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MARIETTA, GA. — Marietta-based WellStar Health Systems will break ground on a $100 million hospital in Hiram, Ga., next year, part of $800 million to be spent in the next 10 years on systems upgrades and facility expansions in Georgia. The proposal calls for $120 million worth of information technology improvements across the company’s hospital system, including a new data center, and a $14 million outpatient campus in Cobb County. The plan will be implemented in three phases. “That’s not $800 million that we’re going to chunk out in one check,” says Gregory Simone, CEO of WellStar Health Systems. The 100-bed hospital in Paulding County will be constructed to replace the WellStar Paulding Hospital in Dallas, Ga., which is adjacent to a fully occupied medical office building owned by the company. The global architecture firm HKS will construct the hospital using LEED Silver standards with an eye toward future expansion. WellStar is hoping to submit a deed request by the end of the year, which would set up a potential groundbreaking for December 2010. If everything proceeds as scheduled, Simone says, the company will open the hospital in April 2013. “It’s a 10-year plan, so we’re looking at the growth …

CHICAGO — Developer ECD Company and architecture firm Koo and Associates have completed theWit, a Doubletree Hotel, on the corner of State and Lake streets in downtown Chicago. The hotel, which opened May 27th, features 298 guestrooms in a new 27-story, 250,000-square-foot building. Its location positions theWit at the gateway to the city’s Theater District, which led to its unique “lightning bolt” design, an element that has garnered the building much-needed buzz leading to its opening. “We really wanted a design that highlighted the corner of State and Lake and had an exciting, almost theatrical, quality to it,” says Jackie Koo, founder of Koo and Associates. “The now well-known zig-zagging chartreuse glass on the building came about more from a programmatic sense and from the constraints of the site, but it has been a great thing for the identity and branding of the building.” The lightning bolt is a sliver of angled, laminated yellow glass, mimicking a bolt of energy that extends the full length of the building. At least one guestroom on each floor will offer this unique design element from which guests can enjoy views of the city. The hotel is situated on a small 9,500-square-foot (68’ by …

FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Oncor, a locally based energy distribution and transmission company, has renewed its lease at The Oncor Building, a 300,000-square-foot office building located at 115 W. 7th St. in downtown Fort Worth. Oncor signed a new agreement to occupy 201,354 square feet of the building for a 10-year term. The company completed the renewal 3 years before its current lease was set to expire. As part of the renewal agreement, Oncor will immediately vacate the 22,000-square-foot ground floor of the building so that it can be converted into retail space. The building’s owner, White Plains, N.Y.-based Benbrooke Realty Investment Co., plans to install floor-to-ceiling windows and new canopies as a way to enhance the building’s streetscape. Local and national tenants will be targeted for retail and restaurant uses. George Ackerman and Mike Oestreich provided in-house representation for Benbrooke during lease negotiations. Local Benbrooke partner Craig Gutow will lead the retail redevelopment and leasing efforts. Mark O’Donnell, executive vice president of commercial real estate firm Studley, provided advising services to Oncor. Benbrooke first acquired The Oncor Building in September 2007. The renewal of the anchor tenant allows the company to secure its tenant roster before the company’s debt …

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Starting in July, the Federal Reserve will include legacy commercial mortgage backed securities in its Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) program, a $1 trillion plan first announced last November. These securities can now be used as collateral when taking out new TALF loans. The news represents a gradual increase of the program’s scope. TALF was originally designed to increase liquidity in the market by providing loans for commercial real estate developers and owners using newly issued commercial and asset-backed mortgage securities as collateral. On May 1, the program was expanded to encompass loans starting with the June subscription. Now, CMBS issued before January 1, 2009, are included as well. “This is welcome news for the commercial real estate lending market, since it will allow a number of capital providers the opportunity to move these assets from their balance sheets and replenish capital,” says D. Scott Dixon, president of Atlanta-based RBC Capital Advisors. “As these lenders are able to replenish capital, we are hopeful that they will resume providing new loans to developers and owners.” To be covered under the new rules, securities must have two AAA ratings from DBRS, Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Realpoint or S&P. If …

ULSTER COUNTY, N.Y. — In Ulster County, a rural community located in New York’s Hudson Valley, development is under way for a 260-acre sustainable business campus. Known as TechCity, the site formerly housed a 2.5 million-square-foot campus for IBM before being acquired by TechCity Properties in 1998. Around 2005, TechCity Properties made the decision to the property into what the project’s developer calls an “eco village.” The master plan for TechCity calls for the selective demolition of some of the campus’ 27 low-rise buildings in an effort to increase access to the remaining buildings. A new set of internal roads will be built, which will provide buildings with easier access from the street, as well as access to centralized parking. New landscaped spaces will be added, which will create a New Urbanism feel to the site. TechCity will ultimately contain 2 million square feet of mixed-use space. This will break down into approximately 1 million square feet of industrial space and approximately 350,000 square feet of retail space. The project will also feature residential units, including workforce housing and townhomes, as well as office space, an educational component and a hotel. “It’s one of the greatest locations that has not …

