Office

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HOUSTON — JLL has arranged the sale of The Westchester, a 117,261-square-foot office building in West Houston. The six-story building was constructed in 1999 and was 74 percent leased at the time of sale. Amenities include a conference center, deli, private courtyard and a putting green. Marty Hogan and Rick Goings of JLL represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. John Ream led a JLL team that arranged acquisition financing though an undisclosed CMBS lender on behalf of the buyer, Mission Cos.

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NEW YORK CITY — Mulligan Security has signed a 15,788-square-foot office lease renewal and expansion at 7 Penn Plaza in Midtown Manhattan. The private security and fire safety contracting firm now occupies 24,788 square feet across the entire second floor. The renewal term is 12 years. David Hollander and David Katz of CBRE represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Andrew Wiener, David Turino and Henry Korzec represented the landlord, The Feil Organization, on an internal basis.

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By Charvi Gupta of Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC Vacancy rates in office buildings in major metropolitan areas like New York City have surged, driven by the widespread adoption of remote work policies as well as the relocation of major corporate headquarters. With housing shortages exacerbating the issue, there is a growing discourse surrounding the conversion of these vacant office spaces into residential units. According to The Wall Street Journal, 1 billion square feet of office space sits vacant across the United States. While the numbers cover only office mortgages packaged into commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), they reflect a broader freeze in the lending market for office buildings. However, the journey from empty office buildings to habitable residences is far from a linear path and comes with considerable challenges. With numerous examples to examine, as well as insights from financial restructuring consultants to consider, it’s clear that office-to-residential conversions are complex to say the least. Conversion Challenges The conversion process is becoming increasingly difficult. Construction loans are far more expensive than they were 18 months ago, and banks continue to be cautious about development lending, with many conversion efforts on hold because of higher interest rates.  Although more cities are …

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MIAMI — Sterling Bay has joined Key International as a co-developer for 848 Brickell, a proposed 51-story mixed-use tower in downtown Miami’s Brickell district. Plans for the Class A tower include 750,000 square feet of creative offices, structured parking for 1,000 vehicles and 7,500 square feet of ground-level retail space. The project is pursuant to zoning approval by Miami-Dade County. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the tower, amenities of which would include tech-enabled conference facilities, a high-end fitness center, outdoor terrace, padel tennis courts and private open-air lounges.

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Bank of America has signed a 550,000-square-foot office lease at Newport Tower in Jersey City. Newport Tower is a 36-story, 1.1 million-square-foot waterfront building that recently underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation and connects via skybridge to the 1 million-square-foot Newport Centre Mall. Building amenities include eight onsite dining options, a fitness center, game room, tenant lounge, coworking spaces and meeting rooms. Robert Rudin, David DeMatteis, Mina Shehata, Dirk Hrobsky, Karl Helgessen, Jan Randall Dausend and Christina Magill of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, BentallGreenOak, in the lease negotiations. Bob Alexander, Ryan Alexander and Taylor Callaghan of CBRE represented Bank of America.

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HAMILTON, N.J. — Fennelly Associates has signed a 19,008-square-foot office lease at a 47,464-square-foot building located at 200 Horizon Drive in the Central New Jersey community of Hamilton. The tenant, Micro-Air, a designer and manufacturer of air conditioning control systems for boats and RVs, is relocating from a 7,850-square-foot space in nearby Allentown. Jerry Fennelly of Fennelly Associates represented the landlord, Cammeby’s Management, in the lease negotiations. Micro-Air was self-represented.

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DIAMOND BAR, CALIF. — Anchor Point Capital has arranged the sale of Plaza Diamond Bar, a two-building office and retail property in Diamond Bar, approximately 30 miles east of Los Angeles. Two separate buyers, both private investors, acquired the assets for a combined total of $12.2 million. The seller of both assets was a partnership led by Metro Properties LLC. The office building, located at 2040 S. Brea Canyon Road, sold as an all-cash deal, and the retail building, at 2020 S. Brea Canyon Road, sold with a creative seller financing structured by Anchor Point Capital. Built in 2007, the two-story, 25,000-square-foot office building was 40 percent occupied by a variety of medical and related tenants. Built in 1980 and renovated in 1992, the single-story, 8,000-square-foot, multi-tenant retail building was 50 percent leased at the time of sale. Eric Vu of Newport Beach-based Anchor Point Capital handled the transactions.

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OVERLAND PARK, KAN. — Walnut Risk Management LLC has signed a 5,640-square-foot office lease at the Aspiria campus in Overland Park. The insurance broker firm specializes in commercial and personal lines insurance brokerage. Construction has begun on the build-out of Walnut Risk Management’s new office, and the company plans to take occupancy in June. Wichita-based Occidental Management owns and manages the Aspiria campus, which is the redevelopment of the former Sprint headquarters.

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MIAMI — SG Holdings has completed leasing at Sawyer’s Walk, a 3.4-acre mixed-use development underway in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood. The project, which will feature retail space, offices and affordable housing for seniors, is set to open this summer. SG Holdings is a partnership comprising Swerdlow Group, SJM Partners and Alben Duffie. The development team broke ground on Sawyer’s Walk in summer 2021. The development costs were not disclosed, but the Miami Herald reported the price tag hovers around $350 million. “The anticipated delivery of our mixed-use development will serve as an economic catalyst for Overtown, with the creation of over 1,000 quality jobs, the opening of a new full-service supermarket and mix of national retail stores that will serve the immediate community and surrounding neighborhoods,” says Michael Swerdlow, managing partner of Swerdlow Group. Sawyer’s Walk will feature 175,000 square feet of retail space. Committed tenants include Target (50,000 square feet), Aldi (25,000 square feet), Ross Dress for Less, Five Below, Tropical Smoothie Café and Burlington. MSC Group, a global cargo ship line and the world’s third-largest cruise line, purchased the property’s 130,000 square feet of office space with plans to combine its South Florida cruise and cargo operations under one roof. …

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By Nick Fiquette, Sansone Group Lingering effects of COVID-19 In the aftermath of the global pandemic, the St. Louis real estate market finds itself at a crossroads, continuing to see the persistent impacts of COVID-19. Corporate strategies are evolving as companies evaluate their real estate footprints to accommodate the changing work environment and desires of employees. As lease expirations loom, businesses are engaged in a delicate dance of evaluating their physical space needs. The pendulum of work-from-home policies, initially adopted to streamline footprints, appears to be swinging back. Recently, Edward Jones listed a 227,000-square-foot Class A building that it owns on the market for lease and is planning on occupying it instead. This example could serve as a positive indicator for the future of the office market. The market is transforming as companies look to accommodate employee demands, prioritizing safe, walkable areas and amenity-rich buildings. This shift is particularly evident in the struggle faced by commodity real estate, as businesses increasingly gravitate toward locations that contribute positively to the employee experience. As a result, investors are remaining cautious about purchasing office assets due to surging interest rates and uncertainties surrounding the future of the office market. Corporate giants reevaluate real …

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