11 Dupont Circle Buyer Found

BlackRock Realty put 11 Dupont Circle in Washington, DC on the market this May and may have already found a buyer for $88.5 million. According to a GlobeSt. report, Cassidy Turley, which had been selected to market the property by BlackRock, has found an unnamed buyer that will acquire the building at a pricepoint well in excess of the $54.5 million Brickman Associates paid for the property in 2005.

BlackRock acquired the 149,000-square foot office building in 2006 for $62.1 million. Built in 1974 and renovated in 2004, the property is currently fully leased but its best known tenant is the street-level retailers Books-A-Million, which serves as one of the anchors of Dupont Circle. The building is central to one DC's most dense and affluent population centers with a daytime population of forty-five thousand within a quarter mile.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Synergy Commercial Advisors Merges with Cassidy

Cassidy Turley announced this week that it had acquired Synergy Commercial Advisors, the Morrisville, NC-based boutique brokerage firm. In the six years since Rich Harris and his four partners started Synergy, the firm has grown to become one of the 10 largest commercial real estate brokerage firms in the region with a client base that includes the American Tobacco Campus in Durham and Alexandria Real Estate Equities' portfolio of lab buildings in Research Triangle Park. according to a Triangle Business Journal article. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We have been looking for the ideal strategic move for our Raleigh operations, and, with Rich and his team, we have found it," said Doug Brandon, Regional Managing Principal, Southeast, at Cassidy Turley. "We look forward to blending and enhancing their tenant representation and project leasing practice with our broader platform. In addition, we're excited to leverage Rich's leadership skills and reputation to serve our Raleigh-Durham office as Managing Principal."

"My entire team is thrilled to now be part of Cassidy Turley," said Rich Harris, who founded Synergy Commercial Advisors in 2008. "Beyond tenant representation and corporate services, this move allows us to offer clients an expanded geographic reach and a full-service platform – including best in class capital markets, property management and project and development services. We place high value on the cultural fit, both locally and nationally, and the overall strategic alignment that exists between our firm and Cassidy Turley's executive management. I'm excited to part of the new Raleigh-Durham team and expect us to be a market leader from day one."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Developers Make Moves on Miami Riverwalk

Chetrit Group, the New York-based real estate investment and development firm led by Joseph Chetrit, has purchased 6.2 acres of real estate with Miami developer Ari Pearl with plans to build a major mixed-use development called Miami Riverwalk. According to a Miami Herald article, Miami-Dade property records show that CG Miami River, led by Chetrit Group and Pearl, bought the Finnegan's River property at 401 S.W. Third Ave. for $11.5 million, from Ocean Drive Clevelander.

The development is planned for a three-block area bordered on the north by the river, on the south by Southwest Seventh Street, on the west by Southwest Third Avenue and on the east by Southwest Second Avenue. The Miami Riverwalk, to be designed by Miami architect Kobi Karp, will create a major mixed-use development along the Miami River to include four 60-story condo towers with a combined 1,749 units, plus a marina and hotel, retail space and offices. Plans are still not finalized and will be revised within the month. Renderings of the project can be viewed here.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

United Properties Sells Northland Center for $51M

United Properties, a Minneapolis-based commercial real estate developer and investor, has sold Northland Center in Bloomington for $51 million to California-based KBS Realty Advisors. Terms of the agreement haven't been disclosed, according to a Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal article, and officials from KBS and United Properties declined to comment.

"Northland Center is a well-located, highly amenitized, multi-tenant office complex within one of Minneapolis’ largest and most active submarkets," KBS central regional president Ken Robertson said in a GlobeSt.com article. "This property benefits from its location along the border of affluent Edina, MN, as well as within the I-494 corridor, which is the second-largest submarket in the Twin Cities."

"The amenity mix at Northland Center gives it a definite boost in this market," added KBS senior vice president/market leader Gio Cordoves. "The property also enjoys close proximity to an abundance of shopping, dining, hospitality and entertainment options, as part of the great location near France Ave., a major north/south thoroughfare."

