HACKENSACK, N.J. — NAI James Hanson has brokered the sale of 300 S. Summit Avenue, a 2,331-square-foot office building in Hackensack, a northwestern suburb of New York City. The buyer, All Souls Evangelical Church, is relocating from Bogota to provide more accessibility to its congregation. Darren Lizzack and Randy Horning of NAI James Hanson represented the seller, a private investor, in the transaction. Allegra House of Prominent Properties represented All Souls Evangelical Church.
As a whole, commercial real estate in Columbus has experienced high levels of activity in recent years, and the office market has been no exception. The amount of new office space hitting the market has kept vacancy and average rental rates relatively flat, pacing the economic growth of the region. The vacancy rate has hovered around 6 to 7 percent, and the average rental rates are around $18 to $19 per square foot on a gross basis. Developers in the region are anticipating continued growth, so there is an additional 830,000 square feet of office space currently under construction. With that amount of new construction, we don’t expect the vacancy or rental rates to change dramatically in the coming year. Let’s look at the trends driving these numbers. Population, economic growth Columbus continues to grow quickly. Columbus offers residents a low cost of living, great drivability, plenty of amenities and economic opportunity. Since 2010, the metro area has grown by 10.8 percent, adding over 200,000 people, which makes Columbus the 14th-largest city in the United States with over 2 million total residents. The population growth hasn’t slowed down; from 2017 to 2018, the area grew 1.2 percent, and forecasts expect …
EASTON, OHIO — JLL has arranged the sale of One & Two Easton Oval, a two-building office property in Easton, for $41.4 million. The Class A asset spans 252,461 square feet and is situated approximately 10 miles northeast of Columbus’ central business district. Completed in the late 1990s, the property is 91.4 percent leased. Jim Postweiler, Peter Harwood, Derek Fohl and Patrick Shields of JLL represented the seller, Garrison Investment Group. Steve Buss and Marc Nanne of JLL represented the buyer, Minneapolis-based Founders Properties. Local JLL brokers Collin Wheeler and Aaron Duncan supported the sales effort. Keith Largay and Patrik Modig of JLL secured $27.8 million in acquisition financing. TCF Bank provided the seven-year, floating-rate loan.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Kadean Construction has purchased the 5,250-square-foot building at 1821 McGee St. in Kansas City that the company has been leasing since January 2018. The purchase price was not disclosed. Kadean plans to immediately commence renovations to finish out approximately 2,700 square feet of existing shell space into new office space. The construction firm expects to fully occupy the space beginning in January. Headquartered in St. Louis, Kadean has been active in the Kansas City market since 2015.
SUGAR LAND, TEXAS — Songy Highroads LLC, an Atlanta-based investment and development firm, has acquired Sugar Creek Place I, a 151,722-square-foot office building located in the southwestern Houston suburb of Sugar Land. The six-story, Class A building was 86 percent leased at the time of sale. Sugar Creek Place I recently received more than $1.7 million in capital improvements, including the addition of a new conference facility, tenant lounge and common area, as well as an upgraded lobby and corridors. Marty Hogan and Dan Miller of JLL represented the seller, HighBrook Investors, in the transaction, while Ed Coco, Matt Casey and Michael Johnson of JLL arranged acquisition financing on behalf of Songy Highroads. Transwestern Commercial Services handles leasing of the property, which was 86 percent occupied at the time of sale.
DALLAS — Global architecture and engineering firm Page has signed a 34,000-square-foot office lease extension at the historic Mercantile National Bank Building in downtown Dallas. The firm has operated out of the property, located at 1800 Main St., since 2011 and will add an additional seven years to its lease term. Matt Heidelbaugh and Billy Gannon of Cushman & Wakefield represented Page in the lease negotiations.
GETZVILLE, N.Y. — Citigroup has agreed to purchase 580 CrossPoint Parkway, a 158,000-square-foot office building in the CrossPoint Business Park, as well as approximately nine acres of adjacent land in the northern Buffalo suburb of Getzville. With this transaction, Citigroup will also extend its lease at the conjoined 107,000-square-foot office building located at 540 CrossPoint Parkway. Uniland Development Co. was the seller of 580 CrossPoint and is also the landlord of 540 Crosspoint. The Buffalo News reports the sale, which is expected to close in November, fetched a sales price of $52 million.
LOWER GWYNEDD, PA. — CBRE has negotiated a 6,724-square-foot office lease for cancer screening company Anpac Bio at Spring House Innovation Park in Lower Gwynedd, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. Developed and owned by MRA Group, the 600,000-square-foot property offers lab, research and development facilities, as well as Class A office and coworking space. Anpac Bio is expected to move into the space in March 2020. Toni Rossi of CBRE represented the tenant in the lease negotiations.
SANTA ANA, CALIF. — San Ramon, Calif.-based Meridian has acquired a two-story office building, located at 3601 W. Sunflower Ave. in Santa Ana, for $20.3 million. The buyer plans to invest an additional $5 million in building improvements to convert the building into a medical office space. Situated on 4.8 acres, the 53,500-square-foot property was originally constructed in 2000 as a special-use building for a culinary and arts school. The school went bankrupt earlier this year, and the building was vacant at the time of sale. During escrow, Meridian secured its first tenant, a large healthcare provider, for roughly half of the building on a long-term lease. The buyer will market the second-floor space, approximately 26,000 square feet, to medical office tenants. Jon Sweeney of Long Beach, Calif.-based CXI Realty and George Thomson of Newmark Knight Frank’s Irvine, Calif., office represented the seller, a local private investor, in the transaction. John Scruggs and Justin Hodgdon of Newmark Knight Frank’s Irvine office represented the buyer. Scruggs and Thomson will manage the continued leasing of the building.
NEW YORK CITY — The We Co., parent company of coworking office space operator WeWork, and SoftBank Group Corp. have reached an agreement under which SoftBank will provide $5 billion in new financing and a tender offer of up to $3 billion for existing WeWork shareholders. SoftBank, a Japanese technology conglomerate, will also accelerate an existing commitment to fund $1.5 billion. WeWork chose the rescue offer from SoftBank over a competing proposal from JPMorgan Chase & Co. The announcement comes after well-documented concerns about the coworking giant’s cash flow and leadership. The company’s valuation plunged after it scrapped its initial public offering. WeWork founder Adam Neumann was forced out of his chief executive position after pushback from prospective investors. “It is not unusual for the world’s leading technology disruptors to experience growth challenges as the one WeWork just faced,” says Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank. “Since the vision remains unchanged, SoftBank has decided to double down on the company by providing a significant capital infusion and operational support.” After closing and following the tender offer, SoftBank’s economic ownership stake in WeWork will be approximately 80 percent, up from about one-third currently. Since SoftBank will not hold a majority …