Top Stories

Equity Commonwealth to Sell 2.4 MSF Office Portfolio in Chicago, Philadelphia for $670M

by Nellie Day January 24, 2018

CHICAGO and PHILADELPHIA — Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC) has agreed to sell a two-property office portfolio for $670 million. The properties feature a total of 2.4 million square feet and are located in Chicago and Philadelphia. One of the properties included in the transaction is a 1.5 million-square-foot office building located at 600 W. Chicago Ave. in Chicago. Sterling Bay acquired the property for $510 million. The space serves as the headquarters for Groupon. It formerly served as a Montgomery Ward catalog warehouse. The sale marks a full departure from the Chicago office market for Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Commonwealth. Equity Commonwealth also sold an 826,000-square-foot property at 1600 Market St. in Philadelphia for $160 million. The 40-story building was built in 1983 just a block away from City Hall. The asset is 84 percent leased. The buyer was not disclosed. Equity Commonwealth sold off a bundle of assets in the last quarter of 2017. This included a two-property, 15-building office portfolio in Moon Township and Pittsburgh, Pa., for $71 million; a 131,000-square-foot office building at 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway in Ann Arbor, Mich., for $24.9 million; a 175,000-square-foot industrial property in North Haven, Conn., for $10.5 million; and a …

January 24, 2018

Massachusetts Northeast Office Top Stories

CrossHarbor Capital Acquires 1.2 MSF Office Complex Near Boston for $227M

by Katie Sloan January 23, 2018

LOWELL, MASS. — CrossHarbor Capital Partners has acquired Cross Point, a 1.25 million-square-foot office complex located roughly 30 miles northwest of Boston in Lowell, for $227 million, according to reports by the Lowell Sun. The seller was Anchor Line Partners, which acquired the property for $100 million in 2014. The property was built in the early 1980s as the headquarters for Wang Laboratories, which owned the property until the company’s 1994 bankruptcy. Cross Point consists of three internally connected, 14-story office towers. Shared amenities include multiple restaurants and cafés, a fitness center, lawn auditorium, on-site daycare and event space. The property serves as the corporate headquarters for workforce management software company Kronos, which occupies more than 435,000 square feet at the property, according to lease agreements brokered by Cushman & Wakefield on behalf of Kronos in 2016. The company occupies the entire first tower — deemed the Kronos Tower — and additional floors in the second tower. Boston-based CrossHarbor Capital Partners is a commercial real estate investment and asset management firm. The company has invested in more than $13 billion worth of commercial real estate on behalf of endowments, foundations, public and corporate pension plans, financial institutions, family offices, and …

January 23, 2018

Features New York Northeast Top Stories

Attorney: Owners Need to Investigate Whether Possible Tax Increases from New Tax Law Can be Abated

by John Nelson January 23, 2018

President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is the first sweeping reform of the tax code in more than 30 years. Signed into law on Dec. 22, 2017, the plan drops top individual rates to 37 percent and doubles the child tax credit; it cuts income taxes, doubles the standard deduction, lessens the alternative minimum tax for individuals, and eliminates many personal exemptions, such as the state and local tax deduction, colloquially known as SALT. While Republicans and Democrats remain divided on the overhaul’s benefits, there is a single undeniable fact: The sharp reduction of the corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 21 percent will be a boon for most businesses. At the same time, employees seem to be benefiting too, with AT&T handing out $1,000 bonuses to some 200,000 workers, Fifth Third Bancorp awarding $1,000 bonuses to 75 percent of its workers, Wells Fargo raising its minimum wage by 11 percent and other companies sharing some of the increased profits with employees. Companies are showing understandable exuberance at the prospect of lower tax liability, but investments many firms are making in response to the changes may trigger increases in their property tax bills. Some companies already are reinvesting …