The 460,000-square-foot two building office complex near France Avenue and I-494 at 3600 and 3700 American Boulevard West was originally developed by United Properties in 1983, and underwent renovations in late 2009. United Properties and its sister real estate companies, including Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq and NorthMarq Capital, occupies roughly one quarter of the property, and have indicated that they intend to continue leasing that space. In total, the complex was 80% leased at the time of sale, with other tenants including ConAgra Foods Inc., Xerox Corp., Kellogg Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Avison Young Acquires Aguer Havelock Associates

Aguer Havelock Associates, a Sacramento-based real estate brokerage company and a former member of the NAI network, has been acquired by Avison Young, the Canadian commercial real estate services firm. Founded in 1992, Aguer Havelock Associates is an independently owned commercial real estate brokerage firm offering a full slate of commercial real estate services to businesses operating in diverse sectors, and serving five counties: Greater Sacramento, El Dorado, Pacer, San Joaquin and Yolo. The change in ownership adds five new employees to Avison Young's operations in Sacramento, according to a GlobeSt.com article. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"Sacramento, due to its proximity to San Francisco and other areas of Northern California, ranks as one of the most dynamic markets in North America," Mark Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young, said in a statement. "Although Avison Young already has a presence in the region, we are now able to offer brokerage services, a core element of our full-service model. With the acquisition of Aguer Havelock, we have once again strategically expanded in a key market, California's state capital, that has a strong demand for our Principal-led, client-centric business model."

Over the past five years, Avison Young has grown from 11 to 58 offices and from 300 to more than 1,500 real estate professionals across Canada, the U.S., and in Europe.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Olymbec Group Buys 1700 Pacific in Dallas

The Olymbec Group, a Canada-based family investment group helmed by Richard Stern, picked up one of Dallas' last skyscrapers on the market this week with the acquisition of 1700 Pacific. CBRE was selected to market the property in August of last year, and represented the seller, Berkeley Investments Inc. (which had owned the property since 2005), in the deal. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District, 1700 Pacific is valued at $51 million.

"1700 Pacific presented an opportunity to acquire a meaningful stake in the ongoing transformation of the Dallas [Central Business District]," John Alvarado, senior vice president of CBRE, said in a statement. "Investors were attracted to this property because it is well positioned to capture surplus demand from Uptown by serving as a cost-effective alternative that provides high-quality space and amenities."

"They were excited about what they see happening in downtown Dallas," John Crawford, president and CEO of Downtown Dallas Inc., an advocacy group for the city's urban core, told the Dallas Business Journal. "They did their due diligence and decided to go hard with some money, which is a step in the right direction. But nothing is over until it's over."

The 1.3 million-square-foot, 49-story office building was built in 1983 and sits across the street from the planned Pacific Plaza park. The property was over 40% leased at the time of sale with major tenants including Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Neiman Marcus, Mary Crowley Medical Research Center, and Southcross Energy.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

SL Green Sells 3 Manhattan Properties

SL Green Realty Corp., New York City's largest office landlord, announced this week that it had agreed to sell three of its Manhattan assets in separate deals that will generate net cash proceeds of $240 million. In the first deal, SL Green is selling ts leased fee interest in 2 Herald Square, an 11-story 365,000 square foot commercial office building, for $365 million. In the second, SL Green, with its partner Jeff Sutton, reached an agreement to sell all of their interests in a mixed-use asset at 180 Broadway for $222.5 million. Finally, SL Green also closed on the sale of its development properties at 985–987 Third Avenue for $68.7 million.

"While the strategic approach for each of these investments varied, we had one goal in mind: creating shareholder value. I am very pleased to say that with each of these transactions, we've successfully demonstrated our ability to identify, create, and harvest significant value. Our combined IRR across these three deals is in excess of 21%," said Andrew Mathias, President of SL Green, in a company statement.

