Top Stories

Cushman & Wakefield Arranges $130M Sale of Office Portfolio in San Francisco

by Kristin Harlow January 13, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of a portfolio of Sleepy Hollow Investment Co. office properties for $130 million. The portfolio consists of multi-tenant office buildings located in several markets throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The portfolio was sold in components to five buyers that included Eagle Canyon Capital, Square I, STG Group, James Lindsey and Long Market Property Partners. Totaling 661,319 square feet, the portfolio spans 10 properties comprising 14 office buildings located on over 32 acres. The assets are located in Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, Orinda, San Ramon, Dublin, Santa Rosa and Santa Clara, all in the East Bay, Silicon Valley and North Bay regions. The full list of properties was not disclosed, but two Class A office buildings in the portfolio are The Terraces in Pleasant Hill and Riviera Plaza in Walnut Creek. The portfolio is currently 92 percent occupied by 132 tenants. Eric Fox, Michael Speers and Steve Hermann of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller. Whiff Collins of Cushman & Wakefield provided local market advisory services. Pleasant Hill-based Sleepy Hollow Investment Co. invests in and manages commercial property throughout the Bay Area. — Kristin Hiller

January 13, 2017

Massachusetts Northeast Office Top Stories

Mori Trust Acquires 10 St. James and 75 Arlington Office Buildings in Boston for $673M

by Katie Sloan January 12, 2017

BOSTON — Tokyo-based Mori Trust Co. Ltd. has acquired 10 St. James and 75 Arlington, a two-building office property totaling 824,772 square feet in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, for $673 million. The LEED Silver-certified portfolio features an enclosed-glass galleria joining the lobbies of both buildings, on-site dining and a 400-space underground parking garage. The property was acquired from Liberty Mutual Insurance, and is home to the company’s Boston headquarters. Liberty Mutual has already moved many of its workers from the two connected buildings to a $300 million tower built at 157 Berkeley St. in 2013, according to reports by The Boston Globe. The company plans to continue to lease space at 10 St. James and 75 Arlington. Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen, Alex Foshay, William Anderson and David Martel of NGKF Capital Markets represented the seller in the transaction. John Butterworth, Tim Howe and Andrea DeSimone of CBRE’s New England office are in charge of leasing for the property. An agreement to continue their services has yet to be announced. Mori Trust Co. established its U.S. subsidiary, Mori America LLC, in November 2016. This acquisition is Mori Trust’s first in the United States. Mori Trust is a developer, owner and manager …

January 12, 2017

Features Top Stories

The Opportunities and Challenges of Buying Real Estate Portfolios

by Jeff Shaw January 12, 2017

Portfolio sales occupy their own unique category of commercial real estate transactions. The challenges, complexities and procedural nuances that make portfolio sales so distinctive also limit the number of parties that can make such purchases. In a standard commercial real estate transaction, familiar steps in a fairly standard process give prospective buyers plenty of time and opportunity to conduct their due diligence. From a buyer’s standpoint, there is little to no risk until your due diligence process is complete. You aren’t spending any money until you have the project under contract and, as long as you have the deal in hand, no one else can move on it. From the initial letter of intent through to the purchase agreement, and even up to the eventual closing, buyers can pull out of the deal for any number of reasons. Consequently, the overall obligation and financial exposure for prospective buyers is fairly minimal. Portfolio sales completely reverse the risk equation/analysis. The portfolio is marketed privately and the sale is conducted almost like a managed auction. Prospective buyers will typically submit letters of intent. Once the seller thinks they have a winner on the economics of the deal, they will move forward. Unlike a …

