BOSTON — Global architecture and design firm Sasaki has opened its new 64,000-square-foot office headquarters at 110 Chauncy St. in downtown Boston. The space spans seven of the building’s eight floors. Sasaki, which signed a 16-year lease in 2021 to relocate from the western suburb of Watertown, also redesigned the building’s lobby, retail space and entrance. MC Real Estate Partners owns 110 Chauncy Street, which was originally constructed in the 1890s.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Architecture and design firm Hoefer Welker is relocating its corporate headquarters to 46 Penn Centre within the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. The firm expects to take occupancy of its self-designed, 26,229-square-foot office on the 14th floor in June. Hoefer Welker also served as architect for 46 Penn Centre, which was completed in 2020. Hoefer Welker’s new office will include a living room, kitchen, two cafes, a terrace, design lab and multiple collaborative areas and conferencing spaces. The design firm spent the past 13 years at its current Leawood, Kan., headquarters. Prior to that, Hoefer Welker maintained an office at Country Club Plaza. Block Real Estate Services owns 46 Penn Centre, which rises 15 stories.
By Mark Kolar, Cresa There’s been a lot of news recently about the financial pressures facing suburban Chicago commercial office landlords who have financed their office buildings via commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loans. While the financial challenges these buildings face continue to grab the headlines, there is a much less visible yet greater amount of privately funded commercial office landlords that could be facing dire financial changes over the next couple of years. These privately funded loans that originated through major banks and insurance companies are seeing just as much, if not more, stress than their CMBS counterparts. Collectively we’re seeing significant systemic issues for all Chicago commercial office landlords with no clear path to a solution in sight. In suburban Chicago, about 13 percent of commercial office loans are financed by CMBS loans with the majority of loan debt financed through local financial institutions, private investment funds and insurance companies. While details on these loans is not as readily available as their CMBS counterparts, many office landlords are confronting similar challenges. Both CMBS and privately funded commercial landlords and their lenders are facing a host of capital challenges that revolve around systemic changes in leasing activity, increasing costs of …
KENNESAW AND ATLANTA, GA. — Atlanta Property Group (APG) has sold two office buildings in metro Atlanta for a combined $18.5 million. The transactions include the $8.1 million sale of 1075 Big Shanty, a 72,000-square-foot, single-story office building located at 1075 Big Shanty Road in Kennesaw, and the $10.4 million sale of Paces Cumberland, a 70,000-square-foot, multi-tenant office building located in Atlanta’s Vinings district. The buyers were not disclosed. APG currently owns or operates nearly 4.5 million square feet of office and industrial properties throughout the Southeast.
HENDERSON, NEV. — MIG Real Estate has sold Pecos Plaza, a 124,000-square-foot medical and office campus in Henderson, to Woodside Health for $26.7 million. The Class B medical and office campus is located at 9005-9089 South Pecos Road. It includes a two-story building complemented by seven single-story medical/professional office buildings situated on a 7.6-acre parcel. The assets are 93 percent occupied with a tenant roster that includes Belle Medical, Las Vegas Urology, Serenity Dental, and Innovative Pain Care Center, among others. Cushman & Wakefield and JLL represented MIG in the transaction.
ORINDA, CALIF. — Volwood Management has acquired a Class A office building in the East Bay submarket of Orinda for $12.8 million. The boutique asset is situated northeast of Oakland. It was built in 1974 and renovated in 2018. The space is currently 91 percent leased and features exposed brick and timber, as well as upgraded HVAC and lighting. The JLL Capital Markets team of Erik Hanson, Rob Hielscher, David Dokko, Adam Lasoff, Mike Matera and Caroline Reynolds represented the seller, Long Market Property Partners, in the transaction. Knute Bucklew, head of agency leasing for JLL’s East Bay region, oversaw leasing advisory services.
SAN FRANCISCO — Shartsis Friese LLP has relocated to a 26,000-square-foot office space at 425 Market St. in San Francisco’s Financial District. This is the first time the national law firm has moved headquarters in more than 30 years. It will occupy the space in early 2024. Interior improvement design is now underway on the new 11th-floor space. Gensler and JLL Project & Development Services are working with the tenant to create a modern workplace befitting the evolving needs of the workforce both today and in the future. JLL’s Hugh “Scotty” Scott, Matt Aljets and Travis James represented Shartsis Friese in the lease transaction. JLL project manager Michael Payne leads the interior improvements efforts. Skyline Construction is general contractor. MetLife and Norges own the building.
NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based International Workplace Group (IWG) has added 34 new flexible workspaces in the Midwest region in the last six months. Including these new locations, IWG has added roughly 150 locations nationwide across the U.S. since October 2022. IWG intends to add 1,000 new locations globally. IWG’s new locations stretch across brands such as Spaces, Regus and HQ, and are situated in both urban and suburban areas across markets such as Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Jeffersonville, Ind.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Lakeville, Minn.; and De Pere, Wis. The Midwest offices total more than 280,000 square feet. About 76 percent of the new workspaces are located in smaller towns and communities outside of metro areas. IWG is opening the vast majority of its new locations in partnership with commercial real estate owners, developers and franchisee investors.
MARYVILLE, ILL. — BarberMurphy has arranged the sale of a 3,158-square-foot office building located at 17 Professional Park Drive in Maryville, about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis. The sales price was undisclosed. Fireside Financial LLC sold the property to Grand Property LLC. BarberMurphy represented both parties in the transaction.
WARREN, N.J. — Locally based investment firm Signature Acquisitions has purchased a 120,623-square-foot office building located in the Northern New Jersey community of Warren. The sale included an 8,250-square-foot retail pad site. The four-story, newly renovated building is situated within Independence Boulevard, a five-building, 650,000-square-foot park. Amenities include a fitness center, game room, lounge and conference facilities. Frank DiTommaso, David Bernhaut, Andy Merin, Gary Gabriel and Will Gerlin of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, American Equity Partners, in the transaction.