DENVER — Starwood Capital Group and East West Partners have announced plans to develop a $190 million office building in Denver’s Union Station neighborhood. The 250-foot-tall building will be known by its address, 16 Chestnut. The property will have frontage along both 16th and 17th streets. DaVite HealthCare Partners will be the first tenant. The kidney care provider will expand upon its current space, which is across the street. It will occupy about 265,000 square feet. DaVita will also have its own entrance and lobby. “When we moved to Denver, we knew we would commit to the city, to the state and to the community,” says Kent Thiry, DaVita’s chairman and CEO. “Today’s announcement of another DaVita building downtown, developed with East West Partners and Starwood Capital Group, cements that commitment.” Construction will begin in July 2016 and is scheduled for completion in October 2018. DaVita is scheduled to occupy the new space in August 2018. The remaining space will become available for lease in January 2016. The project is targeting LEED-Platinum certification. Gensler will design the building, with BuildMark providing construction management services. A general contractor has not yet been named. The development is situated adjacent to the South …
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RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $120 million sale of The Meadows Office Complex in Rutherford. In a joint venture, Onyx Equities and SL Green sold the 600,000-square-foot property to an undisclosed buyer. The office complex, which consists of two buildings, is located at the intersection of Route 3 and the N.J. Turnpike. This makes The Meadows one of northern New Jersey’s few high-rise office towers outside of the Hudson Waterfront and the Newark Central Business District. “The purchaser secured one of the highest-quality assets in the Meadowlands market at a good basis, at a time when market fundamentals are improving,” says Gary Gabriel, executive vice president of Capital Markets for Cushman & Wakefield. “These buildings are eight miles from Manhattan and within a 45-minute drive of 12.5 million people. As rents in the city and along the Hudson Waterfront continue to increase, the Meadowlands remains a relative value. And with the completion of Secaucus Junction station, we have seen a distinct shift to the type of 24/7, mass transit-focused community desired by today’s employers and employees.” The Meadows is 90 percent leased, and tenants include MALO, Sony Music Entertainment, SGS North America and Shiseido Americas. The …
SAN DIEGO — BioMed Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: BMR) has entered into a definitive agreement with affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII, under which Blackstone will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of BioMed Realty for $23.75 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $8 billion. BioMed Realty Trust’s stock price closed Wednesday, Oct. 7 at $21.58 per share. BioMed Realty’s board of directors has unanimously approved the transaction. San Diego-based BioMed Realty Trust owns or has interests in properties comprising approximately 18.8 million rentable square feet. The majority of the company’s holdings are located in Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, New York and Maryland. “Demand for high-quality, institutional real estate to support the unprecedented growth of the life science industry is at historic levels as demand is outpacing supply in all of our core innovation districts,” says Alan Gold, chairman, president and CEO of BioMed Realty. “However, we believe that the public markets are not adequately valuing our assets and proven business model. Entering into this transaction with Blackstone fulfills our board of directors’ mission to maximize stockholder value.” The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, is contingent upon the …
U.S. Office Asking Rents Growing at Fastest Pace in Seven Years, Says Cushman & Wakefield
by John Nelson
NEW YORK — Tenant demand for U.S. office space remained strong in the third quarter of 2015, pushing average asking rental rates up in three-fourths of the country, according to new research by Cushman & Wakefield. Office rents in the U.S. increased 3.1 percent in the third quarter on a year-over-year basis — the strongest quarterly gain since peaking in 2008. Average asking office rents rose in 60 out of the 80 metros tracked, and the construction pipeline continued to expand. In the third quarter of 2015, there was 107.5 million square feet of new office construction, up 25 percent compared to the same quarter one year ago. Kevin Thorpe, Cushman & Wakefield’s chief economist, says the U.S. office sector continues on a strong, steady path despite a number of global economic headwinds. “There were plenty of reasons for the office metrics to slump this quarter: financial market volatility, China’s economic slowdown, the rapid appreciation of the U.S. dollar, uncertainty regarding monetary policy, along with the possibility of a government shutdown,” says Thorpe. “But what we are learning is that the U.S. economy and the property markets are proving, time and time again, to be resilient in the face of …
TEMPE, ARIZ. — Vestar, a privately held retail real estate company, and AEW Capital Management, have partnered to acquire Tempe Marketplace for $367 million. Vestar previously owned the 1.3 million-square-foot, open-air retail center with Rockwood Capital, which is exiting its investment after a five-year hold. AEW acquired the property on behalf of the AEW Core Property Trust. The deal closed Oct. 6. “We have a great long-standing relationship with AEW and are excited that their vision for Tempe Marketplace matches ours,” says Rick Kuhle, Vestar chairman and CEO. “Rockwood has been an exemplary capital partner for us. We look forward to working with them on future ventures.” Vestar opened Tempe Marketplace in 2007 and Rockwood Capital joined as a joint venture partner in 2010. The center offers shopping, dining and entertainment. Tempe Marketplace is fully occupied, with new tenants including F21 red (Forever 21’s new concept store), H&M and Nordstrom Rack. “We are excited about the investment as we believe the center will continue to benefit from the nearby Arizona State University campus as well as State Farm’s move of 7,000 professionals to a property that is adjacent to Tempe Marketplace,” says Dan Bradley, senior portfolio manager for AEW Core …