SOCIAL CIRCLE, GA. — Minneapolis-based General Mills will soon being developing a 1.5 million-square-foot distribution center in Social Circle. The decision will bring 112 new jobs to this community 46 miles southeast of Atlanta. This is the second major General Mills property in Georgia; a manufacturing facility was built in Covington in 1989. The Covington facility recently underwent a $6 million overhaul to reduce the property’s water usage by 46 percent. “General Mills is pleased to be growing our presence in Georgia with the new distribution center in Social Circle,” says Kevin Schoen, the company’s vice president for logistics, in a news release. “Our Covington team demonstrates day after day the dedication of Georgia employees.” No groundbreaking or completion dates have been set, but General Mills will begin hiring in early 2010. The $42 million distribution property, which will be located on Hightower Road, will be built to LEED standards, paying close attention to the facility’s energy savings, water efficiency, emissions and indoor environmental quality. According to the state of Georgia, the new property will be one of the largest developments in the country to achieve LEED certification. — Jon Ross

ARLINGTON, VA. — The U.S. General Services Administration has a lease renewal with Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises for 310,202 square feet in Jefferson Plaza. The agreement will keep the GSA in the building for the next 5 years. The two-building office complex, which contains 550,000 square feet of office space, is located at 1411 and 1421 Jefferson Davis Highway in Arlington. Jefferson Plaza is a short distance from the Pentagon and Washington, D.C. In April 2008, Lowe Enterprises acquired the development from Equity Group Investments on behalf of an investment client. Lowe currently serves as the complex’s property manager. National Guard Bureau is the property’s biggest tenant, occupying 70 percent of the development. Charles Dilks of Grubb & Ellis’ Vienna, Va., office and Keith Lavey and Kurt South of the firm’s Washington office represented the landlord in the transaction. The three brokers are part of Grubb & Ellis’ government services group. — Jon Ross

BOSTON — Groundbreaking will occur tomorrow for the Hemenway Project, a $30 million expansion and renovation of Boston Conservatory’s performance theater. Construction at the 340-seat theater, which is located at 31 Hemenway St. in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood, will add 16,000 square feet of new rehearsal and performance studio space. Improvements include two new dance studios; a new dance theater studio that can double as a reception area for special events; a new music rehearsal and performance space; a new orchestra pit; new theater seating; improved handicap accessibility; and new climate control systems. Upgrades to the main theater will also be completed, including increased ceiling height, acoustical refinements, a new control booth, and new lighting and rigging. Classes at the Conservatory that are currently held at the theater will be moved to temporary rental space within the Fenway neighborhood. Faculty and administrative offices in the building will be moved to space within the Conservatory’s campus. Music, dance and theater performances will be moved to Midway Studios, located in South Boston, for the duration of construction. Quincy, Mass.-based Lee Kennedy Co. will serve as general contractor for the Hemenway Project, with locally based KVAssociates providing construction project management services. The project architect …

SAN PATRICIO COUNTY AND ROSCOE, TEXAS — Construction began recently for the Papalote Creek wind farm, a 15,000-acre project located in San Patricio County, approximately 30 miles north of Corpus Christi. Once the project is complete, its 109 turbines will generate approximately 180 megawatts of electricity — enough to power approximately 54,000 homes. Completion is expected in October, after which the project is expected to generate more than $200 million for the local economy. “A 180-megawatt project is a large project,” says Patrick Woodson, chief development officer for E.On Climate & Renewables, which is building the wind farm. “Three or four years ago, it would have been a huge project, but you’re seeing a number of projects come along now of that scale.” Texas is leading the way in these large projects. According to an annual report released by the American Wind Energy Association, Texas produced 7,118 megawatts of electricity from wind power in 2008. This leads every other state in the country by a wide margin. In fact, the report states that if Texas were a country, it would rank sixth in the world in total wind production, behind Germany, the rest of the United States, Spain, China and …

ATLANTA — SunTrust Bank has signed a 10-year lease with Miami-based America’s Capital Partners for 252,822 square feet in the firm’s 451,000-square-foot Marquis II office tower. The property, which is more than 96 percent leased, is part of the 2.55 million-square-foot Peachtree Center mixed-use development. More than 250 tenants populate the property’s six buildings, which also include 140,000 square feet of retail space. Marquis II is located at 285 Peachtree Center Ave. in Atlanta. “From start to finish, the transaction was completed in a little over 6 months,” says Bill Hollett of America’s Capital Partners. SunTrust will move from its current location at 250 Piedmont Ave. in Atlanta to Marquis II in 2011. Hollett and Mike Werner as well as CB Richard Ellis’ Chris Port and Jeff Keppen represented America’s Capital Partners. Frank Mann and Tony Zivalich of Cushman & Wakefield represented SunTrust. In Atlanta’s tight office market, Peachtree Center, which was constructed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, stood out to SunTrust. “The bank undertook a study of a lot of different opportunities, not only downtown but outside of downtown as well,” Hollett says. SunTrust weighed the amenity base, ownership strength, prestige of the complex and the lease …