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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The long-in-waiting redevelopment of the former D.C. convention center site has finally gotten started. The groundbreaking ceremony has been held for the $700 million City Center DC mixed-use project. The project is being developed by a joint venture between Houston-based Hines and Colorado-based Archstone. It will be built on a 10-acre site bounded by New York Avenue and 9th, H, and 11th streets. Phase I construction will include six buildings surrounding a central pedestrian plaza. The buildings will collectively contain 520,000 square feet of office space, 458 rental apartments, 216 condominiums and 185,000 square feet of street-level retail space. They will sit atop 1,555 below-grade parking spaces. Substantial completion of the phase is slated for the end of 2013. A planned second phase of the project will add a 350-room hotel and 110,000 square feet of retail space. The developers, along with master plan designer Foster + Partners and architect-of-record Shalom Baranes Associates, have designed the project with sustainability in mind. The project will participate in the U.S. Green Building Council's new LEED-Neighborhood Development program. In addition, the office component of the project is pre-certified LEED-Gold, and the residential component is pre-certified LEED-Silver. Architectural renderings of City …

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Washington Real Estate Investment Trust acquired an eight-story, 130,434-square-foot office building located at 1227 25th St. in Washington, D.C., for $47 million from Vornado Realty Trust. The building is currently 72 percent leased to the GSA and law firm tenants, sits adjacent to another WREIT office building located at 2445 M Street, which was acquired in 2008. The building also contains a two level parking garage. WREIT hopes to lease out the rest of the building soon. Jim Meisel and Derek Potts of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler’s D.C. office brokered the deal on behalf of the seller. WREIT represented itself. The acquisition was funded using available cash and their line of credit. ?? This is not the first property WRIT has purchased in the D.C. area this year. In January the company bought another 12 story, 184,135-square-foot office building located at 1140 Connecticut Ave. for $80.25 million. ?? Currently, WREIT owns 87 properties, which consist of 27 office properties, 16 industrial/flex properties, 18 medical office properties, 15 retail centers and 11 multifamily properties. In 2010, WREIT announced it’s plans to sell off it’s 2.95 million square feet of industrial properties, preferably in a portfolio, in order to fund …

NORTH LAS VEGAS, NEV. — Irvine, Calif.-based Thompson National Properties has acquired a North Las Vegas retail center for $12.8 million. The property was purchased from an undisclosed seller at a 44 percent discount from the property's original loan balance. The purchase price equates to an 8.09 percent capitalization rate. Craig Promenade was constructed in 2005 and is located in the city's Craig Road corridor. It totals 109,250 square feet and was 77.5 percent occupied at the time of closing. Big Lots anchors the center; additional tenants include Party Pro, Carl's Jr., MetroPCS and Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen. In addition to the 91,750-square-foot building, the center contains 17,500 square feet of raw land that could be sold, ground leased or developed. Thompson National Properties plans to fund the purchase with proceeds from its 2010 public offering as well as from its existing line of credit with KeyBank. The acquisition was made on behalf of TNP Strategic Retail Trust, an investment fund that targets drugstore- and grocery-anchored, multi-tenant, necessity retail properties. Craig Promenade is the fund's fifth purchase. Thompson National Properties already has retail holdings in the Las Vegas market including Buffalo Square, a 176,508-square-foot center located at 7500 W. Washington Ave. …

EL PASO AND DALLAS, TEXAS — El Paso-based Hunt Cos. and Dallas-based Pinnacle Family of Companies have completed an agreement in which the vast majority of a military housing portfolio owned by the two companies will be transferred to Hunt. The two companies own 10,000 units of housing developed under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI). As part of the agreement, ownership of 8,000 of the units will be transfered to Hunt. The remaining 2,000 units will be unaffected in the near term. The units are contained within 13 projects located at air force bases across the country. The bases include Maxwell AFB in Alabama; Little Rock AFB in Arkansas; Bolling AFB in the District of Columbia; Patrick AFB in Florida; Moody AFB in Georgia; Barksdale AFB in Louisiana; Hanscom AFB in Massachusetts; Columbus AFB in Mississippi; Vance AFB in Oklahoma; Goodfellow, Laughlin and Randolph bases in Texas; and Langley AFB in Virginia. ??In a joint press release, the two companies stated that they will not pursue joint venture projects with each other from this point forward. However, both companies will continue to pursue MHPI projects independently as well as compete against each other on projects. Pinnacle will continue to …

