BOSTON — Blackstone Real Estate has acquired 179 Lincoln Street, a 221,474-square-foot office asset in the Boston Leather District. Completed in 1899, the building recently underwent a $20 million redevelopment and now offers amenities such as a café, fitness center and a parking garage. At the time of sale, the building was 88 percent leased to tenants including project management software providers Smartsheet and PowerAdvocate, as well as advertising company Outfront Media. Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen and James Tribble led a Newmark Knight Frank team that represented the seller, Invesco Real Estate, in the transaction. The sales price was undisclosed.
Office
WOODBURY, N.Y. — JLL has negotiated the $4.3 million sale of a 26,000-square-foot office building in Woodbury, a city in eastern Long Island. Located at 110 Crossways Park Drive, the building offers 19,500 square feet of office space and 6,500 square feet of warehouse space with one drive-in door and 14-foot clear heights. Max Omstrom of JLL represented the buyer, Computech International, in the transaction. Harris Rousso of Real Estate Strategies Ltd. represented the undisclosed seller.
ST. LOUIS — ElmTree Funds has sold a majority position in a portfolio of predominantly industrial and office properties to Guggenheim Investments. The gross asset value of the 18-property portfolio is approximately $900 million. St. Louis-based ElmTree began acquiring and developing the properties in 2016. The build-to-suit, net-leased assets are located in fast-growing metropolitan areas across the United States. ElmTree will manage the assets for Guggenheim and maintain a small equity portion. Notable properties in the portfolio include a 1.5 million-square-foot industrial facility in Dallas net leased to a confectionary manufacturer and a 500,000-square-foot industrial building in St. Louis net leased to a courier delivery services company.
In the largest office markets of the Northeast, landlords are competing to attract valuable corporate tenants by providing the highest quality work-life balance for the region’s talented workforce. The Boston, New York and Philadelphia office markets are among the most competitive in the country. While factors like salary, commute time and personal fulfilment remain important in deciding where to work, employees are now placing more emphasis on amenities and work-life balance in their final decisions. Consequently, employers are making a point to meet those demands by investing in properties with convenient access to those amenities, in particular fitness, dining and transit. According to Colliers International, Class A office asking rents in Boston rose 9.9 percent in the third quarter of 2019, commanding $100 per square foot in the city’s hottest markets. Lauren Vecchione, senior vice president in the Boston office of Colliers, says that landlords have to provide competitive amenities if they want to command and achieve the asking rents in submarkets with the strongest demand, including the Seaport, Financial District, Back Bay and Cambridge’s Kendall Square. “Larger and smaller tenants alike are focused on finding efficient spaces that allow them to build out a creative office experience for their …
BELLEVUE, WASH. — Gemini Rosemont Commercial Real Estate, in partnership with an affiliate of Beacon Capital Partners, has received a $204 million loan for the recapitalization and refinancing of One Twelfth @ Twelfth, an office campus in Bellevue. The asset comprises three six-story buildings totaling 480,187 square feet. The Class A, LEED Gold-certified buildings are located just off the I-405 corridor in downtown Bellevue, about 10 miles east of Seattle. Constructed in 2000, the property features a full-service café, fitness center, outdoor balconies, electric car charging stations, bicycle storage, conference room, outdoor plazas and close proximity the Bellevue Transit Center. Gemini Rosemont acquired the property in December 2016 and completed a capital improvement program in 2019. “In late December 2019, our new partner acquired an 80 percent interest in the joint venture formed to hold the asset,” says Jon Dishell, chief capital officer for Gemini Rosemont. “Beacon shares our vision for the asset, and we are looking forward to working together to continue to increase One Twelfth’s value, as well as pursuing other opportunities together.” MetLife Investment Management provided the five-year, floating-rate loan. It includes a $19 million facility for future leasing costs and capital expenses. Los Angeles-based Gemini Rosemont’s …
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Beacon Partners has purchased two parcels totaling over 7.6 acres in Charlotte from Raleigh-based Cherokee Fund that will house a five-story, office building. The project will be part of LoSo Station, a mixed-use development in Charlotte’s Lower South End (LoSo) neighborhood. Beacon’s office development will encompass 80,000 square feet of office and retail space, with an expected move-in date of 2021. The design team for the office building includes RBA Architects and landscape architect LandDesign. Beacon’s Kristy Venning is overseeing leasing. The 15-acre LoSo Station is master-planned to include over 1 million square feet of office and retail space, a hotel and 350 multifamily units to be developed by Crescent Communities. LoSo Station is located directly across from the Scaleybark Lynx Station and is situated on the Charlotte Rail Trail, a 3.5-mile public path. The master plan for LoSo Station incorporates rooftop entertainment, meeting space, outdoor retail plazas and athletic fields.
ORLANDO, FLA. — JLL has arranged the $50.4 million sale of Resource Square One and Three, two fully occupied buildings in Orlando’s Central Florida Research Park. A joint venture between Crocker Partners LLC and PCCP LLC purchased the assets from TerraCap Management LLC. The JLL Capital Markets team led by Ike Ojala, Hermen Rodriguez, Robbie McEwan and Matt McCormack represented the seller and procured the buyer in the transaction. JLL’s Maxx Carney and Reid Carleton worked on behalf of the buyers to secure a seven-year, floating-rate acquisition loan with Synovus Financial Corp. Totaling approximately 245,000 square feet, the buildings are located at 13501 Ingenuity Drive and 12001 Research Parkway, near University of Central Florida (UCF) and Fla. State Routes 50 and 408. Resource Square One is a three-story building constructed in 1999, and Resource Square Three is a five-story building delivered in 2003. As the largest office landlord in the state, this acquisition brings Crocker’s total assets under management in Central Florida to almost 1 million square feet.
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Greenville-based Gordian has renewed its lease early and expanded its office space to 44,000 square feet at 30 Patewood Drive in Greenville. Colliers International’s Brantley Anderson and Taylor Allen represented the information technology and services company in the expansion. Gordian provides construction costs analytics, estimating information, pricing data and procurement software and services.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — A joint venture between global private investment manager Partners Group and Florida-based Accesso has sold Riata Corporate Park, a 688,100-square-foot office campus in Austin. The joint venture acquired the property, which was developed by CarrAmerica between 1998 and 2000, in 2015. The ownership also implemented a value-add program that increased the occupancy rate from 85 to 99 percent. Riata’s amenities include a fitness center, basketball court and an outdoor courtyard with food trucks. The buyer and sales price were not disclosed.
PHOENIX — A joint venture between ViaWest Group and New York-based Taconic Capital Advisors has purchased Canyon Corporate Plaza, a core-plus office campus in Phoenix. An undisclosed seller sold the asset for $27 million. The property consists of a five-story building and a six-story building, each offering a parking garage, plus 6.4 acres of developable land. Constructed in 1989 and 2000, the 313,000-square-foot asset is located at 2510 and 2512 W. Dunlap Ave. in Northwest Phoenix. At the time of sale, the property was 66 percent occupied. The buyers plan to renovate the asset with upgrades including new lobbies, elevator modernizations, a food truck plaza, tenant lounge and more. Dennis Desmond, Tivon Moffitt and Peter Baumann of JLL’s Phoenix office and Lynn LaChapelle of JLL’s San Diego office represented the buyer and seller in the deal. John Bonnell, Brett Abramson, Chris Latvaaho and Chris Beall of JLL will handle leasing for the property.