ROYAL PALM BEACH, FLA. — CBRE has arranged the $28.6 million sale of Buckingham Plaza, a 91,000-square-foot retail power center in Royal Palm Beach in suburban Palm Beach County. The property was 100 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as T.J. Maxx, Michaels, Shoe Carnival and Tuesday Morning. The shopping center has cross connectivity with the Shoppes at Isla Verde. An affiliate of San Francisco-based Stockbridge Capital Group purchased Buckingham Plaza from an affiliate of Boca Raton-based PEBB Enterprises. Casey Rosen and Dennis Carson of CBRE represented the seller in the transaction.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Sacramento-based Armstrong Development Properties Inc. is developing a retail center at the former Hubacher Cadillac dealership, located at 1 Cadillac Drive in Sacramento. Situated on 6.4 acres at the corner of Howe Avenue and Fair Oaks Boulevard, the site will be redeveloped into a multi-tenant retail center, including a 16,900-square-foot CVS/pharmacy, 8,900 square feet of restaurant and shop space, and a 36,144-square-foot Raley’s grocery store. Demolition on the existing car dealership began in 2015, and the new center is slated for completion in spring 2017.
COSTA MESA, CALIF. — Room & Board has signed an eight-year, 12,000-square-foot lease for retail space within South Coast Collection (SOCO), located at 3303-3323 Hyland Ave. in Costa Mesa. The Minneapolis-based modern furniture and home furnishings retailer is relocating to SOCO from South Coast Plaza where it had occupied 36,000 square feet for 15 years. SOCO features more than 300,000 square feet of showrooms, restaurants, artisan food purveyors, boutiques and creative studios. Myron Sokolsky of NAI Capital represented the tenant in the lease transaction. Terms of the transaction were not released.
CALEXICO, CALIF. — CBRE Group has brokered the sale of Calexico Commons, a shopping center located at 2300 Imperial Ave. in Calexico. B.H. Properties LLC sold the 145,378-square-foot property to an affiliate of Pacific Properties Group Inc. for $5.3 million. Built in 1982 and situated on 10.7 acres, Dollar Tree and Fallas Paredes anchor the center. Reg Kobzi, Brad Jones and Joel Wilson of CBRE represented the seller in the transaction.
RANCHO SANTA FE, CALIF. — Grand Restaurant Group has signed a seven-year lease for 5,808 square feet of restaurant space at 6106 Paseo Delicias within Rancho Santa Fe Village in Rancho Santa Fe. The company plans to open Ponsaty’s, a restaurant led by Chef Patrick Ponsaty, in June at the space, which was the former Delicias site. Bill Shrader and David Maxwell of Colliers International represented the landlord, Millar Properties, while Michelle Bothof of Brush Real Estate and Financial Services represented the tenant in the transaction.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. — GBT Realty Corp. has acquired 30 acres in Oklahoma City to develop the first phase of a $50 million development known as The Market at Czech Hall. The project is a 450,000-square-foot regional neighborhood center. Phase one includes the construction of 180,000 square feet of retail, along with seven available outparcels, with the first tenant expected to open fall 2016. GBT purchased the property on Jan. 11 for $3 million. The development team includes engineering firm Crafton Tull and MJM Architects.
HOUSTON — Ten-X, formerly known as Auction.com, has brokered the sale of Lighthouse Plaza, a 10,600-square-foot retail strip center in Houston that sold on the Auction.com platform for $2.2 million. A local individual investor purchased the 2013-built, 100-percent occupied center. A local LLC was the seller. Saqib Ali of Champions Real Estate, who worked with Alexander Lavell of Ten-X, brokered the transaction. Located at 8245 Mills Road, Lighthouse Plaza is a single-building structure.
CHICAGO — Chicago-based Cohen Financial has arranged $28.2 million in acquisition financing for LLJ Ventures LLC. The California-based buyer has purchased several properties in the state of Illinois and Wisconsin. In the first transaction, Dan Rosenberg of Cohen Financial arranged an $11 million loan with a 10-year term for The Armitage Collection, a portfolio of five retail buildings in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. The buildings in the portfolio are 100 percent leased. In the second transaction, Rosenberg arranged a $17.2 million, 10-year CMBS loan for a 57,000-square-foot medical office, Racine Dental, in Racine, Wis.
Dallas is on a hot streak. This is the best market Dallas has seen in years. Companies are expanding and corporate relocations are driving new development in office, industrial and retail. Based on the healthy, active market of 2015, the momentum should carry over and remain strong through the first half of 2016. Office Dallas has become a headquarters hub in the past few years with companies like Toyota and Liberty Mutual putting down roots in the Metroplex. Companies are doing well financially and are growing, which is great news for the office sector. Leasing activity is at an all-time high with all sizes of companies experiencing growth. Office expansions and mid-term lease extensions are becoming the norm. In November, GEICO’s regional headquarters relocated to a larger facility with the goal of hiring nearly 200 employees before year’s end. The insurance company leased 224,000 square feet at 2280 Greenville Ave. in Dallas, brokered by Tom Lynn and Nick Lee, CCIM, of NAI Robert Lynn and Griff Bandy of NAI Partners in Houston. GEICO’s former headquarters building in the North Dallas area is now on the market. We’re also seeing the employment industry shift from focusing solely on clients to employee …
STATE COLLEGE, PA. — RSR EB-5 Regional Centers (RSR), an affiliate of Switzenbaum & Associates, has funded a $15.5 million loan for the financing of a ground-up construction mixed-use property in State College, through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) EB-5 immigrant investor program. The interest-only loan is in conjunction with a $26.5 million senior construction loan from Fulton Bank, which provided the remainder of the required debt for the project. Originally structured for 30 investors, the project opened an additional spot due to increased demand. While USCIS requirements for EB-5 stipulate that a minimum of 10 new jobs must be created for every investor, this project’s construction and operation will create an estimated 521 jobs. The borrower, Fraser Partners, an affiliate of Real Estate Capital Management and Brickbox Enterprises, will use the funds to construct The Fraser Centre, a 265,000-square-foot mixed-use project on the crest of Pennsylvania State University’s main campus. Slated for completion this fall, the development will feature 50,000 square feet of retail space, a 165-room Hyatt Place Hotel and 26 residential condominiums.