Regions

Just short of three years after purchasing the Riverside Commons office complex in Irving, Texas, Westmount Realty Capital L.L.C. and equity partner Buchanan Street Partners have just sold the 460,300-square-foot Class A property to two-year tenant Research in Motion. Situated on 13 acres in Irving’s Las Colinas submarket about 10 miles east of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Riverside Commons (pictured) consists of six structures that were developed between 1984 and 1987. Westmount and Buchanan snapped up the property, then known as Waterside Commons, from Crescent Real Estate Equities in February 2006 for approximately $25 million, and proceeded to shell out…

With a thriving energy sector, Houston’s industrial market remained strong in the first three quarters of 2008, but dropped in the fourth quarter as the price of oil signaled the downward movement of the oil industry, according to a CB Richard Ellis Inc. report. The Houston office of CBRE posted a 6.3 percent increase in vacancy along with an increase in lease rates from the previous quarter. Nationwide financing constraints reduced investment activity and devalued most of the major publicly traded industrial REITs. User-demand changed from buying to leasing while build-to-suit activity saw a decline and speculative buildings will all…

After performing quite respectably in the face of a weak 2008 office market, Atlanta’s Midtown district is showing early signs of picking up where it left off. The $2 billion 12th & Midtown project has landed a pair of blue-chip professional services firms as its first office tenants. The law firm Seyfarth Shaw L.L.P. will take 84,000 square feet in the 38-story office tower rising at 1075 Peachtree Street., the location of 12th and Midtown’s second phase. The deal was the second major lease in Atlanta announced by a law firm this month. Previously, Hunton & Williams L.L.P. renewed 91,000…

Trammell Crow, founder of the commercial real estate firm that bears his name, has died at 94. Crow, who started the company in 1948, saw it grow to a major investor and developer with more than 500 million square feet and $50 billion in assets under its belt. Crow, who passed away at his family’ farm in East Texas on Jan. 14., went from owning a single Dallas warehouse to becoming a driving force behind major developments in cities such as Dallas, Atlanta and San Francisco. In addition, he founded Wyndham Hotel Co., which was acquired by an affiliate of…

Silver linings are hard to find in today’s dismal Manhattan market outlook, but local leaders from CB Richard Ellis Inc. found a few to point out today. In an earlier generation, the financial services sector thrived after the disappearance of one-time giants like Drexel Burnham Lambert and Solomon Brothers, noted Robert Alexander, chairman of CB Richard Ellis’ tri-state region, at a briefing this morning. During the current restructuring of the finance industry, some 15 million square feet will return to the market, according to CBRE’s projections. That will create considerable challenges for owners, but there may also be long-term benefits…

SVN Equities has pocketed $66.5 million on the disposition of three flex/industrial buildings in the Denver area. The Irvine, Calif.-headquartered private real estate investment and development firm, which shelled out an aggregate $40.3 million to purchase the properties in 2004 and 2005, sold the 485,000-square-foot portfolio to Houston-based Hines Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. “It’s the largest Class A flex portfolio ever sold in the Denver area,” Jason Addlesperger, senior managing director with commercial real estate services firm Frederick Ross, told CPN. Frederick Ross represented both SVN Equities and Hines REIT in the transaction. Two of the buildings are located…

inVentiv Health, a provider of commercialization services to the global pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, has signed a 154,000-square-foot lease at Atrium Corporate Park (pictured) in Somerset, N.J. The four-building complex contains 900,000 square feet of Class A office space along with  amenities including a conference center, fitness center, full-service hotel and banquet facilities, and nearby daycare centers, restaurants, hotels and shopping.The relocation to 500 Atrium Drive will enable inVentiv Health to consolidate four office locations in New Jersey.”The move to a new headquarters is very consistent with our overall business strategy,” said Terrell Herring, president & COO of inVentiv Health….

Flying in the face of a downtrodden industrial market, the biggest spec warehouse building ever to grace the state of Texas has found a tenant to occupy the facility in its entirety. Candy manufacturer Farley’s & Sathers has signed on to occupy Duke Realty’s Grand Lakes II (pictured), a 1 million-square-foot structure off I-30 in Grand Prairie, approximately 15 miles west of Dallas. Having signed a long-term lease with Duke, Farley’s will relocate operations from two facilities totaling about 500,000 square feet in neighboring Arlington to the year-old Grand Lakes II in March. Carrying the address of 3953 Gifford St.,…

While office markets around the country spiral downward, the San Antonio market suffered less than its counterparts nationwide. The leasing market wrapped up the year with significantly lower absorption growth in comparison to 2007, but those were some hard numbers to follow, according to Grubb & Ellis Co.’s 2009 forecast for San Antonio’s office and investment markets. The large amount of space absorbed in 2006 and 2007 sparked a frenzy of new construction activity in the market of which 1.2 million square feet was added in 2008. Sensitive to the economic conditions, speculative development will taper off significantly to approximately…

McCollister’s Transportation Group, a third-party logistics firm, has leased 66,500 square feet at KOR Cos.’ Central Crossings Business Park in Bordentown, N.J. The multi-year lease, negotiated by Cushman & Wakefield Inc., brings the 142,000-square-foot building  to 100 percent occupancy. The  facility will serve as an expansion of McCollister’s regional warehousing operation. “Central Crossings fit McCollister’s needs perfectly–its quality and flexibility truly sets it apart,” noted Noah Balanoff of Cushman & Wakefield, who represented McCollister’s with team members Stan Danzig and Jules Nissim. “KOR was aggressive with the deal terms and was able to deliver the space to McCollister’s with its…