NEW YORK CITY — CLEAR (NYSE: YOU), a locally based provider of identity verification services, has signed a 119,000-square-foot office lease at 85 Tenth Avenue in Manhattan. The company will occupy two floors at the 11-story building, which was originally constructed in 1913. Jared Horowitz and Jason Perla of Newmark represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Edward Riguardi and Anthony Cugini of Vornado Realty Trust and Stephen Winter of Related Cos. represented building ownership on an internal basis.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — JLL Capital Markets has secured a $48.9 million loan for Tower 101 and Centre 101, two connected Class A office towers near downtown Fort Lauderdale. Melissa Rose and Giancarlo Paone of JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, Greenwich, Conn.-based Ivy Realty, to secure the three-year, floating-rate loan through Rialto Capital Management. The loan was meant to refinance existing debt and fund future capital improvements and leasing costs. Tower 101 is a 21-story office tower that connects to the six-story Centre 101. The properties are collectively 75.6 percent leased. Building amenities include 24-hour security, conference facilities and a courtesy shuttle to the Broward County Courthouse. In 2020, Ivy Realty renovated the property including outfitting the structured parking with electric vehicle charging stations and upgrading the full-service café and common areas, as well as modernizing the exterior entrance. Located at 101 NE 3rd Ave., the towers total 230,757 square feet. The towers are situated close to the Fort Lauderdale Brightline inner-city rail station, which connects to Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
CULVER CITY, CALIF. — A partnership between Irvine-based Pendulum Property Partners and Boston-based Long Wharf Capital has acquired an office building in Culver City. Watt Properties and Edge Principal Advisors sold the asset for $55.9 million in an off-market transaction. Located at 3000 S. Robertson Blvd., the four-story building features 111,384 square feet of office space. Current tenants include Kaiser Permanente and WeWork. Mike Longo, Todd Tydlaska, Sean Sullivan and Greg Grant of CBRE represented the seller. The CBRE team also procured acquisition financing for the buyer from a regional bank.
CHICAGO — MoLo Solutions, a third-party logistics company within the transportation industry, has signed a 93,710-square-foot office lease at 167 N. Green St. in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood. MoLo connects clients with truck drivers and other shipping solutions. The company plans to expand significantly over the next few years. The property features a meeting area, onsite parking, gym, rooftop garden and NBA-sized basketball court. Kayla Beljan of MB Real Estate represented MoLo in the lease. Paige O’Neil and Annie Aldrich of Shapack Partners represented the undisclosed landlord.
ISELIN, N.J. — Opal Holdings LLC will renovate Metropark194, a 452,133-square-foot office building in the Northern New Jersey community of Iselin. Capital improvements to the nine-story, transit-served building will include an upgraded lobby, renovations to the café and the addition of a new fitness center. Avison Young will provide construction management services for the project. Construction is scheduled to begin before the end of November and to last about five months.
STAMFORD, CONN. — Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) has signed a 71,484-square-foot office lease for its new headquarters at 677 Washington Blvd. in Stamford, located in the southern coastal part of Connecticut. The lease term is 12 years. The tobacco giant will relocate from 120 Park Avenue in Manhattan beginning in late 2022. Richard Bernstein and Steven Baker of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Peter Duncan and Dana Pike represented the landlord, George Comfort & Sons, on an internal basis.
FOOTHILL RANCH, CALIF. — Newmark has arranged the sale of The Campus at South County, a two-building office complex in Foothill Ranch. The asset traded for $50 million, or $238 per square foot, in an off-market transaction. Paul Jones, Brunson Howard, Ken White, Kevin Shannon and Brandon White of Newmark represented the seller, a private commercial real estate investment firm, in the deal. The buyer was an undisclosed high-net-worth individual. Located at 27051 and 27121 Towne Centre Drive, The Campus at South County features 210,083 square feet of office space. The property offers an outdoor courtyard, tenant lounge and conference center. Current tenants include Cox Communications, Ossur and Fujitsu.
NEW YORK CITY — Verizon has signed a 140,000-square-foot office lease to be an office anchor tenant at Essex Crossing, a 2 million-square-foot mixed-use development under construction on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Josh Kuriloff, Andrew Braver and Peyton Horn of Cushman & Wakefield represented Verizon in the lease negotiations. Taconic Partners is developing Essex Crossing in partnership with L+M Development Partners, BFC Partners, The Prusik Group and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The development will ultimately comprise 350,000 square feet of office space, along with 1,000 residences, 300,000 square feet of retail space and 100,000 square feet of green space.
A common question Chicago office brokers are hearing from clients these days is, “When is the best time to start negotiating with my landlord?” In fact, it is also a question brokers are asking themselves, contemplating when they should advise their clients to get into the market. The truth is: 1) it’s very hard to say, and 2) it depends on the situation. Let’s explore what we do know. This is a historically tenant-favorable office market. Vacancy rates have increased from 13.8 percent to start 2021 up to 17.7 percent currently. Concessions are far over-weighted with construction allowances and free rent packages 20 to 30 percent higher than they were pre-pandemic, and landlords are being more flexible on term lengths allowing tenants three- or five-year leases despite offering full buildouts. On the other side of the coin, gross rental rates (base rent plus real estate taxes and building operating expenses) have not declined. In fact, in the last quarter they increased from $42.34 to $42.57 per square foot. The trends and market conditions surrounding concession packages and rental rates haven’t really changed in the last 12 months or so. The above touches on what the market is doing, but what …
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Shipshape, an Austin-based smart home software tech company, has signed a lease at the 2222 Arlington Ave. office building in Birmingham, which is slated to break ground this month. New York-based D&A Cos. is the developer for the restoration project. The building has 55,000 square feet of office space. Shipshape is joining Atlas Senior Living as anchor tenants in the office project. Shipshape will house its Network Operations Center on the top floor, including signage rights for the building. The company is taking 6,000 square feet of space with an option to expand to 12,000 square feet after one year. The property is currently vacant, but is 50 percent preleased. Previously, the property was the headquarters for Bayer Properties. 2222 Arlington Ave. will offer covered parking, secure building access, a double-height lobby atrium with coffee bar and potential for food service. D&A Cos. plans to install floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as a new east lobby with a grand atrium and exterior reflecting pool. Construction for 2222 Arlington Ave. is slated to complete and be open for occupancy in late 2022. D&A Cos. partnered with The FiveStone Group, a Birmingham-based commercial real estate firm, on the redevelopment project. …