Top Stories

ISELIN, N.J. — Construction is complete for Metrotop Plaza, a nine-story, 255,000-square-foot office building located in Iselin. The speculative, Class A building adjoins an existing, 80,000-square-foot building that is fully leased to tenants that include Cisco Systems and New Horizons. Amenities at the building include a full-service cafeteria with a private dining area, an 8,000-square-foot tenant event space on the top floor, a fitness center with locker rooms and showers, and covered parking. The building also contains redundant electricity from two substations, two generator pads for tenants, OC3 fiber tap and 550 tons of supplemental cooling. Atlantic Realty owns Metrotop Plaza. Jones Lang LaSalle, which is also a tenant at the adjoining building, is handling leasing and marketing efforts. The leasing team is led by Kevin Carton and Eric Sobel. — Coleman Wood

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

KANSAS CITY, MO. — Kansas City, Mo.-based Entertainment Properties Trust (NYSE: EPR) has acquired a 12-property movie theater portfolio for approximately $124 million. The portfolio contains 192 screens in Colorado, California, Indiana and Texas. All of the theaters are occupied by Cinemark U.S.A. under triple-net leases. In addition, AMC Entertainment plans to renew three of the four leases it has coming due for EPR-owned theaters. The three theaters, all located in Southern California, include Mission Valley 20 in Orange County, Promenade 16 in Woodland Hills and Ontario Mills 30 in Ontario. EPR has already received a signed letter of intent from another operator for the property AMC will be vacating, the Grand 24 in Dallas. Finally, EPR has entered into a contract for the disposition of the former Havens Winery in Napa, Calif. The winery will be sold for $6.5 million in a deal that is expected to close by the end of the second quarter. “We are excited about expanding our existing relationship with Cinemark, and we look forward to growing the relationship in the future,” said David Brain, CEO of EPR, in a statement. “At the same time, we are pleased to receive the expected extensions on three …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

WESTLAND, MICH., AND SANTA FE, N.M. — Fort Worth, Texas-based Trademark Property Co. recently partnered with a private equity fund to acquire two enclosed regional malls in Michigan and Santa Fe. The fund purchased the properties, and Trademark will oversee their management and redevelopment. The first property is Westland Shopping Center, a 1.06 million-square-foot property located in the Detroit suburb of Westland. The center's anchors include Macy's, Kohl's, Sears and JC Penney. Additional tenants include Panera Bread, Longhorn Steakhouse, Forever 21, American Eagle Outfitters, PacSun, Hot Topic and Express. The second property is Santa Fe Place, a 571,238-square-foot shopping center located in Santa Fe. The mall is the only regional shopping center in northern New Mexico. Its anchors include Dillard's, JC Penney and Sears. Additional tenants include Hollister, Gap, New York & Co. and Victoria's Secret. While Trademark is still determining future plans for the two shopping centers, it has mentioned its desire to reposition and redevelop Santa Fe Place. The company has experience in redeveloping malls, which can be seen in its ongoing redevelopment of La Palmera in Corpus Christi, Texas. — Coleman Wood

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Last week, the Cambridge Planning Board granted approval to Alexandria Real Estate Equities for the development of a new life sciences campus near Kendall Square in Cambridge. Known as the Binney Street Project, the development will add approximately 1.72 million square feet of high-tech office and laboratory space to an area that already has a major presence in the industry. “East Cambridge and Kendall Square are real hotbeds of the innovation economy,” says Tom Andrews, senior vice president of Alexandria Real Estate and regional director for its Massachusetts operations. “There are a lot of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, research institutes, and technology companies in this submarket. We think there are a variety of life science and technology companies that may be interested in these parcels.” The Binney Street Project will be built on five parcels of land totaling 11 acres that are located along Binney Street between First and Third streets. The project will include the construction of five buildings, a mixed-mode transportation center and more than 2 acres of public green space. All of the buildings will be built to LEED specifications. Presently, the parcels contain older, one- and two-story industrial buildings — a reminder of …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — Chattanooga retail developer and owner CBL & Associates has secured $298.8 million in financing for five of its shopping centers. The non-recouse loans have a weighted average interest rate of 6.58 percent. One of the loans was for new financing, and the other four were for refinancing existing debt that was due to mature this year. CBL closed a new $14.8 million loan for The Terrace in Chattanooga. The financing carries a 10-year term and a 7.25 percent fixed interest rate. A $115 million loan was procured for CoolSprings Galleria in Nashville, Tenn. The financing carries an 8-year term and a 6.98 percent fixed interest rate. It replaced a maturing $126.9 million loan. CBL closed two 10-year CMBS loans for Burnsville Center in Minneapolis and Parkway Place in Huntsville, Ala. The loan for Burnsville Center totals $83 million and carries a 6 percent interest rate. The loan for Parkway Place, which totals $21 million, represents CBL's 50 percent share in the property. The financing carries a 6.5 percent term. Finally, CBL closed on a $65 million CMBS loan for Valley View Mall in Roanoke, Va. The expected interest rate will be 6.5 percent. CBL expects to realize …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

