OLD BRIDGE, N.J. — General contractor Unity Construction Services Inc. has completed a 38,000-square-foot office project for regional grocer Key Food’s corporate headquarters in Old Bridge, about 40 miles south of New York City. Key Food is relocating from Staten Island to the new building, which houses open and private offices, conference rooms, a fitness center, an executive suite and a test kitchen. California-based Ware Malcomb designed the project.
By Jonathan Glick, executive vice president, Sheldon Gross Realty Projecting future trends is always challenging, particularly when you’re attempting to do it during a global pandemic. But to date, several promising signs suggest that New Jersey’s office market is moving in a positive direction —sluggishly and bumpily, perhaps — but in an encouraging direction nonetheless. Newly delivered projects can provide insight on where the Garden State’s office market is headed in terms of geography, design, functionality and usage. We offer several examples of 2020 deals that help illustrate these trends. Sheldon Gross marketed and brokered the sale of a two-story 13,000-square-foot office building in Cranbury that featured an appealing location, just off exit 8A of the New Jersey Turnpike. The structure had been for sale and vacant for two years, but its out-of-state owner was willing to wait until a fair market offer materialized, which it did just prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. But with the pandemic unleashed on the market, all communication and negotiations ceased. By May, the prospective purchaser had withdrawn from the transaction. It wasn’t until September that a new deal was negotiated with a buyer that intended to occupy most of the building, rather than sharing …
HOUSTON — Microsoft has signed a lease to occupy an undisclosed amount of space at The Ion, a 300,000-square-foot office project located at 4201 Main St. in Midtown Houston that is a redevelopment of the former Sears building. More than 50 percent of the office space at the 16-acre site is now leased to commercial tenants including Microsoft and Chevron. The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant will use the space to further develop its Azure cloud storage and similar platforms. Rice Management Co. is leading the redevelopment of The Ion and expects the project to be ready for occupancy this year. Savills handles leasing of the property.
LOS ANGELES — In a 50-50 joint venture, Lendlease and Aware Super, an Australian superannuation fund, have acquired a 3.5-acre, transit-oriented, mixed-use development site at 3401 S. La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles. La Cienega Properties sold the 156,380-square-foot site for $92 million. The team plans to develop a 500,000-square-foot mid-rise project offering 260 multifamily residential units, 250,000 square feet of creative office space and ground-floor retail space. The site offers transit access to the beach and downtown Los Angeles, as well as the Exposition Corridor Bike Path. Lendlease aims to submit an application to the City of Los Angeles this year and plans to commence development in 2023, with completion slated for 2025. The site currently houses 1,144 self-storage units, totaling 86,897 rentable square feet, which will provide a steady in-place income stream for the partnership during the development planning. Upon completion, the project, which is the partnership’s first Los Angeles development, will have an estimated value of $600 million. Kevin Shannon, Ken White, Rob Hannan and Laura Stumm of Newmark represented the seller in the deal.
MENOMONEE FALLS, WIS. — California-based Bascom Group and London-based Capital Trust Group have acquired a two-building headquarters property located in Woodland Prime Corporate Park in Menomonee Falls, a northwest suburb of Milwaukee. The purchase price was $100.2 million. The buildings, located on Flint Drive, are home to the naval division of Leonardo DRS. The portfolio includes a recently completed, 372,856-square-foot research and development facility as well as an adjacent 118,620-square-foot office building, which serves as the corporate headquarters for the division. Leonardo DRS is a defense technology company. Workers at the Menomonee Falls facility design, test and produce equipment for the U.S. Navy as well as commercial and international customers. Andy Hess, Bob Flood and Kemp Collings of Founders 3 Real Estate Services represented entities controlled by Weas Development in the disposition of the portfolio. Claudio Sgobba and Christopher Knight of JLL arranged the joint venture partnership and secured a $63.7 million CMBS loan through Citigroup for the acquisition.
FARMINGTON HILLS, MICH. — L. Mason Capitani CORFAC International has arranged the sale of the Woodcreek Office Center in Farmington Hills. Located at 31275 Northwestern Highway, the office building spans 60,200 square feet and rises two stories. Built in 1968, it was approximately 85 percent leased at the time of sale. Mason L. Capitani represented the buyer, LREH Michigan LLC. The seller and sales price were undisclosed.
CARY, N.C. — Epic Games Inc., a global gaming company whose products include the hit video game “Fortnite,” has purchased a distressed mall in Cary for its new headquarters campus. The property, Cary Towne Center, spans 980,000 square feet and in recent years lost three of its five anchor tenants, with only Dave & Buster’s and Belk remaining. Epic purchased the 87-acre site from Turnbridge Equities and Denali Properties for $95 million. Stephen Porterfield of Capital Associates represented Epic in the transaction. Founded in 1991, Epic has had its headquarters in Cary for more than 20 years and will continue to operate from its offices at 620 Crossroads Blvd. until completion of the redevelopment, which is estimated to be in 2024. Epic plans to break ground on the adaptive reuse project this year, thanks in part to Turnbridge and Denali getting Cary Towne Center rezoned in late 2019. The developers purchased the distressed mall in January 2019 for $31 million, according to Triangle Business Journal. Turnbridge and Denali had planned to transform the mall into a 4 million-square-foot project dubbed Carolina Yards, but ultimately decided to sell the property to Epic. “Epic shares our vision for transforming Cary Towne Center …
HOUSTON — Miami-based lender 3650 REIT has provided a $31 million construction loan for an office and retail project that will be located at 4411 San Felipe St. in Uptown Houston. The property will consist of three floors of office space and ground-floor retail space. Michael Fleischer and Shin Bowers of 3650 REIT originated the 30-month loan to DC Partners, a Houston-based developer. Completion is slated for January 2022.
HOUSTON — Cadence Bank has signed an 82,215-square-foot office lease at Park Towers, a 545,242-square-foot office complex in Uptown Houston. The property consists of two 18-story buildings and offers amenities such as a fitness center, conference facility, tenant lounge with a golf simulator and a drive-thru coffee shop that is currently under construction. Doug Little, David Baker, Kelli Gault and Jack Scharnberg of Transwestern represented the landlord, Regent Properties, in the lease negotiations.
ADDISON, TEXAS — NAI Robert Lynn has arranged the sale of Inwood Soccer Center, a 56,000-square-foot industrial and office building in the northern Dallas metro of Addison. The buyer, Cherry Coatings, will occupy the building as its new headquarters and retrofit the property to house 75 corporate employees, as well as a large warehouse with loading docks. Chad Albert of NAI Robert Lynn represented Cherry Coatings, which plans to relocate to the property from nearby Carrollton this year, in the deal. The seller was not disclosed.