NEW YORK CITY — Cushman & Wakefield reported from its mid-year 2011 statistics that the second quarter marked the largest quarterly decline in the overall average vacancy rate since 2007 for the U.S. Central Business District (CBD) office market nationwide. The overall average vacancy rate for U.S. CBDs fell to 13.9 percent at mid-year 2011, down 0.7 percentage points from 14.6 percent at the end of the first quarter of this year. This markets its lowest level since mid-year 2009, when vacancy measured 13.7 percent. Vacancy rates declined in 71 percent of the markets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield, with the strongest drops in markets including Miami, Midtown South Manhattan and Washington, D.C. LOWEST NATIONAL VACANCY RATES Source: Cushman & Wakefield * Indicates change in “percentage points” from prior quarter (not percent) “Though the recovery is muted especially with respect to employment growth, there is pent up demand,” says Maria Sicola, executive managing director and head of Americas Research for Cushman & Wakefield. “With corporate profits going up especially in the technology sector, activity is picking up in anticipation of continued growth.” The trigger for the significant decline in vacancy was a notable increase in new leasing activity in U.S. …
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TYSONS CORNER, VA. — Lerner Enterprises of Rockville, Md., plans to break ground this week on construction of 1775 Tysons Boulevard, an 18-story, 476,000 square-foot Class A office tower located in The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II in Tysons Corner. The building will be Lerner‘s fifth office property within the mixed-use development, situated footsteps from the new Tysons I & II Metro Station scheduled to open in 2013. Occupancy is projected for the first quarter of 2014. “The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II is the most prestigious address in the Washington, D.C. Metro region and is home to some of the most successful businesses in America,” said Mark D. Lerner, a principal of Lerner Enterprises. “With our nearly 50 years of experience in Tysons Corner and overall confidence in the area‘s new comprehensive plan, 1775 Tysons Boulevard is being developed as a spec building, as was the case with our other four successful office buildings at Tysons II.” Within 1775 Tysons Boulevard, typical office floors will be approximately 30,000 square feet of highly efficient space featuring exceptional views. Retail opportunities include a fine dining restaurant up to 7,000 square feet, a 2,100 square foot café, and approximately 6,000 …
ATLANTA — Czarnowski Display Service Inc. has completed lease negotiations to take the entire 569,674-square-foot Hartman V distribution building at 7545 Hartman Industrial Way in Austell, Ga., located at the Hartman Business Center in the I-20 West submarket of Atlanta (pictured below). Jones Lang LaSalle represented the landlord, Founders Properties, in the deal. The lease will allow Czarnowski to consolidate its existing Atlanta area office, distribution and light production space into Hartman V. The company provides clients tradeshow exhibit and marketing services including design and fabrication, exhibit installation, dismantling, transportation, and rental services. Czarnowski also provides integrated marketing and consulting services, assisting its customers with brand development, tracking and management. Czarnowski will take occupancy of Hartman V in phases beginning in mid-September to early-October, and its build out of the property will include 34,900 square feet of office space and 78,600 square feet of production space. Warehouse space will total 456,174 square feet. Duane Wood of RDW Companies Inc. provided leasing and construction management services on behalf of the building ownership. RDW Construction Co. LLC will serve as the general contractor for the tenant improvements. Chris Tomasulo and Steve Grable, senior vice presidents at Jones Lang LaSalle, represented Founders, while …
HOUSTON — Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT) has acquired a portfolio of eight apartment communities for approximately $261 million, located in the Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, Texas metropolitan areas. The properties collectively consist of 2,957 apartment homes, and the communities average 95 percent occupancy. The acquisition was made through Camden’s discretionary investment funds (the “Fund”). The eight properties acquired in the portfolio included: Camden Cypress Creek – Houston – 310 units (pictured below) Camden Lakemont – Houston – 312 units Camden Northpoint – Houston – 384 units Camden Brushy Creek – Austin – 272 units Camden Shadow Brook – Austin – 496 units Camden Panther Creek – Dallas – 295 units Camden Riverwalk – Dallas – 600 units Camden Westover Hills – San Antonio – 288 units “This was a very attractive portfolio of assets for our Fund. The communities are newly constructed with an average age of 3 years, well-occupied and complement Camden’s existing portfolio of apartment homes,” says Laurie Baker, Camden’s vice president of fund and asset management. “The Texas markets of Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio are among the top metro areas in the nation for future expected job growth and population growth, which …
WASHINGTON — Bruce Levin and Andrew McAllister of MAC Realty Advisors have facilitated the $104 million, $600 per residential square foot sale of View 14, a mixed-use, 185-unit luxury apartment project located at 2303 14th St., NW in Washington, D.C. Levin and McAllister, along with Cushman & Wakefield, represented the sellers, Level 2 Development and Centrum Properties. United Dominion Realty Trust (UDR) acquired the property. View 14 was completed in 2009 and commands the highest rents in the U Street sub-market. The residential component encompasses 154,339 rentable square feet within the building, which also contains a 32,000-square-foot retail component leased to the Beta Marshall Arts Academy and the YWCA. “This sale establishes a new per square foot price level for a stabilized luxury Class A apartment buildings in the Washington, D.C. market,” says McAllister. “This is one of the highest per residential square foot sales in the history of the District and of this year. It’s one of the signs that the recovery in the real estate market, particularly in D.C., has bounced back from the 2009 crisis.” McAllister, executive director of MAC, also arranged $92 million of senior debt, mezzanine, and equity financing for the acquisition and construction of …
