HOUSTON — Origin Bank has signed a 22,000-square-foot office lease renewal in Houston’s Memorial City district. The bank will continue to occupy the entire second floor of The Murphy Building, which is located at 9805 Katy Freeway. Louis Rosenthal and John Burke of JLL represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Brad McDougall and Warren Alexander represented the landlord, MetroNational, on an internal basis.
CHICAGO — BMO Financial Group has consolidated offices from three buildings into a new headquarters at 320 South Canal in downtown Chicago. IA Interior Architects is designing BMO’s 500,000-square-foot space. Phase I of the project, which wrapped up this year, encompasses 250,000 square feet across floors 11 through 17 as well as ground-floor retail banking space. Phase II of the project, which is slated for completion in 2024, encompasses 250,000 square feet on floors four through 10. The 16th floor is an executive area equipped with a conference room and meeting room. On the 17th floor, employees have access to a flexible conference center, café, lounge and open terrace. Recently developed by Riverside Investment & Development and Convexity Properties, 320 South Canal rises 51 stories.
SAN DIEGO — CBRE has arranged the sale of a single-story office building in downtown San Diego. The San Diego County Bar Association acquired the asset from 330 A Street LLC for $6.8 million. Jeff Oesterblad and Marc Frederick of CBRE’s San Diego office represented the seller, while Tom Nicholas and Jack Blumenfeld of Colliers represented the buyer in the transaction.
PHILADELPHIA — Parkway Corp. has announced plans for a 438,000-square-foot office building at 2000 Arch St. in Philadelphia’s Center City district. The locally based developer has also received a commitment from insurance giant Chubb to serve as the anchor tenant of the 18-story building. With an anchor tenant in place, construction is now scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2023, with completion slated for the second quarter of 2026. Chubb expects to place approximately 3,000 employees at the new building within three to five years of opening, with about 1,200 of those positions representing newly created jobs. The new office will be the largest in the country for the New Jersey-based insurance giant, which currently employs about 2,000 people throughout Pennsylvania. In addition, Chubb insures approximately $500 billion in property in Pennsylvania, including $70 billion in Philadelphia, that large users in the healthcare, manufacturing, financial services and media industries occupy. Chubb also has historical ties to Philadelphia, having established its oldest subsidiary, The Insurance Co. of North America, at Independence Hall in 1792. Chubb’s current offices in Philadelphia are located at 436 and 510 Walnut St., just steps away from Independence Hall. “Our new building will have a …
Downtown Washington, D.C., is confronting many of the same pandemic-generated challenges as other urban markets across the United States. This includes above-average and record high commercial vacancy (office and retail), as well as lower-than-average daytime foot traffic, in part due to an increase in hybrid work. Yet there is a case to be made that now is a unique moment for leasing office (and retail) space in the District’s central business district (CBD). The loss of foot traffic has hit downtown retail particularly hard, especially fast-casual dining. Coffee shops and sandwich places that depend on office workers have closed at a higher rate than other food-related retail. But the pedestrians are coming back. Kastle Systems’ data from the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) shows an increase since Labor Day in the number of workers at their desks, with approximately 42 percent of the pre-pandemic number of employees in-office on a weekly basis, compared with around 33 percent last spring. This is expected to rise as more employers establish return-to-office policies. Despite 2022’s turbulent economy over the first six months, D.C.’s office leasing activity was up 16 percent compared with the first half of 2021, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The …
MIAMI — Berkadia has arranged a $36.2 million loan for the acquisition of Cube WYNWD, an office building in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami. Located at 230 NW 24th St., the building comprises 90,000 square feet of office space and 10,000 square feet of retail space. Scott Wadler of Berkadia secured the financing on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between San Francisco-based Brick & Timber and Philadelphia-based Argosy Capital Partners. JP Morgan provided the five-year, fixed-rate loan, which features interest-only payments for the full term.
ERLANGER, KY. — Corporex Cos. has sold Atlantic Corporate Center, an office building in the Cincinnati suburb of Erlanger, for $31.3 million. Matt Waggoner and Josh Gerth of JLL represented the buyer, Answers in Genesis, in the transaction. The Christian parachurch organization plans to transform the 205,000-square-foot building into its headquarters. Featuring a full-service cafeteria, fitness center, outdoor fitness trail, medical clinic and a 100-person auditorium, the building will house the organization’s K-12 school, center for Christian teachers, streaming platform and graphic arts division. Answers in Genesis plans to move into the building in the summer of next year.
CARMEL, IND. — Old National Bank has expanded its office lease at Parkwood Crossing in the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel from 25,531 square feet to 45,077 square feet. The financial services firm is also consolidating its regional office space by moving an existing downtown Indianapolis office to the newly expanded space at Parkwood Crossing. Rubenstein Partners LP owns Parkwood Crossing, which spans eight buildings and 1.2 million square feet. Rubenstein acquired the property in 2016 and implemented a comprehensive renovation of the campus, including the addition of a 14,000-square-foot amenity center equipped with dining facilities, a fitness center, cybercafe, conference rooms and collaborative spaces. Traci Kapsalis, John Robinson and Brittany Shuler of JLL represented Rubenstein in the lease. Jeff Harris of Cressy Commercial Real Estate represented the tenant.
NEW YORK CITY — Insurance giant New York Life has signed a 20,000-square-foot office lease at 97-77 Queens Blvd. in the borough’s Rego Park neighborhood. JLL represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Roy Chipkin of CBRE, along with internal agents Marylou Berk, Meredith Jackness and Michael Leary, represented the landlord, LeFrak.
PHOENIX — Phoenix-based Citywide Commercial Real Estate has arranged the purchase of a five-building mixed-use portfolio located at the southeast corner of Indian School Road and 31st Avenue in Phoenix. Northgate – 72 LLC sold the business park to EL Camino Investment Co. for $7 million. Totaling 86,268 square feet, Thunderbird Business Park features five single-story, multi-tenant office, retail and industrial buildings. The property includes 35 individual suites that are fully occupied. The tenants are mostly small business owners and long-term tenants. El Camino Investment Co. plans to complete improvements to modernize the portfolio and enhance its presence in the community. Adam Shteir, Todd Hamilton and Chad Kirkorsky at Citywide represented the buyer in the acquisition.
