ruffin Road in San Diego. Northrop Grumman is the property’s original tenant. It has occupied this space for nearly 10 years. The campus was built in 2005. It features a large data center, 608 surface parking spaces, electric vehicle charging stations and a cafeteria with multiple outdoor eating areas, among other things. Northrop Grumman was represented by CBRE’s Tom Martinez and Evan Knutsen. The landlord, American Fund US Investments, LP, was represented by Tom Wilcox and Jay Arnett of Colliers International.

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angelic

HOUSTON — Angelic Real Estate has arranged financing for the sale of 4801 Woodway, a 220,583-square-foot office building in Houston’s Galleria submarket. The building was 48 percent occupied at the time of the acquisition and is in the middle of a renovation. The property was purchased from a special servicer, having been foreclosed on from a previous tenant in common ownership.

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Pickwick-Plaza-Lobby-Greenwich-CT

GREENWICH, CONN. — Kensico Properties is planning a major renovation for Pickwick Plaza, a three-building office complex located in Greenwich. The multi-million dollar capital improvement program will bring the 280,000-square-foot complex back to its Class A status. The main lobbies, elevators, common corridors and bathrooms in all three buildings will be renovated and upgraded; a new façade and store fronts along Greenwich Avenue will be constructed; a new entry from Greenwich Avenue with a water feature will be created; landscaping across the property will be revamped; and the entrance to the four-story, underground garage with be replaced with a new “easy pass” style security gate and high-speed door. Jay Hruska, Tara Stacom, Torey Walsh, Connor Daugstrup and Scott Silverstein of Cushman & Wakefield have been tapped as exclusive leasing agents for the property, which is managed by Hines.

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LEWISVILLE, TEXAS — Bright Realty has brokered the sale of the company’s former headquarters located at 4228 N. Central Expressway in Lewisville, a Dallas suburb. The four-story mid-rise, known as the Bright Building, spans 54,000 square feet with three levels of underground parking. Nathan Denton of Lee & Associates represented the buyer, Caddo Holdings, in the transaction. Shawn Hall of Bright Realty worked on behalf of the seller. The building is located on the east side of Central Expressway and served as the corporate headquarters of Bright Realty for more than 12 years. The company relocated to a brand-new office in Castle Hills, a master-planned community in Lewisville developed by Bright Realty in 2013.

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