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RALEIGH, N.C. — Concord Hospitality Enterprises has sold a portfolio of 13 hotels in an all-cash transaction to companies owned by an unnamed global investment fund for approximately $240 million. The portfolio is comprised of 1,650 rooms representing 11 Marriott and two Hilton-branded hotels. “This sale is a continuation of our ongoing plan to strategically sell stabilized assets while retaining management,” says Mark Laport, president and CEO of Concord Hospitality. “This gives our investors an attractive return on their development investment while providing long-term, sustainable growth opportunities for the companies that buy these assets.” Concord Hospitality will continue to operate the hotels under a long-term management agreement. Mark Elliott of Hodges Ward Elliott was the lead broker in the transaction. The average age of all but one hotel is under five years old, and all were developed, rebranded or substantially updated by Concord according to Laport. “Each hotel is in excellent physical condition, and we are working closely with the brands to implement any necessary product improvement plans (PIPs) to ensure the hotels sustain strong RevPAR (revenue per available room) premiums well into the future,” says Laport. Concord Hospitality currently has 10 hotels under construction at a cost of approximately …

CHICAGO — Sumitomo Corp. of Americas (SCOA) has acquired the 581,107-square-foot office portion of a 27-story tower in downtown Chicago. The purchase price was undisclosed, but Crain’s Chicago Business listed the purchase price at $111.5 million. The trophy-class building is located at 203 N. LaSalle St. in downtown’s Central Loop district. The office space is situated on the 13th to 27th floors of the Class A, mixed-use building. The transaction did not include the retail space on the first and second levels, or the 10 levels of parking. The building offers convenient access to the Clark and Lake Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) station and the underground pedestrian walkway that spans the Loop. The tower is currently 87 percent leased. Notable tenants include DLA Piper, the University of Phoenix and Masuda Funai. Avison Young will serve as the tower’s exclusive leasing agent. The property is LEED-Gold certified and carries an Energy Star label. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the tower in 1985. The company plans to make improvements to the 29-year-old tower’s lobby and elevators. SCOA will also install tenant amenities, such as a fitness center. Though this is the firm’s first Chicago acquisition, SCOA plans to make future investments in …

SCHAUMBURG, ILL. — JLL has secured a $333 million loan for the development of Zurich North America’s new headquarters facility in Schaumburg, a Chicago suburb. The credit tenant lease (CTL) financing will fund the acquisition of 40 acres of land and construction of a 735,000-square-foot, build-to-suit office complex. Instead of owning its headquarters, the insurance company will lease the property from Atlanta-based Stonemont Financial Group, an investment firm specializing in single-tenant net leases for build-to-suits. “Zurich North America is a very strong credit tenant. This made the CTL financing extremely appealing to the lending community,” says Brion Haist, executive vice president of JLL’s Capital Markets division. “The loan is structured to align with the lease, benefiting both the landlord and the tenant.” The company’s current headquarters, comprised of two 20-story towers, is also in Schaumburg. The new facility, which Zurich will lease for 25 years from the time of opening, is slated for completion in late 2016. Clayco, with offices in Chicago and St. Louis, is serving as lead developer and design-builder on the project. Goettsch Partners, also based in Chicago, is designing the core and shell of the property, as well as the parking structures. New York-based CannonDesign is …

ALEXANDRIA, VA. — Lowe Enterprises will develop a new 704,571-square-foot headquarters building for the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Alexandria. USAA Real Estate Co., which owns the two-acre site on which the headquarters will be built, purchased the land from Hoffman Co. LLC and named Lowe Enterprises as project developer. The NSF will occupy 94 percent of the Class A office property upon completion of the project in late 2016. The headquarters building is pre-leased to the General Services Administration on behalf of the NSF for a term of 15 years. The NSF headquarters building will consist of two interconnected towers, 19 stories and 14 stories, with dual cores off a main entrance lobby at grade level; 19,437 square feet of retail space; and 375 parking spaces on three subterranean levels. The new building will be part of Hoffman Town Center’s master planned development in the Alexandria neighborhood of Carlyle. Lowe Enterprises will assume building management responsibilities once the building is constructed. Architect WDG has been selected to design the project. Balfour Beatty will serve as the general contractor. “We are thrilled to be working on this signature project and furthering our relationship with USAA,” …

ORLANDO, FLA. ­— Parkway Properties (NYSE: PKY) has acquired One Orlando Centre, a 356,000-square-foot Class A office building in Orlando, and simultaneously restructured the existing first mortgage loan. The purchase price was $62 million, according to the company. The seller was undisclosed. One Orlando Centre, known locally as the Wells Fargo building, is a 19-story office tower in the Orlando central business district. It includes an eight-story structured parking garage. Other onsite amenities include 24-hour security, full-service bank with drive-thru tellers and walk-up ATM, and a café. The property is 81 percent occupied and generates an initial full-year cash net operating income yield of 7 percent. Following this acquisition, Parkway Properties will own approximately 23 percent of the Class A inventory in the submarket in which the tower is located. Parkway has taken ownership of the asset by making an $8 million equity investment. In addition to the equity investment, the existing $68.3 million first mortgage note was restructured into a new $54 million first mortgage and $16.4 million B-note. “The acquisition of One Orlando Centre represents a creatively structured, off-market transaction that enables Parkway to strengthen its portfolio in a targeted submarket at an attractive basis,” says James Heistand, …

