Occidental Breaks Ground on First New Wichita Office Space in 4 Years

Occidental Management, a Wichita-based real estate development firm, broke ground this month on The Offices at Cranbrook, the first new Class A office space in northeast Wichita in four years according to a Wichita Business Journal article. "There are business owners out there who want to expand, want to grow," said Occidental president Chad Stafford at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Offices at Cranbrook, at East 21st Street and Cranbrook, east of Webb Road. Occidental also said during the ceremony that more than 50% of the first phase of the project pre-leased.

The Offices at Cranbrook will total over 60,000 square feet of space in four buildings once complete, with offices that include patios that look out over a lake. This site is also in close proximity to K-96 Expressway offering easy access from anywhere in Wichita. The roughly 24,000-square-foot first phase should be ready for move-in by December or January, according to Stafford. The contractor for the offices is Sauerwein Construction Co. Inc. The architect is Spangenberg Phillips Tice Architecture. Rose Hill Bank is the lead lender with Union State Bank also participating in the loan.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

BH Properties Sells Sunset Corridor Office Buildings for $6.9M

Los Angeles-based BH Properties, a real estate investment firm, has sold two Hillsboro, Oregon office and technology buildings known as Technology Center One and Two, totaling 95,000 square feet, for $6.9 million. According to an OregonLive.com article, BH Properties purchased the buildings in 2007 for $8 million. Hawaii-based Watumull Properties Corp. bought the properties, though terms of the deal were not disclosed. Keith Young, senior vice president at Kidder Mathews, represented both the buyer and the seller in the transaction.

Near the Intel Corp. campus, Tech Center One and Two are located at 7431 & 7451 NW Evergreen in Hillsboro. The property, constructed in 1985 with an addition in 1993, is occupied by a single tenant, Bank of America. "This is an impeccably constructed and maintained property, positioned in an economically diverse community, in proximity to a major metropolitan market, meeting Watumull's criteria for investment-grade properties," said Cliff Finnell of Kidder Mathews. "This building is highly desired by a wide variety of tenants, and will only increase in value over the next few years."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Harbor Group Acquires Nashville Portfolio for $130.5M

Harbor Group International (HGI) announced this week that it had acquired a four-property multifamily portfolio in Nashville, TN for $130.5 million. According to the Nashville Business Journal, affiliates of Norfolk, Va.-based Harbor Group International purchased the four apartment communities from a Lehman Brothers subsidiary in a deal brokered for the seller by Jones Lang LaSalle. The portfolio includes:

Cherry Creek, 627 units
Arbors of Brentwood, 346 units
Cambridge at Hickory Hollow, 360 units
Preakness, 260 units

"The acquisition of the Portfolio continues HGI's proven strategy of acquiring well-located apartment portfolios with value add and operational upside in improving markets," said T. Richard Litton, Jr., President of HGI. "All four properties have occupancy levels above 90% and are poised to realize increased revenues as we implement our capital program and the Nashville market continues to improve," he further commented.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Merrifield Medical Office Building Sold for $43M

3023 Hamaker Court in Merrifield, VA traded hands this month as Grosvenor Americas acquired the property for $43 million. The Long Cos., which developed the building in 2009, sold the property to Grosvenor; terms were not disclosed, but the building was being marketed by CBRE for sale. Anchored by Children's National Medical Center, the building was 75% leased at the time of sale.

According to a Virginia Business article, the property includes a three-story parking structure and adjacent land that could be developed into a second 120,000-square-foot building. "This is an excellent acquisition for Grosvenor Americas due to the building's exceptional quality and access, including substantial parking, as well as its prestigious tenants and proximity to INOVA Fairfax," Scott Brody, vice president, investments and general manager of Grosvenor Americas' Washington, D.C., office, said in a statement.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Construction Dipped in Arlington Q2

A new article from the Washington Business Journal examines the slowdown in construction activity in Arlington, VA during the second quarter of 2012. Even though there is over 4 million square feet of office space planned and approved by the county, none of the projects are yet under construction, making the second quarter the first quarter in the past decade without any new commercial construction started. An excerpt from the article:

But Arlington doesn't consider a project as "started" until it's above ground, so work at The Penzance Cos.' office building in Clarendon or Virginia Square Towers, both of which were in the dig or demolition phase during the second quarter, wasn't counted.

Robert Ruiz, who leads Arlington's urban planning research team, said the slow quarter was "definitely an anomaly," though it may be the result of several factors: the recession, the lag between county approval and construction, or a delay-spurred rethinking of projects.

Projects under construction during the second quarter will eventually total 962,282 square feet of office space, 147,660 square feet of retail, 1,404 residential units, 183 hotel rooms and 929,828 square feet of "other" space (public facilities, school, health care, etc). Much of the work now underway is found in Rosslyn, at Monday Properties' 1812 N. Moore St., The JBG Cos.' Sedona and Slate residential project and Abdo Development LLC's Gaslight Square.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Fort Worth Buildings Sold, To Be Repurposed As Offices

The former Packard Motor Co. dealership in Fort Worth, Texas along with another building used by Fort Worth Bolt & Tool, were sold this month to two separate entities, both of which plan to renovate the buildings for offices. Moore Acquisition Partners in Southlake bought the Packard building at 1204 W. Seventh Street from Texas Land and Investment for an undisclosed sum. A partnership of TLC Urban and Fort Worth's Kostohryz family bought the Fort Worth Bolt & Tool property at 2800 Bledsoe St. Three red brick buildings total about 25,000 square feet and will be renovated into modern office space, said Tony Landrum, a TLC Urban principal, according to a Dallas Business Journal article.

Moore Acquisition is a new real estate investment company and principal and managing partner Ryan Moore, who has a history in the oil and gas business, said of the deal that "we've been looking for some real estate in downtown Fort Worth. The building was very appealing." Moore is working with Joe Conk, of Conk Architecture, and Todd Davenport with HGC Commercial to restore the exterior to its original appearance and transform the interior into high-end loft-style offices.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

DEKA Sells The Westory in DC for $159M

DEKA Immobilien Investment GmbH, a German real estate asset manager, announced that it had sold The Westory for $159.36 million to New York Life Insurance Co. According to a CoStar report, Savills LLC advised the open-ended property fund managed by Deka Immobilien of Germany in the sale.

The 12-floor, 270,158 square foot property is managed and leased by Cassidy Turley. The Westory became DC’s first multi-tenant office building to receive LEED® for Existing Buildings in May of this year. On the corner of 14th and F Streets, The Westory was built in 1990 and designed by Shalom Baranes Associates.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.