NEW YORK CITY — The Empire State Building is slated to undergo a green renovation process that will reduce the building’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by up to 38 percent. Changes include a 6,500 window light retrofit, the introduction of radiator insulation, improved tenant lighting, daylighting and plug upgrades, air handler replacements, a chiller plant retrofit, a whole-building control system upgrade, ventilation control upgrades and new Web-based tenant energy management systems. Upon completion, the building should achieve an ENERGY STAR score of 90, and it will pursue LEED Gold certification. Jones Lang Salle will be managing the renovation. The initial cost of the renovation is anticipated to be $20 million with a resulting $4.4 million in annual energy savings once the project is complete.
Office
AUSTIN — The Austin office of Transwestern has been selected to handle leasing and management of two Austin office portfolios controlled by UNUM and DivcoWest Real Estate Investments. The UNUM portfolio comprises five buildings totaling 436,457 square feet. Notable properties include Northview Business Center, a 254,972-square-foot office building located in the city’s Northwest submarket, and Summit Park A and B, two flex buildings also located in the Northwest submarket that total 96,950 square feet. Notable tenants include AT&T, Verizon, Texas Workforce Commission and CustomerLinx Corp. The DivcoWest portfolio primarily comprises Parmer Business Park, a six-building office park in northwest Austin that totals 266,737 square feet. The other property in the portfolio is Bergstrom Tech Center 312, a 203,884-square-foot office building located in the city’s Southeast submarket. Sun MicroSystems occupies all of Parmer Business Park; Bergstrom Tech Center 312 is vacant.
CRANE, IND. — Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), a Fortune 500 company and leading contractor for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, has opened its new facility in the WestGate@Crane Technology Park in Crane. The 38,000-square-foot building will house approximately 200 of SAIC’s 1,000 employees in Indiana. The state-of-the-art building includes a high-power laser and optics lab, more than 4,000 square feet of classified, secure space for Electronic Warfare system development and testing, a rapid prototyping and development lab, and an environmental lab. WestGate@Crane is a state Certified Technology Park and is located in close proximity to the U.S. Navy’s third-largest physical base, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.
NEW JERSEY — White Plains, N.Y.-based Howard Properties and Chatham, N.J.-based The Garibaldi Group have arranged a build-to-suit lease transaction for Cervalis. The company will occupy a newly constructed, 148,191-square-foot data center in northern New Jersey that will be developed by Hackensack, N.J.-based Russo Development. The facility will feature 50,000 square feet of raised floor data center space, as well as 25,000 square feet of workspace, recovery space and administrative offices. It marks Cervalis’ entry into the New Jersey market; its other facilities are located in New York and Connecticut. The company could not disclose the future address of the building. The construction timetable was not released. Howard Properties and The Garibaldi Group are both affiliates of CORFAC International.
PITTSBURGH — CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) has been selected by Rugby Realty Co. to serve as exclusive leasing agent for its approximately 2 million-square-foot Pittsburgh office portfolio. The nine-property portfolio features five marquee office towers, including 11 Stanwix Street, The Frick Building, Gulf Tower, 4 Allegheny Center and 564 Forbes Avenue. The other four properties include 914-922, 925, 933 and 938-940 Penn Avenue. CBRE’s leasing team will be led by Jeremy Kronman and will include Andrew Miller, Christina Bucciero and Courtney Lynn. CBRE plans to roll out its new marketing and pricing information over the next 30 to 60 days.
DALLAS — Newport Beach, Calif.-based KBS Realty Advisors has acquired Providence Towers, a 12-story, approximately 500,000-square-foot office tower located at 5001 Spring Valley Rd. in Dallas. Amenities at the Class A property include a fitness center, two conference rooms, an on-site restaurant and a bank branch. The project is approximately 90 percent occupied by a tenant mix that includes DeGolyer & MacNaughton, Time Warner, Morgan Stanley, Hilton Hotels and Henry S. Miller. The property is in the process of applying for LEED certification. The seller was CB Richard Ellis Investors. The transaction was negotiated by CB Richard Ellis. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
AURORA, COLO. — Barry Higgins and Eric Kimose of Marcus & Millichap’s Denver office represented the undisclosed seller in the disposition of Chambers Center Anchor, a vacant, 41,384-square-foot single-tenant property in Aurora. Located at 15220 East 6th St., the property sold for $1.82 million. The buyer was an undisclosed Englewood, Colo.-based partnership.
WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. — New York City-based Studley has completed two long-term leases for Eisai Medical Research (EMR) in Woodcliff Lake. EMR will be moving into a 118,000-square-foot office building located at 155 Tice Blvd. and an adjacent 41,000-square-foot building at 300 Tice Blvd. Studley’s Gregg Najarian, Daniel Foley and Chip Conklin represented EMR in lease negotiations. The landlord of 155 Tice, Hartz Mountain Industries, was represented in-house by Emanuel Stern, Gus Milano and Ernie Christoph. The landlord of 300 Tice, Mack-Cali, was represented in-house by Christopher DeLorenzo. With these most recent leases, Eisai Corporation of America, the parent company of EMR, has created a 369,000-square-foot headquarters campus on Tice Boulevard. Eisai Corp. and its commercial operation Eisai Inc. have occupied a 210,000-square-foot, build-to-suit office located at 100 Tice Blvd. for the past 2 years. The same Studley group of Najarian, Foley and Conklin represented Eisai in the original leases.
BOSTON — BioMed Realty Trust has received the Gold level of LEED-Core & Shell certification for The Center for Life Science | Boston, the company’s approximately 700,000-square-foot research center located in Boston. The campus contains laboratory and office space situated in the heart of the city’s Longwood Medical Area. The center is currently 91 percent leased to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Children’s Hospital Boston, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Immune Disease Institute and Kowa Company Ltd. BioMed Realty Trust now has more than 1.2 million square feet of LEED-certified research space in the Boston and Cambridge, Mass., markets.
FRISCO, TEXAS — Bravo Health Texas, Inc., Net Traffic, America Unit and DaVita Inc. have all signed leases at Hall Office Park, Hall Financial Group’s 15-building, master-planned, Class A office park in Frisco. Bravo Health Texas will take 4,775 square feet at 6801 Gaylord Parkway. Rebecca Griffin of Newmark Knight Frank negotiated the lease on behalf of the tenant. Net Traffic has signed a lease for 4,564 square feet at 3000 Internet Blvd.; and American Unit will occupy 3,950 square feet of space at 2801 Network Blvd. DaVita has signed on for 2,602 square feet at 6801 Gaylord Parkway. Louis Carpenter of USI Real Estate Brokerage Services, Inc. negotiated for the tenant. Jean C. Farris and Tammy Lomonaco handled all negotiations on behalf of the owner and landlord, Hall Financial Group.