FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The STRO Cos., a New Jersey-based investment firm, has acquired a 141,000-square-foot office and data center that is situated on a 14.4-acre site in the Northern New Jersey community of Florham Park. The company purchased the asset from Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), which also occupies the building, for an undisclosed price. Jose Cruz, Michael Oliver, Steve Simonelli, Kevin O’Hearn, J.B. Bruno, Jordan Avanzato and Michael Kavanaugh of JLL represented BNY in the transaction. Prudential Bank provided acquisition financing.
WILTON, CONN. — CBRE has negotiated the $3.7 million sale of a 47,040-square-foot office and industrial building in Wilton, located in Fairfield County. The property, which was built in 1965 and renovated in 2006, was vacant at the time of sale. Louis Zuckerman, Tom Pajolek and Pat Colwell of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer, a joint venture between Fuller Development and Spinnaker Real Estate Partners that plans to reposition the property for residential use.
HOUSTON — A joint venture between owner-operator CP Group and funds managed by Miami-based Rialto Capital Management has acquired Five Post Oak Park, a 28-story office tower in Houston’s Galleria District. The property offers a 3,000-square-foot fitness center and a multi-use conferencing facility. The new ownership plans to implement a capital improvement program that will modernize the lobby and add a new coffee bar, restaurant space and outdoor dining space. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. The deal marks the latest collaboration in a series of recent transactions between Rialto Capital and CP Group, including the acquisition of the 1.2 million-square-foot CNN Center in Atlanta and of One Biscayne Tower in Miami.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based landlord George Comfort & Sons has completed the renovation of 135 W. 50th St., a 925,000-square-foot office tower in Midtown Manhattan. Global architecture firm Gensler designed the project, which included the reimagining of the lobby and entrance, as well as the creation of a new tenant amenity center. This 20,000-square-foot space features collaborative workspaces, executive conference rooms, a game room, lounges and a bar area. George Comfort & Sons also installed wellness features such as touchless entry at main entrances, facial recognition software at security turnstiles, an upgraded air filtration system and touchless fixtures in all common area bathrooms.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CALIF. — Invesco Real Estate has completed the disposition of Westlake Park Place, a five-building office campus located in Westlake Village. A partnership between Amstar and Searles Property Group purchased the asset for $80.8 million. Delivered in 2008, Westlake Park Place features 239,003 rentable square feet of office space. At the time of sale, the property was 85 percent leased to a diverse mix of tenants. Kevin Shannon, Rob Hannan, Ken White and Laura Stumm of Newmark represented the seller in the deal.
PITTSBURGH — A partnership between nonprofit developer The University Financing Foundation (TUFF) and full-service firm Collaborative Real Estate has acquired Bridgeside Point, a 160,000-square-foot life sciences facility in Pittsburgh. The property is located adjacent to the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University campuses and includes lab, office and academic space. Patterson Real Estate Advisory Group arranged acquisition financing for the deal through Georgia-based Ameris Bank.
FARMINGTON HILLS, MICH. — Keystone Commercial Real Estate has brokered the sale of Federated Financial Center in Farmington Hills, a northwest suburb of Detroit. The sales price was undisclosed. Located at 30955 Northwestern Highway, the 33,662-square-foot office building will serve as the corporate headquarters of Happy’s Pizza, which is the parent company of Savvy Sliders. Greg Newman of Keystone worked with Happy’s to identify the location for the new headquarters, which is slated for occupancy this fall. The three-story building was constructed in 1987, according to LoopNet. Federated Financial Center Inc. sold the property to Blackstone 13 LLC.
NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between L&L Holding Co. and Columbia Property Trust (NYSE: CXP) has received a $1.2 billion construction loan for the redevelopment of the historic Terminal Warehouse building in Manhattan’s West Chelsea neighborhood. The property was originally built in 1891 as the first major New York City facility with direct access to the river, streets and rail lines. A set of twin rail tracks runs through the center of the facility and originally offered a direct connection from the Hudson River’s docks to the freight lines operating at street level along 11th Avenue. Today, Terminal Warehouse consists of 1.2 million square feet of office, retail and self-storage space. The partnership plans to develop the property’s 550,000 square feet of self-storage space into modern, Class A office property and reimagine the ground-floor retail common areas. COOKFOX Architects is leading the design of the redevelopment. In addition, as part of the project plan approved by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, the floor area will be removed to make room for a new courtyard, a series of double-height interior spaces throughout the western portion of the building and six new office levels with floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking …
The past year has been a long and winding ride, and some unexpected trends have been taking place in the Miami office market, between the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and through its recovery to date. Logically, one would expect that an ongoing pandemic keeping corporate offices closed and employees working from home would negatively affect occupancy levels and lead to a deceleration in asking rents for office space. On the contrary, the Miami office market has remained solid, and while the area is a natural draw for tourism and entertainment, an increasing number of companies also recognize it as a sought-after location from which to operate their businesses. Tech’s influence on rents Miami has been one of the most active office markets in the nation thus far in 2021. While office markets in the Northeast and California remain partly closed due to several public health initiatives and related business constraints, Miami’s pro-business culture — coupled with Florida’s lack of state income taxes and business development efforts rolled out by Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and the Miami-Dade County Beacon Council — have ensured that the city’s economic engine kept running. Case in point, not only did Class A rental rates …
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Montford Group and Opterra Capital have purchased 170 Meeting Street, a 30,000-square-foot office building located in downtown Charleston. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. The five-story property has floor-to-ceiling windows and is fully leased to tenants including Regions Bank and Regus. Currently, Montford Group and Opterra Capital plan to keep the office as is, having a goal to maintain the business banking district in downtown Charleston. Marc Knight and his team at First Reliance Bank secured an undisclosed amount of acquisition financing on behalf of the buyers. Joe Keenan and Trad Dyches of Palmetto Commercial brokered the sale.