MCKINNEY, TEXAS — Developer VanTrust Real Estate has broken ground on McKinney Corporate Center II, a 115,000-square-foot speculative office project located north of Dallas. The building will be located within the 2,200-acre Craig Ranch master-planned development, across the street from the campus of Collin College Tech. Amenities will include a tenant lounge, conference center and a tenant patio, as well as grab-and-go food service. Holt Lunsford Commercial is handling leasing of the project, a firm completion date for which has not yet been established. VanTrust completed McKinney Corporate Center I, which is now fully leased, in 2015.
Office
Parkway, KKR Complete $10M Renovation of Brickell Miami Office Tower, Sign Three Retail Tenants
by Alex Tostado
MIAMI — Parkway Real Estate Services LLC and joint venture partner KKR have completed their $10 million renovation of Sabadell Financial Center, a 30-story, 524,000-square-foot office tower in Miami’s Brickell district. The waterfront property overlooks Biscayne Bay. Parkway Real Estate and KKR acquired the property for $250 million in 2018 and immediately commenced renovation plans. Upgrades included redesigning the entrance and renovating the lobby, as well as adding enhanced cellphone signal technology, meeting and entertainment spaces and a rooftop deck with space for fitness classes. The landlords also signed three retail tenants — Vice City Bean, Carrot Express and Fitbox Method — to occupy space on the ground level. This marks the third location for the locally owned Vice City Bean coffeehouse; the eighth location for Carrot Express, a healthy, fast-casual restaurant; and the second location for Fitbox Method, a fitness studio offering a mix of cardio and boxing training. Jonathan Carter and Jenny Gefen of Colliers International represented the landlords in all three retail transactions. Sabadell Financial Center was built in 2000 and is located at 1111 Brickell Ave., one mile south of downtown Miami. The asset features 8,000 square feet of ground-level retail space, a 26,000-square-foot amenity deck …
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based investment firm Tishman Speyer is expanding its coworking brand Studio with the opening of two new locations at Rockefeller Center’s 1230 Avenue of the Americas and 300 Park Avenue in Manhattan. The space at 1230 Avenue of the Americas spans 110,000 square feet across four floors, and the space at 300 Park Avenue spans 32,000 square feet. Studio features include private offices of varying sizes, videoconferencing facilities, onsite childcare and medical services and virtual wellness and fitness programs. Tishman Speyer first introduced the concept at Rockefeller Center in 2018, achieving full occupancy within the first five months of opening.
NEW YORK CITY — Realtor Keller Williams has subleased 20,000 square feet of office space at 99 Park Avenue in Manhattan from Gould Paper Corp. Helmsley Spear owns the Class A building, which is located between 39th and 40th streets in the Midtown area. Kent Swig, Andrew Simon and Brett Zelner negotiated the sublease for Helmsley Spear on an internal basis. Edward Kalisvaart represented Keller Williams, also on an internal basis. The sublease term runs through December 2023.
CHICAGO — SVN | Chicago Commercial has brokered the sale of a redevelopment site in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood for $8.2 million. The multi-building property sits on 6.5 acres at 1334, 1330 and 1030 N. Kostner Ave. The buyer, 1334 Kostner Owner LLC, is a subsidiary of IBT Group LLC. IBT plans to undertake an extensive office redevelopment project at the site. Jennifer Hopkins and Olivia Czyzynski of SVN represented the buyer. John McDermott of SVN represented the undisclosed seller along with outside broker Amy Van Hook.
CHICAGO — Mosaic Construction LLC has completed a renovation of the Novel Coworking space on the top floor of the four-story 420 West Huron Street in downtown Chicago. The 4,500-square-foot project includes a large open area with dedicated space for two private offices, a huddle room and a phone booth for private calls. It also features a full-size private kitchenette. Mosaic worked with Novel’s team of architects and mechanical engineers to install the latest electric and data features.
