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.
SAN DIEGO — San Francisco-based Jay Paul Co. is developing a Class A office building at Summit Rancho Bernardo. Located at 16600 W. Bernardo Dr. in San Diego, the five-story, 196,734-square-foot property has been designed to achieve LEED Gold Certification. The building is the first phase of the company’s mixed-use project, which will feature 11 officer towers in an amenity-rich campus. Rudolph and Sletten Inc. is serving as general contractor for the project, which is slated for completion in mid-April. Brent Wright and Chris Pascale of CB Richard Ellis are marketing and leasing the project.
ST. LOUIS — Scottrade, a branch-supported, online investment firm based in St. Louis, has acquired two buildings and two parcels of land within Maryville Centre in West St. Louis County from Duke Realty Corp. The sale includes 500-510 Maryville Centre, a four-story, 165,000-square-foot office building, and 700 Maryville Centre Drive, which totals 215,000 square feet over five floors, as well as two parcels of land totaling 14 acres. Maryville Centre is an 11-building office complex located in Town & Country, Missouri, an outlying suburb west of St. Louis. Scottrade, which will move some of its operations and administrative functions to the new location in the near future, was represented by Tripp Hardin and Don Woehle of CB Richard Ellis in the negotiation.
NEW YORK CITY — Interior design firm MKDA has relocated its offices to 12,500 square feet on the 17th floor of 902 Broadway, located in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, New York City. The firm had previously been located at 11 E. 26th St., also in Manhattan. The office, which was designed by MKDA, features a production area, an adjacent design room, a sample and reference library, a boardroom, a conference room, a lounge area, an executive pantry/food service bar that serves the main boardrooms and a communal lunchroom that features a food service bar and tables. The office was designed to meet LEED standards and utilizes sustainable wood materials, low-VOC upholstery, private offices with all-glass fronts to allow natural light into the main studio and a lighting system that adjusts electric lighting to compensate for natural light.
DANIA BEACH, FLA. — Construction of a $1 million renovation to Miami-based Fairchild Partners’ Airport Commerce Park, an 80,000-square-foot office property in Dania Beach, is complete. The property, located at 4101 Ravenswood Rd., received renovations including new building facades and new energy-efficient interior lighting. Tenants in the development, which is 90 percent occupied, include James Hartley Contractors, Super Yachts, Precision Air and Comprehensive Business Systems. Late this year, Fairchild will break ground on a LEED-certified, 10,000-square-foot building in the park.
BOLINGBROOK, ILL. — BPG Properties has completed a $13 million capital improvements program at Tallgrass Corporate Center, a 548,000-square-foot office campus located in Bolingbrook. Construction primarily consisted of the conversion of 130,000 square feet of manufacturing space into Class A office space. In addition, a conference room, a cafeteria and a fitness center were constructed, and the main entrance was improved with a glass canopy. A 300-space expansion to the parking lot is slated for completion this spring. Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. has already signed a lease for 73,000 square feet of the new office space. It will join existing tenants such as Adventist Midwest Health, Ulta Beauty, Provena Health, Patterson Medical and Quebecor World Logistics. BPG first acquired the campus, which is a former research and development facility for Tellabs Inc., in 2004 and converted most of it into multi-tenant, Class A office space at the time.