The Downtown Seattle office leasing market continues to be led by growing tech firms, especially Amazon.com. Amazon recently signed leases for 5th & Bell (125,000 square feet), 635 Elliott (180,000 square feet) and Blanchard Plaza (125,000 square feet with the possibility to take down the entire 250,000-square-foot property). The online retailer is also moving forward with the development of three high-rise buildings totaling 3.3 million square feet. Amazon owns additional lots for more projects in the future as needed. Other tech firms, including Zulily, Twitter, Tableau Software, Nuance Communications, Avalara, Acucela and Simply Measured, are either opening new offices or expanding rapidly. Developers are responding to this demand by moving fast to bring new projects to market. These projects include Dexter Station, 400 Fairview, Hill7 and Troy Block, which are all under construction. Trammell Crow recently announced its 1007 Stewart project, while Holland Partners is developing buildings sites one through three at Westlake Steps, and Schnitzer’s ready to begin construction on its Urban Union development. These development sites are all located in the South Lake Union area in and around the Amazon projects. This addresses the demand seen from other tech firms that want to be near Amazon and the …
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SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Jackson Properties has acquired University Office Park, a 130,000-square-foot office campus in Sacramento, for nearly $20 million, according to reports. The six-building campus is located at 777 Campus Commons Drive in the master-planned community of Campus Commons. The campus is situated on 12 acres next to two fully leased office buildings that Jackson recently developed. The transaction includes additional land for future development. The property is flanked by Fair Oaks Boulevard, as well as University and Howe avenues.
LOS ANGELES – NationBuilder has signed a 10-year lease for 54,780 square feet of space in Biltmore Court at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles in Downtown. The property is located at 520 South Grand Ave. The community-building software technology company will occupy the entire second floor of the historic building, which spans from Grand Avenue to Olive Street, overlooking Pershing Square. Renovations to convert this space into a creative office will commence immediately. The Biltmore’s second floor hasn’t been occupied for several decades. This is the largest lease executed in the Biltmore’s history, and the largest office lease by a local technology start-up in Downtown Los Angeles, according to CBRE Research. NationBuilder was represented by Dennis Smith and Griffin Farriss of Travers Realty. The landlord, WHB Biltmore LLC, was represented by CBRE’s Andrew Tashjian.
PHOENIX – City 15, a 161-unit apartment complex in Phoenix, has sold to Retirement Concepts for $10.8 million. The 26-building complex is located at 4728 N. 15th Street. The community was built in 1969. It was 96 percent occupied at the time of sale. The seller, Mica Creek-Sagamore Capital Partners, was represented by Brett Polachek and Jim Crews of Cushman & Wakefield.
LAKE FOREST, CALIF. — Foothill Center, a 19,400-square-foot shopping center in the South Orange County submarket of Lake Forest, has sold to a China-based investor for $7.6 million. The non-anchored retail strip center is located at 20641-20671 Lake Forest Drive, just north of Interstate 5 and Highway 241. The center is 95 percent occupied. Notable tenants include Baja Fresh, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Wasabi Sushi. The buyer represented itself in this transaction, while the seller, The Mayfield Trust, was represented by Matthew Mousavi and Patrick Luther of Faris Lee Investments.
PANORAMA CITY, CALIF. – The 16-unit Villa De Fano Apartments in Panorama City has sold to a buyer in a 1031 exchange for $2.8 million. The community is located at 9413 Van Nuys Blvd. It was built in 1987. The buyer was represented by Joshua Levy and Matthew Dobson of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. The private seller was represented by Warren Berzack and Slavic Zlatkin of Berzack Investment Property Advisors, a multifamily specialty group of Lee & Associates.
SAN JOSE, CALIF. – American Realty Capital has acquired a 165,000-square-foot office campus in San Jose for $52.1 million. The three-building campus is located on River Oaks Parkway at Zanker Road in San Jose. The seller, Bixby Land Company, originally acquired the campus in 2011 in two separate transactions for a total of $19.5 million. The company redesigned the space before leasing it to Nimble Storage. The property includes a 30,000-square-foot outdoor living room that can be used for collaboration or relaxation. American Realty Capital represented itself in this transaction. Bixby was represented by Mark Penrod and Andy Zighelboim of Eastdil Secured.
LAS VEGAS — Partners Capital has acquired Crossroads at Sunset ShoppingCenter, a 165,000-square-foot retail center in the Las Vegas submarket of Henderson, for an undisclosed sum. The center is located at the southwestern intersection of Sunset Road and Stephanie Street. Crossroads is anchored by Sports Authority, Toys R Us, O'Reilly Auto Parts and Wells Fargo. It is situated near the Galleria at Sunset mall and Sunset Station casino. Partners Capital and its affiliates took possession of the center after purchasing its debt from a special servicer in an all-cash, 10-day transaction. In the past five years, Partners has also acquired Charleston Festival, Stone Canyon Professional Park, Bonita Plaza and Mall Ring, an outparcel of the Galleria at Sunset, all in the Las Vegas area.
CORONA, CALIF. – A joint venture between the Bascom Group and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management has acquired the Springs Apartments, a 320-unit apartment complex in Corona, for $43.2 million. The garden-style community is located at 650 Ebbcreek Drive. The Springs contains 20 buildings that were constructed in 1987. The joint venture is looking to acquire $250 million in value-added multifamily properties throughout the U.S. Debt for the Springs was arranged by CBRE’s Brian Eisendrath through OneWest Bank.
LOS ANGELES — MacFarlane Partners has acquired Park Fifth, a 2.2-acre development site in Downtown Los Angeles, for nearly $40 million. The site is located on the corner of Fifth and Olive streets. MacFarlane plans to develop mid- and high-rise residential properties on the site, in addition to retail. The Fifth and Olive intersection has been a popular one with developers as of late. Aside from Park Fifth, new developments at this juncture include Metropolis, G12 and the Rosslyn Hotel. The seller of Park Fifth was Africa-Israel USA (AFI-USA). The sale was executed by Jimmy Kuhn, Chris Cooney, Josh Levy and Matt Dobso of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.