PHILADELPHIA — Cohen Financial has secured a $20 million loan for the refinancing of a more than 1 million-square-foot office building located at 401 N. Broad St. in Philadelphia. The loan includes a fixed interest rate with a 25-year amortization schedule priced on the 5-year U.S. Treasury. Dan Rosenberg of Cohen's Chicago office represented the borrower, Scarsdale, N.Y.-based The Stillman Group. The lender is a regional bank.
HOUSTON — Grubb & Ellis has arranged a sublease for 53,232 square feet at Wedge Tower, an office building located at 1415 Louisiana St. in downtown Houston. The subtenant, Eagle Rock Energy Partners, will be relocating from its Houston location at 16701 Greenspoint Dr. The sublessor is Dominion Exploration & Production. Jim Arket and Mona Williams of Grubb & Ellis represented Dominion in negotiations. Joe Peddie, David Guion and Hugh Hermann of Cushman & Wakefield represented Eagle Rock. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.
SAN FRANCISCO — The 13-story, $190 million San Francisco Public Utilities Commission headquarters broke ground yesterday at 525 Golden Gate Ave. in the Civic Center near San Francisco’s City Hall. Designed by KMD Architects and Stevens Architects, the 277,000-square-foot building is designed to exceed LEED Platinum certification and will exceed California’s recent Title 24 requirements for energy efficiency in new office buildings by 55 percent. Completion of the project is planned for spring 2012.
HARFORD COUNTY, MD. — St. John Properties has acquired a 60,000-square-foot office building and a 10-acre parcel of land, assets that were previously owned by Opus East, for an undisclosed amount. The building is located in the Aberdeen Proving Ground at 6240 Guardian Gateway in Harford County. It is fully leased to CACI International, which leases 45,000 square feet of space to the U.S. Army Joint Satellite Command. The undeveloped land can support a three-story, 75,000-square-foot office building.
IRVING, TEXAS — Universal Technical Institute has purchased Regent Office Center, a two-story, 108,800-square-foot office building located at 5151 Regent Blvd. in Irving. Josh White and Rob Kingsbury of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the buyer. Richard Crow and Marc Myers provided in-house representation on behalf of the seller and developer of the property, Myers Crow Co. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
GLENDALE, CALIF. — Studley represented MyShape, the personal shopping service for women online, in its 35,000-square-foot lease of a Crown Realty & Development office building, located at 210 W. Lexington Ave. in Glendale. Relocating from Pasadena, the company is more than tripling its square footage at the new location, which will serve as its corporate headquarters and fulfillment center. In association with Howard Reback of Bailes & Associates, Studley’s Matthew Brainard represented MyShape in the transaction, and the landlord was represented by Ray Howden of Cushman & Wakefield.
CALVERTON, MD. — Merritt Properties has purchased a 123,144-square-foot office building in Calverton from SSK VP Calverton for $6 million. Located at 3901 Calverton Blvd., the four-story building was built in 1983. Merritt will undertake extensive renovations to the property with the goal of achieving LEED-CS Gold certification. Renovations, which include installing T5 lighting with occupant sensors and waterless urinals, should be complete by next summer.
BILLERICA, MASS. — EMD Serono has topped out an expansion of its Billerica research facility. The $65 million project consists of a new 140,000-square-foot building that is scheduled for completion in late 2010. The new building will feature more than 115,000 square feet of lab and office space, comprising 25,000 square feet of chemistry and screening labs, 25,000 square feet of biology and cell culture labs, 22,000 square feet of general lab support space, 20,000 square feet of office space and conference rooms, and 23,000 square feet of mechanical space. The remainder of the building will contain central node space, housing a reception area, a cafeteria/auditorium, a fitness center, offices and conference rooms. EMD Serono will be seeking LEED certification for the project. Jones Lang LaSalle is providing construction management services and Ellenzweig is serving as project architect. EMD Serono is an affiliate of Merck KGaA, a Germany-based pharmaceutical research company.
ADDISON, TEXAS — The Dallas office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (HFF) has arranged $4.5 million in acquisition financing for the purchase of Addison II, a two-story, 181,000-square-foot office/flex property located in Addison. The property is situated on 11.2 acres at 4550 Excel Pkwy. and was 60 percent occupied at the time of closing. The financing contains a 5-year term and a 6.75 percent fixed interest rate. The lender was Aetna Health & Life Insurance and the borrower was Luzzatto Real Estate Value Fund I. Brandon Chavoya of HFF's Dallas office arranged the loan.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. — Jones Lang LaSalle has brokered Actelion Pharmaceuticals U.S.’s acquisition of a 138,399-square-foot office building, located at 5000 Shoreline Court within the 102-acre Sierra Point Business Park in South San Francisco. Texas-based real estate investor Archon Group was the seller. Jones Lang LaSalle’s Gregg Walker and Erich Sengelmann represented Actelion, a biopharmaceutical company, in the transaction. Archon was represented in-house.