NEW YORK CITY — Sholom & Zukerbrot has negotiated two 5-year leases in Long Island City on behalf of DeAngelis, Ltd., a high-end upholsterer, and TouchStone Direct, LLC, a fast-growing digital printing firm. Both firms relocated from Manhattan to 21-09 Borden Avenue in the Long Island City section of Queens in New York City. DeAngelis, leased 27,000 square feet on the sixth floor of the seven-story property, and TouchStone Direct signed for 16,000 square feet on the second floor. Natalie Hurwitz of Sholom & Zukerbrot is the exclusive agent for the Borden Avenue property, a 170,000-square-foot loft building. Owned by 21-09 Borden Avenue Corp., the building features two freight and two passenger elevators, and four loading docks. It is centrally located and offers easy access to the #7 subway line, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Long Island Expressway.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — CyrusOne, a data center services provider, has opened a new 50,000-square-foot data center in Austin. The facility is located within The MetCenter, a data center business park that features two on-site electrical substations, underground electrical infrastructure, and redundant telecommunications and water infrastructure. CyrusOne already had the ability to provide disaster recovery and business continuity services for its customers at the Austin site. Data center space is expected to come online in the third quarter of this year.
ATLANTA — The hotel interior design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates has leased 25,000 square feet from Dewberry Capital Corp. in the company’s Two Peachtree Pointe property. Hirsch Bedner will move into the building in August, doubling the size of its Atlanta operations. Terms of the lease were not disclosed. Russ Jobson and Robert Allen of Atlanta-based Colliers Spectrum Cauble represented the tenant. The 310,000-square-foot Two Peachtree Pointe is located at 909 W. Peachtree St. in Atlanta.
POWELL, OHIO — The Columbus, Ohio, office of Sperry Van Ness as arranged the sale of a 20,000-square-foot office and research building, located at 383 N. Liberty Rd. in Powel, for $2.1 million. Originally constructed in 1998, the building is situated on 3.9 acres. It is fully occupied by Aeroflex Corp. Doug Wilson of Sperry Van Ness represented the local seller, Paul Swetnam. Ronald Edwards of Heath, Ohio-based Keller Williams Realty represented the buyer, New Albany, Ohio-based 383 North Liberty Road LLC.
NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based Swig Equities has signed three leases at 80 Broad Street, a 36-story, 400,000-square-foot office tower located in the Financial District of Downtown Manhattan, New York City. The three new tenants include McGiveney & Kluger PC, which was represented by Fred Trump and John Moran of Newmark Knight Frank; Legal Solutions Group LLC, which was represented by Joshua Winslow and Patrick Nash of Winslow & Co.; and Map Financial Group Inc., which was represented by Alan Markowitz of RE Com Partners. The three leases total 8,500 square feet and bring the building, which was recently renovated by Swig Equities, to 97 percent occupancy.
NEWARK, N.J. — Construction has topped out on The Leaguers Headquarters and Head Start Building in Newark. In addition to housing the non-profit community organization’s headquarters office, the 48,000-square-foot building will contain a 22,000-square-foot Head Start and community services facility, commercial office space, and an underground parking garage for 75 cars. Located at 405-425 University Ave., the facility is being constructed by Mc Gowan Builders. The project team also includes architect/engineer EI Associates, architect Wilson Woodridge, and owner’s representative The TLM Group, LLC. The project, which is slated to cost $23.5 million in total development costs, was financed through the Federal New Market Tax Credit. The following organizations participated in the financing: Nationwide Insurance Company, Stonehenge Community Development, and Boston Community Capital. Lender consortium partners included New Jersey Community Capital, Prudential Financial’s Social Investment Unit, Partners for the Common Good, and TRF The Reinvestment Fund.
BOSTON — Boston’s iconic John Hancock Tower sold at an auction in New York City for $660.6 million to Normandy Real Estate Partners and Five Mile Capital Partners. The consortium was the only bidder for the 60-story skyscraper. The property, located in the Back Bay area at 200 Clarendon St., was purchased by Broadway Partners of New York in 2006 for $1.3 billion, but was foreclosed on after the company defaulted on some of its loans.
NEW YORK CITY — Winoker Realty Company has completed the sale of a 1,842-square-foot office condominium located at 820 Second Ave. in Manhattan, New York City. Jonata Dayan and Adam Ben-Dayan of Winoker represented Philips International, the seller, in the transaction. Andrew Aberham of Philips International worked closely with the Winoker team. The property was purchased by AJK Bureau of Consultants LLC. This is the fourth condo transaction that Winoker Realty has completed with Philips International over the past 2 years. The sale price was undisclosed.
SAN ANTONIO — Fast food chain Whataburger has acquired an approximately 140,000-square-foot office building, located at 300 Concord Plaza Dr. in San Antonio, for its new home office. The company will be relocating all of its business functions to the new office from its previous headquarters in Corpus Christi, Texas. The company’s Learning Center facilities will remain in Corpus Christi. The San Antonio property was acquired from HDG Mansur for an undisclosed amount. Move-in is expected to begin in June and be complete by late summer. Whataburger currently operates more than 700 restaurants in 10 states. San Antonio already houses one of the company’s divisional headquarters, as well as approximately 60 restaurants located in the city and surrounding area.
AUSTIN, TEXAS —An agreement has been reach between Thomas Properties Group, Lehman Brothers and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) for the refinancing of the Austin Portfolio, a 10-property, 3.5 million-square-foot office portfolio located in Austin. The portfolio’s $292.5 million credit facility was replaced by an unfunded $100 million commitment from Lehman Brothers, with $60 million of new senior secured priority financing contributed by the partners. Proceeds from the recapitalization are being used to acquire and retire $80 million in third-party term loan debt. As part of the transaction, all pending motions brought on behalf of the ownership group in Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy case were resolved. Lehman Brothers will retain a 50 percent interest in the portfolio, while Thomas Properties Group holds a 6.25 percent interest indirectly through its joint venture with CalSTRS. Douglas Snyder of California-based Cox Castle & Nicholson LLP assisted in the debt restructuring.