Raleigh-Durham

In a $5.2 million deal, real estate investor Howard Lavitt and his partners at LRC Opportunity Fund of New York have acquired the long vacant, 11-story office building in downtown Raleigh. The Triangle Business Journal reports that the transaction closed on Dec. 21. Ben Kilgore with CBRE in Raleigh represented the sellers, New York businessmen Morton Rosenfeld and Milton Schwartz. Located at 227 Fayetteville Street, the 100,000-square-foot property has been empty since its former tenant, Wachovia Bank, moved out in 2003. Wachovia developed the building in 1964, after signing a 50-year ground lease with the owners of the lot. The contract expired in January 2011 and the ownership of the structure was transferred to the land owners’ heirs. Plans now call for the interior renovation of the building, which should be complete by the fourth quarter of 2013. Project manager Steve Weitnauer with Solutions PDM is in charge with the demolition and reconstruction, while Davidson and Jones Construction Co. is the general contractor.

The new Hampton Inn & Suites Raleigh Downtown is officially open. Located in the Glenwood South District at 600 Glenwood Avenue, the boutique-style property offers 126 guestrooms. According to the Triangle Business Journal, it is the first hotel to open in the city’s downtown area since the Raleigh Marriott City Center opened on Fayetteville Street in 2008. The property is also the first new lodging construction project in the Glenwood South district.

Bayer CropScience has announced plans for the development of a North American Bee Care Center at the company’s headquarters in Research Triangle Park. The estimated cost of the project is $2.65 million, the Herald Sun reports. Construction on the 6,600-square-foot LEED Gold-certified facility is expected to begin in February. Upon completion in July 2013, the center will serve as a gathering place between researchers, bee experts, students, visitors and leading Bayer scientists. “We understand the necessity for healthy bees as pollinators and their critical role to agriculture, and by working with scientists, growers, beekeepers and customers, we strive to create new approaches and solutions to benefit bee health and the global food supply,” said Jim Blome, president and CEO of Bayer CropScience North America.

The Raleigh City Council’s lease of the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus will enable the city to move forward with its plan to reconvert the 325-acre property into an urban park. The city council has agreed to lease the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus from the State of North Carolina for up to 99 years. The lease agreement will be executed by the end of the year. “The plan is the most appropriate way of preserving this open space as a park, while at the same time providing revenue to the state,” Gov. Bev Perdue said in a news release. Under the terms of the agreement, the city will pay the state a rate of $500,000 annually, plus a 1.5 percent yearly increase over the length of the lease term.

LRC Opportunity Fund of New York plans to purchase and renovate the vacant 10-story office building at 227 Fayetteville in Raleigh. According to the NewsObserver, the company expects to close on the sale by the end of the year. “Our plans are to do a total renovation,” Edward Kulik, a co-founder of LRC, told the newspaper. The investor intends to renovate the building’s façade while retaining some of the 1960s materials. Plans also call for a retail portion on the ground floor. The building has been on the market since a 50-year lease agreement between a branch of Wachovia bank and the owners of the land expired on Jan. 31, 2011. LRC expects to spend around $17 million on the acquisition and renovation of the property.

Exeter Property Group has acquired the Pergo distribution center in the Greenfield business park in Garner for $8 million. According to the Triangle Business Journal, the property was sold by four family trust groups working through First American Exchange Co., an intermediary for 1031 tax-deferred real estate exchanges. CBRE Raleigh’s J.D. “Butch” Miller, managing director and Ann-Stewart Patterson, senior associate, represented First American in the transaction. The distribution center was built in 2002 and offers 175,230 square feet of warehouse space coupled with 4,770 square-feet of office space on a nearly 11-acre lot. It is fully leased to Pergo, a widely known laminate flooring manufacturer. In May 2012, CBRE renewed the Pergo lease on behalf of the landlord.

The Research Triangle Foundation has formally unveiled its new master plan for the future growth of the 7,000-acre Research Triangle Park (RTP). It is the first update to the master plan since the park was created in 1959. The foundation has also announced it has selected the Houston real estate company Hines to work on the initial phase of the project. The Herald Sun reports that RTP leaders have envisioned three development clusters in three main areas of the park. Called “Triangle Commons,” the first area to be developed will bring a 7 million gross square feet mixed-use center to the Durham County end of RTP.