BELLEVUE, WASH. — A new joint venture between Kennedy Wilson (NYSE: KW) and Security Benefit Life Insurance Co. has acquired Sunset North, a 464,000-square-foot, three-building office campus in Bellevue for $227 million. The property’s three buildings, which are certified LEED Silver, were constructed between 1999 and 2000. They were 99 percent leased at the time of sale to 10 long-term tenants with a weighted-average lease term of eight years. Sunset North is located near the intersection of Interstates 405 and 90, three miles southeast of downtown Bellevue and 10 miles east of downtown Seattle. The joint venture acquired the property with $77 million of equity and a $150 million, 10-year acquisition loan with a 3.25 percent fixed interest rate. The lender was not disclosed. The joint venture targets real estate investment opportunities in the Western United States. “Sunset North is an ideal first acquisition for our joint venture,” says Matt Windisch, executive vice president of Kennedy Wilson. Security Benefit is a Kansas-based insurance company that has been in business for more than 127 years. Kennedy Wilson owns, operates and manages multifamily and office properties in the Western U.S., United Kingdom and Ireland. Kennedy Wilson’s stock price closed Wednesday at $22.63 …
Office
Cobb Chamber Sells Headquarters Building in Atlanta, Will Move Office Near SunTrust Park
by Alex Tostado
ATLANTA — The Cobb County Chamber of Commerce has sold its headquarters building located at 240 Interstate N. Parkway in Atlanta to Pope & Land for an undisclosed price. The Cobb Chamber and other tenants, including the Cumberland Community Improvement District and Cobb Community Foundation, will relocate to the 10th floor of 1100 Circle 75, where they will occupy 17,517 square feet of office space by early 2020. SK Commercial Realty is the owner and landlord.The new office space is located across from The Battery Atlanta and SunTrust Park, home to Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves. The new space will feature meeting rooms, event spaces, modern workspaces, huddle rooms to foster collaboration and a bistro-style break room. Chad Koenig and Trey Dove of Cushman & Wakefield represented Cobb Chamber in the lease negotiations, and Andrew Walker of Colliers International represented the on the sale of its former headquarters building. Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio will serve as the architectural design firm and Darden will serve as project manager of building out the space. Choate Construction will serve as the general contractor. Turnerboone is the project’s furnishings vendor, and Unified Technology Systems is providing the audio-visual design and installation.
FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS — NAI Robert Lynn has arranged the sale of Midway Crowne Center, a 47,280-square-foot office building located at 14240 Midway Road in Farmers Branch, a northern suburb of Dallas. A California-based partnership sold the asset to Twinrose Investments for an undisclosed price. Jim Hancock and Chad Albert with NAI Robert Lynn handled the sale with Cullen Dickey of Dickey Property Co.
CLAYTON, MO. — Anvil Analytics + Insights, a branding and digital marketing agency, has signed a multi-year lease to occupy 10,000 square feet at 7730 Carondelet in Clayton. The new space more than doubles the size of the agency’s previous location in Chesterfield. Anvil expects to occupy the new space beginning this month. Blaise Tomazic of JLL represented the tenant in the lease transaction. The landlord was not disclosed.
Robust employment and population growth are fueling Philadelphia’s renaissance and propelling the region’s office sector to new heights. The lack of new office construction over the past decade has driven rents to record levels and is creating value-add acquisition opportunities throughout the region. With a tight labor market and talent acquisition at a premium, companies want to lease state-of-the-art workspaces that attract future employees. Key features of these spaces include access to public transit and surrounding retail and restaurant options. Limited availabilities within this product type are driving rents for quality space, as well as the development pipeline for new office buildings. However, after years of little construction, several proposed office buildings in both downtown and the suburbs are close to breaking ground and creating the next crop of new office inventory for the region. Record Rents In the second quarter of 2019, average asking rents for office properties in downtown Philadelphia hit a record $31.33 per square foot, a 20 percent increase over the past five years. This growth has been driven by out-of-town investors acquiring buildings and raising rents, as well as by growing demand for downtown office space, both from new in-bound demand and organic growth from …
SAN DIEGO — BioMed Realty, a Blackstone portfolio company, and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) have opened the Center for Novel Therapeutics (CNT) on the UC San Diego Science Research Park campus. The 137,000-square-foot research hub leverages the strength of UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center with private sector companies looking to translate research into helping cancer patients worldwide. The development represents a $92 million investment by BioMed Realty. CNT is San Diego’s newest dedicated oncology research center with best-in-class facilities to advance life-changing treatments for cancer patients. Additionally, the facility includes the first academic-industry drug discovery incubator site in San Diego. CNT will continue UC San Diego’s “bench to bedside” approach, the transition of research from the laboratory space into the clinic and to patients through the promotion of new therapies. BioMed Realty designed the project with UC San Diego to include high-efficiency water-cooled central cooling, LED energy efficient light fixtures and photo-voltaic solar panels in the roof of the atrium and other parts of the building. Due to the project’s design, the facility was awarded LEED Gold certification.
HOUSTON — JLL has negotiated the sale of Westchase Place, a 150,000-square-foot office building located at 11200 Richmond Ave. in Houston. The property, which includes a three-level parking garage, was built in 1999 and renovated in 2009 and 2013. Rudy Hubbard, Kevin McConn and Rick Goings of JLL represented the seller, CAPSTAR Real Estate Advisors, in the transaction. Fuller Westchase Place Ltd., an entity affiliated with locally based Fuller Realty Partners, purchased the property for an undisclosed price.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Bulfinch Cos. has negotiated three medical office leases totaling 134,816 square feet in Building 400-500 at the Cambridge Discovery Park (CDP) life sciences development in Cambridge. Arbor Biotechnologies, a genetic research firm, leased 36,171 square feet on the fifth floor. Kintai Therapeutics signed a deal for 72,296 square feet on the third and fourth floors. Simcere Innovation Inc., a medical research and development firm, has inked a lease for 26,349 square feet on the second floor. The three leases bring the building’s occupancy to 88 percent. The full CDP center offers 400,000 square feet of office and lab space across three buildings, which are still under development.
NEW YORK CITY — The U.S. Census Bureau has signed a 10,000-square-foot office lease at the Mink Building in West Harlem. Janus is currently redeveloping the asset and several adjacent properties as part of its 1.1 million-square-foot Manhattanville Factory District mixed-use project. The Mink Building and two other buildings in the project are complete, and Janus is currently constructing the Taystee Lab Building, which is slated for completion by the end of 2020.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the $11.8 million sale of The 2601 Building, a 59,942-square-foot office building located at 2601 E. Oakland Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale. The six-story building was 96 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including The Africa Adventure Co., HL Law Group, Exit Ryan Scott Realty and Natural Transplants Hair Restoration Clinic. After suffering significant damage during Hurricane Wilma in 2005, the building was gutted and rebuilt in 2007 with new roofs, mechanical systems and modern interiors. The seller was 2601 M L Fund LLC, a Netz USA LLC holding company. The buyer was MHC Oakland Park Owner LLC. Scott O’Donnell, Dominic Montazemi, Greg Miller, Miguel Alcivar, Jason Hochman and Michael Ciadella of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the transaction.