CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Camden County has signed a 154,211-square-foot office lease at Woodcrest Corporate Center in Cherry Hill, a suburb of Philadelphia. The deal brings the 352,520-square-foot complex to full occupancy. Other tenants at Woodcrest Corporate Center include Auto Lenders, Radian, Penn National Gaming, Jefferson Health Systems, Conduent and Solar Xchange. JLL represented the landlord, Crown Properties, in the lease negotiations.
MESA, ARIZ. — Newport Beach, Calif.-based Scriba Waldron Capital has acquired Fiesta Square, a multi-tenant office complex in Mesa. A private individual sold the asset for $7.2 million, or $208 per square foot. Eric Wichterman and Mike Coover of Cushman & Wakefield represented the buyer and seller in the deal. Comprising two two-story buildings, the asset totals 34,974 square feet of creative office space. At the time of sale, the property was fully leased. Built in 1985, Fiesta Square is located at 1220 S. Alma School Road.
Interviews by Taylor Williams The office markets of the major Texas cities have always been birds of different feathers, built to accommodate drastically different types of users and disproportionately subject to broader swings in occupancy and rent growth. Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) remains the king of corporate relocations and regional consolidations, and the metroplex’s office market benefits from the highest degree of diversity among users, an attribute that has ushered it through the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the Houston office market, hobbled for years by its reliance on energy users, may finally be poised to see some growth in occupancy as prices of these commodities head for the moon. In Austin, the non-California tech capital of the country, the supply of office space is still playing catch-up to demand, as evidenced by the healthy rents these buildings have achieved during the state capital’s ascendance to major-market status. And San Antonio? Like most commercial asset classes in the Alamo City, the performance of the office sector is steady, offering neither the glamorous appeal of trophy buildings with marquee users that attract institutional investors nor the profound cyclical dips that scare them away. Yet after two years of prolonged disruption …
AUSTIN, TEXAS — A partnership between locally based development and brokerage firm AQUILA Commercial and institutional funds backed by J.P. Morgan Asset Management is underway on construction of Alto, a 110,000-square-foot office project at 924 E. Seventh St. in East Austin. Construction began earlier this year and is slated for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2023. The five-story building will include four levels of underground parking and an onsite restaurant. The Beck Group is the architect and general contractor for the project. AQUILA will also handle leasing of Alto.
NEW YORK CITY — Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) has sold The Center Building, a 470,000-square-foot office building located in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, for $173 million. The eight-story building, which includes ground-floor retail space, was originally constructed in 1914 as an assembly plant and service center for Ford’s Model T vehicle. Today, the building is home to five city agencies, as well as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Locally based development and investment firm 60 Guilders purchased the asset for an undisclosed price. Eastdil Secured provided financial advisory services to Vornado.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Highwoods Properties Inc. plans to purchase 650 South Tryon at Legacy Union, an 18-story office tower in Uptown Charlotte that is anchored by Big 4 accounting firm Deloitte. The Raleigh-based REIT plans to acquire the 367,000-square-foot, LEED Gold-certified tower for $203 million, which includes $3.9 million of capital expenditures to boost occupancy of the tower. The property was 78 percent leased at the time of the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter. The seller was not disclosed but the developer, Lincoln Harris, delivered the property in late 2020. The tower represented Phase II of the Legacy Union mixed-use campus and is connected to the 33-story Bank of America Tower, which Highwoods also owns. Additionally, Highwoods has agreed to acquire a development site in Charlotte’s South End district for $27 million. The parcel at 1426 S. Tryon St. is tentatively planned for a mixed-use property comprising 300,000 square feet of office space and 250 apartments. The seller of the site was also not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Northwood Investors has completed the renovation of 1180 Avenue of the Americas, a 398,937-square-foot office building in Midtown Manhattan. The project involved renovating the building’s main entrance, lobby and façade and revamping the amenity center, which now houses a 3,500-square-foot terrace and two conference rooms and lounges. Northwood also upgraded the elevator and mechanical systems and added speculative office suites. Gensler designed the capital improvement program. Cushman & Wakefield leases the building.
MIAMI — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $56.7 million sale of a pair of office buildings in downtown Miami totaling more than 300,000 square feet. A partnership between Triple Double Real Estate and Stonerock Capital Partners purchased the portfolio from an undisclosed seller. Mike Davis, Dominic Montazemi, Miguel Alcivar, Adam Spies, Rick Brugge and Rick Colon of Cushman & Wakefield represented both parties in the transaction. The properties include a 12-story building at 200 S.E. 1st St. and a 26-story tower at 44 W. Flagler St. The buildings are about a quarter-mile from one another and were a combined 59 percent leased at the time of sale, giving value-add opportunities to the new owners.
ARLINGTON, VA. — Boeing (NYSE: BA) has chosen Arlington as the site for its new global headquarters due to the city’s proximity to Washington, D.C., and strong client and talent base in the region. The aerospace and defense giant is moving its headquarters from Chicago, where the firm plans to maintain a significant office presence. In addition to the corporate relocation, Boeing plans to develop a research and tech hub in Arlington to support and train Boeing employees in the areas of cyber security, autonomous operations, quantum sciences and software and systems engineering. Details about the campus and the construction timeline were not disclosed. Boeing’s stock price closed on Thursday, May 5 at $150.47 per share, down from $229.81 a year ago, a 34.5 percent decline.
IRVING, TEXAS — Cushman & Wakefield has negotiated a trio of office leases totaling roughly 128,000 square feet at VariSpace Las Colinas, a 312,000-square-foot building in Irving. Aviation engineering firm CAE signed a lease for 16,000 square feet; Caris Life Sciences inked a deal for 37,000 square feet; and an undisclosed education organization committed to 75,000 square feet. Cushman & Wakefield’s Johnny Johnson and Chris Taylor represented the landlord, Vari, a provider of office furniture and other workplace solutions, in the lease negotiations. Jeff Eiting of CBRE represented CAE, and Greg Burns of ESRP represented Caris Life Sciences.