NEWARK, N.J. — The Berger Organization has acquired a controlling interest in a 200,000-square-foot office tower located in downtown Newark. The property is located at 570 Broad Street, across from Washington Square Park. It is also a short distance from two New Jersey transit stations as well as the campuses of Seton Hall and Rutgers universities. The 15-story tower was originally constructed in 1960 as the New Jersey headquarters for IBM. It was later occupied by First State National Bank and sat vacant for several years before the previous owner acquired it in 2004 and completed renovations. Current tenants include State Farm Insurance, Chase Manhattan, Atlantic Federal Credit Union, PC Tech and LycaTech. The building's ground level contains retail space. “The building is a Newark landmark, and we are pleased to add this outstanding property to our growing portfolio in the City of Newark,” said Miles Berger, chairman and CEO of The Berger Organization, in a statement. “Our plans are to reposition the building in the Newark office market, re-establishing it as a first-class, Class A building.” Mr. Berger goes on to say that a conference room and a fitness center will be added in the near future. Renovations will …

DALLAS — AREA Property Partners has sold a Dallas office tower for $64.4 million. Northpark Central is a 491,803-square-foot office tower located at the intersection of North Central Expressway and Northwest Highway. The property was constructed in 1984 and was 91 percent leased at the time of closing. According to the press releases, the buyer was an undisclo pension fund, which made the acquisition on behalf of one of its value enhancement investment funds. Local reports are claiming the buyer to be Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, an investment subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. The reports go on to say that Cornerstone has tapped Transwestern to lease and manage the property. Jones Lang LaSalle's Dallas office arranged the sale on behalf of AREA. The brokerage team included Evan Stone, John Alvarado and Jack Crews. “Northpark Central's superior location, premium quality and numerous property amenities were strong draws for tenants seeking a best-in-class office environmental in the north Dallas market,” said Steven Wolf, partner and head of portfolio management and U.S. Value Enhancement Funds for AREA, in a statement. “Our diligent asset management and leasing efforts were successful in stabilizing the property and positioning it for sale to investors seeking …

PHOENIX — The University of Phoenix has completed a $170 million sale-leaseback of its headquarters campus, located within Phoenix's Riverpoint submarket. The buyer was local REIT Cole Real Estate Investments. The University of Phoenix campus, which is owned by the school's parent company, Apollo Group, is located two miles south of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and four miles southeast of downtown Phoenix. The campus comprises three mid-rise office towers totaling approximately 600,000 square feet as well as two parking decks. It was constructed as a build-to-suit for the school in 2007 and was renovated in 2008. The school occupies the facility on a 20-year, triple-net lease that expires in 2031. Bill Broms and Robert Micera provided in-house representation on behalf of Cole in the deal. Cole Real Estate has already acquired more than $300 million in retail, office and industrial properties so far this year as part of an aggressive acquisition strategy. The REIT plans to purchase $3 billion in real estate assets in 2011. — Coleman Wood

NEW ORLEANS, LA. — The State of Louisiana has awarded a preconstruction contract to national contractor Skanska USA Building and Louisiana-based MAPP Construction for a new $1.2 billion hospital campus in the Mid-City submarket of New Orleans. The companies plan to start work on the site in June. Plans for the new University Medical Center call for four major structures. At the center will be a 424-bed, 560,000-square-foot teaching hospital. Adjoining it will be a 746,982-square-foot diagnostic and treatment center. Adjacent to the two buildings will be a 254,765-square-foot ambulatory care building. The medical campus will be serviced by a 1,346-car parking deck. Further details about the project were not available. The project architect is NBBJ. According to local reports, financing will primarily be sought through a $400 million bond sale, which the project's governing board is currently pursuiing. A spokesperson for Skanska claims the completion date for the project is February 2014 but local reports state the project will not be complete until spring 2015. University Medical Center is being built to replace Charity Hospital, which was shuttered in 2005 after suffering massive damage during Hurricane Katrina. — Coleman Wood

TEXAS — Granite Properties has sold a 1.25 million-square-foot industrial property to Cabot Properties for an undisclosed amount. The portfolio consists of 11 properties located in Houston and Dallas. It includes 24 buildings constructed between 1978 and 2008. The buildings range in size from 70,388 square feet to 228,900 square feet. The average occupancy was 79.8 percent at the time of closing. The sale was part of a larger 16-property portfolio that Granite brought to market as a way to divest of its industrial holdings. The other five properties were sold last December. Granite currently controls a portfolio totaling more than 8.5 million square feet of office and retail space. The Holliday Fenoglio Fowler team of Rusty Tamlyn, Trent Agnew, Randy Baird, Jud Clements and Robby Rieke represented the seller in the deal. The acquisition price could not be released. — Coleman Wood