Cerner Moves Forward with $4.3B Office Development

Cerner Corp., a global supplier of health care information technology solutions, services, devices and hardware, has officially launched its $4.3 billion Three Trails office campus on the site of the former Bannister Mall at at I-435 and Bannister Road in Kansas City, Missouri. Cerner closed on the acquisition of the 237-acre Three Trails property last month for a reported $44.2 million and has released plans for a new office development that, when fully built out over 10 years, would be the largest in the area, surpassing the Sprint headquarters in Overland Park. According to a Kansas City Star article, the $4.3 billion redevelopment plan that includes a $1.63 billion tax incentive package was approved by the city in October.

"We're very excited to be investing in Kansas City," Cerner president Zane Burke said. "This is creating brand new jobs for our local economy. The project will serve as the hub of innovation to improve the health care and wellness of the communities we serve."

"It was not long ago, the site for this project was the definition of blight, a mall in decline and empty parking lots," said Governor Jay Nixon. "It took a visionary company to change the destiny of this site. To say this project is a big deal is an understatement. This project is transformative and a defining moment for this region and the state."

When fully completed in 2024, the Three Trails development is expected to include 11 office buildings totaling 4.1 million square feet, a 75,000-square-foot "Cerner Kids" day care center, two data centers, a service center and 370,000 square feet of retail. Construction of Phase I of the office development is expected to begin this year and include 578,500 square feet of office space in two buildings and a service center.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

DivcoWest Picks Up One Kendall Square in Boston for $395M

Rockwood Capital and Related Beal announced that their joint venture had completed the sale of the One Kendall Square office, lab and retail complex in Cambridge. San Francisco-based Divco­West purchased the nine-building, 670,000-square-foot campus and a 1,500-car garage in two separate sales totaling $395 million. According to a press release, Rockwood and Related Beal originally acquired the property from Lincoln Property Company and JER Partners for $211 million in 2006.

Joe Gorin, Managing Director at Rockwood Capital said, "We believe One Kendall Square is a great example of our ability to create value in a property, and we are proud of the site's transformation into the city's premier science and technology address. The Boston area will continue to be a key target market for Rockwood."

"We could not be more pleased with the performance of the asset, including this significant transaction. Our partner Rockwood Capital shared a consistent vision with us for what One Kendall Square could be, the most successful mixed-use campus in East Cambridge, and to see it through to execution is very rewarding," said Stephen Faber, Executive Vice President of Related Beal. "Success did not just happen; it was born from a lot of hard work from the entire ownership and management team."

One Kendall Square is a modern mixed-use campus offering a variety of lab, office and retail space for lease in the epicenter of science and technology in the heart of Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Over the course of their ownership, Rockwood and Related Beal invested $75 million in the property's base building infrastructure, public spaces and tenant improvements. One Kendall Square houses more than 50 tenants, including Twitter, Liberty Mutual, Staples and Cambridge Brewing Co., according to a Lowell Sun article.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Amstar Sells Westlake Park Place for $98M

Amstar Advisers LLC, a Denver-based real estate investment manager, announced this week that it had sold the first phase of Westlake Park Place, a 5-building, 239,000 square foot premier Class A office campus located in Thousand Oaks, California for $98.025 million, or about $410 per square foot. Amstar, in partnership with The Travelers Companies, Inc. and Searles Property Group, delivered the 5 buildings in Phase I in December 2008 with Phase II expected to be delivered in early 2015. Atlanta-based Invesco Real Estate acquired the office campus with in-house representation, while Kevin Shannon, Ken White, Tom Bohlinger, Brad Burton and Mike Longo of CBRE represented the sellers.

"Our ability to lease this project at the highest rates in the submarket during a recessionary time period speaks to the fact that it is the best-in- class office project in all of Ventura County and the Conejo Valley. We believe it provides an exceptionally high-quality, low-risk investment opportunity," said Amstar Managing Director, Kim Sperry.

