LAKE MARY, FLA. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $20 million sale of Northpoint III, a 108,499-square-foot, Class A office building located within Northpoint Center Office Park in Central Florida. Built in 2001, the four-story property is located at 2200 Exchange Place in Lake Mary. Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy, Northpoint III’s sole tenant, purchased the asset from Gramercy Property Trust, a New York-based investment firm. Mike Davis, Michael Lerner and Rick Brugge of Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets team represented Gramercy in the sale.
Office
Cleveland’s relatively affordable cost of living compared with other major Midwestern cities is attracting businesses to the metro area, fueling demand for office space. A steady stream of new employment opportunities supported the 1.6 percent expansion of Cleveland’s workforce over the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30. Hiring during that period was driven by the education and health services sectors, which collectively added 9,300 positions. It is expected that by year-end 2016, Cleveland employers will have increased payrolls 1.3 percent with the addition of 14,000 workers. Office-using employment is expected to rise 0.4 percent this year, remaining steady with only a slight variation over the past three years. Cleveland’s stable economic fundamentals, coupled with businesses attracted to the city, have supported the revival of a dormant development pipeline. During 2015, just 46,000 square feet was added to Cleveland’s office property inventory. The majority of the new office completions are located downtown. In the four-quarter period that ended in September, approximately 660,000 square feet came into service. Construction Surges While office completions were sluggish in 2015, construction has picked up significantly and builders are on track to deliver more than 1 million square feet of new office product by year’s end. …
LOS ANGELES — An undisclosed buyer has acquired two ground lease investments at One and Two California Plaza at a public sale for more than $100 million. The leased-fee land parcels, which include six acres underneath the office property, were offered for public sale in conjunction with the liquidation of 52 assets held by CRA/LA. One California Plaza is a 42-story office tower and six-level subterranean parking garage at 300 S. Grand Ave. Notable tenants include AECOM, Skadden Arps, Morgan Lewis, Nixon Peabody and Bank of the West. Two California Plaza is a 52-story office building with a 44,000-square-foot retail plaza and a six-level subterranean parking garage at 350 S. Grand Ave. Tenants include Mayer Brown, Constellation New Energy, Merrill Lynch, Reliance Steel, Mizuho Bank, BlackRock and the Consulate General of Japan. The full CRA/LA portfolio contained a total of 52 commercial and residential properties located in Los Angeles urban infill districts like downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood and the North Hollywood Arts District. The initial disposition began July 15, 2015. The sale of CRA/LA properties represents the conclusion of a legislative mandate to terminate redevelopment agencies across California. Other primary assets involved in the public disposition included the ArcLight Hollywood Parking …
BELLEVUE, WASH. — Gemini Rosemont has purchased One Twelfth @ Twelfth, a three-building office campus in Bellevue, for an undisclosed sum. The Class A campus is located at 1120 112th Ave. N.E. The property contains a total of 480,389 square feet. It is fully leased. Gemini Rosemont purchased the office campus in partnership with Gemini Investments, an investment company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Jason Flynn, Kayln McClure and Reid Rader of Eastdil Secured executed the transaction.
LOS ANGELES — City National Bank has leased 300,000 square feet across 11 floors at 2Cal, a 52-story office building in downtown Los Angeles. The Class A building is located at 350 S. Grand Ave. in the Bunker Hill area. The building will be rebranded as CityNational@2Cal. The bank will also receive significant signage. The space will be renovated in 2017 to accommodate an open floorplan. The bank will occupy the floors in 2018. CIM Group owns the building.
RICHMOND, VA. — CBRE | Richmond has arranged the $24.1 million sale of a five-building, 228,879-square-foot office portfolio within Forest Office Park in Richmond’s West End submarket. The portfolio includes the Almond, Culpepper, Lee, Ratcliffe and Wythe buildings, which have an average 95 percent occupancy rate. The Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of General Services recently renovated its 127,694 square feet of office space within the portfolio and extended its lease. CBRE | Richmond managed the renovation and negotiated the lease extension. David Wilkons and Matt Anderson of CBRE | Richmond, along with Scott Adams of CBRE | Hampton Roads and Justin Parsonnett of CBRE’s Atlanta office, represented the seller, NNN Forest Office Park LLC, in the transaction. The buyer, Equitable Real Estate Partners LLC, has retained Wilkins and Anderson to lease the office portfolio.
Windsor Management Corp. Receives $58M in Financing for Four Office Properties in New York, Connecticut
by Amy Works
NEW YORK CITY AND RYE, N.Y., AND SHELTON, CONN. — Windsor Management Corp. has received $58 million in four separate financing transactions for office properties in New York and Connecticut. In the first loan, the company received $25 million in refinancing for a 122,630-square-foot office building located at 37 W. 26th St. in Manhattan. The 98-percent occupied property is leased to The Flatiron Room, Hog Pit BBQ and Grey Bar on the ground floor and a variety of office tenants on the upper floors. In the second deal, Windsor received $8.5 million in refinancing for a 35,916-square-foot office building located at 256 W. 36th St. in Manhattan’s Garment District. The property is fully occupied by a variety of office tenants and a clothing retailer. In the third loan, the company received $16 million in acqusition financing for a 118,658-square-foot office building located at 411 Theodore Fremd Ave. in Rye. The property is fully occupied and leased to Acadia Realty Trust, Regis and USAlliance Financial, among other tenants. In the fourth transaction, Windsor received $8.5 million in refinancing for a 163,287-square-foot office property located on 16 acres in Shelton. The property was 92 percent leased at the time of the transaction. …
IRVING, TEXAS — Rubicon Representation has arranged the acquisition of an office building located at 1125 Executive Circle in Irving’s Las Colinas district. The Patel Law Group acquired the property from 1125 Executive LLC for an undisclosed price. The buyer plans to relocate its law firm to the new office building from Colonial Plaza in Irving. Kyle Jacobs and Daniel Miller of Rubicon represented the buyer, while Bruce Hecht and Ben Goldthorpe of Swearingen Realty Group represented the seller, American College of Emergency Physicians, in the deal.
HOUSTON — Colliers International has arranged the sale of a two-story office building located at 8901 Gaylord Drive in Houston. DNA Interest sold the 25,000-square-foot property, which was developed in 2008, to 8901 Gaylord LLC for an undisclosed price. David Carter and John Parsley of Colliers International represented the seller, while Guy Brown of Poynter Commercial Properties represented the buyer in the deal.
In the office segment there has been plenty of news regarding Class A assets. Companies have been flocking towards upgraded space. Landlords have made significant capital expenditures to their buildings to attract and retain these tenants. We have seen parking decks being built, investments to achieve LEED certification and the addition of upgraded amenities, such as cafés, fitness facilities, day care centers, and shuttles to mass transit. In the midst of these discussions, the Class B building seems to be getting lost. Class B office buildings do not have all of the bells and whistles of their Class A counterparts. However, this has not stopped them from experiencing a resurgence over the last few years. Current vacancy of Class B office space in the Northern New Jersey market is 13.4 percent. The vacancy rate has seen a steady decline from 15 percent at the end of 2014. The asking rents in the market average around $21.50 based on a gross number. The absorption of space over the last two years has been the best we have seen in more than 10 years. According to CoStar, 1.1 million square feet of Class B office space was leased in Northern New Jersey …