RICHMOND, VA. — Rastek Construction & Development has purchased an approximately 38,000-square-foot office/warehouse property, which is located at 6290 Old Warwick Rd. in Richmond. RCS Holdings LLC sold the property for $1.75 million. R. Scott Douglas and Franklin Bell of Thalhimer, a member of Cushman & Wakefield Alliance, handled the transaction.
Office
CINCINNATI — American Financial Group (AFG) has signed a long-term lease to occupy 22 floors of the Great American Insurance Building at Queen City Square, a 40-story office tower located at the intersection of Fourth and Sycamore streets in downtown Cincinnati. AFG will lease approximately 530,000 square feet of the 825,000-square-foot building, representing two-thirds of the building, and will serve as the anchor tenant. The first phase of Queen City Square, the 303 Broadway building, was developed as a public/private partnership between Western & Southern Financial Group, the city of Cincinnati and the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority, and it is expected that the new building will be developed through a similar partnership. Construction is set to begin in mid-2008, with completion scheduled in 2011.
NEW YORK CITY — MMS USA Holdings has renewed its 350,000-square-foot lease at 1675 Broadway in Manhattan, New York City, for 10 years. The building, owned by the Rudin Family, is comprised of 35 stories and 800,000 square feet. MMS USA houses a number of its advertising and communications units at the facility, including MediaVest Worldwide, Publicis Healthcare Communications Group and Manning, Selvage & Lee. Robert Steinman of Rudin Management represented the building owner, and Joseph Thanhauser and Gordon Ogden of Byrnam Wood represented the tenant.
HOUSTON — Mountain West Industrial Properties (Mountain West), a Colorado-based real estate developer, has acquired the Colony Crossing Business Center in Houston. Two buildings make up the 149,735-square-foot distribution park located at 10207 S. Sam Houston Pkwy., and the space is currently 47 percent leased. T.J. Tarbell represented Mountain West in the transaction, for which financial terms were undisclosed. The sellers were Met-Life and Cadence McShane Corp.
SAN ANTONIO — Triple Net Properties, a subsidiary of real estate firm Grubb & Ellis, has completed the sale of Brookhollow Park on behalf of tenant-in-common investors. The four-story, 102,000-square-foot office building is located at the northeast corner of Highway 281 North and Central Parkway North in San Antonio. Ryan Gallagher of Grubb & Ellis represented the buyer, BHP Funding Corp., in the transaction.
SEATTLE — Broadreach Capital Partners and joint venture partners Continental Properties and Unico Properties have sold 1915 Terry, a 252,000-square-foot, mid-rise office tower in Seattle, to Seattle-based Children’s Hospital for $35.9 million. The Broadreach-led partnership acquired the seven-story building in 2006 and negotiated a 15-year lease with Children’s Hospital for the entire building that included a buy-out option in 2007.
BOSTON — Mullen, a full-service advertising agency, has leased 100,000 square feet of office space at 40 Broad St. in Boston for their new corporate headquarters. Mullen will occupy the top four floors of the building, which is currently undergoing capital improvements with completion slated for February 2008. William Collins and Bradley McGill of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the owner, Chicago-based Transwestern. James Brady, Edward Weiss, Robert Romano and Melisa Schneider of Cushman & Wakefield represented Mullen in the transaction.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — GE Real Estate has made a $13 million equity investment to acquire the three-building Great Hills Corporate Center in Austin. Located on 22 acres adjacent to the Arboretum area in the Northwest submarket, the office property totals more than 200,000 square feet. Austin-based The Kucera Companies is handling management and leasing of the development.
PHOENIX — Minnetonka, Minn.-based Carlson Real Estate Co. has acquired Opus Cotton Center, a four-building, 265,000-square-foot commercial complex in Phoenix, from Minneapolis-based Opus Real Estate Fund VI (ORE) and Phoenix-based Opus West Corp. for $46.1 million. The buyer plans to rename the property Cotton Center IV to represent the four flex buildings that make up the project. The buildings range in size from 57,055 to 82,825 square feet. At the time of acquisition, the complex was 77 percent occupied by tenants such as Inter-Tel Technologies, Genzyme Corp., Sodexho and AETNA Insurance. Brian Ackerman, Chris Toci, Pat Harlan, Mike Beall and Jim Wilson of Cushman & Wakefield brokered the transaction.
CENTENNIAL, COLO. — Crown West Realty has purchased Plaza Quebec, a 94,400-square-foot office building located at 6025 S. Quebec St. in Centennial, from Principal Financial Group for $10.25 million. The company plans to upgrade the three-story property, which was built in 1984, to Class A status. Currently, the building is 93 percent occupied. Ryan Stout and Nate Bradley of Grubb & Ellis are marketing and leasing the property, which will have 20,000 square feet of space available for lease during 2008 and 2009.