THE WOODLANDS — CapLease Inc. has purchased a 175,000-square-foot, Class A office building, located at 1585 Sawdust Road in The Woodlands, for $40.5 million. The building is fully leased to credit-worthy tenants including Praxair Inc. and Dover Fluid Management, a subsidiary of Dover Corp. CapLease is anticipating to close on a 10-year, $22 million non-recourse mortgage loan with a 30-year amortization schedule in the next few weeks.
SAN ANTONIO — Accion Texas has launched a $5.5 million “We Believe” capital campaign to build the new Accion Texas Lending and Learning Entrepreneurial Center, which will be located on two acres at 2015 W. Marten St. in San Antonio's Prospect Hill neighborhood. The center was designed by Lake/Flato Architects and will feature five buildings, including a 14,000-square-foot headquarters building, a 1,500-square-foot conference and training center, a 1,200-square-foot cafe and kitchen and two 2,000-square-foot “small business” buildings. The project is already 45 percent funded through public and private pledges, including a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.
FOREST PARK AND JONESBORO, GA. — Blue Ridge Capital has acquired an 11-property portfolio, comprised of office and retail properties located in Forest Park and Jonesboro, from Capmark for $3.2 million. The portfolio is approximately 50 percent leased. The properties include Center Village Shopping Center, Parkway Village Shopping Center, the four-building Shady Oaks and the four-building Northpark in Forest Park, as well as the Jonesboro Village Shopping Center in Jonesboro. Fred Victor of Newmark Knight Frank’s Atlanta office represented the seller in the transaction.
CHICAGO — Online payment provider Braintree has signed a 5-year lease for 26,350 square feet of office space at River Center, located at 111 N. Canal St. in Chicago. The landlord, River Center LLC, was represented in-house by Fred Friedman and Ben Torchman in the transaction. Henry Lee of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the tenant.
ARLINGTON, VA. — New York-based Savanna has completed the sale of a senior interest in a $157.7 million note secured by three office buildings, located in the Rosslyn section of Arlington. The first two buildings, located at 1000-1100 Wilson Blvd., are interconnected high-rise office towers totaling 1.1 million square feet. The third building, located at 1101 Wilson Blvd., is a 326,000-square-foot high-rise office property. The senior note was sold to Apollo Global Real Estate in the transaction, with Savanna retaining the $76.7 million junior note. The three buildings are part of a 10-building portfolio owned by a joint venture between Monday Properties and Goldman Sachs.
ROANOKE, VA. — The 78,000-square-foot Crystal Tower, located on the corner of Campbell Avenue and Second Street in Roanoke, has been sold to Crystal Tower LLC for $1.3 million. Built in 1931, Crystal Tower was originally opened as the 183-room Ponce de Leon Hotel and was converted into offices in 1970. The buyer plans to spend $10 million to convert the building to a 70-unit apartment complex with retail space on the first floor. Michael Waldgovel and Krista Vannoy of Waldgovel Commericial Properties represented the seller, Crystal Tower Building Corp., in the transaction.
GREENBELT, MD. — Diversified Realty Ventures has purchased the 120,000-square-foot Greentec IV office building, located at 7700 Hubble Drive in Greenbelt, for $6.35 million. The property is fully leased to government contractors and employees working on the Joint Polar Satellite System. Robert Finney of Transwestern represented the seller, C-III Asset Management, in the transaction.
COLUMBUS, OHIO — NuGrowth Solutions has signed a lease for 16,930 square feet of office space at Arlingate Plaza, located at 4181 Arlingate Plaza in Columbus. Doug Falor of Cassidy Turley represented the landlord, Time Equities, in the transaction.
GALVESTON — The 12-story, 87,140-square-foot 2201 Market Street, a historic office building also known as The U.S. National Bank Building located in Galveston, has sold. The office building's tenants include Frost Bank and the University of Texas Medical Branch. The building was built in 1925 to house the U.S. National Bank. Christopher Dray of Moody Rambin Investment Services Group represented the seller, Frost National Bank, in the transaction.
MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIF. – A 123,000-square-foot office building located at 1500 Rosecrans Ave. in Manhattan Beach has received $27 million in first-mortgage financing. This building is within the Continental Park. The 10-year, fixed-rate, non-recourse loan was placed with a life insurance company at less than 5 percent. It also contains two years of interest-only payments. The loan was arranged by Sonnenblick-Eichner Company on behalf of the owner, an affiliate of Continental Development Corporation.