GAINESVILLE AND TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — The Collier Companies and Madison International Realty have formed a joint venture to acquire a two-property portfolio of student housing developments in Florida valued at roughly $125 million. Jones Lang LaSalle’s Capital Markets arranged the joint venture partnership, led by Executive Vice President James Tramuto, and Managing Directors Jubeen Vaghefi and Denny St. Romain.. “This joint venture is a great real-time example of a trend that we have been seeing in the student housing market for quite some time, which is new institutional capital coming into the space with an appetite for quality product and quality sponsors,” Tramuto said. “This is Madison’s first investment in the student housing space, and while the returns and asset quality were certainly attractive selling points, the overwhelming drivers for the company’s investment in a new asset class were the strength of the sponsor and the ‘student housing story.’” The Enclave, which is located adjacent to the University of Florida campus and just 10 minutes from Santa Fe College in Gainesville, is a Class A, 531,360-square-foot property featuring 412 units (pictured at right). The development comprises 13 buildings with 1,076 beds. As of fall 2010, The Enclave was 97 percent …
NEW YORK CITY — Nomura Holding America Inc., the U.S subsidiary of Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings, Inc., has leased more than 900,000 square feet of space at Worldwide Plaza for its Americas headquarters. The financial services company expects to relocate to its new home from its current headquarters at 2 World Financial Center in mid-2013. According to Cushman & Wakefield, which brokered the transaction for Nomura, this is the largest new office lease in Midtown Manhattan since 2004, when Bank of America took 1.1 million square feet at One Bryant Park. In all, Nomura has leased 20 full floors in the 1.8 million-square-foot, Class A office tower, which occupies the entire westerly blockfront of Eighth Avenue, between 49th and 50th Streets. The company is taking 10 vacant floors as well as 10 floors currently occupied by Universal Music Group, which is leaving the building at the end of the year. Developed by William Zeckendorf, Jr. and completed in 1989, the property was designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The building has three separate lobbies around a center core design, allowing large corporate tenants the opportunity for private entrances leading to large blocks of space. WWP Office, LLC, owns …
NEW YORK CITY — BRE Retail Holdings Inc., an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI L.P., has closed its acquisition of the U.S. assets and platform of Centro Properties Group and its managed funds for approximately $9.0 billion. Blackstone announced its winning bid for the Centro portfolio on February 28, 2011. Included in the sale are 585 community and neighborhood shopping centers and related retail assets totaling 92.1 million square feet. Centro’s retail properties are located in 39 U.S. states, and the portfolio includes 37 centers held through joint ventures. Centro’s property management platform, which includes 18 offices and approximately 600 employees, was also included in the deal. Centro is the second largest owner of community and neighborhood shopping centers in the United States, and its properties are primarily grocery or name-brand discount chain anchored. The company is the largest landlord (by gross leasable area) to The TJX Companies, The Kroger Company, Ahold USA, Dollar Tree, Inc. and Staples, Inc. Centro Property Group's Brentwood Plaza in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company is the largest landlord to The Kroger Company, among other large retailers. Centro plans to position itself to actively manage its portfolio, shifting from asset preservation to growth, expecting …
WASHINGTON — Cassidy Turley has handled a year-long project to achieve LEED Silver Certification for 10 separate office properties owned by affiliates of Beacon Capital Partners. The buildings encompass approximately 2.5 millions square feet, all of which are located in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Cassidy Turley oversaw the day-to-day project management to qualify for LEED® for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance. The properties implemented several sustainable strategies including energy and water efficiency as well as an enhanced recycling and waste diversion program. Some of the specific features included: Full building retro-commissioning for select buildings Implementation of select energy conservation measures that reduced overall energy consumption across the portfolio Energy audits for all buildings Eight of the ten buildings have been awarded the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR, the national symbol for energy efficiency and environmental protection Participation in a demand response program that helps reduce the peak demand on the utility grid, benefitting utility providers, the community and the environment An electronic recycling event that has diverted over 10,000 pounds of printers, batteries, monitors and other electronic equipment from the main waste stream Including these buildings, Beacon Capital’s portfolio now encompasses more than 18 million square feet of LEED-certified space. …
WASHINGTON — Paramount Group recently acquired Liberty Place from Beacon Capital Partners, a 169,542-square-foot, 12-story landmark property located at 325 7th Street NW in Washington. Though Paramount did not disclose its purchase price, The Wall Street Journal reports that the building sold for $139 million, or $808 per square foot. Liberty Place was built in 1991 and later annexed the Fireman’s Fund Building, a historic property constructed circa 1882. With views of Pennsylvania Avenue and iconic Washington landmarks, the building is situated within the Penn Quarter District, equidistant from the White House and Capitol Hill. Tenants include Pfizer, Fidelity Real Estate Company, the National Retail Federation, the American Hospital Association and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The property is currently 94 percent leased. “Liberty Place is an exceptionally attractive investment for the Paramount Group,” said company president & CEO Albert Behler. “The property met, and in fact exceeded, our acquisitions criteria, which includes its location in a prominent central business district with a sought-after address and easy access to public transportation.” Paramount Group was represented in-house in the transaction by Vice President Dan Lauer and Assistant Vice President David Zobel, both in Paramount’s Acquisitions group. Jones Lang LaSalle’s Capital Markets team …