PITTSBURGH — GRB Law, a Pittsburgh-based firm, has signed a 17,160-square-foot office lease for its new headquarters at 525 William Penn Place. The firm has operated out of the historic Frick Building as one of its original tenants dating back to the early 20th century. GRB Law plans to take occupancy of its new space in the fourth quarter. Dan Adamski and Reid Mauro of JLL represented the firm in its site selection and lease negotiations.
FULLERTON, CALIF. — The Mogharebi Group (TMG) has arranged the $44.4 million sale of Oxford North Student Apartments, a 100-unit community located near the California State University, Fullerton campus. The property was built in 1972 and features 10 buildings with ground-floor parking garages. Communal amenities include a resort-style swimming pool and spa with cabanas; an outdoor entertainment lounge; barbecue grill stations; outdoor televisions; a clubhouse with billiards; and a fitness center with a Pilates and yoga studio. Alex Mogharebi, Otto Ozen and Mike Marcu of TMG represented the sellers, a joint venture partnership based in Southern California and the U.K. The buyer was a Southern California-based private investment group.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIF. — DJM has submitted plans to Huntington Beach’s Planning Commission for a mixed-use residential development at the Bella Terra shopping center in Huntington Beach. Planned on the current Burlington Coat Factory site, the new development would include demolishing the 210,000-square-foot structure and an additional surrounding 30,000 square feet of retail space. DJM plans to replace the demolished structures with a low-rise building boasting 25,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space beneath five stories of residential space, with 15 percent of the 300 units designated as affordable housing. The project will include structured parking for residents that supplements Bella Terra’s existing parking structure. Since acquiring Bella Terra, formerly the Huntington Beach Mall, in 2005, DJM has transformed the shopping center into a community hub by curating a mix of retail, dining and entertainment spaces. In 2019, DJM reimagined the property’s center courtyard to include a stage, grassy lawn and beer and wine garden in an open-air setting.
MESA, ARIZ. — Thompson Thrift Retail Group (TTRG) has acquired the first parcel of a 15-acre master-planned development in Mesa. When fully developed, the property at the northwest quadrant of US 60 and Signal Butte Road will offer 95,000 square feet of retail space in a mix of freestanding and multi-tenant buildings. Whataburger, Backyard Taco, Black Rock Coffee and EOS Fitness have committed to the new project, with the first phase is slated to open first-quarter 2022. At build-out, TTRG expects the development to have a total project cost in excess of $28 million. This is the 26th project for TTRG in the Southwest since opening its Phoenix office in 2016. In addition to the Mesa development, TTRG’s 2021 Southwest pipeline is slated to include more than $150 million in development across the Phoenix metro, including planned projects in Glendale, Gilbert, Tempe, Peoria, Maricopa, Tucson and Casa Grande.
BLOOMINGTON, CALIF. — Kwangwon USA Inc. and YS & Son Co. have purchased an industrial property at 18750 Orange St. in Bloomington, located in the Inland Empire. An undisclosed seller sold the asset for $30.8 million. The newly built property features 184,770 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space in proximity to Interstates 10 and 215. The property was initially slated for leasing at the end of 2019, and the United States Post Office briefly occupied the building before the sale. James Min of Colliers, along with the Colliers Korean Corporate Solutions Desk, facilitated the transaction and represented the buyers in the deal.
LOS ANGELES — Ready Capital has closed a $24 million refinancing for a 100-unit apartment community located in the Hollywood submarket of Los Angeles. The undisclosed borrower will use loan proceeds to retire existing debt, construct additional units and renovate existing units at the property. Capital improvements include kitchen, bathroom and living area upgrades. Ready Capital closed the non-recourse, interest-only, floating-rate loan, which features a 36-month term, two extension options and flexible prepayment. The loan includes a facility to provide future funding for capital expenditures and interest shortfalls.
JERICHO, N.Y. AND HOUSTON — Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM) has announced plans to acquire fellow retail REIT Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE: WRI) for roughly $3.9 billion. The combined company is expected to have a pro forma equity market capitalization of $12 billion and a pro forma total enterprise value of $20.5 billion. The merger will create a national operating portfolio of 559 open-air, grocery-anchored shopping centers — one of the darlings of commercial real estate during the COVID-19 pandemic — and mixed-use assets comprising 100 million square feet of gross leasable area. In its reasoning for the acquisition, Kimco cited enhanced asset diversification and quality; expanded geographic reach in high-growth, first-ring suburbs of core markets; greater tenant diversity; a more compelling value creation pipeline; operational savings and corporate synergies; earnings accretion and NOI growth opportunities; and an increase in the company’s financial strength and flexibility. “We believe this transaction is a win-win for shareholders of both companies, who will benefit from the upside potential associated with owning the preeminent open-air, grocery-anchored shopping center and mixed-use real estate REIT in the U.S.,” says Conor Flynn, Kimco’s CEO. “This combination reflects our conviction in the grocery-anchored shopping center category, which has …
By Sunny Somaiya, co-founder, WellnessSpace As we navigate what working life and office spaces will look like in a post-pandemic world, one thing is certain — they will not be the same as before. With many companies realizing during the pandemic that their employees can be just as or even more productive working from home, demand for office space may remain low for the foreseeable future. Remote work should thus continue to be a popular option. However, for businesses that require office space but face unprecedented uncertainty about their futures, renting traditional office space may not be the best solution. This is particularly true for private medical and wellness practices, and that is where coworking spaces come in. Coworking spaces have been around for many years and are undergoing a transformation of their own. They provide a great middle-ground choice for businesses that are looking for spaces but want to increase flexibility and avoid signing long-term leases. While traditional coworking spaces appeal to entrepreneurs and business owners, niche coworking spaces have risen in popularity in recent years to meet the demands of specific individuals. Medical and wellness coworking spaces represent a new breed that satisfy an unmet demand for flexible …
By Joe Mahoney, Opus Development Co. Despite a confluence of major events in 2020 that shook our world — the pandemic, social unrest, historically high rates of unemployment — the industrial real estate market in the Twin Cities fared very well. While positive net absorption was limited in the second quarter of 2020, the rate accelerated to 1.1 million square feet during the fourth quarter and ended the year at 3.2 million square feet, according to CBRE Minneapolis-St. Paul. Active users also increased. In the beginning of 2020, there were 6.4 million square feet of users. At the end of the third quarter, that number had increased to 10 million, and by the end of the year, there were close to 12 million square feet of users, almost doubling over the course of the year. We see user demand continuing to trend up and accelerate this year. To support growth plans, users are looking for highly functional manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facilities. Many businesses are increasing efficiency and productivity by consolidating several obsolete buildings into one new highly functional, build-to-suit space. COVID-19 supply chain disruption has prompted some businesses to increase their footprint for storing more inventory and reducing reliance …
DURHAM, N.C. — Duke Health has opened a newly built center at Duke Regional Hospital in Durham that services behavioral therapy patients. The new center plans to combine the behavioral health services that had been offered separately at Duke University and Duke Regional hospitals. The facility, known as Duke Behavioral Health Center North Durham, cost $102.4 million to build. The Duke Behavioral Health Center North Durham project also includes an expansion of the hospital’s emergency department, which has been moving into the new space on a rolling basis as construction is completed. The new behavioral health services at the facility include 42 private inpatient rooms with two courtyards; 18 private treatment spaces in the emergency department with a courtyard; 30 outpatient clinic rooms; and electroconvulsive therapy. The new addition increases capacity from 36 to 49 treatment rooms. Construction started inside in the hospital in March 2018. The public entrance that had recently been near Cancer Services opened yesterday at its permanent location off Crutchfield Street, adjacent to the main hospital building.