CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS — Partners Real Estate has brokered the sale of a 66,196-square-foot office building located at 4646 Corona Drive in Corpus Christi. According to commercialcafé.com, the building was constructed on 3.3 acres in 1983. Gustavo Torres of Partners represented the seller, an entity doing business as 1950 Properties LLC, in the transaction. Additional terms of sale were not disclosed.
DENVER — Avison Young has negotiated a 10-year lease agreement for a 13,400-square-foot office space at 1400 S. Colorado Blvd. in Denver. Law firm Springer, Steinberg, Giacomini, Burstein and Holycross will occupy the entire top floor of the recently renovated building. The five-story property underwent a full renovation to transform it into a multi-tenant building. Avison Young’s leasing agents represented the owner, Matt Lewan, CEO of Integrated Property Services, and directly sourced the tenant. The move-in is scheduled to take place in November 2023.
EL PASO, TEXAS — Akorbi, a provider of language services and workplace solutions like staffing, payroll and compliance, has signed a 10,573-square-foot office lease in El Paso. Jeff Pappas of Newmark represented Akorbi, which now operates 10 facilities including its Plan headquarters, in the lease negotiations. Will Brown and Michael McBroom of Sonny Brown Associates represented the undisclosed landlord.
NORMAL, ILL. — AXIS 360 Commercial Real Estate Specialists has arranged the $1.1 million sale of a 19,840-square-foot office building in Normal, just north of Bloomington. The two-story property at 1606 Hunt Drive formerly served as the home of Marcfirst, a nonprofit organization that serves to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities. Michael O’Neal and Meghan O’Neal-Rogozinski of AXIS 360 represented the seller, Marcfirst, which outgrew the building and vacated it earlier this year. O’Neal-Rogozinski represented the undisclosed buyer, which plans to fully remodel the building.
LOS ANGELES — Brown & Riding Insurance Services has announced plans to move its Los Angeles office to the U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles. The firm signed a 10-year lease for a 13,043-square-foot space on the 20th floor. This marks the first lease signing since Silverstein Properties completed its $60 million capital improvement program for the tower. The renovation project, completed in May 2023, includes enhancements to more than 35,000 square feet of common areas, a redesigned entrance and lobby, contactless elevators and other amenities. Brown & Riding’s move is scheduled to take place in early 2024. David Kluth and Aliya Coher of Newmark represented the tenant in the lease transaction. Harlan Strader of Silverstein Properties and Jaclyn Ward, James Malone and Sarah Hancock of JLL represented the landlord.
There’s no denying the office sector is undergoing a critical period marked by myriad challenges. The question is, how will it all turn out? Currently, the inventory of U.S. office space is 5.56 billion square feet — and will likely reach over 5.68 billion square feet by the end of the decade. But today’s “flexible” workforce will only require 4.61 billion square feet to accommodate its needs, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report titled “Obsolescence Equals Opportunity.” “The U.S. will end the decade with 1.1 billion square feet of vacant office space, 740 million square feet of which qualifies as normal or natural vacancy and 330 million square feet of which qualifies as excess vacancy attributable to remote and hybrid strategies,” the report states. “The overall level of vacancy will therefore be 55 percent higher than was observed prior to the pandemic.” Those numbers are jarring, but opportunists say the office sector just needs to evolve and adapt, much like the retail market has done. “Just as retail didn’t die in the years following the e-commerce boom, the office sector is not in danger of demise,” states the Cushman & Wakefield report. “Recognizing the challenges and opportunities head-on with …
ATLANTA — CBRE has arranged a loan for the refinancing of Platinum Tower, a 312,591-square-foot office building located at 400 Interstate N. Parkway in Atlanta’s Cumberland/Galleria submarket. The 17-story office tower is situated near the intersection of I-75 and I-285 and within walking distance of the Chattahoochee River and The Battery, a mixed-use development surrounding Truist Park, the home ballpark of the Atlanta Braves. Brian Linnihan, Mike Ryan and J.P. Cordeiro of CBRE Capital Markets’ Debt & Structured Finance team in Atlanta represented the borrower, Accesso, in the deal. An undisclosed financial services firm provided the five-year CMBS loan, the amount of which was not disclosed.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Architecture firm Mark Odom Studio will open a 10,000-square-foot creative office at 4000 Medical Parkway in Austin. The existing structure on the site was built in 1970, and Mark Odom Studio is renovating the building with plans to occupy about half the space and lease the other 5,000 square feet. Citadel Development is the general contractor for the project. A group of local partners doing business as 4000MP Austin LLC owns the property. Completion of the renovation is slated for November.
BURBANK, CALIF. — Lee & Associates, LA North/Ventura has closed seven lease transactions totaling more than 23,000 square feet at an office building located at 601 S. Glenoaks Blvd. in downtown Burbank. These new leases have moved the building’s occupancy rate from 64 percent to 85 percent. The leases cater to a range of businesses, including an adult care facility, a regional wellness center, an entertainment company, a financial services firm, a speech therapy group and local service providers. With the property now stabilized, the owner has listed it for sale. Scott Romick, Darren Casamassima and David Kaufman of Lee & Associates led the brokerage team.
LOS ANGELES — The Federative Republic of Brazil has secured a long-term lease for 16,477 square feet of office space in Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile neighborhood. The Consulate General of Chile is one block away on Wilshire Boulevard. The 10.5-year lease is valued at $10.4 million. The new office is located at 6222 Wilshire Blvd. The new deal creates a centralized location for Brazil’s consulate general. Brian Dunne and Don Hudson of Kidder Mathews represented the tenant in the transaction. The landlord was Decron Properties.