CHICAGO — AmTrust RE has added two leases and three renewals at One East Wacker, a 41-story office tower overlooking the Chicago Riverwalk. Mark Gunderson, Wendy Katz and Erica Marshall of Stream Realty Partners, AmTrust’s leasing agent for its Chicago office portfolio, arranged the leases. Aeropay, a financial technology company enabling businesses to accept compliant, cashless and digital payments, leased 15,000 square feet across the entire 39th floor. Paul Reaumond and Tyler Reaumond of CBRE represented the tenant. The Japan External Trade Organization, a nonprofit organization providing business support services to companies expanding to Japan, renewed its 8,000-square-foot lease on the 33rd floor. Boris Yelyashov and Kyle Robbins of Transwestern represented the tenant. Additionally, law firm Gair Gallo Eberhard expanded its lease to 7,000 square feet. ECD Co., a real estate innovation company, renewed its 3,700-square-foot lease. Lastly, Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois signed a new lease for 2,500 square feet. AmTrust modernized the lobby, upgraded the exterior and entrances, created multiple spec suites and renovated the corridors and restrooms at One East Wacker, which totals 560,000 square feet. Additionally, the owner recently completed a new amenity floor overseen by wellness amenities management service Lulafit. The amenity floor also includes …
DETROIT — Michigan State University (MSU) has partnered with Apple to open the Apple Manufacturing Academy this summer in downtown Detroit’s First National Building. The academy will offer free in-person and online courses and will be the first of its kind in the United States. While based in Detroit, the academy will be open to companies nationwide. Apple engineers, along with experts from MSU, will consult with small- and medium-sized businesses on how they can implement artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing techniques. MSU also partners with Apple on the Apple Developer Academy, with support from the Gilbert Family Foundation. This academy, located in downtown Detroit, has graduated roughly 200 participants annually since 2021.
ATLANTA — Shorenstein Investment Advisors has begun capital improvements at 14th & Spring, a 12-story, 324,000-square-foot office building located at 1150 Spring St. NW in Midtown Atlanta. The renovations include a complete repositioning of the lobby and expanded first-floor amenities, including an onsite café and bar, fitness center, conference center and the connected outdoor terrace. The overhaul will also include the build-out of a full floor of speculative office suites on the third floor totaling 28,500 square feet. Locally based law firm Cushing, Morris, Armbruster, & Montgomery LLP has preleased one of the new spec suites, with plans to relocate from its current downtown office this summer. Additionally, Shorenstein has partnered with George Banks for a new eatery at 14th & Spring. Shorenstein has owned the office building since July 2024 and has since executed 100,000 square feet of leases, including HTNB Corp.’s three-floor lease last fall. The office building was delivered in 2022. ASD | SKY is serving as the design architect for the lobby repositioning and first-floor amenity package, while Murphy Meyers is the design architect for the spec suites. Jeff Keppen, Kyle Kenyon and Nicole Goldsmith of CBRE are the exclusive leasing agents for the property.
NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. — California-based investment firm KBS has received loan facilities totaling approximately $480 million for the refinancing of a portfolio of office buildings in Texas, Minnesota and California. The Texas component includes Legacy Town Center, a three-building, 522,043-square-foot complex in Plano, and Sterling Plaza, a 313,609-square-foot building that was originally built in 1984 in the Preston Center submarket of Dallas. The Minnesota building is 60 South Sixth, a 40-story complex in downtown Minneapolis. In California, the facility covers Ten Almaden, a 17-story building in downtown San Jose, and two of the three buildings within the Towers at Emeryville development, which is also located in the Bay Area. The facility extends the loan commitment to January 2027, with two additional 12-month extension options and provides for $15 million in new funding for leasing costs and related capital improvements and other property-level expenses.
