the Editors of Commercial Property Executive
Trio of Projects to Bring 1.7M SF to Suburban DC
The souring economy hasn’t altogether dampened development activity. In the Washington, D.C., suburb of Arlington, Va., news has emerged about three new office and mixed-use projects that will bring a total of 1.7 million square feet to an area just minutes from the District. The Arlington County Board has been doing its part to facilitate development in the area, having worked late into the night yesterday to complete the approval of a Phased Development Site Plan for Pentagon Centre (pictured), a mixed-use development that will sit in the Pentagon City submarket. Kimco Realty Corp. is behind the project, the first…
Sterling JV Pays $38M for Tampa Apartments Despite Soft Market
Sterling American Property Inc., in a JV with The Collier Cos., has purchased the St. Croix Apartments, a 540-unit, gated, resort-style apartment community in Tampa, for just north of $38 million. The seller was Sentinel Real Estate Corp., a real estate investment management services firm. The complex will be managed by Paradigm Properties, a Collier subsidiary that is the largest owner/manager of apartment communities in North Central Florida. Senior vp/acquisitions Jeff Smith handled the acquisition for Sterling, and Sentinel was represented by James Bobbitt and John Selby of CB Richard Ellis Inc.’s Tampa office. The purchase is Sterling American’s first…
Westcore Sells Vienna Office for $39M
Westcore Properties has announced the sale of a Class A Austrian office building. The 125,000-square-foot property sold for $39.2 million (24.5 million Euros) to Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH. The six-story building is located in Vienna’s Wienerburg submarket. The sale of the building represents a substantial profit for Westcore. The firm initially purchased the building as part of a three-building portfolio from Philips Electronics NV in February of 2007. The sale comes after Westcore spent over a year working on renovating and instituting processes to add value to its property. Marc Brutten, Westcore’s chairman, explained the firm’s strategy…
Updated: Bush Drops Resistance to Housing Bill; Passes House
Despite his objections over a $3.9 billion provision that would assist communities devastated by foreclosures, President George W. Bush has dropped his opposition to housing rescue legislation. He was previously threatening to veto the legislation. The housing rescue package, which the House of Representatives passed late July 23, 2008, outlines approximately 20 various provisions, including establishing a new regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, creating a program within the FHA (Federal Housing Administration) to refinance distressed loans and providing $3.9 billion in funding to stabilize communities devastated by the mortgage crisis. Bush’s veto threat regarded the $3.9 billion emergency…
Brandywine Executes 195,000SF DC Lease with Time Warner
Brandywine Realty Trust has executed a 10-year lease transaction with Time Warner Cable Inc. for 195,000 square feet in South Lake at Dulles Corner, a 268,240-square-foot office building in Herndon, Va, a suburban office market in Washington, D.C. The lease brings South Lake at Dulles Corner to 73 percent leased.Time Warner Cable will relocate from several non-Brandywine locations in the Herndon area and will occupy the South Lake building between April and August of 2009. The 10-story office building is located at the intersection of the Dulles Access and Toll Road and Route 28 in the Dulles Corner office park….
Trammell Crow Brings Air CargoCentre II Online in Houston
Trammell Crow Co. has opened a new 61,500-square-foot air cargo handling facility at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston (IAH). The cost of the facility was not disclosed. The International Air CargoCentre II (pictured) will help move Houston’s growing volume of cargo–up 5.1 percent in 2006 and 5.7 percent in 2007. “As a natural gateway to Central and South America, Houston is primed for air cargo growth,” Jeremy Garner, vice president working out of Trammell Crow’s Houston office, told CPN today. In recent years, China, Korea and Taiwan have opened cargo routes through Houston, Garner continued. Now airport marketers…
Palm Beach County Board Approves $87M Grant for Planck Institute
Following unanimous approval by the seven members of the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners, Germany’s Max Planck Society is moving forward with its plan to establish an institute in the United States. The County approved the allocation of $86.9 million to build and operate a 100,000-square-foot biomedical research facility called the Max Planck Florida Institute. It will be located on six acres at Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) MacArthur campus in Jupiter. The total value of the agreement with the county and partners in the deal, including FAU, is $94 million, with a 50-year sub-lease on land worth approximately…
Las Vegas Sands Puts Kibosh on Kansas Casino Proposal
Ten months after submitting a proposal to the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City for the development of a $750 million resort casino, Las Vegas Sands Corp. has taken itself out of the game with the abandonment of its bid for a gaming license in Kansas. With the decision, the company has removed itself from what had been a competition among five development entities to build a new destination casino in the state. For Las Vegas Sands, the prospect of taking its legendary brand to Kansas became undesirable upon recent closer inspection. The currently unfavorable lending market played a role…
Net Lease Sees Sluggish Second Quarter
The net lease market has entered a period of lower sales and lower expectations, according to the latest report by Northbrook, Ill.-based Boulder Net Lease Funds L.L.C. During the second quarter of 2008, the report notes, 6,240 net lease assets nationwide were sold, a substantial decrease from the first quarter’s total of 9,292 properties — which itself was historically low. “A comparison to the Q1 statistics shows a skewed reality, and a decrease of legitimate supply currently existing in the market,” Boulder says. Moreover, “the high ratio of older properties on the market illustrates lagging demand, low percentage of completed…
Capitol Lounge Building Sold in DC
The Capitol Lounge building located at 229 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., has been sold by the NorthMarq investment sales team of Jim Karnack, Jerry Burg and Matt Clinebell, the company said today. The building (pictured) contains 8,780 square feet of space on three floors and a lower level. Two office tenants occupy the upstairs portion of the property.The NorthMarq team worked on the deal with Roy Hill of Marcus & Millichap, who was marketing the building for sale. The Washington, D.C., office of NorthMarq sourced the buyer and structured the complex transaction, which included a sale-leaseback, master lease and…