January 12, 2017

California Office Retail Top Stories Western

Kilroy Realty Corp. Buys The Sunset Mixed-Use Project in West Hollywood for $210M

by Nellie Day January 11, 2017

LOS ANGELES — Kilroy Realty Corp. has purchased The Sunset, a 179,000-square-foot mixed-use development in the West Hollywood submarket of Los Angeles, for $210 million. The property is located at 8560-8590 Sunset Blvd. on the famous Sunset Strip. The seller, Broadreach Capital Partners, acquired the asset from Apollo Real Estate in 2006 for $105 million. The Sunset occupies 2.2 acres along Sunset Boulevard. It features a 72,000-square-foot office tower and a three-building retail plaza atop a 107,000-square-foot subterranean parking structure. The transaction also includes three billboards atop the retail buildings that were fully leased in December 2016. The complex is 88 percent leased with a large fashion and health/fitness presence, including Equinox, SoulCycle, H&M and Oliver Peoples. The site previously held the headquarters for Playboy Entertainment. The Sunset is adjacent to CIM’s $365 million Sunset La Cienega mixed-use project, which will include residential units, a hotel and ground-floor retail space. HFF’s Ryan Gallagher, Michael Leggett, Bryan Ley, Andrew Harper and Tim Geiman represented Broadreach in the transaction. — Nellie Day

January 11, 2017

Florida Retail Southeast Top Stories

Women’s Retailer The Limited Closes Remaining 250 Stores

by John Nelson January 10, 2017

BOCA RATON, FLA. — Following last week’s announcement of massive store closures by Macy’s and Sears, The Limited is following suit, announcing over the weekend the closure of all its remaining 250 brick-and-mortar stores. The women’s apparel retailer posted a brief message on its website on Saturday reading “We’re sad to say that all The Limited stores nationwide have officially closed their doors. But this isn’t goodbye. The styles you love are still available online — we’re just a quick click away 24 hours a day.” Sun Capital Partners Inc., a Boca Raton-based private equity firm and owner of The Limited, has not issued a press release on the closure, but released a statement to Reuters citing “an increasingly challenging environment for mall-based retail and women’s apparel” as the catalyst for its decision to shutter the remaining stores. The move is expected to eliminate about 4,000 jobs, including 800 full-time positions, according to Reuters. The Limited Inc. was founded in 1963 in Columbus, Ohio, by Leslie “Les” Wexner, who now serves as the chairman and CEO of L Brands Inc. (NYSE: LB). Known for being a stylish alternative to department stores, The Limited grew to 100 stores by 1976 and …

January 10, 2017

Features Top Stories

Survey: 95 Percent of Foreign Investors Plan to Maintain or Boost U.S. Investment in 2017

by Jeff Shaw January 10, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The vast majority of foreign investors in U.S. real estate will either maintain or increase their level of investment from 2016 to 2017, according to a newly released survey conducted by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE). AFIRE is a Washington, D.C.-based organization assisting and representing foreign investors, with over 200 members from 22 countries. According to the organization’s survey, 95 percent of its members will spend the same or more on U.S. real estate in 2017 as they did in 2016. Members of AFIRE are among the largest international institutional real estate investors in the world and have an estimated $2 trillion in real estate assets under management globally. The survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2016 by the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate, Wisconsin School of Business. City-by-City Breakdown For the seventh year in a row, New York City was named the top U.S. investment city by AFIRE’s members, and for the third year in a row was No. 1 globally. The other top five U.S. cities, in order, were Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle and San Francisco. For the first time since the survey began in 1992, Washington, …

January 10, 2017

GSK Global Vaccine Centre, Rockville, Md.

Maryland Southeast Top Stories

BioMed Realty Sells 635,058 SF Research Facility in Maryland for $337.5M

by Jeff Shaw January 9, 2017

ROCKVILLE, MD. — BioMed Realty has sold the GSK Global Vaccine Centre, a three-building, 635,058-square-foot vaccine research and development facility in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Rockville, for $337.5 million. The buyer was not disclosed. Originally built in 2003, the facility is situated on a 28-acre site in the heart of the Interstate 270 corridor, known as “DNA Alley” for its high density of biotech companies. The location is near the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute Headquarters, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the University of Maryland Shady Grove Life Sciences Center and Johns Hopkins University Belward Campus. The GSK Global Vaccine Centre is fully leased to GSK, a subsidiary of British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, which announced its move into the property in December 2016. The campus will house up to 450 scientists and support staff working on 12 vaccine development programs, including potential vaccines for shingles, dengue fever, respiratory syncytial virus and Group B Streptococcus. The property is GSK’s third global vaccine center, following its existing facilities in Italy and Belgium. HFF’s Jim Meisel, Dek Potts, Andrew Weir, Stephen Conley and Matt Nicholson represented BioMed in the sale. Kevin MacKenzie, Cary Abod and Lee Redmond, also …

