CHICAGO — Cresset Partners and Diversified Real Estate Capital have formed a partnership of their real estate groups, expanding Cresset’s real estate investment platform. The partnership formalizes and builds upon the existing relationship between the two companies, which have sourced, structured, capitalized and executed $1.6 billion in real estate projects since 2019. The combined entity, which is named Cresset Real Estate Partners, will target institutional-quality investment opportunities in a variety of asset types, including multifamily, office, industrial and hospitality.
NEEDHAM, MASS. — International Data Group (IDG), a market research and data analytics firm, has opened a new, 125,000-square-foot office headquarters in the western Boston suburb of Needham. The company will consolidate its three main business units — IDC, IDG Communications and primary corporate entity IDG — under one roof. Dyer Brown, an architecture and interior design firm with offices in Boston and Atlanta, designed the facility, which can accommodate about 500 employees.
BELLEVUE, WASH. — PMF Investments has completed the disposition of BelleVista Place, a mixed-use, master-planned development site located at 100 112th Ave. NE in Bellevue. An undisclosed buyer acquired the 4.9-acre site for $152.2 million. Designed by CollinsWoerman, the project will feature residential, office and retail space, as well as subterranean parking. According to the City of Bellevue’s first-quarter 2020 Downtown Bellevue Major Projects List, the development team is seeking approval for a two-phase project with a 17-story office tower and five-story residential building in the initial phase and a 17-story office tower and 15-story office building in the second phase. In total, the proposed project would bring approximately 138 residential units, 987,140 square feet of office space and 1,051 parking spaces. With substantial work already completed on the design and city entitlements, the Class A project is slated to begin delivery in 2024. Kevin Shannon, Ken White, Tim O’Keefe, Nick Kucha and Rob Hannan of Newmark represented the seller in the transaction.
CHICAGO — Calamos Investments, a global asset manager, has signed a multi-year lease for the top floors of Fulton East, a new office building located at 215 N. Peoria St. in Chicago’s Fulton Market. The new office will be in addition to the firm’s headquarters campus in Naperville. Parkside Realty Inc. developed Fulton East, which rises 12 stories and spans 90,000 square feet. The building was designed to address employee health, wellness and safety in light of COVID-19 and includes features such as a hands-free elevator system.
DUNDEE, MICH. — Reichle Klein Group has arranged the $2.8 million sale of three office buildings in Dundee, about 60 miles southwest of Detroit. The properties total 20,500 square feet and are situated on 4.2 acres within the Helle Powell Professional Center, which is located on Helle Boulevard. Ryan Miller of Reichle Klein represented the seller, Toledo, Ohio-based State Street Venture Partners LLC. The buyer was undisclosed.
FRISCO, TEXAS — Careington International Corp., a provider of medical and dental insurance, has opened a 75,000-square-foot office at 6435 Flyers Way in Frisco. The office space includes a call center, conference rooms, training rooms, quality assurance department space, an IT room, server room break room, open office space and executive offices. Dallas-based Merriman Anderson Architects designed the project, and Buckman Partnership Ltd. developed it. Careington has operated out of Frisco since 2001, and its employee based has grown from 60 to 425 during that stretch.
BOSTON — A partnership between Los Angeles-based investment firm CIM Group and Massachusetts-based Nordblom has sold 1000 Washington St. and 321 Harrison Ave., two office towers in Boston’s South End neighborhood totaling 475,000 square feet. The partnership originally purchased the properties, in 2017 and repositioned them: 1000 Washington Street, an 11-story, 242,000-square-foot building was renovated to provide Class A office space; and 321 Harrison Avenue, a three-story parking garage, was expanded by eight floors to create an 11-story, 233,000-square-foot office building. Funds managed by Blackstone acquired the buildings, and life sciences company BioMed Realty will operate the properties.
By David Simon, SIOR, COO, NAI DiLeo-Bram Having recently surpassed the one-year mark since COVID-19 reached the United States, we can now better assess the pandemic’s impact on our local office market. Reviewing a year of data and market activity helps paint a more detailed picture of where things stand currently and may be headed. The overall direct vacancy rate for the combined counties of Essex, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union New Jersey has risen 120 basis points since the start of the pandemic to 12.7 percent. Much of the space becoming vacant or available is higher-quality product; in fact the Class A direct vacancy rate has risen 180 basis points during the pandemic and is currently 17 percent. As a result, tenants looking in this segment of the market have a broad selection of high-quality office product. Sublet space has followed a similar trend to that of direct space, marking a 70 basis point increase since the start of the pandemic. More than 1.1 million square feet of Class A sublease product has become available during this period. Notwithstanding the statistics above, our firm recently completed over 28,000 square feet of office leases in Middlesex County, at 100 Metroplex …
MIAMI — Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm focused on the software sector, has signed a long-term lease at 830 Brickell, a 55-story, Class A office building in Miami’s Brickell district. The founder of Thoma Bravo, Orlando Bravo, relocated to Miami late last year, and partner Chip Virnig and other existing members of the Thoma Bravo team have already moved to the Miami region. OKO Group and Cain International are co-developing 830 Brickell, which is currently under construction and expected to be delivered in 2022. Thoma Bravo will occupy roughly 36,500 square feet on the two top floors and establish a flexible workspace to accommodate the firm’s growing employee base. Thoma Bravo expects to open its office at 830 Brickell in the fourth quarter of 2022. Thoma Bravo’s Miami-based employees have already begun working from a temporary office space. Cushman & Wakefield represented the developers in the lease negotiations, and CBRE represented Thoma Bravo.
CHICAGO — IRI, a data analytics and market research firm, has signed an 80,594-square-foot office lease at 203 N. LaSalle in Chicago’s Central Loop submarket. IRI has relocated to the property after 30 years at 150 N. Clinton St. in the West Loop. Rising 27 stories and spanning 624,724 square feet, 203 N. LaSalle is a Class A office tower. Eric Myers and Jeff Dowdell of Transwestern represented the landlord, Sumitomo Corp. of Americas, in the transaction. Meredith O’Connor, Jake Ehrenberg and Matt Carolan of JLL represented the tenant.