In its announcement, SL Green Realty did not identify the prospective buyers in any of the transactions.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Matrix Buys 535 Connecticut Avenue in Norwalk

Matrix Investment Group, a New York-based real estate company founded in 1994 by Glen Nelson and Richard Nieto, has purchased 535 Connecticut Avenue in Norwalk, CT for $13.5 million. Jeffrey Dunne and Steven Bardsley of CBRE Group Inc.'s Institutional Properties team represented the seller, a joint venture of KABR Real Estate Investment Partners and Blackpoint Partners, in the sale of the building. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Jeffrey Dunne commented: "535 Connecticut Avenue's easily accessible location and good 'bricks and sticks' should provide Matrix significant upside through the lease-up of the vacant space, including the only contiguous block of space over 90,000 square feet on the Route 1 corridor."

The 179,000-square-foot office building is located directly on Connecticut Avenue (Route 1) with high visibility from Interstate 95. 535 Connecticut Avenue, which was 45% leased at the time of sale, features easily divisible floor plates and amenities including a fitness center, cafeteria, and 95% covered parking.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Harbor Group Sells Broadway Tower for $250M

Harbor Group International, the Norfolk, Virginia-based commercial real estate investment firm, has sold 1412 Broadway in New York City for $250 million to various entities controlled by Isaac Chetrit. The sale price marks a windfall as Harbor Group originally purchased the property from MHP Real Estate Services in December 2010 for $150 million, with another $10 million invested in property renovations. CBRE represented Harbor Group in the transaction; terms of the deal were not disclosed. Harbor Group also recently entered contract to buy the 361,000-square-foot office building One Exchange Plaza in the Financial District from Broad Street Development for $157 million, as The Real Deal reported Monday.

"Harbor Group did a tremendous job repositioning the asset to benefit from the escalating demand in the area from fashion and TAMI tenants," said Darcy Stacom, Vice Chairman and Partner at CBRE Group, Inc.

"When we purchased the property, our investment thesis was based on the projected rapid growth of the Times Square submarket," Harbor Group President T. Richard Litton said in a release. "Our predictions proved accurate, as the market lived up to our expectations."

The 24-story, 415,135-square-foot office tower was 97% leased at the time of sale, with major tenants including Jones New York, One Step Up, Escada USA, OuterStuff, Securitas Security Services and Provident Bank. The tower is one block from the Times Square subway and close to Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal, and the Port Authority. The buyer has retained CBRE to handle leasing at the building.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

JLL Releases Global Life Sciences Cluster Report

Jones Lang LaSalle has released its 2014 Global Life Sciences Cluster Report, an annual report on key regions and trends in the Life Sciences industry. According to the report, U.S. cities continue to lead the world in biopharmaceutical resources and enterprises, with access to talent and research that is keeping cities like Boston, San Francisco and San Diego at the top of the U.S. life sciences clusters list. The report analyses top U.S. life sciences clusters, ranks the cities for their prominence in the industry and also offers an analysis of global trends in 17 countries.

"The right-sizing and reshuffling of the global biopharmaceutical companies has left its mark on key U.S. cities," said Roger Humphrey, Executive Managing Director of JLL's Life Sciences group. "The strongest U.S. clusters have retained their competitive advantages, and continue to thrive as top centers of talent and innovation."

The Greater Boston Area once again tops the U.S cluster scorecard, according to a press release. Although San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area reported higher year-over-year employment growth, Boston's "ability to attract venture capital and U.S. National Institutes of Health funding secures its position as the top life sciences cluster in the world." All three cities are expected to lead the United States' life sciences industry in the coming years because of the critical mass of start-ups and mid-tier companies, leading research institutions, access to private and public funding, and local leaders focused on growing their life sciences industries. With three of the country's top 10 clusters, California is the top U.S. state for life sciences innovation.

