GLENDALE, CALIF. — Ready Capital has closed $23 million in refinancing for a creative office portfolio in Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles. The undisclosed sponsor will use loan proceeds to pay off existing debt and acquire additional properties at the 59,000-square-foot property, which consists of 12 industrial/flex buildings that are or will be redeveloped into creative office space. Ready Capital closed the non-recourse, floating-rate loan that features a 36-month term, two extension options, flexible pre-payment. The financing includes a facility to provide future funding for capital expenditures, tenant leasing costs and interest/operating reserves.
Perhaps there is no better way to describe the Nashville office market and its progression than to examine the recent transaction history of two of Nashville’s older generation office buildings, Fifth Third Center and Bank of America/Philips Plaza. Both of these office towers are 1980s vintage with significant renovations in the last three to four years. However, no renovation can cure some of the obsolete issues with these buildings: limited parking, inefficient floorplates and old “core” locations. Nevertheless, these buildings have enjoyed rental growth, occupancy strength and consequently excellent sales transaction history. On a more macroeconomic level, investor activity remained on the rise in 2019 as Nashville has become a global real estate investment target with Nashville being in the top 10 list of markets in Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCooper’s Emerging Trends report for the past five years. Nashville’s presence on this list is supported with its business-friendly environment, population growth, growing IT workforce and appeal as a leisure and meeting destination. In 2010, Nashville’s overall office vacancy rate was 12.2 percent with its Class A rents averaging $22.41 per square foot. Today, the market’s vacancy rate is 8.4 percent with Class A rents averaging $31.20. Clearly, the Nashville …
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. — Atlanta-based ShareMD has acquired 841 Prudential, a 20-story, 500,000-square-foot medical office building in downtown Jacksonville, for $67 million. The property is situated within a medical campus anchored by Baptist Medical Center. The building was 80 percent leased to office users at the time of sale, but the buyer sees an opportunity to change to clinical users. Built in 1955, 841 Prudential was the city’s first skyscraper and underwent a $6 million renovation two years ago. ShareMD will dedicate between 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of 841 Prudential for coworking and fill other vacancies with long-term medical tenants. Elliot LaBreche of Easton & Associates represented the buyer in the transaction. CBRE represented the seller, Chicago-based GEM Realty.
WILKES-BARRE, PA. — Colliers International has arranged the sale of a 50,000-square-foot office building in Wilkes-Barre, located approximately 100 miles north of Philadelphia. Situated at 15 South Franklin St., the 10-story office building was completed in 1920. The buyer plans to convert the building to apartments or condos, possibly with commercial or office components. Law firm Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald has operated its headquarters at the building since 1954 and will relocate to Cross Creek Pointe at 1065 Route 315 in Plains. Jeff Algatt and John Susanin of Colliers represented the seller, a group of locally based private investors. The buyer was Franklin Downtown LLC, based in Somerset, New Jersey. The sales price was undisclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Venture capital firm Alumni Ventures Group (AVG) has signed an 11,006-square-foot office lease in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan. The firm plans to occupy its new space on the 18th floor of an office building at 183 Madison Ave. beginning this summer. AVG is headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire, and this office will be the firm’s first in New York City. Jason Frazier of CBRE represented AVG in the lease negotiations. Andrew Sachs, Tim Gibson and Josh Gosin led a Newmark Knight Frank team that represented the landlord, APF Properties.
CHICAGO — Affirm Inc. has signed a 57,000-square-foot lease to open its first Chicago office at 350 North Orleans. The financial technology company, which operates as a lender of installment loans for consumers to use at retailers, will occupy two floors. Affirm plans to move into the new space in spring 2020. The Chicago space will be Affirm’s fourth office, along with San Francisco, New York City and Pittsburgh. The building owner, EQ Office, recently invested nearly $20 million in improvements, including façade upgrades, a fitness center, tenant lounge and private roof deck.
HOUSTON — Cushman & Wakefield has acquired Colvill Office Properties, a Houston-based provider of office agency leasing services. The company currently oversees marketing and leasing efforts for roughly 17 million square feet of Class A office space throughout the Houston area. The Colvill portfolio includes more than 30 individual properties in the central business district, Energy Corridor/Katy Freeway, Galleria/Uptown, Westchase, West Belt, Springwoods and Inner Loop submarkets. Colvill CEO and president Chip Colvill will join Cushman & Wakefield as executive vice chairman.
DUBLIN, OHIO — Tremont Mortgage Trust has provided a $22.8 million first-mortgage bridge loan for the refinancing of The Blazer Plaza, a three-building office and lab campus in Dublin, a northwest suburb of Columbus. The property spans 519,000 square feet on 54 acres. The floating-rate loan includes initial funding of $12.1 million and a future funding allowance of approximately $10.7 million for tenant improvements. The loan is structured with a two-year initial term and a one-year extension option. The borrower was undisclosed.
PHILADELPHIA — Flexible office space provider Mindspace will open a 42,000-square-foot space at the Wanamaker Office Building in Philadelphia. Mindspace expects to open the space, which will include tenant lounges and an event area, in the third quarter. The 1.4 million-square-foot Wanamaker building is located adjacent to City Hall in Center City Philadelphia. A partnership of The Rubenstein Partners and Amerimar Enterprises Inc. owns the building.
While there are plenty of news stories touting Detroit’s comeback, it’s the actual 2019 year-end numbers backing up the claims with solid momentum in the office and lending sectors. And the numbers are capturing the attention of national investors, not to mention lenders who were on the bench for years and years. Office occupancy Office vacancy across metropolitan Detroit decreased from 24.5 percent in 2013 to 13.8 percent as of the fourth quarter of 2019, according to national leasing firm CBRE. Asking rates have climbed since 2009 and vacancy rates have dropped. These figures even include the 23 percent-vacant Southfield submarket and the 19.5 percent-vacant Auburn Hills submarket, which with their combined total square footage account for 23.4 percent of the total metropolitan Detroit office market, dragging up the total average vacancy rate. Focusing on the central business district (CBD), the post-recession predictions of a city powering through the real estate cycle are holding true. The total direct office vacancy in JLL’s latest Detroit CBD Skyline report is 7.7 percent. That figure includes approximately 500,000 vacant square feet in the GM-owned and largely self-occupied Renaissance Center (RenCen) complex. Remove the RenCen from the equation, and the Detroit CBD skyline (i.e. …