The office campus totals 238,943 square feet across five buildings standing one to four stories tall, according to a CoStar report. Westlake Park Place was 97% leased at the time of sale with Mike Foxworthy and Tom Festa, DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services, leasing the project for the ownership group. The first building in Phase II, four stories totaling 102,000 square feet, is 80% preleased.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Miami Beach Shore Club Sold for $175.3M

A joint venture between Ziel Feldman's HFZ Capital Group an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC has acquired the historic Shore Club hotel in South Beach from Philips International for $175.3 million, or about $544,000 per room. The acquisition, one of the most expensive hospitality deals in the South Florida market, was financed in part with the assumption of an existing $161 million loan held by a group of lenders led by Fortress Credit Corporation and a new $12 million loan from the same group of lenders, according to a CoStar report. Philips International will continue to be involved with the new ownership group, and Morgans Hotel Group will continue to manage guest operations at the property.

"We have an extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to re-imagine and reposition a world-class property in a market that has seen continued demand for luxury properties," said Ziel Feldman, Founder and Managing Principal of HFZ, in a press release this week. "The development of oceanfront real estate on South Beach has been fueled by an expanding market for business and tourism, accessibility to international airports and year-round warm weather," he added.

"With ongoing demand from domestic and international buyers for prime South Beach properties and with Miami Beach's increasing global significance as a tourist destination, we expect the luxury residential and hospitality markets to continue their dynamic growth," added Nir Meir, Principal and Managing Director of HFZ.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Bay Area AT&T Campus Sold for $250M

In a joint venture with MetLife Inc., Sunset Development Company has purchased the two million square foot AT&T campus in San Ramon — that it originally sold as an undeveloped property to Pacific Bell in 1983 — for more than $250 million in a sale-leaseback deal. AT&T has agreed to remain a tenant in about the half of property at 2600 Camino Ramon in San Ramon where it will continue operating its regional headquarters; the length and terms of the lease were not disclosed. Sunset Development also has plans to develop City Center, a 500,000-square-foot shopping and entertainment development with 500 housing units, across the street from the AT&T building, according to a San Francisco Business Times article.

"This acquisition recaptures a well-developed property in the heart of Bishop Ranch," said Alex Mehran Jr., president and chief operating officer of Sunset Development Company. "It provides us with a significant lease from AT&T along with one million square feet of office space that is available and of the highest quality in the Bay Area. Over the longer horizon, the project's adjacency to Bishop Ranch's City Center and San Ramon's North Camino Ramon Specific Plan area provides numerous master-planning opportunities that will benefit all tenants and visitors of Bishop Ranch."

Dallas-based AT&T said last year that it's open to the sale of some of its peripheral assets, including wireless towers, according to a Businessweek article. Sunset Development and New York-based MetLife, the largest U.S. life insurer, plan to redevelop the complex to attract additional tenants starting this year. The sale was financed by Wells Fargo, with Eastdil Secured advising Sunset Development on the acquisition and in arranging debt and equity capitalization.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

BGC Buying Cornish & Carey Commercial

BGC Partners, Inc. announced this week that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Cornish & Carey Commercial, one of the last regional independent real estate firms and a major player in Northern California commercial real estate. Cornish has been an affiliate of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF), the real estate firm under BGC Partners acquired in 2011, since 2010, and will now join the company operating in Northern California as Newmark Cornish & Carey. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Cornish's leadership — including all of its partners — will remain on board for the foreseeable future, according to a Sacramento Business Journal article.

"Our partnership with Cornish & Carey has been tremendously successful. We now have an even greater ability to provide clients in the important Northern California marketplace the complete array of NGKF's services including site selection, leasing advisory, facilities management, property management, project management, investment sales, global corporate services, and valuation among others," said NGKF CEO Barry Gosin in a statement. "A primary driver of NGKF's growth is acquiring spectacular talent in key markets. Cornish & Carey's commitment to serving clients, and its culture and performance, align perfectly with NGKF's client-centric service and growth model."

Formed in 1935 in Palo Alto, CA, Cornish & Carey employs more than 275 brokers and generated $135 million in revenue in 2012, according to a CoStar report. The two firms have operated under a business referral agreement since 2010. Cornish & Carey has offices in Emeryville, Hayward, Marin, Palo Alto, Pleasanton, Roseville, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa and Walnut Creek.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Time Warner Sells Manhattan HQ for $1.3B to Related Cos.

