Hines Buys Goodyear Crossing II, Amazon Distribution Center

Hines Global REIT II, Inc. announced that it has entered into a contract to acquire Goodyear Crossing II, a 820,384 square foot industrial property in a Phoenix, AZ submarket, for $56.2 million. The property is being sold by RT Goodyear, LLC, which formed in 2009; it's unclear when RT Goodyear took ownership of the property, which was included in a 2013 Quarterly Report list of assets under Gramercy Property Trust. In July 2009, CB Richard Ellis Realty Trust purchased the warehouse through a joint venture with Duke Realty for $45.26 million. Hines Global II expects to fund the acquisition using proceeds from its public offering, borrowings from its credit facility with Hines Interests Limited Partnership and a secured mortgage from a third party, according to SEC filings. The REIT funded a $1 million earnest money deposit in connection with the purchase agreement and expects the acquisition to close on August 23rd.

Goodyear Crossing II is situated in the Goodyear Crossing Industrial Park and was constructed between 2008 and 2009. Located at 16920 W. Commerce Drive, the Class A industrial warehouse is 100% leased to Amazon, which first announced its intent to build the property in 2008. "As we continue to expand selection for customers across all product categories, we’re excited to be opening a new facility in Goodyear to allow us to serve customers more quickly and efficiently," Mike McKenna, vice president, Amazon fulfillment services, said at the time.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Duke Sells Phoenix Industrial Properties to Exeter for $56M

Exeter Property Group, the Plymouth Meeting, PA-based real estate investment manager, has purchased two industrial buildings in Phoenix, Arizona from Duke Realty for $55.9 million, or a blended average of $65.45 per square foot. Both properties transfered in cash sales that were brokered by Jones Lang LaSalle in Phoenix; representation was not disclosed. The acquisition adds nearly another 2 million square feet to its Valley portfolio; the company said it is looking to acquire additional properties in the market.

The first property at 4570 W. Lower Buckeye Road in the Riverside Business Center includes 603,910 square feet of space. The distribution warehouse building was originally developed in 2007 and acquired by Duke Realty in 2011 for $24 million; Exeter Property Group paid $39 million this month. The second property at 1002 S. 63^rd Avenue, known as Estrella Buckeye inside the Estrella Business Park, is a 250,157 square foot distribution facility developed in 1996. Exeter paid $16.9 for the building, which Duke acquired in 2010 for $8.7 million. Both properties were 100% leased at the time of sale.

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$60M Office Park Coming to West Chester

Kubicki Real Estate Partners, the Cincinnati-based real estate company owned by David Kubicki, purchased 17.9 acres of land in West Chester Township from an affiliate of Duke Realty Corp. for $2.4 million, with plans to build a $60 million office park. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Cushman & Wakefield represented Duke Realty in the sale, while the buyers were self represented. Kubicki is working with Sharonville-based architecture firm McGill Smith Punshon Inc. to develop the complex, the form of which is yet to be determined as negotiations continue with potential tenants.

"This was a golden opportunity to get in the West Chester market," Michael Kubicki told Tom Demeropolis at the Cincinnati Business Journal. "If Duke was still in the office market, they would have built a building there by now," he added. The property is just east of Streets of West Chester, directly south of two GE Aviation office buildings that sold for $66 million earlier this year.

"This intersection is ripe for speculative office construction," Scott Abernethy with the Cincinnati office of Cushman & Wakefield said of the deal. "The market is so tight." Aside from a 17,000-square-foot, single-story office building, the next largest block of class A space in the West Chester area is 4,000 square feet, Abernethy said.

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McCarthy Building Breaks Ground on Springfield Rehab Hospital

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. broke ground this week on a new $28 million rehabilitation hospital for Mercy and Centerre Healthcare in St. Louis, Missouri. Duke Realty Corp. will own the 63,000-sq. ft. building, and the health care system will be the tenant. Springfield. Nashville, Tennessee-based Earl Swensson Associates Inc. is the project architect, according to a National Real Estate Investor article. Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital Springfield is a partnership between Mercy and Centerre Healthcare Corporation, a national leader in the development and operation of rehabilitation hospitals. Centerre has partnered with Mercy for similar projects in St. Louis and Oklahoma City.

The new two-story rehab hospital sits across the street from the Mercy Orthopedic Hospital Springfield site, which is also being built by McCarthy for $116 million, and will have 60 beds and provide inpatient rehabilitation for patients recovering from strokes, brain or spinal cord injuries, amputations, complex orthopedic injuries and other conditions. McCarthy expects to deliver the building early in 2014.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

CAPTRUST Tower in Raleigh Sold for $98.4M

Newport Beach-based KBS Realty Advisors has acquired CAPTRUST Tower, a 300,389-square-foot office and retail building in the North Hills area of Raleigh, North Carolina for $98.4 million. KBS purchased the property from a joint venture partnership between the Indianapolis-based real estate investment trust Duke Realty and the Raleigh-based real estate development firm Kane Realty.

"CAPTRUST Tower is the best project in Raleigh and has leased faster and at higher rents than any other office project," said Charles Schreiber, chief executive officer of KBS Realty Advisors. "We've been focused on Raleigh and specifically CAPTRUST Tower due to the quality master-plan and the maturity of the mix of uses already in-place and planned."

