CHICAGO — J.C. Anderson has completed a 30,824-square-foot office suite build-out on a speculative basis for property owner GlenStar Properties LLC at 55 E. Monroe St. in Chicago. The 1.3 million-square-foot office tower is located one-half block west of Michigan Avenue. The project scope included the addition of open offices, pantries, conference rooms and new lighting fixtures. Nelson provided architectural services.
Portland’s office market is experiencing strong growth as it continues to benefit from an influx of Bay Area and Seattle tenants moving into the city. This is due to the relatively affordable rental rates and positioning between the two booming tech hubs along the West Coast. The city is seeing an increase of large tech tenants making their home in Portland, starting with Intel, which is Portland’s largest employer. Other companies, such a Genentech, Google, Oracle, Salesforce and many others have also taken up tenancy in the Portland Metro area. Seattle-based Amazon recently leased 83,995 square feet in Portland’s newest Class A office building, Broadway Tower, while Amazon’s AWS Elemental division leased 101,000 square feet in the former Oregonian headquarters, which is adjacent to Broadway Tower. The office market continues to perform well with a vacancy rate of 7.3 percent, beating out the 10-year average of 8.65 percent. All of these new companies making their way to Portland are creating substantial job opportunities for Portland’s ever-growing population. Portland is home to several large industry-leading companies, such as Nike, Intel, Columbia Sportswear and Adidas, which attract workforce talent across the world. This has helped spur the growth of Portland’s economy, which …
DALLAS — It’s no secret that today’s students spend a lot of time on their phones, perusing social media and scanning the internet. With such a high level of importance placed on digital content, what people are saying about your community through online reviews is becoming more powerful than ever. As an owner or operator, it’s imperative to handle negative reviews quickly and efficiently, and to bolster the amount of positive reviews left about your community. A panel of reputation management strategists weighed in on best online reputation practices during the session, “Review and Reputation Management: Who Should be Managing Your Reputation? What are Best Practices? And Creating an Effective & Efficient Strategy for your Teams,” at the second annual LeaseCon: A Social Media, Digital & Traditional Marketing Boot Camp, held at The Westin Galleria in Dallas in September. “There is a direct correlation between online reputation and how well your assets are performing,” says John Hinckley, CEO of Modern Message. “Building the right strategy around reputation management is key. It’s been interesting to watch over the last eight years and see the industry change from turning a blind eye to reputation to incorporating it as an important component of …
The joint effects of heavy supply additions, rising construction costs and the possibility of an looming recession have multifamily lenders in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) exercising caution and restraint on new construction financing, even as jobs and people continue to flow into the metroplex and fuel demand for housing. The sector’s fundamentals are very encouraging. According to data from CoStar Group, the metroplex has added approximately 23,000 new units over the past 12 months. At just over 25,000 units, absorption during that period has more than adequate. Vacancy currently sits at 7.5 percent. In addition to the market adding 80,000-plus jobs and 100,000-plus people for several consecutive years, strong demand for Class B properties with value-add potential has kept rent growth moving forward. Concessions have begun to sprout up in a handful of submarkets that have seen particularly concentrated levels of new supply, but the metroplex still posted overall rent growth of 2.9 percent over the last 12 months, according to CoStar. In addition, lenders are keenly aware of the construction industry’s ongoing challenge to add skilled labor. Labor stress is creating longer construction timelines and stabilization periods. “Two years ago, we had subcontractors walking off our job sites because they …
SAN ANTONIO — Berkadia has arranged an undisclosed amount of financing for The Vistana, a 17-story mixed-use property in downtown San Antonio. Built in 2009, the Vistana consists of 247 multifamily units in one-, two- and three-bedroom formats and more than 30,000 square feet of retail space. Brad Williamson of Berkadia arranged the five-year loan, which carried a 3.11 percent fixed interest rate, through a national bank on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between Duncan Hillsley Capital and Rincon Real Estate Investments.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Brandywine Realty Trust, a Philadelphia-based REIT, will develop Garza Ranch Building Two, a 150,000-square-foot office property in southwest Austin. Designed by Page Architecture, the project represents the final phase of the 34-acre Garza Ranch mixed-use development. The building will feature floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as direct access to a two-acre park and the Violet Crown Trail, a 30-mile path that bisects the development. JLL will handle leasing of the building. A construction timeline was not released.
AMARILLO, TEXAS — AWF Fund I LLC has acquired Lambie Lane and Park Lane, two apartment complexes totaling 217 units in Amarillo. The market-rate properties were built in 1976 and 1982, respectively, on contiguous parcels. Dougherty Mortgage arranged $7.3 million in Fannie Mae Green Rewards acquisition financing on behalf of the fund. The loan, which was secured through a partnership with Old Capital Lending, carries a 12-year term and a 30-year amortization schedule.
TULSA, OKLA. — Disney Investment Group has brokered the sale of Memorial Crossing, a 70,376-square-foot shopping center in Tulsa. Anchored by HomeGoods, Petsmart and ULTA Beauty and shadow-anchored by Costco, the center was 97 percent leased at the time of sale. Disney Investment Group represented the seller, Dallas-based Leon Capital Group, in the transaction, and procured the undisclosed buyer.
CEDAR PARK, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap has negotiated the sale of The Shops at East Park, a 19,338-square-foot retail center in the Austin suburb of Cedar Park. Built in 2014 on 2.3 acres, the property was 94 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Blooming Dental, Master Yang’s Karate Studio and Vista Donuts. Philip Levy, Chris Gainey and Parker Yates of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a private investor, in the transaction. The buyer was a Dallas-based private investment partnership.
PORTLAND, HILLSBORO, ORE., AND SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO AND MILPITAS, CALIF. — Through its recently formed joint venture with GIC, Summit Hotel Properties has agreed to acquire four hotels located on the west coast for $249 million. The portfolio is located in three high-growth markets. The properties are the 258-key Residence Inn by Marriott Portland Downtown/RiverPlace in Portland; the 122-guestroom Residence Inn by Marriott Portland Hillsboro in Hillsboro; the 169-key Hilton Garden Inn San Francisco Airport North in South San Francisco; and the 161-room Hilton Garden Inn San Jose/Milpitas in Milpitas, Calif. The total purchase price of $249 million, or approximately $351,000 per key, represents an average capitalization rate of 8.4 percent based on management’s current estimate of the hotels’ net operating income for the full-year 2019. The joint venture plans to invest approximately $23 million of capital on the four hotels during the first three years of ownership. The pending transaction is expected to close in fourth-quarter 2019.