"Los Angeles and Orange Counties' continued prominence as a global life sciences cluster underscores the immense talent and resources that are located within southern California and the County of San Bernardino," said Kelly Reenders, Economic Development Agency Administrator for San Bernardino County, part of the Los Angeles/Orange County life sciences cluster that ranked number six on JLL's list. "Our region has long provided leading centers of research such as the Loma Linda University Medical Center and Children's Hospital, and infrastructure such as manufacturing facilities and an educated workforce that support the life sciences."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Old Town Pasadena Portfolio Sold for $42M

A two-property portfolio in Old Towne Pasadena traded hands this week as Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap, arranged the sale for $42.6 million. The portfolio was sold by and purchased from separate private investors, with full terms of the deal left undisclosed.

"The seller felt that the market timing was right to attract strong offer activity and achieve a good price," Ron Harris, an EVP at Institutional Property Advisors, told GlobeSt.com. According to Harris, the sale drew interest from "a true mix of institutional buyers, private buyers with institutional equity and pure private buyers." The buyer to win the bid was in the latter group. "Interest was particularly high because of the location of the property—an A+ location just of the "main-on-main" corner of Colorado Blvd. and Fair Oaks," Harris says.

"This transaction is a meaningful example of the power that private capital has in the current marketplace," added IPA director Paul Darrow. "The assets' location and vintage, plus the rarity of the offering, attracted a great deal of serious interest from both private and institutional capital. Normally, institutional investors who are, generally speaking, more competitive and better capitalized, purchase opportunities of this size. In this instance however, a high-net worth private investor was extremely competitive and acquired the property."

The portfolio includes 91 residential units, 22 West Green St. and 65 West Dayton St., and two freestanding retail buildings, 60 West Green St. and 70 West Green St. Built in 2003, the four-story, 48-multifamily unit building at 22 West Green St., called "Palermo," is on the southwest corner of West Green Street and South Fair Oaks Avenue. The five-story building located between South De Lacey Avenue and South Fair Oaks Avenue at 65 West Dayton St., called "Messina," was constructed in 2004.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Northrop Breaks Ground on New MD Facility

Northrop Grumman Corporation, the leading global security company, broke ground this week on its new $20 million space payload facility adjacent to Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI). The Maryland Space Assembly and Test (M-SAT) facility will be a 25,000-square-foot building designed to handle space payload integration programs, which will feature the largest clean room facility on the company's Baltimore campus, and a three-story high-bay area that will house operations for space programs. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on Monday with U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin and U.S. Reps. C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger and John Sarbanes in attendance.

"Northrop Grumman is committed to finding more affordable solutions to the nation's needs for critical space systems," said Gloria Flach, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. "This new M-SAT facility will enable us to meet our customers' space integration, assembly and test requirements more efficiently and affordably."

"I congratulate the men and women of Northrop Grumman on the construction of this new facility in Linthicum, which will support the company's space payload business," said Senator Barbara Mikulski, Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I'm in the business of helping business, and I have been advocating to keep this business right here in Maryland. By retaining top scientists and engineers in their fields, we are supporting jobs that keep our nation safer and Maryland's economy stronger."

"Northrop Grumman understands that when something is 'Made in Maryland,' it is the best in the world. I am proud to join in the groundbreaking for this state-of-the-art space assembly facility that will keep our state at the epicenter of space and technological innovation," said Cardin. "During such a tough and unpredictable budget environment, I applaud the people of Northrop Grumman for their resourcefulness in finding more efficient and affordable solutions to America's needs for critical space systems."

"Baltimore has long been home to Northrop Grumman and, now, they are choosing to grow here because of our second-to-none workforce," said Ruppersberger. "This investment will not only create local jobs, it will cement Maryland's reputation as a national space leader and drive the innovation that will help us win the global space race."

