It’s safe to say that the Rio Grande Valley, now also referred to as Rio South Texas, is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing regions in the state. The four-county region at the southernmost tip of Texas bordering Mexico and hugging the Gulf of Mexico consists of Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties. With nine ports of entry, five international airports, a first-class deep water port, a population of over 1.2 million and three interstates, it is easy to see why the Rio Grande Valley is one of the largest trade corridors in the world. Growth in all aspects, including retail, office, medical, education, industrial and housing, brought nearly $700 million in construction permits for all of 2014. Retail Sales tax revenue being sent back to the cities continues to increase at a healthy pace. Walmart’s opening of 12 new stores in the region affirms the positive growth and the confidence in the valley. The impact a Super Walmart has is evident with a city’s sales tax revenue. Two new stores in Donna and Elsa increased local sales tax revenue 14 percent and 57 percent, respectively. Retail sales in the region continue to rise, showing the strength of …
After muddling through the post-recession with office vacancy rates stuck around 20 percent for the overall Phoenix office market, the office sector has begun to show elements of stabilization in the Valley of the Sun. The unemployment rate in Phoenix plummeted to 5 percent in April this year, down from more than 11 percent near the end of 2009. The overall office vacancy ended the first quarter of this year at 17.2 percent. Second quarter figures were not available at press time, but my colleagues and I think it will dip below 17 percent at mid-year. If it does, the vacancy rate will have dropped nearly 300 basis points over the previous 24 months. The submarkets with the lowest vacancy rates are the usual suspects in our marketplace: Scottsdale (11.2 percent), 44th Street Corridor (aka Camelback Corridor at 11.6 percent) and Tempe, which houses the main campus of Arizona State University (12.7 percent). The slow and steady recovery makes for a healthier market than boom and bust swings. Some of the region’s larger office occupiers have expanded in recent years, which account for a substantial amount of office space absorption. A short list of growing companies with significant footprints here …
Large blocks of space in the Connecticut office market have typically been associated with financial services firms and the wide open trading floors found in investment bank offices. However, for a new breed of tenant looking for sprawling, open and contiguous office space, the state of Connecticut currently offers a myriad of choices across multiple submarkets — from Trumbull to Norwalk to Stamford. And recent leasing figures suggest that prospective tenants are taking note. TAMI — or technology, advertising, media and information — tenants are no longer a Manhattan-only phenomenon. CBRE’s Westchester/Fairfield Counties office is increasingly seeing these tenants joining financial services tenants in cherry picking from an abundant group of large spaces. These TAMI tenants often favor the open spaces and giant floorplates that have become known for increasing collaboration and productivity among their employees. They can also offer consolidation and cost savings for companies. One of the most notable recent examples was 2014’s largest lease transaction for Fairfield County, which saw information technology firm Datto lease 100,398 square feet of space at Norwalk’s Merritt 7 Corporate Park. CBRE’s Paul Jacobs, Colin Reilly and Barbara Segalini represented Datto in the lease at the 22-acre campus, which Datto said it …
After a lackluster first quarter, the Southern New Hampshire office sector is showing strong potential as we head into the heart of 2015 and as the recovery that is firmly entrenched in major hubs like Boston begins to make its way to secondary markets. Notably, the trend toward reurbanization and the growing popularity of live/stay/play opportunities are driving activity in Portsmouth and promise to bolster activity in lagging submarkets like Manchester and Nashua. As companies increasingly gravitate to downtown locations, Portsmouth is seeing steady demand. In fact, its 3 million-square-foot office inventory boasts the lowest vacancy rate (11 percent) and highest average asking rents ($20.31 per square foot) of the six New Hampshire office submarkets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield. This vibrant seacoast city is the first New Hampshire market supporting speculative construction. Farley White built the 67,000-square-foot North Wing addition to 100 Arboretum Drive, bringing the building’s total to approximately 127,000 square feet. Our team serves as leasing agent for the property, where multiple deals are in the pipeline. At 249 Corporate Drive, the Katz Co. is building a 37,000-square-foot building and recently leased a significant portion of the space to Loftware Inc. Renovation, redevelopment and repurposing of older …
Cincinnati’s central business district (CBD) is humming with activity, particularly in the office sector with nearly 13 million square feet of office space spread across 54 buildings. Class A office space has been in high demand in the past year as approximately 245,000 square feet was absorbed by area businesses, according to DTZ. During that time, the vacancy rate declined 380 basis points and now sits at 16.4 percent. The Banks, an 18-acre mixed-use development on the Ohio River between Great American Ball Park and Paul Brown Stadium, is driving much of the recent activity downtown. It links entertainment venues and connects the CBD to the waterfront via a riverfront park. A much-anticipated 340,000-square-foot office building is currently under construction there. The Banks’ office building, developed for General Electric’s new U.S. Global Operations Center, will accommodate up to 2,000 employees. The riverfront development edged out bids from other areas in the region, including Oakley and Mason, to land GE’s new operations center. In June, GE announced that it is leasing 80,000 square feet in the Atrium Two building on a three-year temporary basis, allowing the company time to set up operations during construction. Cincinnati Bell recently leased 220,000 square feet …