January 9, 2017

Retail Southeast Top Stories Virginia

O’Connor Capital Acquires 265,000 SF Shopping Center in Charlottesville, Virginia for $121.1M

by Kristin Harlow January 6, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — O’Connor Capital Partners has acquired The Shops at Stonefield in downtown Charlottesville, near the University of Virginia, for $121.1 million. The 265,000-square-foot lifestyle shopping center is located at the intersection of Hydraulic Road and Route 29. The Shops at Stonefield was nearly 90 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Trader Joe’s, lululemon athletica, Vineyard Vines, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, Brooks Brothers, Orvis, bluemercury and Regal Cinema. The shopping center was built in two phases in 2013 and 2016 and features a Costco, which was not part of the transaction. Concurrent with the acquisition, L.L. Bean has leased 15,000 square feet at the center with plans to occupy the space this summer. O’Connor Capital purchased the asset from Edens. Peter Bergner of O’Connor Capital’s Palm Beach office will handle leasing for The Shops at Stonefield. O’Connor Capital is an institutional real estate investment, management and development firm based in New York City. Edens develops, owns and operates community-oriented shopping places in primary markets across the country. — Kristin Hiller

January 6, 2017

Illinois Midwest Ohio Retail Top Stories

‘Challenging Retail Environment’ Prompts Macy’s, Sears to Shutter Stores

by John Nelson January 5, 2017

CINCINNATI AND HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. — Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) and Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) both announced on Wednesday plans to close a large number of department stores in an effort to improve their long-term operating performance. Macy’s will close 68 stores and Sears will close 150 non-profitable stores comprising 109 Kmart and 41 Sears locations. “We are taking strong, decisive actions today to stabilize the company and improve our financial flexibility in what remains a challenging retail environment,” says Edward Lampert, chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings. “We are committed to improving short-term operating performance in order to achieve our long-term transformation.” Jeff Green, president of Jeff Green Partners, a retail consultancy based in Phoenix that works with retailers and shopping center owners, suspects that the footprint of these department stores has contributed to the recent woes of Macy’s and Sears. “Department stores, by sheer definition, are oversized for this changing retail environment and may be a critical factor, though only one factor, in deciding which stores to close,” says Green. “It is interesting to see just how large some of the older stores on the Macy’s store closure list are. For example, two suburban stores to be …

January 5, 2017

Features Top Stories

Cushman & Wakefield U.S. Macro Forecast: Expect 2017 to be Stronger, Bumpier Than 2016

by John Nelson January 5, 2017

NEW YORK — Following a turbulent year in 2016, the U.S. economy and commercial real estate markets are positioned to perform well in 2017, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest U.S. Macro Forecast. The report provides Cushman & Wakefield’s forward-looking stance on the U.S. economy, commercial real estate and the risks/assumptions that underlie the forecast. “Even before the election, the U.S. economic fundamentals were showing signs of heating up,” said Kevin Thorpe, Cushman & Wakefield’s global chief economist. “We observed a big GDP number in the third quarter, accelerating wage growth, surging consumer confidence — a string of really robust trends were already forming. Now when you layer in the expected tax cuts and spending multipliers from the new administration, it creates an even stronger economic backdrop for the property markets heading into 2017.” Although it will take time for policy to form, Cushman & Wakefield expects that President-elect Trump, alongside a Republican-controlled House and Senate, will deliver fiscal stimulus measures that will further boost the U.S. economy and property markets. That said, Thorpe notes that some of the expected growth in fiscal policy will be negated by tighter monetary policy, higher interest rates, higher inflation and more global volatility. …

January 5, 2017

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