The building will employ 150 people through construction, according to a Baltimore Sun article. Once complete, it will house 80 engineers and technicians, though up to 60% of the jobs will be filled by existing Northrop Grumman employees. Construction of the new facility is being led by Patriot Contractors, a Maryland-based, veteran-owned general contractor, and is expected to be completed during the summer of 2015.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Felton Buys MN Rand Tower

A joint venture between Alex. Brown Realty, Inc. and Hempel has sold the historic Rand Tower in downtown Minneapolis to Felton Properties Inc., a Portland, Oregon based real estate investment firm. While terms of the deal and a sale price were not disclosed, archived reports show that the joint venture originally acquired the asset in 2008 for $10.2 million. According to a Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal report, Hempel spent more than $2.5 million to upgrade the building with new elevators, a fitness center and a conference room for tenants that include Ink, Shepherd Data Services Inc., Univision, Julie Snow Architects and ESP IT. Broker Ryan Watts, in the Bloomington-office of CBRE Group, marketed the building for sale.

"This will be the first of several deals in the Minneapolis metro market," said Felton Properties CEO Matt Felton. We've generally gravitated to the coastal markets, but there's so much institutional money ­chasing real estate in those markets."

The 194,316 square foot office property was originally developed in 1929 by Rufus Rand, with construction beginning at the height of the roaring twenties and the machine age. The art-deco style is distinctive and brings tremendous character to the space. The smaller floor plates also allow for abundant windows meaning more natural light and greater skyline views. Felton said he plans to make improvements that will help make the building more appealing for a range of businesses that need 300 to 5,500 square feet of space. "We won't do a rehab or a redo, but we want to significantly upgrade the vacant space there to differentiate it from much of the other generic office space that's out there," he said.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

First Potomac Realty Buys Reston, VA Office Building

Normandy Real Estate Partners, the Morristown, New Jersey-based real estate investment and management firm, has sold 1775 Wiehle Avenue in Reston, Virginia to Bethesda-based First Potomac Realty Trust for $41 million. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though it is known that Paul Collins, Bill Collins, James Cassidy, Drew Flood, and Jud Ryan of Cassidy Turley represented the seller in the transaction.

The five-story, 125,444-square-foot office building was built in 2001 and provides immediate access to the Reston Town Center, which offers 40 retail stores, a wide variety of eating establishments, multi-family residential, and a 517-room Hyatt Regency Hotel. 1775 Wiehle offers tenants 25,000 square foot floorplates with high ceilings, 30' x 30' column spacing, 15% multi-tenant core factor, 9' finished ceilings and virtually column-free workspace. The building is 100% leased with Odin, Feldman & Pittleman, P.C. as the largest tenant.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Prudential Sells Compton Industrial Property

Prudential Real Estate Investors has sold a 149,654 square foot industrial property at 250 West Apra Street in Compton, CA to a private buyer for an undisclosed sum. NAI Capital brokers Warren Noack, Kimberly Noack and Travis Noack represented the buyer in the transaction while Cushman & Wakefield brokers Rooney Daschbach, Steve Bohannon and Rusty Smith represented the seller.

"With an increasingly low level of inventory available for sale in the South Bay market, finding a purchase opportunity in that area was a challenge. We successfully transitioned what started out as a lease opportunity into a purchase opportunity for our client," noted Travis Noack with NAI Capital. "The transaction also involved a complicated lot line adjustment process that was already underway by the Seller. The lot line adjustment was initiated to enhance the land configuration of the subject property as well as improve the loading areas of the Seller's surrounding properties. The deal had a lot of moving parts but with patience, persistence and follow through we were able to facilitate a successful close."

Originally built in 1979 with extensive upgrades in 2000, the single story building is in the Dominguez Hills Industrial Park. The buyer has experienced a recent expansion, and sought an industrial property in this market to accommodate its growth, according to a GlobeSt.com article. Due to limited industrial supply in the Compton market, the buyer first entered into a lease agreement with the seller that eventually led to the purchase of the property.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

MetLife Building $110M Industrial Park

MetLife announced this week that it will be developing a new industrial distribution park near Atlanta, a $110 million project dubbed the Lambert Farms Distribution Center. The large-scale industrial park will sit on 183 acres and offer up to 3 million square feet of distribution space, accommodating up to two 1.5 million square foot facilities. MetLife is developing the new project with Panattoni Development Company, a privately held, national developer based in Newport Beach, California; MetLife will be the majority partner while Panattoni will be the managing member.

