WILMINGTON, DEL. — 3650 REIT, a Miami-based direct lender, has provided an $85 million loan for the refinancing of WSFS Bank Center, a 371,000-square-foot office building in Wilmington, about 30 miles south of Philadelphia. Developed by Buccini/Pollin Group in 2006, the property serves as the corporate headquarters of WSFS Bank. David Strongwater of Lantern Real Estate placed the loan, which carries a 120-month term, with 3650 REIT on behalf of Buccini/Pollin.
PLANO, TEXAS — J.C. Penney has signed a 318,067-square-foot office headquarters lease at CalWest, a 1.8 million-square-foot office building located within Legacy West in Plano. The 86-acre campus offers a full-service fitness club, conference center, daycare facility and a food court/dining hall. According to The Dallas Morning News, the campus served as J.C. Penney’s headquarters from 1992 until 2020, at which point the company vacated the premises while dealing with bankruptcy proceedings. The retailer expects to take occupancy of its new space this fall. Michael Brigance and Teddy Childers represented the landlord, Capital Commercial Investments, in the lease negotiations on an internal basis.
BELMONT, CALIF. — CBRE has arranged a $75 million loan for the acquisition and redevelopment of Shoreway Innovation Center in Belmont. The property will be redeveloped into a new life sciences campus. The borrower is Four Corners Properties. Mike Walker and Brad Zampa with CBRE Capital Markets’ Debt & Structured Finance group arranged and secured the three-year, floating-rate financing through a private equity firm. The nonrecourse loan carried two extension options. Four Corners Properties will use the financing to fund a portion of the predevelopment costs for 1301 Shoreway Road, which was acquired in December 2021 for $90.2 million. The future redevelopment will likely include construction of two Class A life sciences buildings totaling approximately 500,000 to 600,000 square feet. The new development will also include a multi-story parking structure with approximately 1,500 parking stalls.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Private equity investment firm Crestlight Capital has purchased SouthPark Towers, a two-building office campus in Charlotte’s SouthPark submarket totaling 534,263 square feet. The sales price and seller were not disclosed. The transaction represents Crestlight’s first office investment in Charlotte and fourth investment over the past 16 months, totaling over $500 million of enterprise value. The firm, which has regional headquarters in Detroit and New York City, partnered with an unnamed institutional investor for the acquisition. Crestlight plans on executing a significant renovation of both buildings, including cosmetic improvements, new building amenities and an overhaul of outdoor space. Crestlight has tapped Joe Franco, Kris Westmoreland and Stephanie Spivey to handle leasing at SouthPark Towers.
It’s safe to say office space design has been transformed over the past two years in large part due to COVID-19 and the work-from-home experience. It has changed for now, the foreseeable future and maybe forever. Though many people are still working from home, others have returned to the office, even if only for a few days a week, and many of the office spaces are looking entirely different. While this may be happening in other markets, it is a trend we are seeing in the Milwaukee office market. The idea of the design and aesthetic of the office has changed. Current trends in office design are focusing on safety and comfort, while also creating a sense of home at the office. Tenants are being more thoughtful about their space layout and design. Instead of trying to fit as many people as possible into the space, tenants are occupying roughly the same size, or even slightly smaller spaces, but focusing on making those spaces more welcoming to help ease those workers coming back into the office, as well as recruiting new employees. Bring home into the office This design trend has the goal to provide comfort and safety at every …
NEW YORK CITY — SVB Securities, an investment bank specializing in the healthcare and technology sectors, has signed a 68,183-square-foot office lease expansion at 1301 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan. The tenant now occupies 139,176 square feet at the 1.7 million-square-foot building, which is owned by locally based investment firm Paramount Group Inc. (NYSE: PGRE).
HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. — Heritage-Crystal Clean Inc. (HCC) has signed an 11-year office lease for 39,000 square feet at Bell Works Chicagoland in Hoffman Estates. The company is the property’s largest tenant to date. HCC plans to move its team of 180 workers from its longtime home in Elgin to Bell Works Chicagoland in August. The publicly traded environmental products and services company will occupy space on the third floor. NELSON Worldwide will design the office. Sven Sykes of Colliers represented HCC in the lease, while Steve Kling of Colliers represented ownership. Bell Works Chicagoland is the redevelopment of the former AT&T campus being undertaken by New Jersey-based Somerset Development.
MONTEREY PARK, CALIF. — BH Properties has acquired a 120,191-square-foot suburban commercial office campus in Monterey Park from Blue Shield of California in a $15 million sale/leaseback transaction. Andrew Harper, Will Poulsen, Matt McRoskey and Owen Muller of JLL marketed the property on behalf of Blue Shield. Situated on 7.9 acres, the asset features a 91,363-square-foot building and a 28,828-square-foot property, both of which serve as the headquarters of Blue Shield’s Promise Health Plan, a managed care organization. Blue Shield will continue to occupy the asset through July 2023.
SEATTLE — Barings and Schnitzer West LLC have sold Madison Centre, a 37-story office tower in downtown Seattle, for $730 million. The buyer was Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP). Completed in September 2017 and currently 93 percent leased, Madison Centre spans 760,971 rentable square feet and features 480 parking stalls. Amenities include a rooftop terrace, great room, conference center, boardroom, library and a fitness center operated by the Washington Athletic Club. Certified LEED Platinum, the building features HVAC purification systems and touchless entry. “The property is positioned to compete post-COVID with exactly what tenants are looking for and has performed extremely well throughout our hold period,” says Ben Green, managing director with Barings, which developed Madison Centre in partnership with Schnitzer West. Located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Madison Street, the office tower is located five blocks south of Seattle’s retail core, one block west of the Interstate 5 freeway and four blocks southeast of a Link light rail station. Kevin Shannon, Nick Kucha, Ken White and Mike Moll of Newmark brokered the sale. “This is the largest multi-tenant office sale in the nation year to date, and the asset garnered significant investor interest globally,” says Shannon, co-head, …
WESTMINSTER, COLO. — Certus has completed the sale of Church Ranch Corporate Center, a Class A office property located along the US-30/Denver-Boulder corridor in Westminster. Lotus Co. acquired the building for $25.4 million. Built in 2001 and renovated in 2020, the four-story, multi-tenant asset features 124,500 square feet of office space. At the time of sale, the property was 90 percent leased to 14 tenants. The building is located at 10170 Church Ranch Way. Cushman & Wakefield’s Aaron Johnson, Jon Hendrickson and Mitch Veremeychik represented the seller in the deal. Additionally, Baxter Fain, Rob Cronenberg and Sarah Dinning of Cushman & Wakefield’s Denver Equity, Debt & Structured Finance Group arranged the debt financing for the buyer. A CMBS lender provided the $16.5 million, 10-year, full-term, interest-only loan.
