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.
NEW ORLEANS — Cronheim Mortgage has secured an undisclosed amount of acquisition financing for The California Building in downtown New Orleans. Originally an office building, the property has been converted to Class A multifamily, with units leased as a combination of both multifamily and short-term rentals due to the building’s advantage of holding a hotel license. The sponsor, Servio Capital, plans to convert the building to condos and sell units to both short-term rental investors and owner-occupants. An undisclosed lender provided the loan, which was underwritten at 75 percent loan-to-cost. The California Building is located adjacent to the French Quarter, Superdome and Tulane Medical Center.
HOUSTON — Cushman & Wakefield has signed a 30,000-square-foot office lease renewal at Four Oaks Place in Houston’s Galleria district. The global commercial real estate services firm has occupied space on the 26th and 27th floors of the building since 2004 and will undertake a renovation of its space next year. Cushman & Wakefield is also opening a 6,500-square-foot office at Texas Tower, a 47-story building in downtown Houston, in the first quarter of 2023. Global investment management firm Nuveen owns Four Oaks Place.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based development and investment firm The Sapir Organization has received $326 million for the refinancing of 260 and 261 Madison Avenue, a pair of office buildings located across the street from one another in Midtown Manhattan. Combined, the buildings total more than 1 million square feet and are home to tenants such as Hanesbrands, Epix, Regus, Marcus & Millichap and McLaughlin & Stern LLP. James Millon, Tom Traynor and Lawrence Britvan of CBRE arranged the debt, which was structured with a 65 percent loan-to-value ratio. According to Bloomberg, J.P. Morgan and Mack Real Estate Group provided the financing. The Sapir Organization, which also operates its headquarters out of 261 Madison Avenue, acquired the buildings in 1997.
MILWAUKEE — Silvercrest Asset Management Group has signed an 11,194-square-foot lease to open a Milwaukee office at BMO Tower. The company will occupy space on the 22nd floor and expects to open in May. Silvercrest, founded in 2002, is an employee-owned investment adviser with more than $27 billion in assets under management. The Milwaukee office joins the company’s other locations in New York, Massachusetts, California, Virginia and New Jersey. Adam Leshowitz and Nick Becker of CBRE represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Irgens is the owner. Current tenants at BMO Tower include BMO Harris Bank, Michael Best & Friedrich, B.C. Ziegler & Co., Heartland Advisors, Kahler Slater and Andrus Intellectual Property Law LLP.
WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. — Financial advisory firm CBIZ Inc. has signed a 50,850-square-foot office lease in West Conshohocken, located on the northwestern outskirts of Philadelphia. Seamus Byrne, Eric Galanti and Bill Main of CBIZ Gibraltar Real Estate Services, along with Ryan Conner of Tactix, represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Rich Jones and Tom Sklow internally represented the landlord, Keystone Development + Investment. CBIZ plans to take occupancy in the third quarter of 2023.
BRIDGEPORT, CONN. — Locally based brokerage firm Choyce Peterson has negotiated the sale of a 30,000-square-foot office building in Bridgeport, located in the southern coastal part of the state. An entity doing business as Courtland Street Partners LLC sold the freestanding building to an affiliate of Adam J. Lewis Academy for an undisclosed price. Scott Peterson and Charlene O’Connell of Choyce Peterson brokered the deal. The new ownership plans to convert the building into an expansionary facility for its main school.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Dental supply company Henry Schein Inc. has signed a 12,488-square-foot lease renewal at Randol Mill Service Center, a 96,124-square-foot industrial flex property in Arlington. Michael Spain of Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Patrick Reis of Property Advisers Realty represented the landlord, an entity doing business as PHP RMSC Venture LP.
BOSTON — Locally based REIT American Tower (NYSE: AMT) has signed a 40,000-square-foot office lease renewal at 116 Huntington Avenue in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. The 15-story building spans 273,000 square feet and includes ground-floor retail and restaurant space. Michael Joyce and Lauria Brennan of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, Columbia Property Trust (NYSE: CXP), in the lease negotiations. Kevin Kennedy and Tim Lahey of CBRE represented American Tower.