Time Warner Inc. announced this week that it had sold its 1.1 million square foot headquarters building in Manhattan for $1.3 billion to a venture of Related Companies, an entity owned by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and GIC in a sale-leaseback deal. While Time Warner will continue to lease its current office space until early 2019, the company has plans to relocate to 30 Hudson Yards in the office development by Related and Oxford Properties Group, expecting to acquire more than one million square feet and occupy the space by the end of 2018. Eastdil Secured's Douglas Harmon, Adam Spies and Kevin Donner represented Time Warner in the transaction with the Abu Dhabi fund. Studley is representing Time Warner and CBRE is representing Related and Oxford with respect to Time Warner's planned acquisition of space in Hudson Yards for its new corporate headquarters.

"We see significant upside in leasing the high quality office space following Time Warner Inc.'s planned relocation to 30 Hudson Yards. We believe strong demand for this first-rate office property will translate into a stable income stream which suits GIC as a long-term investor," said Tia Miyamoto, regional head of Americas at GIC Real Estate. "Time Warner Center is one of the premier mixed-use projects in the country."

Oxford Chief Executive Officer Blake Hutcheson said, "Time Warner has shown incredible vision not only in its core business of storytelling, but also in its commitment to establishing a collaborative and creative space. We are very excited to partner with Time Warner alongside Related, and to deliver a business community in which Time Warner will simply thrive."

Time Warner Center is a 2.8 million-square-foot mixed-use complex at the southwest corner of Central Park, which, in addition to office and flex space, also houses a Mandarin Oriental hotel, Jazz at Lincoln Center and some of the city's most expensive condominiums. The long-anticipated Time Warner Center purchase works out to about $1,182 per square foot, according to a CoStar report.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Comcast Building Even Bigger Philadelphia Skyscraper for $1.2B

Comcast Corporation and Liberty Property Trust announced this week that they will be jointly developing a new $1.2 billion 59-story tower across the street from the Comcast Center, the current tallest building in Pennsylvania and global headquarters for Comcast Corporation. The new 1,121-foot tower on the 1800 block of Arch Street in Center City Philadelphia will stand nearly 150 feet higher than Comcast Center and become a dedicated home for the company's "growing workforce of technologists, engineers, and software architects," as well as the base of operations of local broadcast television stations NBC 10/WCAU and Telemundo 62/WWSI.

"This is yet another historic moment for Comcast," said Brian Roberts, Chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation. "We continue to be proud to call Philadelphia our home, and are thrilled to build a world-class media, technology and innovation center right in the heart of the City, to bring NBC 10 and Telemundo 62 downtown, and to create thousands of jobs and further drive economic activity in the region. We have assembled an incredible design and development team to expand our vertical campus, and I am more excited than ever about the future of Comcast in Philadelphia."

Liberty Property Trust Chairman and CEO William Hankowsky said, "Liberty is thrilled to again have the opportunity to develop a transformative project for the city of Philadelphia, a project that will significantly contribute to the continuing renaissance of Center City as a forward-looking yet uniquely livable urban environment."

Designed by Lord Norman Foster of Foster + Partners, the 1.517 million rentable square foot project will include a new Four Seasons hotel and a block-long lobby with a glass-enclosed indoor plaza accompaniment to Comcast Center's existing outdoor plaza. The new mixed-use tower is expected to be the tallest building in the United States outside of New York and Chicago and will be the largest private development project in the history of Pennsylvania.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in a Ventures Africa article this month titled "Blumberg Grain Expands African Business Into DRC", announcing that Blumberg Grain has been contracted by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to provide grain warehousing services to its farmers after signing a similar contract with the Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture to expand the country's food security and storage. An excerpt from the article follows:

"This initial DRC order represents another important deployment of Blumberg Grain's food security storage and systems," Blumberg Grain West Africa CEO, David Blumberg said.

He noted that throughout Africa, governments emphasize the need to lower post-harvest losses in order to increase farmer incomes and boost agricultural output.

"That's a key focus of Blumberg Grain's food security systems," he said.

Philip Blumberg, CEO of Blumberg Capital Partners, said his company also looks forward to investing in processing plants, cleaning, drying and packaging facilities in the DRC."

Blumberg Grain works with private companies and countries to modernize agricultural value chains, increase the quality and marketable output of their harvests, enable efficient market timing, and significantly boost exports of agriculture products.

