NEW YORK CITY — Cushman & Wakefield has negotiated a 20,000-square-foot office lease at 41 Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn. The 10-story, 269,530-square-foot structure is known locally as The Pioneer Building and recently underwent a capital improvement program. Jason Kroeger and Frank Liantonio of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant, nonprofit organization Safe Horizon, which will occupy part of the sixth floor, in the lease negotiations. The name and representative of the landlord were not disclosed.
GARDEN GROVE, CALIF. — The City of Garden Grove, located in Orange County, has purchased Garden Grove Plaza, located at 12966 Euclid St. in Garden Grove. A private seller sold the asset for $12.12 million, or $188 per square foot. Anthony DeLorenzo, Bryan Johnson, Nick Williams and Peter Wells of CBRE represented the seller in the deal. Situated on two acres, the five-story glass-and-steel building offers approximately 64,468 square feet of office space. The property was recently renovated and is currently 77 percent occupied.
TEMPE, ARIZ. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of a freestanding flex office building in Tempe. Enzed LLC, a private individual investor, acquired the asset from a global investment advisor for an undisclosed price. Located at 8140 S. Hardy, the 61,997-square-foot building is fully leased to a single tenant. The property features a 11.2/1,000-square-foot parking ratio, 10-foot clear heights and large floor plans. The current tenant’s lease is set to expire in spring 2024. Chris Toci, Eric Wichterman and Mike Coover of Cushman & Wakefield’s capital markets and private capital markets teams in Phoenix represented the seller, while Marcus Muirhead of Lee & Associates represented the buyer. Jerry Roberts and Pat Boyle of Cushman & Wakefield provided leasing advisory for the transaction.
SCHAUMBURG, ILL. — Colliers has arranged the sale of a 178,000-square-foot office building in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg for an undisclosed price. The vacant building at 955 American Lane formerly served as Experian’s regional headquarters. Experian vacated the property in August of this year. Built in 1999, the four-story property features a shared parking deck, conference center, training room, cafeteria, fitness center, outdoor volleyball court and walking path around Woodfield Lake. The building is situated just west of Woodfield Mall and is divisible for up to seven tenants. Alissa Adler and John Homsher of Colliers represented the seller, Orion Schaumburg LLC. A private investor purchased the asset. Jon Connor and Steve Kling of Colliers also assisted with the transaction.
CHICAGO — Specialty insurance provider Argo Group has signed a new long-term lease at 24 E. Washington St., also known as the Marshall Field & Co. building, in Chicago. Argo’s lease is for roughly 20,500 square feet on the ninth floor. The company plans to begin operating out of its new office in early 2024. In 2021, owner Brookfield Properties completed a major restoration of the historic building, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. Built in the early 1900s, the building served as the flagship location of the Marshall Field department store. The property rises seven stories and totals 636,000 square feet. This year, Ferraro North America, Olam International and Spot Logistics also signed leases at the property. Jeff Miller and Corey Siegrist of JLL represented Argo in its lease, while Jack O’Brien and JD Parcheta of The Telos Group represented Brookfield.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Regional brokerage firm Northeast Private Client Group (NEPCG) has negotiated the sale of a 33,700-square-foot office and retail building in Providence. Known as The Lauderdale Building, the downtown-area property consists of nine office suites and three retail spaces. Tim McGeary and Rick Welch of NEPCG represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction.
RALEIGH, N.C. — LS3P, an architectural, interior design and planning firm, has signed a 20,000-square-foot office lease at Smoky Hollow, a mixed-use development located at 421 N. Harrington St. in downtown Raleigh. The property features 225,000 square feet of Class A office space, as well as Hush and Dose Yoga + Smoothie Bar, restaurant concepts Madre and Midwood Smokehouse, New Anthem Brewery and Publix. LS3P plans to bring its current Raleigh office to Smoky Hollow, including 100 Raleigh-based employees, by April 2024. Kimarie Ankenbrand and Matt Winters of JLL represented LS3P in the lease deal. Kane Realty Corp. co-developed Smoky Hollow with Williams Realty + Building Co. and opened the first phase in spring 2020.
THOUSAND OAKS, CALIF. — The County of Ventura has acquired a vacant office building located at 2400 Conejo Spectrum in Thousand Oaks for $14.9 million. The county plans to utilize the 98,841-square-foot building for its fire department administrative headquarters. Kevin Shannon, Ken White, Rob Hannan, Laura Stumm and Michael Moll of Newmark represented the undisclosed the transaction. Built in 2001, the building features 16-foot ceiling heights, a 100-pound live load capacity on the second story and a 4:1,000-square-foot parking ratio with easy truck ingress/egress. The building was originally developed as a two-building office campus with 2380 Conejo Spectrum, which the seller plans to retain.
By Nicole Schmidt, managing partner, Oberon Securities Whether it’s traditional bank loans, private equity or securitized financings, it’s clear that a large number of commercial property owners are facing serious credit issues. Many office tenants continued making rent payments even through COVID-19, and the work from home trend has now left them with excess space. But as leases expire, they are downsizing their physical footprints, leaving landlords with significant vacancies amid very soft demand. According to a November 2023 article in The Wall Street Journal, “Only one out of every three securitized office mortgages that expired during the first nine months of 2023 was paid off by the end of September, according to Moody’s Analytics. That is the smallest share for the first nine months of any year since at least 2008 and well below the nadir reached in 2009, when 47 percent of these loans got paid off.” Add to that the impact of WeWork’s recent bankruptcy filing and projected high office vacancy rates in New York City and other major markets — plus higher interest rates — and the inevitable result is lower valuations that don’t support existing levels of debt on many properties. Higher vacancy rates, higher …
ATLANTA — Granite Properties has signed five leases between September and November at three of its Atlanta office buildings for a total of 198,000 square feet. The deals included three leases at 100 City View in the Cumberland/Galleria submarket for Murata Electronics North America (50,019 square feet), Insurica (4,097 square feet) and Prairie Capital Advisors (3,598 square feet). Jennifer Koontz, Frances Land Klee, Sam Neel of Pope & Land represented Granite in the lease negotiations at 100 City View. The other two deals included Womble Bond Dickinson’s 27,733-square-foot lease at Midtown Union and an expansion for Amwins at 3630 Peachtree in Buckhead, going from 94,000 square feet to nearly 114,000 square feet. Brooke Dewey and Adam Viente of JLL represented Granite in the Womble Bond Dickinson lease, and Greg Frankum, Matt Spickard and Ansley Chenault of Transwestern represented the firm in the Amwins lease. Tenant representatives for the five deals included Mass Realty, CoRErep, Newmark, CBRE and Ackerman & Co.