SAN JOSE, CALIF. — A joint venture between Lowe Enterprises Investors (LEI) and Vista Investment Group has acquired a 92,864-square-foot office/research and development building in San Jose for an undisclosed sum. The building is located at 2581 Junction Ave. Concurrent with the closing, Thinfilm Electronics entered into a long-term lease to occupy the building. The lease includes a 22,000-square-foot clean room that the company will use to produce electronics products. The new facility will support the company’s expansion as it increases production. Renovations to the space will commence immediately, with occupancy scheduled for the first quarter of 2017. LEI’s affiliate, Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group, provided local acquisition and leasing services and will operate the property. ATREG represented the seller.
SAN ANTONIO — Buchanan Street Partners has sold The Pyramid, a 220,693-square-foot, Class A office building located in San Antonio. Taurus Investment Holdings acquired the property. The building was 87 percent occupied at the time of sale. Among the tenants are the General Services Administration; law firm Davidson Troilo Ream & Garza; Experian; design consultant Kimley-Horn & Associates; and insurance brokerage firm Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller and secured floating-rate acquisition financing for the new buyer through the Austin office of Independent Bank.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Velocis has sold Magnolia Medical Tower, an 89,991-square-foot medical office building located in Fort Worth, to Ridgeline Magnolia MOB LP. Velocis acquired the property in 2012 and invested $1.5 million in property renovations, including substantial upgrades to all six floors of the building and the parking garage. The property is located adjacent to Baylor All Saints Medical Center at 1603 Mistletoe Blvd. Lee Asher, Chris Bodnar and Austin Barrettin of CBRE represented the seller in the transaction.
PRINCETON, TEXAS — Pioneer Realty Capital LLC, a Texas-based lender, has arranged a $7.2 million refinancing for Villa Asuncion Independent and Assisted Living Center in the Dallas suburb of Princeton. The 176-bed community opened in 1998. Pioneer Realty Capital used the government-backed SBA 504 refinance program to secure long-term financing. The new loan reduces the interest rate from 7.2 percent to a blended rate of 4.25 percent. The undisclosed owners plan to use the extra funds to expand the business.
PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS — Agree Realty Corp. has acquired an 84,584-square-foot, net-leased retail property located in Port Arthur. The fully occupied center was renovated in 2014 and is home to tenants including Hobby Lobby, Party City and PetSmart. Ryan West and Matt Berry of HFF represented the seller, Baker Katz, in the transaction.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Hunter Hotel Advisors has arranged the sale of two hotels in Austin: the 80-room StayBridge Suites Austin Northwest, and the 82-room Fairfield Inn & Suites Austin Northwest. Hunter Hotel’s Los Angeles office represented the seller, Excel Hotel Group, in both transactions. The buyer of both assets was an unnamed opportunity fund based in New York. The buyer plans to invest $1 million in the Staybridge Suites hotel, which was built in 2009. The Fairfield Inn was built in 2014. Hunter’s Los Angeles office arranged the sale of six hotels in the third quarter and has at least five sales scheduled to close this quarter.
SAN DIEGO — An affiliate of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an urban office REIT based in Pasadena, Calif., has purchased Torrey Ridge Science Center in San Diego’s Torrey Pines submarket. Walton Street Capital and SteelWave sold the campus to Alexandria for $182.5 million. Torrey Ridge Science Center is a Class A life science campus leased to companies such as Regulus Therapeutics, Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Nitto BioPharma, Interpreta and BP Technology Ventures. The three-building, 291,799-square-foot campus was 87 percent leased at the time of sale. “This was a highly strategic acquisition for Alexandria in Torrey Pines, one of our core San Diego submarkets,” says Daniel Ryan, executive vice president and regional market director of San Diego for Alexandria Real Estate Equities. Located at 10578, 10614 and 10628 Science Center Drive, Torrey Ridge Science Center was built in 2004 and since 2012 the sellers invested $55 million in base building and tenant improvements. The renovations included upgrading common areas, signage and landscaping, as well as creating a new dedicated central plant and adding chilled water systems for each building. The campus also features newly built tenant amenities including a fitness center, conference center and Wich Addiction café. “The Torrey Ridge …
NEW ORLEANS — The 14th annual National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) Student Housing Conference & Exposition was held Sept. 28-30 at the New Orleans Marriott in Louisiana, with over 700 leaders from all facets of the sector convening to network, discuss and dine over a range of industry topics. The outlook throughout the conference was overwhelmingly bright. Each panel and session showed the sector to be robust, with reports of rising rental rates, a record year in asset sales in the sector, and increasing investor interest and capital entering the student housing market. The conference began on Wednesday, Sept. 28, with opening remarks by NMHC president Doug Bibby, followed by a panel titled “Keeping Count: The Public Company Perspective.” Led by CEO of Peak Campus Bob Clark, the panel went in-depth with the CEOs of the two public REITs in the industry — Bill Bayless, president and CEO of American Campus Communities (ACC), and Randy Churchey, chairman and CEO of Education Realty Trust (EdR). Clark began the panel with a variety of statistics on the sector today, as reported by Axiometrics. New supply deliveries for the last five years have been 61,000-beds in 2013; 62,000-beds in 2014; 47,000-beds in 2015; 48,000-beds in 2016; and 36,000 …
It is a fascinating time for the Detroit office market. Downtown neighborhoods and suburban markets alike are being transformed thanks to years of positive economic trends marked by healthy job growth and the desire of several companies to locate in the city. Landlords, tenants and investors are looking to consolidate gains and position themselves for success in an evolving marketplace. On the leasing front, we are still seeing activity in Detroit proper with small to mid-sized firms, punctuated by a handful of larger deals that have taken place. The higher profile moves include Detroit-based auto lender and bank holding company Ally Financial taking approximately 320,0000 square feet on 13 floors at One Detroit Center, now known as the Ally Detroit Center. A number of law firms have inked leasing deals. For example, longtime Detroit tenant Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC renewed its lease at 150 W. Jefferson, a 25-story skyscraper formerly known as the Madden Building, where the law firm occupies approximately 97,000 square feet. Southfield, Mich.-based Redico LLC recently acquired the 500,000-square-foot tower, built in 1989, from Piedmont Office Realty Trust for $81.5 million. While leasing activity is strong in the central business district (CBD) — driven in …
HAPPY VALLEY, ORE. — MG Properties Group has purchased the 390-unit Green Leaf Monterey Apartments in the Portland suburb of Happy Valley for $76 million. The community is located at 8640 S.E. Causey Ave. The 11.8-acre site is near the Clackamas Town Center. Green Leaf Monterey has been continually upgraded over the past few years. Tyler Johnson, Cody Hagerman, Greg Frick and Rob Marton of HFO Investment Real Estate executed the sale. The seller was Green Leaf Partners.