HAMILTON, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the sale of Ibis Plaza, a two-building office complex in Hamilton. The price was not disclosed. Located at 3525-2525 Quakerbridge Road, the 119,000-square-foot property is currently 88 percent occupied by approximately 75 tenants. The building also features a 6,700-square-foot event venue available for rent to both tenants and off-site organizations. Cushman & Wakefield’s New Jersey capital markets team represented the seller, a private ownership entity, in the transaction. The buyer was IBIS Realty LLC.
WOODLAWN, MD. — The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), working on behalf of the U.S. Social Security Administration, has signed a 10-year lease renewal for Social Security’s Baltimore County headquarters. The GSA signed the 717,011-square-foot lease with landlord Security Land and Development Co. LP (SLDC) at the Security West Complex in Woodlawn. The lease became effective Nov. 1, 2018 and will run through Oct. 31, 2028. According to its website, GSA provides workplaces by constructing, managing and preserving government buildings and by leasing and managing commercial real estate. The terms of the lease state that GSA can exit part of the lease after three years with a 12-month written notice to SLDC and can fully exit the lease with 24-month written notice after five years. The initial annual rent is approximately $11.8 million. Regency Affiliates, which has a 50 percent interest in SLDC, simultaneously announced it refinanced Security West Complex for $30 million. The net proceeds are being used primarily to pay off existing debt at Security West and to fund capital improvements and reserves totaling about $17 million.
LEESBURG, VA. — St. John Properties Inc. has broken ground on four buildings within Leesburg Tech Park in Leesburg. The tech park spans 17 acres, and the four speculative buildings will consist of 160,000 square feet of research & development/flex space with anticipated completion in the summer. St. John Properties purchased the land in 2016. The property is situated about 35 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C.
THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS — Arena Energy, a privately held oil and gas firm, has signed an 87,231-square-foot office lease at Hughes Landing in The Woodlands, about 30 miles north of Houston. The Class A space will be situated on 13 acres and will serve as the company’s new headquarters. Arena Energy is aiming to begin occupying the space in September 2019.
PASADENA, CALIF. — A joint venture between Barker Pacific Group and Rockwood Capital has purchased a Class A office building, located at 301 N. Lake Ave. in Pasadena. The price was not disclosed. Washington Capital Management previously operated the asset on behalf of an unidentified seller. Built in 1989, the 11-story building features 227,019 square feet of office space. The buyers plan to improve the asset by modernizing the property. CBRE’s Mike Longo and Sean Sullivan brokered the sale. JP Morgan provided debt financing for the buyers.
NEW YORK CITY — Search engine giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) plans to invest $1 billion to create a new office campus in Manhattan’s Hudson Square district. Situated just south of West Village, the 1.7 million-square-foot campus is a crucial next step for the company’s goal to double its New York workforce to 14,000 over the next 10 years. Google has signed two leases and a letter of intent to establish the campus, to be named Google Hudson Square. The tech firm will occupy 315 and 345 Hudson St. beginning in 2020 and move into 550 Washington St. when it wraps up construction in 2022. The campus will be the primary location for the company’s New York-based Global Business Organization. The site is located near Pier 40 at Hudson River Park and the Holland Tunnel. According to the owner of 315 Hudson, Jack Resnick & Sons, Google will occupy five full floors and portions of another at the 500,000-square-foot building. Google’s new 280,000-square-foot office space will feature open workspaces, a café, rooftop garden and event space. CBRE represented Google and Newmark Knight Frank represented the owner in the lease transaction, which brings the redeveloped office building to full occupancy. Google will …
The Orange County office market continues to remain healthy with an unemployment rate of 2.6 percent in the second quarter of 2018. This is down from 3.2 percent 12 months prior. The driving industry sectors for Orange County that occupy a large portion of office space include financial services, information technology, logistics and healthcare. We are currently seeing vacancy rates around 11.7 percent, which is about a 10 basis point increase from the second quarter of this year. The main reason for this increase has been momentum in completed construction projects with more than 2.2 million square feet that has been delivered over the past 12 months. At the mid-year point of 2018, more than 808,000 square feet of office space was under construction — the majority of which was speculative. The largest office projects under construction right now include Flight at Tustin Legacy in Tustin and the Quad at Discovery Business Center in Irvine Spectrum. There are four Class A, institutional-quality office projects currently under construction in the county that total nearly 1.3 million square feet — 75 percent of which is pre-leased to tenants. All this bodes well for the continued confidence in the Orange County market. We …
ATLANTA — Grandbridge Real Estate Capital has arranged a $29.5 million refinance loan for 900 Ashwood Parkway, a 205,271-square-foot, Class A office building in Atlanta’s Central Perimeter submarket. Alex Haw of Grandbridge arranged the loan on behalf of the undisclosed borrower through BB&T Real Estate Funding.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. — NXT Capital has provided a $25 million acquisition loan for the purchase of Summit at SouthPoint, a four-building, 261,000-square-foot office complex in Jacksonville. Summit at SouthPoint is located seven miles southeast of the city’s central business district and offers community amenities such as an outdoor gazebo, lake views and access to hotels and restaurants in the area. Charles Foschini of Berkadia arranged the loan on behalf of the undisclosed buyer. The seller and sales price were also not disclosed.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — A partnership between Oakland-based Catellus Development Corp. and investment firm Shorenstein Properties LLC will develop a 750,000-square-foot office project in Austin. The new space will be delivered across three buildings, the first of which will contain 20,000 square feet of retail space and a 985-space parking garage. The new office campus will be part of Mueller, a 700-acre mixed-use development located at the site of the former Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. Page Southerland Page Architects is handling design of the project, which includes a 985-space parking garage and is expected to be complete by late 2020. AQUILA Commercial is leasing the office portion of the project and CBRE is leasing the retail portion.