NEW YORK CITY — Faris Lee Investments has opened a new office at 711 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. The expansion is a move to increase its presence on the East Coast and grow its market share. Richard Berlinghof will head up the new office as principal. In his new position, Berlinghof will help build relationships with financial institutions on the East Coast, as well as analyze and advise on distressed assets, portfolios and loans. Berlinghof has more than 23 years of commercial real estate experience encompassing lending, acquisitions, investment sales and mortgage banking.
HOUSTON — Phoenix-based Northborough Corporate LLP has selected Houston-based Moody Rambin Interests as the exclusive leasing agent for one of its Houston office properties. Moody Rambin will oversee leasing of 12700 Northborough Drive, a vacant six-story building located in the city’s Greenspoint submarket that contains 120,733 square feet of space. Moody Rambin’s Terri Torregrossa and Mark Preston will oversee the assignment.
SAN DIEGO — Construction is complete for Liberty Station Building 902, which is located at the former Naval Training Center at 2305 Historic Decatur Rd. in San Diego. The three-story, 109,102-square-foot building is the seventh and final building in Liberty Station’s office district. The $10.3 million project was designed by KMA Architecture & Engineering to obtain LEED Gold certification. The building features arched windows, stucco walls and clay-tiled roofs. BYCOR served as general contractor for the project.
DANVILLE, CALIF. — Berkley Land Company has purchased an office property for $5.7 million. The 14,854-square-foot property is located at 600 San Roman Valley Blvd. in Danville. Tyler Brown of Lee & Associates represented the seller, Danville Investors LP, in the transaction.
CORAL GABLES, FLA. — Sunset I Ventures has sold Park Place I and II, two adjacent buildings in Coral Gables, to Kenneth D. Rosen of Kendar Realty for $8.5 million. The properties encompass 49,469 square feet of office space. Park Place I, located at 1500 Monza Ave., houses three tenants, including Baptist Health South, which leases 70 percent of the building. Park Place II sits at 1501 Venera Ave. and has nineteen tenants. Both buildings are 100 percent occupied.
NEW YORK CITY — San Francisco-based Shorenstein Properties has selected New York City-based Aragon Properties to complete nine pre-built office suites totaling 47,000 square feet at two of its midtown Manhattan office buildings. The majority of work will take place at 850 Third Avenue, Shorenstein’s 21-story office tower. Aragon will build out five units on the 16th floor that will total 23,400 square feet and range in size from 3,300 to 6,900 square feet. Completion is scheduled for July. In April, Shorenstein delivered three built-out suites on floors 10 and 21 of the same building. Each of the pre-built suites will feature a reception area, an open area for workstations, at least one conference room and a minimum of four private offices. The spaces are designed to appeal to a wide range of tenants and when leases are signed, Shorenstein will order modifications of the spaces to suit the tenant’s needs.
EMERYVILLE, CALIF. — Hollis Street LLC has acquired a 55,000-square-foot office building, which is located at 5650 Hollis Street in Emeryville. The property, which is 100 percent leased to Bayer Pharmaceuticals, sold for $17 million or $309 per square foot. Barry Cohn of NAI BT Commercial Oakland represented the buyer in the transaction. The seller was Emeryville Quarters LLC.
SAN DIEGO — Locally-based Johnson & Jennings General Contracting has been selected to provide tenant improvement (T.I.) construction for Konica Minolta’s new offices, which are located at 5959 Cornerstone Court W. in the Sorrento Mesa area of San Diego. TA Associates Realty retained Johnson & Jennings for the 25,479-square-foot project, which is slated for completion this spring. Hurkes Harris Design Associates is providing architectural services for the project.
CHICAGO — Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Leopardo has completed a 40,000-square-foot office expansion and renovation of the corporate headquarters of Envestnet. The wealth advisory company is located at the Jewelers Building at 35 E. Wacker Dr. in Chicago. The company’s new offices, which take up a one-and-a-half floors of the building, feature high-end finishes such as French limestone and organic French Walnut-veneered wall panels and pivot doors, red oak stained parquet wood flooring and full-height interior glass partitions. Leopardo served as the general contractor, with Baumann Studios providing architectural services.
PITTSBURGH — Renovation is underway on the C.I. Applegate Building, formerly known as 225 Ross Street, in Pittsburgh. After purchasing the building in February, developer Dominic Applegate of Applegate Snayd Industries, renamed the building and began an extensive renovation. The 26,000-square-foot building features six stories of office space and nearly 4,700 square feet of street-level retail. Jared Imperatore, the retail brokerage and leasing manager spearheading the property’s marketing and J.R. Yocco of Grant Street Associates have already executed lease agreements with Subway and Crazy Mocha Coffee Company for the building’s first-floor retail space. The renovation will include new signage, awnings, outdoor seating areas and a garage door that will open the Crazy Mocha location to the retail storefront on Third Avenue. Additional upgrades include power washing of the exterior brick and adding window flower boxes and large stationery flower pots near the entrances to each retail space. Crazy Mocha and Subway are slated to open in late summer.