CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Home improvement retail giant Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) has unveiled plans for Design Center Tower, a 23-story office tower in Charlotte. Development costs are estimated at $153 million, according to theCharlotte Observer. The 357,000-square-foot building, which Lowe’s is referring to as a global technology center, will fill a vacant parking lot in Charlotte’s bustling South End, about 1.5 miles southwest of the city center. The plot is adjacent to a Lynx light rail station as well as the city’s Rail Trail system of walking/biking paths. The developer, a joint venture between Childress Klein and RAM Realty Advisors, plans to break ground on the Design Center Tower this August, with Lowe’s moving in by late 2021. Lowe’s will occupy the top 15 floors of the building. The ground floor will feature 20,000 square feet of retail and restaurants. North Carolina is contributing $54 million in state incentives for the project, to be paid over 12 years based on Lowe’s meeting job creation and investment requirements, reports the Observer. Lowe’s expects to bring 2,000 high-paying tech jobs to the building, 1,600 of which will be new and 400 of which will relocate from the company’s headquarters in nearby Mooresville, the …
Office
SAN DIEGO — American Assets Trust has closed on the acquisition of La Jolla Commons, an office complex located in San Diego’s University Town Center submarket, for $525 million. The asset consists of two office towers, an entitled development parcel and two parking structures. Totaling 724,000 square feet, the LEED Platinum-certified office towers were built in 2008 and 2014. The 421,000-square-foot building is fully leased to LPL Financial. The second building, consisting of 303,000 square feet, is 72 percent leased to a variety of tenants, including U.S. Bank National Association, Paul Hastings LLP and Finch, Thornton & Baird LLP. The purchase price of $525 million, less a seller credit of approximately $11.5 million, was paid with a combination of cash on hand and funds drawn against the company’s existing credit facility. Loryn Arkow and Ankush Israni of Los Angeles-based Stroock & Stroock & Lavan represented the undisclosed seller, while James Mann and Jeffrey Gonzalez of Latham & Watkins represented the buyer in the transaction.
Vibrant Cities Receives $31.3M in Construction Financing for Mixed-Use Project in Seattle
by Amy Works
SEATTLE — Vibrant Cities has received $31.3 million in construction financing for the development of Pivot, a mixed-use property in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Brandon Roth and Zack Goodwin of HFF secured the five-year, floating-rate loan through H.I.G. Realty Partners for the borrower. The project will replace an existing parking lot with a pedestrian-inspired development along the Pike/Pine corridor. Once complete, Pivot will features 71 apartments above a sub-grade parking garage, street-level retail space and 11,000 square feet of office space.
GILBERT, ARIZ. — Hammes Partners has purchased Spectrum Medical Commons, a medical office property located at 3367 S. Mercy Road in Gilbert. Irgens sold the property for $17.7 million, or $409.41 per square foot. Situated adjacent to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, the asset features 43,355 square feet of Class A medical office space, including a surgery center. Additionally, the property features prominent building signage and near-immediate access to a full interchange at Val Vista Drive and the Loop 202 Freeway. Brian Ackerman of JLL facilitated the transaction.
PHOENIX — NAI Horizon has arranged the sale of 2944 Plaza, an office building located at 2944 N. 44th St. in Phoenix. Alva Pinchot LLC sold the property to Curran Properties for $4.6 million. Tenants at the 28,312-square-foot property include NAI Horizon, RW Partners, ORB Architecture, Freestar LLC, Salt Digital and the office of U.S. Congressman Greg Stanton. Lane Neville and Logan Crum of NAI Horizon represented the seller in the deal. Jeff Conrad of Lee & Associates was the broker for the buyer, who was represented by Michael Dunn, Scott Carson and Carrie Carson.
FARMINGTON, CONN. — Colliers International has arranged the sale of Pond View Corporate Center, a 236,302-square-foot office complex in Farmington, a western suburb of Hartford. The sales price was approximately $19.9 million. The two-building campus is situated on 34 acres off I-84 and offers amenities such as a fitness center, café, walking trails and a new conference and technology center. Tenants include Comcast, New England Asset Management and KBE Building Corp. John Cafasso, Ian Hunt and Conor LeBlanc of Colliers represented the seller, New Haven-based Fusco Farmington Associates LP, which sold the property to an undisclosed buyer.
SUGAR LAND, TEXAS — Denver-based investment firm Northstar Commercial Partners has purchased 77 Sugar Creek Center Boulevard, a 143,000-square-foot office building located in the southwestern Houston suburb of Sugar Land. The sales price was $27.4 million. The Class A, six-story property was built in 1999 and is leased to a diverse mix of more than 35 tenants representing the energy and technology sectors. The seller was not disclosed.
FRANKLIN, TENN. — Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA) will relocate its corporate U.S. headquarters from Cypress, Calif., to Franklin by the end of this year. The move will begin in August, where MMNA will occupy office space in a temporary location in Franklin. The company said the move will occur in an effort to reinvent itself and to be closer to sister company Nissan North America, which is headquartered in Nashville. MMNA is working with JLL to identify a permanent office location. There are nearly 200 people working in MMNA’s Cypress office. All corporate departments will be relocating, including sales, marketing, IT, human resources, communications, parts and service, product planning, dealer operations, finance and legal. Additionally, 25 employees representing the company’s Western Region operations will move to new offices in Orange County, Calif. It was not immediately clear on how much office space MMNA will lease in Franklin. MMNA is in talks with Nissan North America to move its West Coast distribution center, which is located on its existing corporate campus, to a new, shared facility in Riverside, Calif.
DURHAM, N.C. — Duke University and McKinney have renewed their respective leases totaling 179,000 square feet within the American Tobacco Campus (ATC) mixed-use project in Durham. Duke has been at the campus since 2004 and its new lease will go through April 2030. The school will house some or all of its IT, financial services, university counsel, corporate education, alumni affairs and other resources at ATC, occupying 136,000 square feet of office space. McKinney, an advertising agency based in Durham, has also been at ATC since 2004. It will occupy 43,000 square feet of office space through 2031. D3 Development developed ATC in phases from 2004 to 2006. The campus comprises 720,000 square feet of office space, 80 residential units and two parking decks, as well as the former Lucky Strike tobacco plant, Diamond View, DPAC and the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
BOSTON — HFF has arranged a $111.5 million loan for the refinancing of 80 Guest Street, a 245,720-square-foot office building located in the Allston/Brighton neighborhood of Boston. Designed by Elkus Manfredi, the property was the second building to be completed in the Boston Landing mixed-use development, which houses 1.9 million square feet of retail, office, residential and hotel space, including the world headquarters of New Balance. The property, which also features lab space and a 55,000-square-foot ice rink complex, is fully leased to four office tenants, including the Boston Bruins, as well as three ground-floor restaurant tenants. John Fowler, Riaz Cassum, Sam Campbell and Henry Schaffer of HFF arranged the fixed-rate loan through MetLife on behalf of the borrower, NB Development Group.