COLUMBUS, OHIO — The construction management team of Turner Construction Co. and Smoot Construction has been selected by the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority to oversee the construction of a new hotel adjacent to the Columbus Convention Center in Columbus. The $92 million project will consist of a 10-story, 532-room hotel that will feature four-star finishes, a ballroom, meeting and banquet rooms, a full-service restaurant and lounge, and a fitness center. The project will also include the construction of a pedestrian bridge connecting the hotel to the convention center. The project is being designed to LEED-Silver specifications. During the construction phase, a construction waste recycling program will be implemented, and regional and recycled construction materials will be used. Efforts will also be made to use low-emitting interior materials. Building features will include low-flow fixtures, individual occupant lighting and thermal controls, and bicycle storage and changing areas. The project will also be applying for Green Seal certification from Lodging Properties. The groundbreaking is tentatively scheduled for late July, but the date could change. The project is expected to be complete in 2012. The project architect is HOK. — Coleman Wood

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

DORAVILLE, GA. — New Broad Street and General Motors (GM) have reinstated their contract for New Broad Street's purchase of the former GM plant located in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville. The contract extends the closing date from June 30 to August 31. The additional time will be used to finalize development agreements between the City of Doraville, Dekalb County officials and New Broad Street as well as finalize the issuance of $36 million in Recovery Zone Economic Development bonds issued by the local development authority. In addition, New Broad Street President David Pace has announced plans for his firm to launch a website to keep the public informed of the progress on the project. The site will go live by June 15. New Broad Street originally announced its plant to purchase the GM plant in February. It plans to redevelop the 168-acre site into a mixed-use, transit-oriented project. To read the original story, click here. — Coleman Wood

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco-based Digital Realty Trust has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire a five-property data center portfolio for a total of $725 million. The REIT acquired the data centers from joint ventures that are majority-owned by affiliates of Rockwood Capital and managed by 365 Main Inc. The properties total 919,000 square feet of space and were developed in 2000 or later. They include: 212 South Price Road in Chandler, Ariz.; 365 Main Street in San Francisco; 2260 East El Segundo Boulevard in El Segundo, Calif.; 720 2nd Street in Oakland, Calif.; and 4030-4050 Lafayette Center Drive in Chantilly, Va. In addition to the five data centers, the transaction includes approximately 250,000 square feet of potential data center development space at the Arizona property as well as $13 million in uninstalled data center infrastructure improvements. The transaction is expected to close on July 2. Credit Suisse Securities and Citi provided financial advising services to Digital Realty Trust in the deal. In a statement, Digital Realty Trust CEO Michael Foust said, “Upon closing, the addition of these high-quality, mission critical data center facilities to our operating portfolio will further extend our leadership position as the largest wholesale …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

DURHAM, N.C. — Research Tri-Center, a 10-building business park located in Durham, has been sold in a $76.95 million transaction. The buyer was an affiliate of Northwood Investors, and the seller was an institutional fund managed by Grosvenor Investment Management. Research Tri-Center is situated near the intersection of Alston Avenue and Cornwallis Road, adjacent to Research Triangle Park. The park contains a total of 1.53 million square feet of space, with the majority being devoted to industrial uses. Occupancy was 88 percent at the time of closing. The tenant roster includes GlaxoSmithKline, UPS, FedEx Ground, Verizon and Parata Systems. Rob Cochran, David Finger and Tom Powers of Cassidy Turley's Investment Services Group represented the seller in the transaction. Assistance was provided by Cassidy Turley's Chris Norvell and Jim Allaire, both of whom will remain responsible for leasing the property. “Research Tri-Center is an important transaction,” says Finger, who is a senior vice president and maanging principal at Cassy Turley. “The offer generated strong national interest from the investment community. We had a significant number of tours and offers. The sale illustrates the pent-up demand for high-quality, core assets, and also that Raleigh-Durham is a desirable market held in very high …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

AURORA, ILL. — IDI has sold a big-box, build-to-suit industrial property for approximately $25 million. The Class A facility was developed last year for Freudenberg Household Products as the company's American headquarters. The building comprises 525,000 square feet of industrial space and is located at 2188 Diehl Road. The facility is used for the production, storage and distribution of household products. The buyer was Freudenberg Real Estate LP. As part of the agreement, IDI will expand the facility by 101,000 square feet. Construction is expected to be complete by the end of the year. George Cibula, Rick Daley and Joe Bronson, all of Darwin Realty, represented the seller in the transaction. Kirk Armour and David Prell of CB Richard Ellis represented IDI.

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail