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PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. — Port Washington-based retail REIT Cedar Shopping Centers has entered into an agreement to sell substantially all of its Ohio assets for $45 million. The buyer is Canton, Ohio-based Nickleplate Realty Trust. Cedar entered into the sale as a way to divest itself of smaller properties in secondary markets. Seventeen properties ranging in size from 3,200 square feet to 57,689 square feet were included in the sale. Fourteen of the centers are anchored by Discount Drug Market. Two properties are anchored by First Merit Bank, and the remaining property is anchored by Levin Furniture. The portfolio totals 690,715 square feet. According to a press release, two of the properties have already closed. However, their names were not disclosed. The remaining properties will close by the third quarter of this year. Once the transaction is complete, Cedar will only own three properties in the state: two CVS/pharmacy locations in Akron and Celina, and a Rite Aid located in Massillon. Cedar plans to use the proceeds from the sale to pay down the approximately $30 million in debt remaining on the properties. In a statement, Cedar Chairman and CEO Leo Ullman said that the REIT's acquisition strategy moving forward …

GAITHERBURG, MD. — CB Richard Ellis Investors has purchased One Washingtonian Center from LaSalle Investment Management for an undisclosed amount. The property is a 315,929-square-foot office building located in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Gaithersburg. The property's anchor tenant is Sodexo Inc., which occupies over half of the space as its North American headquarters. According to additional reports, the property was approximately 85 percent occupied at the time of the sale. The building recently Platinum-certified through the LEED for Existing Buildings program. it benefits from a prime location within Washingtonian Center, an 800,000-square-foot lifestyle center. It is also situated directly off of Interstate 270. The Cassidy Turley team of Paul Collins, Drew Flood, James Cassidy and Jud Ryan represented LaSalle in the deal. — Coleman Wood

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council has approved plans for The Vermont, a new high-rise apartment project that will be located at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles. This finals approval follow last week's unanimous approval from the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. The Vermont will be developed by J.H. Snyder Co. on two acres. Construction will include two towers that will be 22 and 28 stories tall. The project will contain a total of 464 residents as well as 41,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space that will be occupied by restaurants, a grocer, a bank, a dry cleaners and a coffee house. Community amenities will include underground parking, a full-service concierge, lounge-style workspace, a swimming pool, a fitness center and a spa. The two buildings will surround a quarter-acre central courtyard, and the project will contain 12,000 square feet of public open space along Wilshire Boulevard. Construction is expected to begin by the end of the year, and the building will be complete by 2013. The Vermont will be seeking LEED-Silver certification. As part of the project, J.H. Snyder will also be partnering with the community to construct 96 affordable housing …

NEW YORK CITY — Investment management firm Invesco Real Estate has purchased The Elektra from JP Morgan Investment Management for an undisclosed amount. The property is a 32-story apartment tower located at 290 Third Ave. in Manhattan's Gramercy neighborhood. Constructed in 1992 and renovated in 2008, The Elektra contains a total of 166 apartments and approximately 5,250 square feet of street-level retail space. The apartments comprise a mix of studio through two-bedroom residences with an average unit size of 701 square feet. Community amenities include a 24-hour attended lobby, a rooftop sky deck, a health club and laundry facilities. The residential space was 95 percent occupied at the time of closing and the retail space was fully leased. The acquisition price could not be released, but the deal did involve Invesco assuming the property's existing debt. The Holliday Fenoglio Fowler team of Andrew Scandalios, Jose Cruz, Jeff Julien and Kevin O'Hearn represented JP Morgan in the deal. “We are happy to add The Elektra, a rare find with both market-rate units and market-rate taxes, to our New York City portfolio,” said Todd Bassen, senior acquisitions director with Invesco, in a statement. “This is the firm's first multifamily property we've owned …

CALIFORNIA AND OKLAHOMA — Hanley Investment Group has arranged the sale of five freestanding Walgreens locations for a total of more than $34 million. Four of the properties are located in Southern California, with the remaining property being located in Oklahoma. The properties traded in five separate deals. “Buyer demand remains consistent for triple-net, single-tenant investments, with Walgreens being the most attractive, primarily due to their strong credit,” said Edward Hanley, president of Hanley Investment Group, in a statement. “We expect the demand for triple-net, single-tenant investments to continue as investors find this type of asset easy to manage while offering protection from rising inflation.” The first Walgreens is a 13,961-square-foot building located at 670 N. Lake Ave. in Pasadena. The property was constructed in 1980. The buyer, a private investor, purchased the property all-cash as part of a 1031 exchange. The seller was also an undisclosed private investor. According to McChesney, the property traded at the lowest cap rate of any single-tenant Walgreens in Southern California since 2008. In the second transaction, Kent partnered with Hanley's Eric Wohl to broker the sale of a Walgreens located in Orange County. The buyer and the seller were undisclosed private investors. Additional …