In Providence, the Class A office market continues to maintain vacancy rates under 10 percent, with an overall office vacancy of about 14 percent. This trend should continue as there is not any new Class A office development on the horizon for the capital city. There have been a few larger market transactions in Providence over the past 12 months. Waldorf Capital Management, a local real estate investment firm, purchased the Turks Head Building (150,000 rentable square feet) in late 2014. In addition, 170 Westminster Street (65,000 rentable square feet) recently traded; according to local rumor, the property will be converted to residential apartments. If 170 Westminster comes out of circulation, this will have a positive impact on the Class B vacancy rate in the city. Just south of the city on the 195 redevelopment land — dubbed “The Link” by the 195 Commission — work is just about complete to make the 19 available acres “shovel ready.” The 195 Commission has been successful in fully negotiating two purchase and sale agreements. The first is for student housing and the second is mixed-use residential. However, both projects are contingent on an acceptable tax stabilization agreement from the city, which has …
NEW YORK — SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG) has divested two New York-based properties for a total of $642.8 million, which will be used to partially fund the pending acquisition of the 11 Madison Ave. office building. The company sold Tower 45, a 440,000-square-foot office building at 120 W. 45th St., for $365 million. SL Green also agreed to sell 80 percent of its ownership interest in a 73,000-square-foot, mixed-use asset located at 131-137 Spring St. in SoHo to Invesco Real Estate. SL Green will retain a 20 percent ownership interest in the SoHo property and will continue to manage and lease the asset. The transaction is valued at $277.8 million. SL Green will acquire the 11 Madison Ave. office building for a reported $2.6 billion. The Art Deco-style building serves as the U.S. headquarters for Sony and Credit Suisse AG. “As illustrated by these transactions, the demand for high-quality commercial assets in the Manhattan market continues to be very strong, even as interest rates have risen in recent months,” says Andrew Mathias, the company’s president. “After repositioning both of these assets to unlock additional value, we will realize in excess of $400 million of net cash proceeds from …
Downtown Miami is on fire by any measure. The neighborhood is home to more construction cranes than any other place in the U.S., businesses are moving in and expanding on an almost daily basis, hotel room rates and occupancy levels are at all-time highs, and new residents are relocating here from all over the world. A recent study by the Miami Downtown Development Authority found that greater downtown Miami’s residential population has literally doubled in size — from 40,000 people to 80,000 people — since 2000. Another 200,000 people commute to the area each day for business. The area’s commercial real estate market has closely followed this trajectory of growth, with Downtown Miami and the Brickell Financial District welcoming more than 2 million square feet of new Class A office product in the last five years. Strong demand among domestic and multinational companies, along with an improving economy, has resulted in positive absorption and record-setting lease rates in excess of $50 per square foot for premium space. Land values in downtown are also reaching new heights as developers spend as much as $125 million for one acre on the water. All of this is creating a steep barrier to entry …
The Atlanta office market continues to gain steam. Although Atlanta was slower to rebound from the recession than many U.S. markets, it was only a matter of time before the city’s numerous strengths — including its low cost of living, pro-business environment, excellent labor pool, above-average household income and strong university systems — placed it on a path of sustained recovery. The Atlanta office market has posted 13 consecutive quarters of occupancy gains. Strong absorption and limited development are exerting upward pressure on rental rates, particularly in the Class A market. There are also some significant new trends. While there was previously a clear “flight to quality” that enabled tenants to take advantage of rent bargains and concessions at Class A properties, diminishing space options and the pricier rental rate environment are causing tenants to consider Class B properties as a more economically viable alternative. Still, it is yet another sign of the overall recovery in Atlanta’s office sector that we are seeing an increase in rental rates and a decrease in landlord concessions in the Class B sector as well. The rebound of Atlanta’s office sector is not lost on investors. Strong tenant demand and the rise in rental …
PRINCETON, N.J. and NEW YORK CITY — Chambers Street Properties (NYSE: CSG) has agreed to buy Gramercy Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: GPT) in an all-stock deal valued at about $5.7 billion. The merger will create the largest industrial and office net lease REIT, according to the firms. The Board of Trustees of Chambers Street and the Board of Directors of Gramercy have unanimously approved the merger agreement and the transaction. Per the agreement, Gramercy shareholders will receive 3.18 shares of Chambers Street for each share of Gramercy common stock they own. Upon closing, Chambers Street shareholders will own about 56 percent and Gramercy shareholders will own about 44 percent of the combined company. The stock-for-stock transaction is expected to be tax free to shareholders. The combined portfolio includes 288 properties and 52 million square feet of space in major markets throughout the U.S. and Europe. About 85 percent of the merged company’s real estate assets will be in target markets such as New York/New Jersey, Dallas, Baltimore/Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and South Florida. The portfolio will have an average lease term of more than seven years, with 43 percent of the tenants being investment grade. “This strategic combination is the …