To read the full story, click here. For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg In the News

Blumberg Grain was featured this week in an AllAfrica article after having been awarded an agri-warehousing project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. An excerpt of the article follows:

Following the Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture's recent contract for Blumberg Grain food security and storage systems, Blumberg Grain has also been chosen to provide its grain warehousing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC project includes the installation of the company's Grain Vault product line with integrated security systems.

David Blumberg, CEO of Blumberg Grain - West Africa, commented that "This initial DRC order represents another important deployment of Blumberg Grain's food security storage and systems. Throughout Africa, governments emphasize the need to lower post-harvest losses in order to increase farmer incomes and boost agricultural output. That's a key focus of Blumberg Grain's food security systems." Philip Blumberg, CEO of Blumberg Capital Partners, stated "We will also be looking into investing in processing plants, cleaning, drying and packaging facilities in the DRC."

To read the full story, click here. For more news and information, visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

US Commercial Sells Two Texas Properties for $71.5M

US Commercial, LLC, a real estate advisory firm based in Ladera Ranch, California, announced today that it had sold two commercial properties in Texas for roughly $71.5 million on behalf of its tenant-in-common (TIC) investors. D Real Estate Daily reported that a private real estate fund advised by Crow Holdings Capital Partners purchased Preston Center Pavilion and Square in Dallas from US Commercial in a deal put together by the HFF team of Barry Brown, Jim Batjer, Doug Hazelbaker, and Ryan Shore. The other property, Briar Forest Crossing in Houston, was purchased by TSVF I Briar Forest LP, an affiliate of CapRidge Partners based in Austin, Texas, in a deal also arranged by HFF.

"Even during the challenging economic downturn, our first priority was our TIC investors," said H Michael Schwartz, chairman and CEO of US Commercial. "We assisted our investors throughout the down cycle and now through the disposition process."

"Both of these commercial properties offer ideal locations, a strong tenant base, which enabled them to maintain high occupancy levels even during the downturn," added Paula Mathews, executive vice president at US Commercial.

Preston Center Pavilion and Square is a 230,842-square-foot retail center that was redeveloped in 2000 and purchased by US Commercial in 2004. Preston Center is anchored by national tenants including DSW Shoe Warehouse, Marshalls, Gold's Gym, CVS Pharmacy, Office Depot, Pei Wei and Chipotle. Briar Forest Crossing in Houston is a 94,000 square foot office building located just off the Sam Houston Parkway and Briar Forest in the Westchase District, originally purchased by US Commercial in the first quarter of 2005.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Invesco Buys San Francisco Office Tower from Hines

Invesco Real Estate closed this week on the purchase of 101 Second Street in San Francisco, a 26-story office tower at Second and Mission streets, from a subsidiary of the Hines U.S. Core Office Fund LP. While financial terms of the deal or a definitive sales price were not disclosed, a source familiar with the deal told Bloomberg that the building traded hands for $291 million, which, at $750 a square foot, would make it San Francisco's most expensive deal for a stabilized office property in the past year. The sales price is nearly 10% higher than the price tag that the seller was targeting, according to market sources.

"It was a very competitive process but an asset we think makes a lot of sense to own long-term as this location and quality is rarely found in San Francisco," Greg Kraus, a managing director at Atlanta-based Invesco, said in an e-mail. He declined to comment on the price. 101 Second Street is roughly 90% leased, with major tenants including Reed Smith LLP, Ziff Davis Media Inc., Nexant Inc. and wealth management firm Aspiriant.

Hines, in partnership with Sumitomo Real Estate of Japan, originally acquired the property along with its companion building at 55 Second Street for $282 million from a Cousins Properties partnership in 2004. According to a San Francisco Business Times article, the two buildings were developed together, and are two of the strongest assets in a portfolio that is being recapitalized. While Hines has retained Eastdil Secured to market 55 Second Street, some speculate that the strength of the 101 Second Street transaction may allow Hines to hold on to the second property.

