New 1.6M SF Spec Industrial Park for Arlington

Ridge Development, the industrial development arm of Transwestern Development Co., announced this week that it will break ground this quarter on a new speculative industrial park in Arlington, Texas. The 1,605,620 square-foot, 119-acre project, dubbed Park 20/360, is owned by a venture between Invesco and Ridge Development. The former High Point Church property was sold by the Evangelical Christian Credit Union in Brea, California, which foreclosed in July 2014. Phase I of construction, expected to deliver in first-quarter 2017, calls for four buildings totaling 1,249,560 square feet; Phase II will follow with another four buildings, with full delivery expected in second-quarter 2018.

"The confluence of a thriving Texas economy with continuing solid fundamentals, record-setting occupancy within the Great Southwest Industrial District, a diverse commercial make-up in Dallas-Fort Worth and an outstanding location warrant the development of such a large project on a speculative basis," said Kent Newsom, executive vice president at Ridge Development, in a prepared statement. "Park 20/360 is divided into three different types of space to accommodate multiple industrial user types including bulk distribution, warehouse and flex."

The project is one of the largest new warehouse complexes under construction along Interstate 20, which had more than 6 million square feet of projects being built in corridor at the end of 2015. The park benefits from being inside a Triple Freeport Tax Exemption zone and is only 18 miles from DFW International Airport. Alliance Architects Inc. serve as architects for the park, with civil engineering provided by Pacheco Koch Consulting Engineers Inc. Transwestern's Vice President Joe Rudd and Principal John Brewer are providing leasing services.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Invesco Acquires SSF Logistics Center

Invesco Real Estate has purchased the SSF Logistics Center in South San Francisco from a partnership of New York City-based Angelo Gordon & Co., Lafayette-based Orchard Partners and Chicago-based Centrum Properties. The property was brought to the market for sale in May, and brokered by Cassidy Turley/BT Commercial. While the terms of the deal and final sale price were not disclosed, industry sources say the property would have sold for around $120 million, according to a report from The Registry.

"The team of Orchard, Cassidy Turley and Centrum brought to bear decades of industrial investment, leasing, entitlement, construction and management expertise, as well as deep locale market relationships and perspectives, on this project. Following a yearlong re-entitlement and redesign for a major logistics company, we are thrilled to consummate this sale to Invesco," said Steve White, a managing director with Angelo Gordon in a prepared statement.

"SSF Logistics Center has been thoughtfully conceived, and on a fully renovated basis has been transformed to a state-of-the-art logistics facility. This is something rarely found on the Peninsula," says Tyler Higgins, managing partner of Orchard Partners.

The SSF Logistics Center has two separate buildings covering 26 acres located along the west side of 101 and north of US 380 at 1070 San Mateo Avenue. The 453,076 square-foot warehouse building is 93% leased to Federal Express with a recently signed lease that expires in 15 years with two five-year extension options, with the General Services Administration taking up the remainder of the building for the Drug Enforcement Administration. The second 9,240 square foot building offers retail/cafe/business services space and is currently under construction, with an expected delivery date sometime this December.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

10 Exchange Place Sold for $285M

Manulife Real Estate, the global real estate arm of Canada-based Manulife Financial Corporation, acquired 10 Exchange Place in Jersey City, NJ for $285 million this month. Manulife picked up the property from a client of Invesco.

"This is kind of unusual," Andrew J. Merin, of Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group, which orchestrated the sale, told GlobeSt.com. Merin, David W. Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel, Brian J. Whitmer and Kyle B. Schmidt represented the seller, a client of Invesco, in the transaction. "Over $1 billion in bricks and sticks will have traded. [...] There is not a lot of quality out there. In July, the market started to slow down. [But] Manulife did all their homework."

"Manulife is always looking for opportunities to grow our real estate investment portfolio and we're extremely pleased to secure these exceptional assets in what are three very important and diverse real estate investment markets," said Kevin Adolphe, Chief Operating Officer of Manulife's Investment Division and President and CEO of Manulife Real Estate. "We are optimistic about the possibilities in these and other key markets and we continue to look for core office, industrial and multi-family residential property investments throughout Canada, the United States and Asia."

Completed in 1988, the 748,005-square-foot building was the recent recipient of BOMA's 2011 TOBY (The Outstanding Building of the Year) award for buildings over 500,000 square feet. LEED-Gold and Energy Star certified, the iconic tower offers unobstructed views of lower Manhattan from every floor. The property was 100% leased at the time of sale with major tenants including ACE Insurance, Daikin McQuay, Kuehne + Nagel, Rabobank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Amazon.com.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Bank of America Sells $880M CRE Loan Portfolio

Bank of America has agreed to sell a portfolio of commercial mortgages valued at roughly $800 million to a group of investors reported the Wall Street Journal. A venture of Square Mile Capital Management LLC , Invesco Ltd. and a fund managed by Canyon Capital Realty Advisors LLC is buying the portfolio, a mix of performing and nonperforming loans tied to 32 properties, at a discount of 20-25% off the face value. The loans in the portfolio are backed by buildings in 12 states, and reportedly about three-quarters of them are performing.

The deal is among the largest commercial mortgage portfolio sales of the year, coming as many banks continue to shed loans made during the market's peak reported the WSJ. The eight-story Renaissance Centre office building at 405 N. King Street in Wilmington, Delaware, and the Bank of America Tower in St. Louis are both included in the portfolio. The article also notes that this sale follows others that have Bank of America dropping assets that aren't part of its core businessnes; the bank recently sold an $8,6 billion Canadian credit card portfolio, a $8.3 bllion stake in China Construction Bank Corp. and a $1.5 billion stake in HCA Holdings Inc.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.