CAPTRUST Tower at 4208 Six Forks Road is the first office high-rise to be built in the North Hills mixed-use development and is suburban Raleigh's tallest building. Within the 17-story building, there are nine stories of premier office space atop a 750-car parking structure designed over 26,000 square feet of retail space. Office space in the building totals almost 275,000 square feet. Developed by Duke Realty and Kane Realty in 2009, Kane will continue to have an ownership interest in the project through the joint-venture formed with KBS, according to a High Rise Facilities article. The property was 95% leased at the time of sale to 18 tenants, including CAPTRUST Financial Advisors, the American Board of Anesthesiology, Regus, RBC Capital Markets and other national and regional tenants.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Duke Realty Sells Office Buildings for $44M

The Archon Group, a real estate investment arm of Goldman Sachs, has purchased a portfolio of six office properties in the Triangle for $43.95 million from Duke Realty. According to a Triangle Business Journal article Duke listed the portfolio, which includes 427,000 square feet of office space, in August of 2011. “These were still good assets, but ... we're happy about the buyer, and we know they'll take good care of the tenants,” said Jeff Sheehan, senior vice president in charge of Duke Realty's Raleigh operations.

The portfolio, buildings all built between 1986 and 2000, was 83% leased in August when it was first put on the market. The properties include 5540 Centerview Drive, 5565 Centerview Drive, 5520 Capital Center Drive, 801 Jones Franklin Road, 1616 Millbrook Road and one property in Cary located at 6501 Weston Parkway. The sale is reportedly part of the real estate investment trust's strategy of increasing its industrial and medical office portfolio while reducing the number of office assets it owns.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

JV Finalizes $516M Portfolio Acquisition

A joint venture between CB Richard Ellis Trust and Duke Realty Corp. completed the purchase of a 20-property portfolio valued at $516 million according to a CoStar report. The deal, reportedly the largest transaction in the REIT's history, was broken into three phases of acquisition; this final phase covered 13 office buildings with 2.05 million square feet in four states for approximately $342.8 million. CBRE Realty Trust owns 80% of the partnership and Duke retains the remaining interest.

The properties included in the portfolio are listed as:

Norman Pointe I: Minneapolis, MN, with 212,722 square feet of space

Norman Pointe II: Minneapolis, MN, with 324,296 square feet of space

The Landings I: Cincinnati, OH, with 175,695 square feet of space

The Landings II: Cincinnati, OH, with 175,076 square feet of space

One Easton Oval: Columbus, OH, with 125,031 square feet of space

Two Easton Oval: Columbus, OH, with 128,674 square feet of space

Atrium I: Columbus, OH, with 315,102 square feet of space

Weston Pointe I: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, with 97,579 square feet of space

Weston Pointe II: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, with 97,180 square feet of space

Weston Pointe III: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, with 97,178 square feet of space

Weston Pointe IV: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, with 96,175 square feet of space

One Conway Park: Chicago, IL, with 105,000 square feet of space

West Lake at Conway: Chicago, IL, with 99,538 square feet of space

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Duke Realty Unloads Portfolio for $97M

A joint venture managed by Smith/Hallemann Partners has purchased a five-building office portfolio for $97.5 million from Duke Realty Corporation according to a Cincinnati.com article. The portfolio includes two Cincinnati Class A buildings with about 609,275 square feet of space and three Nashville Class A buildings covering around 379,264 square feet. Duke Realty is reportedly repositioning its portfolio with these disposals and has exited certain markets in an attempt to concentrate in areas where it already has a strong presence. The JV includes individual investors and a fund managed by Harbert Management Corporation.

The Nashville properties include a three-building plaza near the airport and known as One, Two and Three Lakeview Place in the Century City Office Park. Current tenants of the plaza include Thomas Nelson Publishers, CNA Insurance, Vista-Pro, Amerigroup and Hartford Insurance. The Cincinnati properties includes The Enquirer Building and an additional building in the city's central business district; tenants include Mitsui Marine, The General Services Administration and Harland Financial Solutions.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

New Wishard Project Gets Developers

Duke Realty and Browning Investments have been selected by the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County to develop a new office building for the New Wishard Project in Indianapolis according to the Indianapolis Business Journal. The new faculty building will be constructed in a 200,000 square foot lot adjacent to the new Wishard Hospital which is currently under construction near the campus of IUPUI.

The $754 million New Wishard project includes a 327-bed inpatient hospital and is scheduled for completion at the end of 2013. Wishard project leaders registered the 1.2 million sq. ft. campus to achieve United States Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification that will make it the first newly built hospital in Indiana and one of 10 in America certified LEED Silver or higher.

"To be selected to develop part of The New Wishard campus provides Duke Realty with yet another opportunity to demonstrate our support of this community and to provide a quality facility that will enhance the health of residents through our expertise in health care development," said Denny Oklak, Chief Executive Officer of Duke Realty. "We are proud to be involved in the development of The New Wishard campus," added Michael Browning, President, Browning Investments. "Our experience will aid us in ensuring that Wishard receives a facility that enables them to succeed in their mission."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.