"I would be very careful of buying anything above what it costs to build," said Ken Rosen of the the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley, who suggested that area pricing had become a bit inflated. "It makes me uncomfortable that we are seeing that again in San Francisco. It's a mistake. You can't rely on interest rates staying low forever. There is no question in my mind that by 2017 we will have moved back to a 4 or 5 percent treasury bond. Maybe it won't happen as quickly as I think, maybe it will happen sooner. So if you are buying something based on 2.6 treasury, it's a mistake. You have to look at replacement costs."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

DC's Thurman Arnold Building Sold for $505M

Manulife Financial Corp. moved forward with the sale of the Thurman Arnold building at 555 12th St. NW in Washington, DC as MetLife and a Norwegian pension fund manager have teamed up to pay roughly $505 million for the property. Manulife originally announced last May that it was seeking buyers for the building, having lost the law firm Arnold & Porter LLP as its anchor tenant. Manulife retained Eastdil Secured to market the 12-story building, which was assessed at $203.8 million, according to a Washington Business Journal article. The sale on the property — now assessed at $579.8 million, according DC's Office of Tax and Revenue — closed Wednesday morning as MetLife and Norges Bank Investment Management secured the property.

The 18-year-old Thurman Arnold Building encompasses a full city block in the East End, at the corner of F and 12th streets. The property is roughly 94% leased, but Arnold & Porter will be moving out of the 447,772 square feet it occupies when its lease ends in 2015. The building is named after the iconoclastic DC lawyer Thurman Arnold who cofounded Arnold & Porter along with Paul A. Porter and Abe Fortas.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

China Greenland Investing $2B in London Skyline

Greenland Holding Group Co., a major Chinese state-owned real-estate developer, announced plans this week to invest £1.2 billion ($2 billion) in two real estate projects in London, marking its entry into the U.K. market. Greenland signed an agreement to buy developer Minerva's Ram Brewery, a historic seven acre site in Wandsworth claimed to be the UK's oldest working brewery until it closed in 2006, according to a City A.M. article. Minerva was acquired by clients of Ares Management and Delancey in 2011, who sold the property this month to Greenland for £600m. The brewery site has outline planning consent for 661 new homes, including a 36-story tower providing 166 units and 9,500 square metres of space for new shops and restaurants.

Paul Goswell, managing director of Delancey, said: "Since acquiring Minerva two years ago, we have worked hard to comprehensively redesign the original scheme which culminated in planning consent being secured last December. Our strategy had been to implement the scheme ourselves, possibly with a partner, but that changed when Greenland made their unsolicited proposal."

Greenland president and chairman Zhang Yuliang, who flew to London for the signing of the Ram Brewery deal, said: "London is the global financial centre as well as the most open and diversified city that enjoys the most mature economic development, making it the first option for our investment in Europe. Due to the active trading in London local real estate market in the last two years, the average residential price rose by 10% in 2013, and the increase in demand is expected to continue in 2014. There have been more and more individual investors who favor the UK market, thanks to the stable return on assets, high quality assets and sound market liquidity."

Guy Grainger, UK CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle, which aligned Minerva with Greenland, described the project as a landmark transaction for the London residential market. "This deal emphasizes the strong relationships currently being created between the UK and China, and further highlights London as the No 1 destination for international capital," he added.

Greenland will also build apartments on a 3,700-square-meter site in the city's financial district of Canary Wharf. Greenland said it plans to build London's tallest luxury residential housing project at the site. More details on that project will be announced at the end of the month, the company said.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Prudential JV Sells Seattle Tower for $150M

Heitman America Real Estate Trust, a Chicago-based real estate investment management firm, purchased 1800 9th Avenue in Seattle, Washington for $150.38 million, or about $476 per square foot. Heitman acquired the property from The Prudential Realty Group and Talon Private Capital, a joint venture that originally purchased the 312,700-square-foot office tower in December 2011 from Regence BlueShield in a sale-leaseback transaction for $76.5 million. Prudential and Talon were represented by Stuart Williams and Laura Ford of Jones Lang LaSalle, while Heitman handled the acquisition in-house, according to a CoStar report.