LOS ANGELES — Kingsbarn Realty Capital has purchased 1601 Vine Street, an office building in Los Angeles’ Hollywood submarket, for an undisclosed price. Developed by J.H. Synder Co. and designed by Ware Malcomb, the eight-story building offers 115,000 square feet of office space and five levels of underground parking. Skims Body Inc., an American shapewear and clothing brand, has occupied the building as its corporate headquarters since mid-2023, with leasing through mid-2028. The transaction team included Los Angeles-based Hankey Capital, IBI Volcano Investments and Newmark.
ATLANTA — Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc., owner and operator of the Atlanta Braves MLB team, The Battery Atlanta mixed-use development and Truist Park in Cobb County, has purchased an adjacent 763,465-square-foot office complex. The property, called Pennant Park, is situated on approximately 34 acres and comprises six office buildings and more than 2,700 parking spaces. The seller, Rubenstein Partners, has owned Pennant Park since 2017, the year that the Braves began playing at nearby Truist Park (formerly SunTrust Park). The sales price was not disclosed. The campus was more than 80 percent leased at the time of sale to 24 tenants, including The Home Depot, Juneau Construction Co. and TK Elevator. The acquisition expands the Atlanta Braves Holdings’ real estate portfolio by 30 percent. Pennant Park comprises two components: Pennant Commons (four buildings and a communal plaza known as The Quad) and Pennant View (two buildings). Amenities at the office park include 24-hour security, onsite engineering, a 48-person conference center, two fitness centers, onsite car detailing services, two cafés, Social Kitchen tenant lounge and cafe, a bocce ball court, putting green, multi-sport game court, helipad, lake with jogging trail and a Cobb Community Transit System bus stop.
ORLANDO, FLA. — CP Group has signed General Dynamics Corp., a publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation, to a 50,368-square-foot office lease renewal in Orlando. The Reston, Va.-based tenant will continue to occupy Resource Square III, an office building located within Central Florida Research Park. Diane Drobia and Chris Sproles of CBRE represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Madison Kimbell of JLL represented CP Group. In addition to General Dynamics, other recent leases at Resource Square III include American Electronic Warfare Associates Inc. signing a 10,420-square-foot lease and Florida Office Group renewing its 4,249-square-foot lease. Central Florida Research Park is situated adjacent to the University of Central Florida (UCF). CP Group has owned Resource Square I and III within the park since January 2020.
NEW YORK CITY — A partnership between local owner-operator The Kaufman Organization and Beacon Capital Partners is underway on the repositioning of 875 Sixth Avenue in Manhattan’s NoMad district. The 26-story, 265,000-square-foot office building, which is known locally as One NoMad, was originally constructed in 1926. Designed by Olson Kundig, the repositioning will feature a redesigned street-level facade with a revised steel and aluminum curtain wall system with stone elements that complement the historic design of the upper floors. The project will also introduce a steel canopy at the main entry area on West 31st Street and deliver improved connectivity between the lobby and concourse-level space. The development team will also expand the property’s shared amenity spaces via the addition of flexible conference, hospitality and lounge spaces. Lastly, construction is underway on five new suites on the 18th and 19th floors of the building that range in size from 2,700 to 5,700 square feet. The full repositioning is expected to be complete before the end of the year.
NEW YORK CITY — Specialist Staffing Group, which coordinates talent placement within the STEM fields, has signed a 13,715-square-foot office lease in Lower Manhattan. The space is located on the 79th floor of One World Trade Center. Scott Bogetti and William Demuth of Savills represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. David Falk, Peter Shimkin, Hal Stein, Jason Greenstein and Nathan Krop of Newmark, along with internal agents Eric Engelhardt and Karen Rose, represented the landlord, a partnership between The Durst Organization and The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
PLANO, TEXAS — Anderson Merchandisers, which provides both data analytics and supply chain solutions to the retail industry, has signed a 30,342-square-foot office headquarters lease in Plano. The company is relocating from Granite Park to the entire top floor of the 210,000-square-foot Apex at Legacy building. Conor McCarthy and Jayme Schutt of JLL represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. John Brownlee, Gini Rounsaville and Michael Williams, also with JLL, represented the landlord, a partnership between Monarch Alternative Capital and Tourmaline Capital Partners.