The office market in 2017 has rebounded from the slowdown of 2016 — suggesting that Manhattan market conditions remain stronger than some might have imagined at the end of last year. Growth in office-using employment has picked up steam this year, and New York’s Gross City Product expanded at a faster rate than in 2016. Buoyed by large transactions in the financial services and government sectors, leasing activity also expanded in the first half of 2017, outpacing 2016’s mid-year leasing activity by 19 percent. Asking rents continued their trajectory of modest growth, though tenant improvement allowances have grown at a far faster rate, suggesting tenants are paying lower net effective rent; meanwhile, the number of upward repricings on existing listings fell off considerably in the first half of 2017, while downward repricings continue unabated from last year. Despite the increase in both leasing activity and velocity in the first half of 2017, Manhattan continues to see negative net absorption this year, largely due to the delivery of new office product in Midtown South and Downtown. This has pushed up the availability rate to 12.0 percent — suggesting increasingly tenant-favorable conditions in the market. New York City Employment After a relatively …
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — Clarion Partners and Lincoln Property Co. have opened The Pen Factory, a 200,000-square-foot creative office project. The building is located at 2701 Olympic Blvd. in Santa Monica. The property was originally built in 1957 as the Paper Mate plant. The adaptive-reuse project is now a creative office community that encourages a casual, open and flexible work environment for growing companies. The new design separates space into two buildings with mezzanine levels. It features energy-efficient roofing and skylights along with industrially scaled curtain walls. Morley Builders built the project, which Skidmore Owings & Merrill designed.
LEHI, UTAH — Gardner Co., Staker Co., WPI, CBC Advisors and L&T have unveiled plans for Lone Peak Plaza, a five-story office building in the North Utah submarket of Lehi. The Class A building is located at 3851 North Thanksgiving Parkway. Lone Peak Plaza will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, basketball courts, lockers and showers. Nature’s Sunshine Products has signed a long-term lease at the project.
CINCINNATI — Colliers International has brokered the sale of a 39,385-square-foot office property in Cincinnati for $5.9 million. Built in 2010 and expanded in 2017, the building is located at 9655 Reading Road. EMCOR Inc., a mechanical and electrical construction services company, fully occupies the property. Steve Timmel, Jeff Johnston, Chris Prosser and John Gartner of Colliers represented the undisclosed seller. A real estate investment trust purchased the property.
GARLAND, TEXAS — Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services has negotiated an 87,780-square-foot office/warehouse lease at 2660 Market St. in the Dallas metro of Garland. Kevin Santaularia and Susan Singer of Bradford Commercial represented the landlord, Houston-based Herzstein Investments Inc., in the lease negotiations. Mark Collins of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant, American Builders Contractors Supply Co. Inc., a distributor of roofing, siding and window materials. The space includes three acres for outside storage.
WALTHAM, MASS. — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) has arranged the sale of Totten Pond Office Park, an office complex located in Waltham. Anchor Line Partners in a joint venture with Northwood Investors acquired the property from TA Realty for $51.5 million. Located at 400, 410 and 460 Totten Pond Road, the three-building office park was 87 percent leased to 43 tenants at the time of sale. On-site amenities for the office park include a cafeteria, fitness center, conference room and café. Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen, James Tribble and Samantha Hallowell of NKF represented the seller in the deal.
NEW YORK CITY — Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) has arranged the lease of three full floors at 1400 Broadway in Manhattan’s Times Square South. International law firm Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP will occupy the space. The firm currently has more than 40 offices in 20 countries. John Shaunfield, Seth Weinstein and Paul Ippolito of Newmark Knight Frank represented the tenant. Scott Klau, Erik Harris and Neil Rubin of Newmark Knight Frank, along with Keith Cody of ESRT, represented the landlord in the deal.
CHICAGO — Tucker Development has completed the lease-up of the Offices at 900 West in Chicago. The property, which includes 45,000 square feet of retail space, is located in the heart of the Fulton Market neighborhood. Spaces, an Amsterdam-based co-working space provider, signed a 40,000-square-foot lease. Bill Rogers and Kerry Gilar of JLL represented Spaces in the deal. The firm will occupy its space in early 2018. In a separate transaction, private investment firm ParkerGale leased 6,146 square feet. Jud Henry of EnTrust Realty Advisors represented the firm in the lease transaction. Ron Lakin, Jessica O’Hara and Ellen Zalatoris of CBRE represented Tucker Development in both leases.
The Central Florida market continues to be a bright ray in the Sunshine State with 68 million plus tourists in 2016, and over $10 billion currently invested in major projects either recently completed or underway. Area theme parks, such as Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World, continue investments in new rides and attractions, drawing even more visitors to Orlando, and setting record attendance numbers on an annual basis. Tourism isn’t the whole story in Central Florida, though. Notable projects in the urban core include the University of Central Florida’s downtown campus at Creative Village for 10,000 students, the 650,000-square foot Orlando Magic mixed-use entertainment complex adjacent to the Amway Center, and the new $450 million second phase expansion to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. All of these new urban core projects are creating a true live-work-play dynamic in downtown Orlando. The suburban market is also seeing significant activity. For example, the Health & Wellness cluster at Lake Nona; the $3.1 billion redevelopment at Orlando International Airport; the $43 million improvement of the Orlando Sanford International Airport; and the $1 billion West Orange County mixed-use community all showcase that new investment is not centered in one part …
AUSTIN, TEXAS — JLL has brokered the sale of Nine One Six, a two-story, 55,216-square-foot office property located at 916 S. Capital of Texas Highway in Austin. Jeff Coddington, Kevin Kimbrough and Brent Powdrill of JLL represented the seller, San Francisco-based JMA Ventures LLC, in the transaction. Austin Stone Community Church purchased the asset for an undisclosed price. The sale includes the 5.2 acres on which the property is situated.