Also known as the Regence Building, 1800 9th Avenue was originally designed by LMN Architects and built in 1990 in the Seattle CBD submarket of King County, in close proximity to the Convention Center Metro Station and I-5. Talon Capital hired Foushée & Associates to redevelop the 15-story, 315,837-square-foot office building, with modifications including a new main lobby, an updated fitness center, new 4th floor exterior deck, and new HVAC controls. According to reports the building was 97% leased at the time of sale, with Amazon.com occupying more than half of the building.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Parkway Acquires Bank Of America Center In Orlando for $52.5M

Parkway Properties, Inc., an Orlando, Florida-based real estate investment trust, announced this week that it had acquired its co-investor's 70% interest in the Bank of America Center, located in Orlando, Florida, that was previously owned by Parkway Properties Office Fund II, L.P. Parkway takes full ownership of the asset for $52.5 million, or about $178 per square foot, which values the property at $75 million, according to a CoStar report. The acquisition was funded using approximately $28.8 million of cash and the assumption of $23.7 million of in-place mortgage indebtedness that is secured by the property.

"We remain committed to building a high-quality portfolio of assets located in targeted submarkets throughout the Sunbelt. The Bank of America Center is our headquarters location and is a landmark asset in the Orlando CBD. It is a core-plus investment that has a solid base of high-quality, credit tenants with the opportunity to add value through leasing the remaining vacancy at the building," said James Heistand, Parkway Properties' President and Chief Executive Officer.

The Bank of America Center at 390 N. Orange Ave. is a 28-story, 421,069 square foot Class A office tower originally constructed in 1988 with design by Morris Architects. Also known as Barnett Bank Center and NationsBank at duPont Centre, the property was 87.4% occupied in October 2013, with Parkway expected it to generate an initial full-year cash net operating income yield of approximately 6.3%.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

NorthMarq Acquires Cushman & Wakefield – Commerce

A division of NorthMarq, the Minneapolis-based holding company previously known as Marquette Real Estate Group, acquired Cushman & Wakefield – Commerce based in Salt Lake City, Utah under the name Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq (CWN). Cushman & Wakefield – Commerce was an independently owned and operated Cushman & Wakefield Alliance firm that was the sixth-largest commercial real estate company in the Puget Sound region, according to a Puget Sound Business Journal article. The terms of the private deal, which officially closed in December 31st, were not disclosed, but the new company did announce that their combined offices have annual revenues of more than $100 million, and manage more than 50 million sq. ft. of commercial real estate assets, administered by nearly 750 employees.

"This new relationship makes both firms stronger. We will broaden the capabilities we offer clients, leverage best practices from both companies, and provide expanded opportunities for our employees," said Jeff Eaton, president of CWN. "In addition, because both of our firms are part of the Cushman & Wakefield global organization, we are already well-aligned operationally."

"We are excited about the opportunities to grow our business through this new partnership. The combined platform and service offerings through CWN will help our professionals better serve their clients in this ever-changing market. This is a great fit for us, as both firms share similar cultural values to provide great support to employees, offer exceptional service to clients and serve our respective local communities," said Mike Lawson, president of Commerce Real Estate Solutions.

Lawson and Commerce executives Bill D'Evelyn and Rodney Gibson will join a newly formed executive committee that will manage both companies. That committee, led by Jeff Eaton, will also include Mike Ohmes, Lisa Dongoske and Clint Miller from CWN.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Office Vacancy Rates Continue to Decline

A new report from Cassidy Turley, expected to be released in full on January 13, examines the U.S. vacancy rates through the fourth quarter of 2013 and the early news is promising. According to the company, vacancy rates continued to decline in most metropolitan statistical areas in Q4, with rents rising in over half of the country. Further, the report reveals that vacancy is now 220 basis points lower than its recessionary-peak of 17.3%.

"Office vacancy is clearly tightening, but at a rate that is much slower than past recoveries," said Kevin Thorpe, Chief Economist at Cassidy Turley. "Steady job growth and lack of new development has vacancy falling in 70% of the country, but the office sector is still adjusting to the new era of tenant downsizing and space efficiency. Rent growth is still being powered by energy-driven and tech-driven markets, but the rent recovery is clearly beginning to roll into more pockets of the country. Supply/demand fundamentals suggest the majority of the country will be pushing office rents upward by this same time next year."

The top 10 U.S. markets in terms of 2013 rent growth were:

San Francisco, with 11.8% rent growth;
New York, at 9.5%;
Denver, with 7.8%;
San Jose/Silicon Valley, with 7.3%;
Austin, with 7.0%;
Dallas, with 5.6%;
Salt Lake City, with 5.5%;
San Mateo County, at 4.9%;
Oakland-East Bay at 4.4%; and
San Diego, with 4.3% rent growth

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.