NEW YORK CITY — Ariel Property Advisors has brokered the $15.9 million sale of a multifamily portfolio in Queens. The 72-unit portfolio includes three properties and spans 62,640 square feet. The four-story buildings are located on 65th Street between Central Avenue and Myrtle Avenue. Victor Sozio, Shimon Shkury, Michael Tortorici and Matthew Lev of Ariel Property Advisors represented the seller, 71-15 65th St. LLC, in the transaction. The buyer was a group led by Rockabill Development.
MEDFORD, MASS. — Charles River Realty Investors has acquired a 116,490-square-foot office building in Medford for an undisclosed price. The transaction was a sale-leaseback with the seller, Citizens Bank. Located at 20 Cabot Road, the property was built in 1987. Citizens Bank, currently occupies 85,200 square feet at the property and has signed a 10-year lease with Charles River Realty for the space. The remaining 31,290 square feet will be leased to new tenants. National Development will serve as the property manager. Charles River plans to make significant improvements to the building, including an updated lobby and common areas, a new fitness center, landscape enhancements and updated signage.
ATLANTA — Developer Cousins Properties has tapped Pickard Chilton to design Norfolk Southern’s 1 million-square-foot headquarters in Midtown Atlanta. The railroad company announced in December that it is relocating its headquarters from Norfolk, Va. Norfolk Southern will combine employees from Virginia, Atlanta and its nine divisions across the Southeast to work in the new space, which will be located at 650 W. Peachtree St. in Atlanta’s Technology Square district. The building is expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2021. Amenities will include a dining facility, rooftop garden, fitness center, conference space, child care and a private greenspace. New Haven, Conn.-based Pickard Chilton has designed more than 6.7 million square feet of commercial space for prominent developers in downtown Atlanta over the past 20 years.
MORRISVILLE, N.C. — FCP and Strategic Capital Partners (SCP) have sold Forty540, a 200,000-square-foot, five-story office building in Morrisville. The asset is located at 3030 Slater Road in the Research Triangle Park district. The joint venture acquired the site in November 2015 and delivered the office building in 2017. It was fully leased at the time of the sale. Brad Corsmeier and Ed Pulliam of CBRE | Raleigh represented the sellers in the transaction. Jason High and Ham Southworth also of CBRE | Raleigh represented the undisclosed buyer.
ST. LOUIS — McCarthy HITT, a joint venture of McCarthy Building Cos. Inc., HITT Contracting, Black & Veatch Special Projects Corp., Gensler and Akima LLC, has been selected by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to build its new campus in north St. Louis. The total project budget of about $1.7 billion includes the McCarthy HITT contract of $711.7 million, land procurement, post-construction outfitting of the building and small business construction projects. Funds are appropriated through the Pentagon’s military construction budget and Congress has authorized spending over several budget cycles. The campus will be built on a 97-acre site at Jefferson and Cass avenues. Designed to replace the current NGA facility located south of downtown, the new development will feature a 712,000-square-foot office building, parking garages, a visitor center, remote inspection facility and access control points. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will oversee design and construction. Preliminary work beginning this spring will include various design and pre-construction activities, submittals and joint planning. Major construction work will begin in early 2020, with plans for the campus to be operational in 2025. NGA has had a presence in St. Louis for seven decades and currently employs more than 3,000 workers locally.
SPRING, TEXAS — Washington, D.C.-based Northridge Capital LLC has acquired HP Plaza, the 378,401-square-foot Hewlett-Packard office campus located within CityPlace at Springwoods Village in Spring, a northern suburb of Houston. Hewlett-Packard occupies the entirety of the two-building campus, which was completed in 2018. The developer, Patrinely Group, sold the property in partnership with USAA Real Estate and CDC Houston. Jeff Hollinden and Trent Agnew of HFF served as listing agents for the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — Knotel, a locally based designer and builder of flexible office space, has signed leases to open two locations totaling 70,924 square feet in New York City. Knotel will open a 43,520-square-foot space at 88 Pine Street in the Financial District and a 27,404-square-foot space at 1407 Broadway in Times Square. Elie Reiss of Skylight Leasing represented Knotel in negotiations for the first lease, and Michael Cohen and John Pavone of Colliers International represented Knotel in the second deal, which is a sublease from web hosting company GoDaddy. Jon Wheels and Chris Perry of Aquila Commercial represented GoDaddy in the latter transaction. Knotel, which operates locations in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Paris and Brazil, now has a global footprint of more than 3 million square feet across 200 sites.
PITTSBURGH — CBRE has arranged a 20,000-square-foot office lease for the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh at Warner Centre, located at 332 Fifth Ave. in downtown Pittsburgh. The agency will occupy the entire fourth floor of the building. CBRE’s Christopher Koch, leasing agent for Warner Centre, negotiated the lease on behalf of the building’s owner, JJ Operating Inc., a family-owned real estate investment and management company based in New York City. The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, plans to occupy Warner Centre this summer. The move will provide the agency with the efficiency of operating on a single floor versus multiple floors at its existing Wood Street location. Warner Centre is situated in the center of downtown Pittsburgh, located next to the newly completed Point Park Playhouse. The landlord recently made improvements to the lobby of Warner Centre and plans to make upgrades to the elevators beginning this year. The mission of the Urban League is to enable African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity and power, and civil rights. The HUD-certified housing counseling agency offers a wide variety of programs.
EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. — Madison Partners has arranged the off-market sale of an office building, located at 2221 Park Place in El Segundo. Powerscourt Partners purchased the property from 2221 PPA LLC for $31 million, or $564 per square foot. Bob Safai, Matt Case and Brad Schlaak of Madison Partners represented the seller, while Geoff Ludwig of Colliers International represented the buyer in the deal. The 55,000-square-foot office building was vacant at the time of sale.
SEATTLE — Dropbox Inc. has leased four floors totaling 120,886 square feet at a speculative office tower currently under construction in Seattle’s central business district. Skanska is developing the 38-story building, known as 2+U. Dropbox, a San Francisco-based file storage and sharing company, is expected to occupy the space at 2+U in late 2020. With this new signing, 2+U is now 60 percent leased. Other tenants joining Dropbox include Indeed.com and coworking firm Spaces. The 686,000-square-foot tower is scheduled for completion this summer. Located at the corner of Second Avenue and University Street, the development is adjacent to the Seattle Art Museum and Benaroya Hall. The property is lifted 85 feet off the ground in order to create an outdoor “urban village” underneath the building. The village area will include nearly a half-acre of open space with 17,000 square feet of retail and arts space. Floor plates at 2+U will range from 18,000 to 30,000 square feet. In addition to a rooftop deck, tenants will enjoy unobstructed views of the Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains. Dropbox currently occupies space at the Columbia Center in the city. “We’re thrilled to expand in Seattle,” says Greg Conklin, engineering director and Seattle site …