WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — Wendel, a design and construction firm, has signed a lease to expand and relocate its Amherst, N.Y., corporate headquarters to Centerpointe Corporate Park in Williamsville. The design firm will occupy approximately 37,000 square feet at 375 Essjay Road in Centerpointe Corporate Park, Ciminelli’s flagship corporate park. Wendel expects to take occupancy in April 2015. This relocation will expand the firm’s office space by 10,000 square feet. Timothy Malchow of Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. represented the owner, Centerpointe Corporate Holdings LLC, in the transaction.
SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Shorenstein Properties LLC has acquired Champion Station, a 426,000-square-foot office and R&D campus in North San Jose, for an undisclosed sum. The low-rise campus is located at 110-180 West Tasman Drive. The acquisition includes the first phase of the station, which contains four buildings that are fully leased to Cisco on a short-term basis. The property is located less than two miles from Levi’s Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers. The seller was TMG Partners. Champion Station is the first investment completed by Shorenstein Realty Investors Eleven, a closed-end investment fund formed earlier this year with $1.22 billion in committed capital from Shorenstein and its investors.
MESA, ARIZ. — American Traffic Solutions has leased Building One at Waypoint office campus in Mesa. The building is located near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Mesa Riverview, on the borders of Mesa, Scottsdale and Tempe. Waypoint office campus will be a two-building, Class A office campus. The second 150,000-square-foot building will soon be under construction. The landlords, Lincoln Property Company and Harvard Investments, are represented by CBRE’s Dave Carder, Luke Walker and Eric Schultz.
NEW YORK CITY — Meridian Capital Group has arranged $228.5 million in construction financing for the condominium conversion of the former Flatotel hospitality property in New York City. A partnership between Chetrit Group and Clipper Equity plan to convert the asset, which is located at 135West 52th St., into a five-story boutique office condominium and a 37-floorluxury residential condominium property. The 55,000-square-foot office component will be located on floors two through seven and approximately 109residential units will span floors eight through 47. The total project is estimated to cost $300 million. Aaron Birnbaum and Emanuel Westfried of Meridian’s New York City headquarters negotiated the two-year, non-recourse, interest-only loan, which features a floating LIBOR-based interest rate and a one-year extension option.
MIRAMAR, FLA. — Riviera Point Development Group plans to develop the $18 million Riviera Point Corporate Center, a 72,000-square-foot office building located at Southwest 145th Avenue and Southwest 27th Street in Miramar. This is the third office building funded through the U.S. Immigrant Investor program, also known as EB-5. Riviera Point Development has retained Stiles Realty to lease the project, which was designed by Corrales Group Architects. Under the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) program, the EB-5 program allows a foreign national interested in obtaining permanent U.S. residency to do so by investing in a commercial enterprise that generates at least 10 jobs for U.S. workers for two years. The qualifying investment for a project like Riviera Point Corporate Center is $500,000.
Accessibility, amenities and coworking spaces are driving the suburban and urban real estate markets in Philadelphia. While suburban office tenants prefer to have access to transit and amenities, Center City office tenants seek experiences and collaboration with new coworkers. Suburban Perspective The Philadelphia suburban market consists of 59.4 million square feet comprising 13 distinct submarkets. The majority of this inventory consists of dated commodity office space, mostly built prior to 1990. With an overall vacancy rate of 20.8 percent and average asking rents of $24.90 per square foot, the Philadelphia suburban market has been less dynamic than its Center City counterpart. Although many older properties suffer from functional obsolescence, well-maintained assets with access to major roadways/public transit and amenities outperform the market average. For example, the Radnor, Conshohocken and Bala Cynwyd submarkets remain the three strongest submarkets in the region. Vacancy rates in these markets range from 2 to 14 percent, with average asking rents ranging from $30.75 to $37.00 per square foot. All three of these submarkets have immediate access to major roadways, public transit and amenities. Suburban office developers have taken note of the strong fundamentals in these areas as well as Center City Philadelphia. They have created …
BOYNTON BEACH AND DELRAY BEACH, FLA. — Berger Commercial Realty has brokered the $24 million purchase of a portfolio of office buildings in Palm Beach County. Kendall Properties purchased the 280,000-square-foot portfolio from LouJA Realty. The portfolio consists of the Delray Office Park in Delray Beach; Woolbright Corporate Park in Boynton Beach; Gulfstream Professional Building in Delray Beach; and Woolbright Professional Building in Boynton Beach.
SAINT CHARLES, ILL. — NAI Hiffman has arranged the sale of two office condominiums totaling 8,238 square feet in St. Charles. The properties are located at 3310 W. Main St. The buyer, Trustee for Landrus Realty 401K Plan & Pension Fund, purchased the suites as an investment. The property features a brick and stone veneer exterior, an atrium, signage along Route 64 and Peck Road and is less than three miles from Delnor Community Hospital. Adam Johnson of NAI Hiffman’s office services group represented PB II OREO LLC in the transaction. Jake Finley of Conlon Commercial represented the buyer.
LAKEWOOD, COLO. — Brown and Caldwell has leased 32,925 square feet of office space in Lakewood. The space is located at 1527 Cole Blvd. The engineering firm was represented by Joe Sigdestad and Ted Harris of Cassidy Turley. The landlord, Denver West Office Leasing Company, was represented by CBRE’s Blake Harris.
FORT WORTH — Norwood Land Services will relocate in mid-October to the Oncor Building in downtown Fort Worth from the city’s west side. Norwood has leased 7,920 square feet on the 13th floor of the 300,347-square-foot building, which is located at 115 W. 7th St. The lease brings the building’s occupancy to 94 percent. Casey Tounget of Coldwell Banker Commercial Alliance’s Dallas office represented the landlord, Benbrooke Electric Partners LLC. Bill Tinsley of Ellis & Tinsley Inc. represented the tenant. Norwood is moving from its current location at 6421 Camp Bowie Blvd.