Regions

Mack-Cali Realty Corp. said today that Thomson Inc. has extended the term of its existing 62,500-square-foot lease at 2 Independence Way at Princeton Corporate Center in Princeton, N. J.  In addition, the company has agreed to lease the building’s remaining 4,800 square feet. A provider of video solutions to the communications, media and entertainment industries, Thomson will now lease the entire 67,400-square-foot class A office building through January 2015.“We’re delighted that Thomson has chosen to expand its long-term presence at 2 Independence Way.  This transaction demonstrates Mack-Cali’s ability to maintain long-term tenant relationships and we look forward to continuing to…

Seeking a larger share of North Carolina’s industrial market, an unusual joint venture wants to prove that two counties are better than one. This week, Pitt and Martin Counties took a major step toward putting their sparsely populated jurisdictions on North Carolina’s industrial map. The counties won approval from the state commerce department for LandsEast Industrial Park, a 788-acre site that straddles both counties. The project marks at least two North Carolina firsts, according to county officials. LandsEast is the first multi-county collaboration of its kind in the state. In addition, it will be the first industrial project to straddle…

A joint venture led by Hill International, a project and construction management company based in Marlton, N.J., has been awarded a five-year contract worth about $52.6 million for the Barwa Al Khor mixed-use development in Qatar. Hill has a 65 percent interest in the joint venture. The project will be developed by Barwa Al Khor Co., a joint venture organized by Barwa Real Estate Co., of Doha, Qatar, and Kuwait-based Al Imtiaz Investment Co. Al Khor is a coastal town in northern Qatar, about 30 miles north of the capital, Doha. When complete, the Barwa Al Khor development will comprise…

The American Commerce Center, a $1 billion, mixed-use skyscraper proposed for 1800 Arch St., in Philadelphia’s Center City, moved another step closer to reality this week when the city’s planning commission unanimously approved zoning changes for the 1.5-acre site.“We are excited to have moved past this hurdle and look forward to the next step in front of the Philadelphia City Council on Dec. 3rd at 9:00 am and are very encouraged by the broad support we have received across the city for the American Commerce Center,” Garrett Miller, president of Hill International Real Estate Partners, L.P., said in a statement….

At the edge of Manhattan’s Meat Packing District in Chelsea, Pier 57 abuts an area that has seen a burst of activity over the last decade. Located at the end of West 15th St. and encompassing some 375,000 square feet of waterfront space plus rooftop area, the pier is now the focus for three bids for renovation.The Hudson River Trust, which controls the pier site, started receiving proposals in October, and will now decide between visions from The Durst Organization and C&K Properties; The Related Cos.; and Youngwoo and Associates L.L.C. The Durst and C&K submission proposes a total development…

Bridge Development Partners L.L.C. in partnership with Globe Corp. will develop 555 Corporate Center, a 162,000-square-foot, four-story speculative office building at 555 Aptakisic Road in Lincolnshire, Ill.  Plans call for the Class A office facility to be LEED certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The facility is situated on a 12-acre site west of Milwaukee Avenue and on the north side of Aptakisic Road, directly north of Bridge’s Aptakisic Creek Corporate Park industrial development in Buffalo Grove.The developer plans to break ground this fall and anticipates a fourth quarter 2009 completion. “When complete, our development will be the only…

Flagler Development Group has signed paper products firm Lagasse Sweet to a 240,000-square-foot lease in a build-to-suit facility at Flagler Station, South Florida’s largest business park.The 10-year lease ranks as the largest in the Miami Dade Airport West submarket this year and brings the firm’s total annual lease transactions for the center to nearly 1 million square feet.                                                A new 328,000-square-foot office/industrial building is currently being constructed in Flagler Station to accommodate the new tenant. The property also offers Class A office, retail and industrial facilities, as well as rail-served buildings, flex space, front-load warehouse space and cross-dock facilities. Jones…

Tennessee-based Gaylord Entertainment has pulled out of a plan to develop a $1 billion resort in Chula Vista, Calif., but the firm claims the project’s abandonment was not caused by the frozen debt markets that have wreaked havoc on developments across the nation. According to Gaylord, the cancellation was not due to financing difficulties, but instead was the result of a “prolonged planning and approval process, a complicated regulatory and legal structure and excessive off-site infrastructure costs.” Gaylord had been in negotiations for the project for the past three years. A 2,000-room hotel and 400,000 square-foot convention center were among…

Using the proceeds to pay down its unsecured line of credit, Boston Properties Inc. has closed on an eight-year, $375 million loan secured by Four Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. The loan was provided by a syndicate of life insurance companies and bears interest at a fixed rate of 6.10 percent annum. The 47-story, Class A office building has approximately 937,000 rentable square feet and is located at the corner of Drumm and Clay Streets in the city’s North Financial District submarket. Boston Properties bought the skyscraper and its sister properties–One Embarcadero Center, Two Embarcadero and Three Embarcadero Center–in 1998….

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced that four projects totaling more than $75 million in private investment have received approvals from the Boston redevelopment authority’s board of directors. The first project approved is a residential building within the proposed Seaport Square project on the South Boston Waterfront. Known as Parcel A, it is one of 20 parcels that comprises the Seaport Square Project. The project will include 34 residential units occupying 54,400 square feet of residential space in a six-story building with ground-floor retail space. Construction is anticipated to begin in the second quarter of 2009 with an estimated completion date…