January 23, 2018

Retail Top Stories Washington Western

Amazon Opens Prototype 1,800 SF Checkout-Free Grocery Store in Seattle

by Taylor Williams January 22, 2018

SEATTLE — Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has opened the first location of Amazon Go, an 1,800-square-foot mini grocery store in Seattle that allows customers to shop without waiting in checkout lines. The store was open exclusively to Amazon employees for the past year. The store is located at 2131 7th Ave. near the corner of Blanchard Street, less than a mile from Pike Place Market and the e-commerce giant’s headquarters. It offers ready-to-eat meals and snacks prepared by Amazon chefs, as well as grocery staples and artisanal baked goods. The offerings also include chef-designed meal kits. Shoppers must have an Amazon account and the Amazon Go app, the latter of which enables entry into the store. Once inside, customers shop as they normally would and then simply leave. While there are no cashiers, there are employees working in the store who prepare food and check IDs on purchases of alcoholic beverages. The store employs inventory-tracking technologies featuring cameras and motion sensors that automatically detect items being removed or returned to shelves. Shortly after shoppers depart, they receive a digital receipt and charges to their Amazon account. “Amazon has generally been regarded as a threat to conventional retail,” says Kenneth Katz, …

January 22, 2018

Healthcare North Carolina Southeast Top Stories

CBRE Arranges $142M Sale of Duke University Medical Office Building in North Carolina

by Kristin Harlow January 19, 2018

DURHAM, N.C. — CBRE has arranged the sale of Hock Plaza, a 327,160-square-foot medical and educational office building in Durham. Harrison Street Real Estate Capital LLC acquired the 12-story building from Hines. The sales price was $142 million, according to the Triangle Business Journal. Constructed in 2004, Hock Plaza is situated on more than 2.5 acres at 2424 Erwin Road, adjacent to Duke University Hospital. The building is home to 34 different Duke University medical institutes, centers and research functions, including Duke Cancer Institute, the Center for Autism and Brain Development, and the Center for Smoking Cessation. The property, which includes a 1,057-space parking garage, is located within North Carolina’s Research Triangle. Jay O’Meara, Will Yowell, Lee Asher, Chris Bodnar and Ben Kilgore of CBRE arranged the transaction on behalf of the seller. The sales price was a record price per square foot in the state of North Carolina, according to O’Meara. Chicago-based Harrison Street is a real estate investment management firm focused on the education, healthcare and storage sectors. The firm has approximately $12.8 billion in assets under management. Houston-based Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment, development and management firm with $100 billion in assets under management. — …

January 19, 2018

Office Top Stories Washington Western

Amazon Narrows Down List of Candidates for $5B HQ2 to 20 Metros

by John Nelson January 18, 2018

SEATTLE — Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has chosen the following 20 metropolitan areas (in alphabetical order) as potential locations for HQ2, the company’s planned $5 billion second headquarters in North America: – Atlanta – Austin, Texas – Boston – Chicago – Columbus, Ohio – Dallas – Denver – Indianapolis – Los Angeles – Miami – Montgomery County, Md. – Nashville, Tenn. – Newark, N.J. – New York City – Northern Virginia – Philadelphia – Pittsburgh – Raleigh, N.C. – Toronto – Washington, D.C. “Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough — all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” says Amazon spokesperson Holly Sullivan. “Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.” In the coming months, Amazon will work with each of the candidate locations to dive deeper into their proposals, request additional information and evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership that can accommodate the company’s hiring plans, as well as benefit its employees and the local community. Amazon expects to make a decision this year. Amazon has emphasized that HQ2 will …

January 18, 2018

Features Loans Top Stories

Retail Bankruptcies Take Toll on CMBS Lenders, Says Trepp

by Jeff Shaw January 18, 2018

In 2017 alone, over $35 billion in CMBS loans were exposed to risk of default by retailers declaring bankruptcy, according to New York City-based Trepp LLC, which monitors the performance of securitized commercial mortgages. The loans were largely backed by mall properties that had leased space to retailers, many of which are now closing stores. “In the first 11 months of 2017 alone, more than 30 U.S. retailers filed for bankruptcy protection. That news certainly made those in structured finance take notice to the mounting concern surrounding brick-and-mortar retail,” states the report titled “The 11 Largest Retailer Bankruptcies of 2017.” As the “retail apocalypse” continues, with consumers increasingly choosing e-commerce purchases over brick-and-mortar malls, certain sectors have been particularly hard hit. Apparel and footwear sales have largely shifted on line, spurring the string of bankruptcies. The report is quick to note, though, that retail sales have actually been on the rise through 2016 and 2017, and that the “retail apocalypse” is simply a shifting of winners versus losers in a changing economic model. “In step with the rise of e-commerce, the popularity of traditional department store anchors is plunging, and hundreds of malls nationwide have reported dwindling foot traffic,” states …

