BOSTON — Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. has renewed its lease for approximately 1.1 million square feet of office and life sciences space at 50 Northern Avenue and 11 Fan Pier Boulevard in Boston. According to Loopnet Inc., both buildings were constructed in 2013 and total 587,374 and 543,098 square feet, respectively. Vertex’s existing lease, which expires in December 2028, was extended for approximately 15 years through June 2044. A joint venture that includes locally based REIT Diversified Healthcare Trust (NASDAQ: DHC) owns both buildings. The RMR Group provides property and asset management services for the joint venture.
ANDOVER, MASS. — Locally based general contractor and construction management firm Vantage Builders has completed a 10,000-square-foot headquarters expansion project for NEOLab in Andover, a northern suburb of Boston. The orthodontic laboratory operator essentially doubled its footprint across the first and second floors of the building at 3 Riverside Drive. Maugel DeStefano Architects designed the project, which delivered two 3D metal printing laboratories, an open office layout, new education space, lunchroom and a renovated warehouse and storage area.
— By Marty Pupil — The Orange County office sector continues to battle through the early stages of a market turnaround as tenants adapt to new workplace strategies while balancing employee retention and company production. The market is beginning to thaw, however, as more tenants make decisions on their office space requirements, creating opportunities for tenant activity. Net absorption was negative at the onset of 2024, totaling 338,100 square feet. South County experienced the highest amount of move-outs at 199,002 square feet, followed by the Airport Area with 171,171 square feet. Central County, North County and West County submarkets combined for positive absorption of 32,073 square feet. Right now, positive absorption shows up in pockets of the market and can vary by submarket and quarter. Positive absorption for the overall market will become sustainable when new leasing activity reaches levels that are high enough to compensate for givebacks. Total vacancy in the first quarter rose 20 basis points quarter over quarter to 18.1 percent from 17.9 percent, while increasing year over year from 18 percent. Despite this, current vacancy remains well above the pre-pandemic 10-year average of 13.9 percent. For perspective, vacancy peaked at 19.2 percent during the financial crisis …
IRVINE, CALIF. — RGP has completed the disposition of 17101 Armstrong, an office building in the Orange County city of Irvine. A municipal owner-user purchased the asset for $13 million. The two-story, low-rise building features 57,301 square feet of office space and 167 parking stalls. The property was built in 1982 on 2.4 acres. Anthony DeLorenzo, Sammy Cemo, Bryan Johnson and Carter Haslam of CBRE represented the seller in the deal.
SAN DIEGO — A joint venture between RPG and Steel Peak has acquired 9606 Aero Drive, a 38,704-square-foot flex office property in San Diego. Total consideration for the acquisition was $12.1 million, which the joint venture’s institutional equity partner supported. The undisclosed seller will continue to occupy the asset as its headquarters through 2025 as part of a leaseback agreement. Situated on 4.2 acres, the asset includes existing office space and a vacated data center that will be converted into warehouse space with multiple grade-level loading doors, creating a Class A industrial outdoor storage facility. Additional improvements to the property will include fencing, lighting and paving. Kurtis Blanchard and Evan McDonald of Colliers represented the buyers in the deal.
NEW YORK CITY — Denham Wolf Real Estate Services has expanded and extended its office lease at 520 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan’s Garment District. Denham Wolf has been a tenant at the 26-story building since 2001. The new 11-year lease features an additional 3,887 square feet of space for a total footprint of 9,253 square feet. Christopher Turner and Kate Hrobsky internally represented Denham Wolf in the lease negotiations. Matthew Mandell represented the landlord, GFP Real Estate, also on an internal basis
ADDISON, TEXAS — Bank of America has renewed its full-building, 553,779-square-foot office lease at Hallmark Center I in the northern Dallas metro of Addison. The lease term is 10 years. Rhett Miller and Matt Wieser of Stream Realty Partners represented the landlord, The RMR Group, in the lease negotiations. Andy Leatherman and Bret Hefton of JLL in Dallas represented Bank of America, which signed its original lease to be the building’s sole occupant in 2013. Bank of America has also preleased half the space at Parkside Uptown, a 500,000-square-foot office building in Dallas that is under construction.
BOSTON — Locally based brokerage firm Atlantic Capital Partners has negotiated the $4 million sale of an 11,323-square-foot vacant commercial building in downtown Boston. According to LoopNet Inc., the building at 19-21 School St. was originally built in 1953 and can support both office and retail uses. Justin Smith, Chris Peterson, Sam Koonce and Matt Ericson of Atlantic Capital Partners represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has awarded Clark Construction the $524 million contract to build the new headquarters for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The new 630,000-square-foot federal building will be located at the St. Elizabeths West Campus in Washington, D.C. As part of the Biden Administration’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions from federal buildings by 2045, the contract features $80 million to purchase low-embodied carbon construction materials including asphalt, concrete, glass and steel, as well as $35 million to meet high-performance green building standards. The new CISA building is designed to meet LEED Gold certification standards with sustainable features including chilled beams, a dedicated outside air system with energy recovery and demand-controlled ventilation, advanced lighting controls and a high-performance building envelope. The contract includes a nearly $115.9 million investment via the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), making it the GSA’s largest single IRA investment to date. CNBC, citing data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Rhodium Group, reports that companies have announced approximately $493 billion of investments in clean energy tech, infrastructure and electric vehicle manufacturing since the IRA was signed into law …
HOUSTON — Edge Capital Markets has arranged the sale of Southwest Corporate Center, a 525,580-square-foot office and healthcare property in Houston. The 39-acre site at 9700-9702 Bissonnet St. is located on the city’s west side and includes 8.6 acres of undeveloped land for future expansion. Texas Children’s Pediatrics, the State of Texas and DIRECTV are the anchor tenants at the property, which was originally built in 1975 and renovated in 2020, according to LoopNet Inc. Micha van Marcke and Chace Henke of Edge Capital Markets represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The buyer and sales price were also not disclosed.