St. John Properties Buys Land Site for 600,000 SF Simms Technology Park in Broomfield, Colorado
by Amy Works
BROOMFIELD, COLO. — Baltimore-based St. John Properties has acquired 81 acres of land in Broomfield for the development of Simms Technology Park, a $95 million mixed-use business park project. Brocade Communications Systems sold the development site for an undisclosed price. Located at the intersection of North Simms Street and West 112th Avenue, the 600,000-square-foot Simms Technology Park will comprise two multi-story, Class A office buildings offering 200,000 square feet; five single-story office buildings totaling 150,000 square feet; six R&D/flex buildings totaling 220,000 square feet; an 8,000-square-foot retail building; and four pad sites suitable for multiple retail tenants. St. John Properties plans to initially break ground on the single-story office and R&D/flex buildings in early 2021, with delivery of the first building slated for late 2021. The rest of the development will be delivered in phases.
By Chandler A. Larsen, Principal, Avison Young This year started off where 2019 finished for the Los Angeles office property sector – and that’s red hot! During the first two and a half months of the year, office space absorption was on pace to beat 2019. Rents were steadily increasing past $39.84 per square foot on an annual gross basis, record-high (psf) sales prices were recorded across product types and rising construction costs were complemented by a construction pipeline of more than 8 million square feet of office space. Suddenly, by mid-March, COVID-19 had taken hold in the U.S. and abruptly halted all the momentum the Los Angeles office sector had built up. However, the emergency interest rate cuts proposed by central banks across the globe have flooded markets with liquidity, helping to avoid contagion throughout the financial sector. This, in conjunction with the $170 billion in commercial investor relief included in the current stimulus package, points to the potential for a short downturn. Nevertheless, the jury is still out on just how long and how deep this slowdown will be as previously unimaginable unemployment numbers continue to be reported and economic forecasts are trending in the wrong direction. In …
CLAYTON, MO. — McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. has broken ground on Forsyth Pointe, an office and retail development in the central business district of Clayton, just west of St. Louis. Developed by US Capital Development, the project will include two Class A office towers with more than 20,000 square feet of street-level retail space. The office portion will rest atop a seven-story parking structure, bringing the project’s total square footage to nearly 1 million square feet. A 10-story, 265,000-square-foot east tower will occupy the corner of Forsyth Boulevard and Meramec Avenue. An eight-story, 210,000-square-foot west tower will reside at Brentwood and Forsyth boulevards. In addition to a 45,000-square-foot garden terrace, amenities will include a 10,000-square-foot fitness center and an arts and entertainment venue. Completion is slated for summer 2022. Project costs were not disclosed. “Forsyth Pointe will add prime office space and innovative retail space, increasing street vitality and the pedestrian experience on a prominent corner across from Shaw Park, one of our city’s crown jewels,” says Clayton Mayor Michelle Harris. Established in 1935, the 47.5-acre Shaw Park is the city’s oldest and largest park. The Forsyth Pointe project team includes Christner Architects, Cedergreen LLC, Alper Audi, Stock & Associates, …
Orlando Office Market Vacancy Rate Exceeds 10 Percent for First Time Since 2016, Says CBRE
by Alex Tostado
ORLANDO, FLA. — The Orlando office market’s vacancy rate has exceeded 10 percent for the first time since year-end 2016, according to CBRE. The vacancy rate stood at 11.2 percent at the end of the second quarter, up from 9.1 percent the previous quarter. With the novel coronavirus causing the economy to halt in mid-March, many office players in the country hit the pause button on sales and leases. Orlando, like several other markets nationwide, was not able to escape the downturn as large swaths of space were given back quicker than they were absorbed. Alight Solutions vacated its 147,000-square-foot space in the University/Research submarket, and Hartford Insurance downsized by 27,000 square feet in Lake Mary. Orlando ended the second quarter of 2020 with 352,000 square feet of negative absorption, the biggest dip the market has taken since first-quarter 2018 when the absorption was minus-22,857 square feet, according to CBRE. CBRE also notes that development has not slowed in the market, with deliveries reaching an 11-year quarterly high. Five office buildings totaling 339,000 square feet came on line in the second quarter. There are another seven projects underway totaling 279,700 square feet, the largest of which is a 120,000-square-foot building …