"The Lambert Farms development in the Atlanta area shows that MetLife is further diversifying its real estate equity holdings by adding a high quality industrial asset to our portfolio," said Robert Merck, senior managing director and global head of real estate for MetLife. "Nationally, we think the long-term growth factors for industrial markets in core cities are very positive, and we are excited to have an experienced partner with national reach in Panattoni Development."

The development will feature LEED certified buildings, clear heights of 36 feet and truck court depths of up to 240 feet, making the facility attractive to a wide variety of corporate tenants, The $110 million development is the latest in a string of high-profile economic development projects to be announced for the region's Southside, including a Kroger distribution center at Fort Gillem and the new North American headquarters of Porsche at the former Ford plant, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

300 North LaSalle Makes Chicago Record with $850M Sale

In a deal that marks the most ever paid for a Chicago office building, KBS Real Estate Investment Trust II announced this week that it had closed on the sale of the 60-story, 1.3 million-square-foot office tower at 300 North LaSalle in Chicago for $850 million, or $652 per square foot. Newport Beach, CA-based Irvine Company purchased the property after a competitive bidding process that was overseen by HFF.

KBS originally acquired the property in 2010 from Houston-based Hines for $655 million. According to a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, KBS "repaid the entire $344.6 million principal balance and all other sums due under a mortgage loan secured by the 300 N. LaSalle Building, including a prepayment penalty of $13.7 million."

"In 300 N. LaSalle, the Irvine Co. saw an irreplaceable, nationally iconic property in a highly coveted Chicago location," said KBS Central Region President Ken Robertson in a statement. "The asset has performed extremely well, which only underscores its enduring quality. We believe this is undoubtedly the trophy office asset of this market and a signature property for any office investor."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Jebbia Family Selling The Rialto

Rialto Theatre landowner, The Jebbia Family Trust, and its trustee, Wells Fargo Bank, are actively seeking new ownership for the historic property in South Pasadena, California. The owners are working with NGKF Capital Markets to market the property in partnership with the city to find a buyer with the capital to revitalize the building, which is a registered national landmark. While an asking price for the property was not disclosed, The Pasadena Star-News noted that according to a South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce report, repairs on the neglected property could cost from $4 million to $18 million.

"We obviously are excited about the potential of the building changing ownership with the possibility of reopening the doors again as a theater in some form," said South Pasadena City Manager Sergio Gonzalez. "The city has been working collaboratively to get it reopened again."

"The site, with its iconic architecture, could become the centerpiece of South Pasadena's downtown renaissance," said Matthew Dobson, managing director with NGKF Capital Markets.

"The area's residents are great backers of the arts and the city remains supportive of redevelopment plans that are not only thoughtful of the theater's rich history but also create viable and sustainable uses onsite," added Josh Levy, senior managing director, NGKF Capital Markets.

Located five blocks south of the 110 freeway, The Rialto Theatre opened for vaudeville and movies on October 17, 1925, with Ray Metcalfe playing the 2 manual, 10 rank Wurlitzer pipe organ and with the Rialto Orchestra accompanying the world premiere of Universal's "What Happened to Jones" starring Reginald Denny. The Rialto Theatre was one of the last theatres to be designed by noted theatre architect Lewis Arthur Smith, who died the following year. The Jebbia family has owned the theatre since the 1930s; in the 1960s it was leased to Mann Theatres, then Landmark Theatres took over in 1976 and showed arthouse and classic movies. Landmark closed the Rialto Theatre with "The Simpson Movie" on August 19, 2007.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Office Spaces Backing Out of Cubicles

A new article from the Wall Street Journal titled More New York Companies Experiment With Innovative Office Space takes a look at one of the newer trends in office organization and layout that's doing away with cubicles and offices in favor of open and collaborative spaces. Just last week, Gerson Lehrman Group Inc. (GLG), for example, launched its new office design that offers an array of workspaces — from comfortable couches to high stools at a barista-staffed coffee bar to single-occupancy glass booths — and does away with permanent desks, assigning employees only a laptop, a headset and a locker.