KIRKLAND, WASH. — Los Angeles-based REIT Kilroy Realty Corp. has purchased the Plaza Yarrow Bay office campus from Seattle-based HAL Real Estate Investments. According to local reports, the property traded for approximately $100 million. Plaza Yarrow Bay is located along Points Drive in Kirkland, within the Puget Sound Technology Corridor. Constructed in 1993, the property consists of four buildings containing approximately 280,000 square feet of space. Amenities include a fitness center, a conference center and Poppinjay's Café at Plaza Yarrow Bay. The campus is surrounded by the 52-acre Yarrow Bay Wetlands. According to the website for Kidder Mathews, which leases the property, Plaza Yarrow Bay is currently 86 percent leased. However, local reports put that number at 92 percent. Reports indicate that Kilroy assumed $30 million in mortgage debt as part of the transaction. The REIT owns another property in the state, the 122,103-square-foot Overlake Office Center, which is located in Redmond. The REIT controls approximately 25.7 million square feet of office and industrial space, the vast majority of which is located in California. — Coleman Wood

WALNUT CREEK, CALIF. — Construction is complete for the $612 million expansion of the Walnut Creek campus of John Muir Medical Center. Designed by Ratcliff and built by Clark Construction Co., the project adds 380,000 square feet to the existing 324-bed medical center The Tom and Billie Long Patient Care Tower features 242 patient beds. It includes a 24,000-square-foot expansion to the emergency department that contains an additional 44 rooms. Other components include three inpatient surgical suites, a new 35-room neonatal intensive care unit and a rooftop helipad with a high-speed elevator. A 780-space parking deck and a 20,000-square-foot central utility plant were also built. The project contains several sustainable features. Six rooftop gardens were created for patients, visitors and staff. Low-VOC interior building materials help maintain indoor air quality. Abundant windows provide natural daylighting throughout the building. Finally, intelligent building systems increase efficiency, and the building's utility plans co-generates a portion of the campus' electricity. “Every single detail of this project — from interior design to maximizing access to the ourdoors, to parking and way-finding — was designed to help this highly respected hospital and their incredible medical team continue to deliver great care while improving efficiency,” said Kit …

AKRON, OHIO — With the turn of a shovel earlier this week, the revitalization of Goodyear's Akron headquarters began. The groundbreaking was held on Monday for the company's new seven-story, 639,000-square-foot global headquarters. If this seems much smaller than the company's current headquarters building, that's because it its. Goodyear's current headquarters is more than double the size at 1.4 million square feet. However, the tire manufacturer does not have as large a presence in Ohio as it used to and no longer has need for this building as well as several others on its sprawling 480-acre campus. Last year, Goodyear contracted with Los Angeles-based Industrial Realty Group (IRG) to redevelop the campus and reduce its footprint. Goodyear sold most of the buildings to IHG, which plans to redevelop the unused ones. The developer will also build the new headquarters, which will be located adjacent to Goodyear's existing Innovation Center. Once construction is complete, which is expected in 2013, Goodyear will relocate to the new building and IRG will take over its former headquarters building. Goodyear will lease the new building through 2038 and have extension options running through 2093. Its overall campus size will be reduced to approximately 216 acres. …

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. — Douglas Emmett Inc. has purchased a Beverly Hills office building from New York-based investment firm Brickman for $42 million. The property traded at a price of approximately $570 per square foot. The three-story, Class A property is located at 150 S. Rodeo Drive, less than a block from the intersection of Rodeo and Wilshire Boulevard. Constructed in 1991, it totals 73,753 square feet. It features a grand marble lobby, a 53-seat screening room and a rooftop deck. Cushman & Wakefield's Capital Markets Group, led by Marc Renard, represented Brickman in the deal. In a statement Renard said, “The irreplaceable nature of the asset, combined with the high barriers to entry in this market, generated global investor interest.” Bruce Brickman, president of Brickman, added that many of the potential buyers were also institutional firms. — Coleman Wood