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE: SKT) has closed on the sale of five non-core outlet centers to an undisclosed buyer for a total cash sales price of $150.7 million in two separate transactions. The five properties are located in Barstow, Calif.; Kittery, Maine (two properties); Tuscola, Ill.; and West Branch, Mich. The fully occupied, 171,300-square-foot Tanger Outlet Barstow sold for $106.7 million. The 89 percent-occupied Tuscola, West Branch and Kittery centers traded for $44 million. The Barstow center sold at an estimated capitalization rate of 5.8 percent, while the other four properties traded at a cap rate of 10.4 percent. “These centers have an average age of approximately 24 years compared to our remaining portfolio average of 16 years,” says Steven Tanger, president and CEO of Tanger Factory Outlet Centers. “Because of the potential upcoming capital expenditures necessary to enhance these centers, as well as changes within each market, we no longer felt these assets could produce the growth in long-term internal cash flow and tenant sales that we are expecting within our core portfolio.” While the Barstow center is performing at a high level today, Tanger says it was an outlier in its portfolio given …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Reserve’s recent decision to delay any increase in short-term interest rates appears to have been the correct call in hindsight based on last Friday’s disappointing news that total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by only 142,000 in September, says economist Robert Bach. But the lackluster September jobs report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also complicates the Fed’s task of communicating its plans to the financial markets, adds Bach, director of research for the Americas at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. “Fed Chairman Janet Yellen recently stated she thought the Fed might still raise interest rates this year, but that is less plausible if the economy remains in a soft patch,” explains Bach. The Federal Reserve’s target for the fed funds rate — the interest rate at which banks and other depository institutions lend to each other on an overnight basis — has been between 0 and 0.25 percent since December 2008. The fed funds rate serves as a baseline for other interest rates. Ryan Severino, senior economist and director of research at New York-based Reis, says that based on the latest jobs data “we are probably looking at December, if not 2016,” …
LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK CITY — HBS Global Properties has purchased the 41-property Galeria Kaufhof portfolio that is valued at $3 billion. The portfolio consists of marquee retail locations across the United States and Germany. The seller was Metro Group. The buy contains flagship department stores in Beverly Hills, Calif.; the greater New York area; as well as Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt, Germany. It also contains properties in other metropolitan and suburban centers. Galeria Kaufhof is the leading department store chain in Germany and Belgium. The properties generate annual cash rents of $274 million. This gives the portfolio a value of about $4.8 billion based on a blended cap rate of 5.75 percent. HBS Global Properties is a real estate joint venture between Hudson’s Bay Co. and Simon Property Group. Lee Neibart, CEO of HBS Global Properties, will oversee the newly acquired portfolio, with support from Hudson’s Bay Co. and Simon. “With the close of the acquisition, HBS Global Properties is taking an important step forward in its next chapter of growth,” says Richard Baker, chairman of HBS. “This joint venture will benefit from a strong foundation of HBC properties, now including GALERIA Kaufhof, whose tremendous value has been …
NEW YORK CITY — Meridian Capital Group has arranged a $592 million financing for the purchase of 24 multifamily properties located throughout New York City. The loan was made on behalf of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII and Fairstead Capital. The portfolio consists of 979 units with properties located in the Upper East Side, Chelsea, Midtown West, Midtown South and Murray Hill in Manhattan. The five-year loan, provided by a balance sheet lender, features a LIBOR-based floating rate and interest-only payments for the full term. Drew Anderman of Meridian Capital Group negotiated the transaction.
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — The Macerich Co. (NYSE: MAC) has formed joint ventures to which the company will contribute interests in eight regionals malls totaling roughly $2.3 billion. GIC will have a 40 percent interest in five of the assets, and Heitman will have a 49 percent interest in the remaining three assets. The transactions are expected to close in phases starting in October 2015 and concluding in the first quarter of 2016. “We are pleased to have entered into these transactions with two very well-regarded investment partners on this cross-section of assets from the Macerich portfolio,” says Arthur Coppola, chairman and CEO of Macerich. “The expansion of our long-standing relationship with leading real estate investment management specialist Heitman and the beginning of a new one with GIC, one of the world’s premier global investment funds, validates the strength of the Macerich operating platform and demonstrates the demand for high-quality regional mall assets, while also providing the company with significant capital to create additional shareholder value.” Macerich sold a 40 percent interest to GIC for the following five assets: • Arrowhead Town Center in Glendale, Ariz. • Lakewood Center in Lakewood, Calif. • Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, Calif. • …