"Something funny about having a lot of stuff is it makes you feel like you're doing something," said Alexander Saint-Amand, CEO of GLG, whose company helps other firms learn about business issues by matching them with experts. "But when you don't have all that stuff, it frees you up to actually concentrate and work."

An excerpt of the article follows:

Companies such as Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Accenture have been experimenting with variations on unassigned seating since the 1990s and early 2000s. The Macquarie Group drew much attention in 2009 when it instituted an activity-based working concept at one of its offices, for 3,000 workers, in Sydney, Australia.

Last year, real estate services company CBRE Group Inc. brought its version of the office design to its Los Angeles operation. CBRE said it planned to have the system in 21 of its offices by year's end.

"When we actually looked at what they needed, they needed much more choice, the ability to make good decisions about getting their work done," said Lenny Beaudoin, CBRE senior managing director of workplace strategy.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Chandler Corporate Center I Sold for $14M

Joaquin Charles de Monet's real estate investment firm, Palisades Capital Realty Advisors, has purchased the Chandler Corporate Center I in Chandler, Arizona for $13.914 million, breaking the $200-per-square-foot mark for suburban office space. The 67,561-square-foot Class A office property was sold by Chandler HFP, LLC, an affiliated entity of Held Properties, a California real estate development firm, with representation from JLL Senior Managing Director Dennis Desmond. Held bought same building in 2012 for $9.9 million, or just under $147 per foot, according to a Phoenix Business Journal article. JLL will retain the leasing assignment at the property and assume the property management responsibility under the new ownership.

"This building came out of the ground in 2008 and has outperformed the Phoenix and Chandler markets ever since," said Jones Lang LaSalle's Dennis Desmond in a press release. "This includes through the toughest office market recession we've ever experienced. That is evidence of the strength of the Chandler market and was a tremendous draw for investors looking for stable acquisition properties located in high-growth markets."

According to JLL research, in the four years from 2009 to 2012, Chandler was responsible for 66% of Greater Phoenix's total office space absorption. At year-end 2013, Chandler Corporate Center I was only 8.5% vacant, compared to an overall Chandler submarket office vacancy rate of 13.9% and an overall Phoenix office market vacancy rate of 23.9%.

Located at 585 N. Juniper Drive, Chandler Corporate Center I is a two-story building with a 6.63/1,000 parking ratio, modern office construction and benefiting from the area's highly educated labor pool.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Rexford Buys 9 Building Industrial Portfolio for $89M

Rexford Industrial, the Southern California-based industrial real estate firm, announced this week that it had purchased a nine-property industrial portfolio for $88.5 million, or approximately $108 per square foot, from Westcore Properties. The transaction was financed in part by a $48.5 million loan from JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to a Los Angeles Business Journal article. The remainder of the purchase price was financed by an existing line of credit.

"We are pleased to announce the acquisition of this high quality portfolio comprised of nine industrial properties in class "A" locations within our target Southern California infill markets," said Howard Schwimmer and Michael Frankel, Co-Chief Executive Officers of Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc. "The properties are strategically located within Los Angeles County, Orange County and San Diego County with convenient access to key regional, interstate, rail, and airport infrastructure to support local and regional distribution. The portfolio is currently 87% occupied. We plan to execute on a range of opportunities to drive occupancy while enhancing functionality, cash flow and value through strategic repositioning."

Eight of the nine portfolio properties, located across Southern California, are 96% leased in aggregate. The remaining property is 40% leased, with an immediate value-add opportunity to reposition the property in order to deliver a high-demand product capable of achieving higher rents. Included in the portfolio are a 60,800-square-foot building at 9855 Distribution Ave.; a 47,666-square-foot building at 9755 Distribution Ave. in the Miramar area; and three buildings totaling 230,250 square feet at 9340, 9404 and 9455 Cabot Drive in the Miramar area.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.