SAN FRANCISCO — Cloud computing giant salesforce.com has entered into a lease agreement for 714,000 square feet at the new Salesforce Tower, a 1.4 million-square-foot office building under construction in San Francisco. The 61-story tower is located at 415 Mission St. in the South Financial District and will be the hub of salesforce.com’s urban campus. According to the project’s developer, Boston Properties Inc., a Boston-based real estate investment trust, salesforce.com’s lease is the largest office lease in San Francisco’s history. Boston Properties and its co-development partner, Hines, expect to complete the building in early 2017 for a projected total cost of roughly $1.1 billion. “Salesforce Tower represents an incredible milestone in our company’s history —it will be the heart of our global headquarters in San Francisco,” says Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. “We founded salesforce.com in San Francisco 15 years ago, and this expansion of our urban campus represents our commitment to growing in the city.” The tech company, best known for its customer relationship management (CRM) software, will occupy floors 1, 3-30 and 61 in the building, which was formerly known as Transbay Tower. The office tower is pre-certified LEED Platinum and will feature 100 percent outside …

MIAMI — Parkway Properties (NYSE: PKY) has acquired Courvoisier Centre, a 346,000-square-foot office complex in Miami, for $145.8 million. The two-building, Class A complex is located at 501 and 601 Brickell Key Drive on Brickell Key Island in Biscayne Bay, which is 400 feet off the coast of downtown Miami. The seller was an affiliate of Swire Properties. Courvoisier Centre is the only office complex on Brickell Key, an exclusive gated island that contains high-end luxury condominiums and the five-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Spa. “The acquisition of Courvoisier Centre supports our strategy of acquiring best-in-class assets within the strongest submarkets across the Sunbelt,” says James Heistand, Parkway's president and CEO. “A heavy emphasis on multifamily development within the Brickell submarket has limited the amount of available supply of Class A office assets, which has enabled Brickell to achieve the highest rental rates in Miami.” The seven-story, 97,087-square-foot Courvoisier Centre I was completed in 1986. The 12-story, 207,489-square-foot Courvoisier Centre II and the adjacent parking garage and 22,084-square-foot retail component were completed in 1990. The complex includes banking facilities, a gourmet grocery, dry cleaner and other retail amenities. Courvoisier Centre underwent a $10 million renovation in 2013. The buildings are …

WASHINGTON, D.C. — First Potomac Realty Trust (NYSE: FPO) has acquired 1401 K Street, a 117,093-square-foot office building in Washington, D.C., for $58 million. The property, also known as The Tower Building, is included in the National Register of Historic Places. Completed in 1929, the 12-story Art Deco structure was 88 percent leased to 22 tenants at the time of the sale. First Potomac’s acquisition included the assumption of $37.3 million in existing secured mortgage debt, while the remainder will be funded through a draw on the company’s revolving line of credit. “We are very pleased to add 1401 K to our portfolio,” says Nicholas Smith, CIO of First Potomac. “This iconic building fits in nicely with our strategic plan to acquire, own and operate high-quality office properties in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.” Designed by architect Robert Beresford, 1401 K Street was the first Art Deco building in Washington, D.C. and the tallest high-rise in the city upon its opening. The structure still ranks among the 10 tallest buildings in the city. Located adjacent to Franklin Square, one of D.C.’s largest downtown parks, 1401 K Street offers access to the red, blue and orange Metro lines, as well as …

NAPERVILLE, ILL. — Select Income REIT (NYSE: SIR) has acquired 1415 West Diehl Road, a five-story, Class A office property for approximately $187.5 million, excluding closing costs, in a sale-leaseback transaction. Tellabs Inc., an optical networking firm, entered into a 15-year lease for use of the property as its corporate headquarters. The cap rate, based on current in-place net operating income, including straight-line rents, is approximately 8.7 percent. The property, constructed in 2001 and located in Naperville’s East West Corridor adjacent to Interstate 88, is approximately 820,000 square feet. Its amenities include parking structures, a Starbucks, fitness and convenience centers, and a convenience store. Naperville, located 30 miles west of Chicago, is frequently listed among Money magazine’s “100 Best Places to Live.” It has been awarded the highest bond rating available, the AAA rating, by both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s for the past 19 years. Select Income REIT, based in Newton, Mass., funded the purchase with cash on hand and borrowings under its unsecured revolving credit facility. “We are excited to have identified and executed this sale-leaseback transaction with a terrific long-term tenant,” says David Blackman, president and COO of Select Income REIT. “1415 West Diehl Road is a …