January 18, 2018

Indiana Industrial Midwest Top Stories

Hillwood Buys Four Industrial Assets Totaling 1.1 MSF in Indianapolis

by Nellie Day January 17, 2018

INDIANAPOLIS — Hillwood has purchased a four-property industrial portfolio in Indianapolis that contains a total of 1.1 million square feet. The purchase price was not disclosed. The Class A portfolio contains the 448,305-square-foot Airwest 12 and the 476,225-square-foot Airwest 14 at 2301 and 2201 Reeves Road (respectively) in Plainfield, as well as the Company Drive Commerce Center in Indianapolis. The Company Drive Commerce Center comprises two buildings featuring 60,480 square feet and 100,800 square feet. “We are proud to expand our footprint in the thriving Indianapolis market,” says Tom Fishman, executive vice president of acquisitions and dispositions for Hillwood. “These acquisitions are consistent with our strategy to acquire and develop high-quality, functional industrial real estate in major U.S. markets.” The Airwest properties were built in 2015. They contain modern, flow-through cross dock designs with 36-foot clear heights, deep truck courts and car and trailer parking. Airwest 12 and 14 are situated off Interstate 70, providing access to interstates 465, 65 and 74 in the southwest industrial submarket. These routes access Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis. They also position the Airwest properties within a single day’s drive to more than half of the U.S. and Canadian population. The Company …

January 17, 2018

1401 New York Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.

District of Columbia Office Southeast Top Stories Uncategorized

AXA, Stewart Investment Acquire 210,000 SF Office Tower in D.C. for $165M

by Katie Sloan January 16, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A joint venture between Paris-based AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets and Stewart Investment Partners has acquired 1401 New York Avenue NW, a 210,000-square-foot office property located in Washington, D.C.’s East End, for $165 million. AXA holds the majority interest in the partnership. The sellers, Heitman and Minshall Stewart Properties, originally acquired the property in December 2013 from Lone Star Funds for $95 million. Stewart Investment Partners is a successor firm spun out from Minshall Stewart Properties. The 12-story building is LEED Gold certified and features ground-level retail and a below-grade parking garage. The property was originally built in 1983, and recently underwent renovations that included a redesigned lobby, retail frontage, the addition of new tenant amenities and the replacement of the building’s original masonry façade with a glass curtain wall system. This property is AXA’s second investment in the Washington, D.C., metro over the past few months. The company acquired Montgomery Tower, a 366,800-square-foot office tower located in Bethesda, Md., in October of last year for $132.8 million. Paris, France-based AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets operates offices in 20 countries throughout Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America. The company has 74 billion euros in assets under …

January 16, 2018

Features Top Stories

M&M: New Tax Law ‘Holds Favorable Prospects’ for Commercial Real Estate

by Jeff Shaw January 16, 2018

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — signed into law by President Trump at the end of 2017 — should be a net positive for the commercial real estate industry, according to a special report by Marcus & Millichap. By adding business-friendly provisions and reducing uncertainty, the new law “holds favorable prospects for commercial real estate,” the report states, with “potential to boost space demand and capital flows.” Among the business-positive results are minimal changes to the 1031 tax-deferred exchange system, the mortgage interest deduction for investment real estate, and asset depreciation. Uncertainty over the future of those programs had previously “caused many investors to move to the sidelines,” the report states. “This consistency in tax law will enable investors to move forward with most of their existing investment strategies.” More direct benefits to businesses include “generous tax cuts to corporations,” which may cause investors to use this opportunity to reconfigure portfolios. This, in turn, could boost capital flows throughout commercial real estate. Multifamily Demand Should Rise, but Healthcare Takes a Hit Several of the provisions in the tax bill relate specifically to individuals, but will have residual effects on the commercial real estate industry. Changes to the standard tax …

January 16, 2018

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