Kimco Buys Out Kimco Income Fund I Partners

Kimco Realty Corp. announced this week that it had acquired the remaining 60.9% interest in the Kimco Income Fund I portfolio from its joint venture partners. The REIT has previously purchased interest in the fund from its partners, gaining an additional 9.7% last June; this latest purchase gives the company complete ownership of the 12-property portfolio. The remaining 60.9% was acquired for a gross price of $408.0 million, including the assumption of $38.2 million in mortgage debt. Kimco Realty will also repay $118.9 million of mortgage debt encumbering nine of the properties.

Real Estate Alert, which in December said the fund was marketing the portfolio for sale but noted that Kimco itself might be the buyer, reported that five of the centers are in Maryland. They include the 140,000-square-foot Enchanted Forest Shopping Center in Ellicott City; the 135,000-square-foot Wilkens Beltway Plaza in the Baltimore suburb of Catonsville; the 113,000-square-foot Shoppes at Easton in Easton; the 88,000-square-foot Radcliffe Center in Towson; and the 65,000-square-foot Perry Hall Centre in Perry Hall. The two other Mid-Atlantic centers are the 166,000-square-foot Brandywine Commons 2 in Wilmington, DE and the 133,000-square-foot Burke Town Plaza in Burke, VA.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Mark IV Capital Plans Round Rock's First Class A Office Building

Mark IV Capital tentatively plans to break ground on Round Rock, Texas' first Class A office space, which will be the second building at The Summit at La Frontera office park. Mark IV Capital, which plans to begin construction this summer, purchased the land for the new building plus the adjacent Summit I office building in October 2013 from a partnership of Moore & Associates Inc. in Austin and CenterSquare Investment Management in Plymouth Meeting, Penn. The 87,000-square-foot Summit I is a Class B property built in 2001, and is almost 9% occupied with tenants including Broadcom Corp., HDR Engineering, Prime Lending and SmartNote. Don Quick & Associates are the listed leasing agents for both properties.

"We are targeting a large user requiring 15,000 to 20,000 square feet or more of Class A office space in Central Texas for Summit II," said Robert Shore of Don Quick and Associates Inc. "We are already working with several companies who are looking to enter the greater Austin area and require this type of office space."

"Round Rock is a magnet for attracting businesses due to progressive city leaders and a pro-business climate," said Justin Basie, asset manager for Mark IV Capital.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Miami's Courvoisier Centre Sold for $145.8M

Parkway Properties, Inc. announced this week that it had purchased Courvoisier Centre in Miami, Florida for $145.8 million, or $422 per square foot, from Tishman Speyer. Parkway handled the transaction in house, while Tishman was represented by Jones Lang LaSalle in the deal. Parkway funded its acquisition in-part with available cash on hand and borrowings under its new seven-year, unsecured credit facility, according to a CoStar report. In connection with the financing, Parkway took the full amount of its $100 million loan, while simultaneously paying in full the first mortgage debt secured by the firm's Bank of America Center in Orlando, FL, which had an outstanding balance of $34.2 million including breakage costs.

"The acquisition of Courvoisier Centre supports our strategy of acquiring best-in-class assets within the strongest submarkets across the Sunbelt. The buildings' high-end amenity base, along with available parking infrastructure and water views, makes Courvoisier Centre a highly desirable asset," said James Heistand, Parkway Properties' President and Chief Executive Officer. "Further, a heavy emphasis on multifamily development within the Brickell submarket has limited the amount of available supply of Class A office assets, which has enabled Brickell to achieve the highest rental rates in Miami."

The Courvoisier Centre is a two-building office complex with an adjacent five-story parking garage, located on Brickell Key Island in Biscayne Bay, 400 feet off the coast of Downtown Miami. The seven-story Courvoisier Centre I was completed in 1986, and the 12-story Courvoisier Centre II and parking garage and retail were completed in 1990. The property totals 330,000 rentable square feet, including the adjacent five-story parking garage. The properties were 83.4% leased at the time of sale with major tenants including Young & Rubicam, Sony Pictures, CNN, WWE, MGM, Live Nation, Swire Properties, and Medina Capital.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

China Construction Buys Plaza Construction

Plaza Construction, a construction management and general contracting firm, was sold for an undisclosed price to China Construction America, a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corp., one of the largest builders in China. Paul Hastings LLP advised Steven Fisher and other family members of real estate firm Fisher Brothers in the sale, which originally founded Plaza Construction to provide construction management and general contracting on Fisher Brothers projects. According to a press release, Plaza will continue to operate autonomously under the name Plaza Construction.

"Our firm has always maintained a very 'hands-on' approach to working with our clients and managing world class construction projects for nearly 30 years," said Richard Wood, Plaza Construction CEO. "With the recent acquisition, Plaza is poised for accelerated growth with enhanced resources and bonding and procurement capabilities."

In addition to the purchase of Plaza Construction, China Construction America is also building a $3.4 billion casino and resort in the Bahamas, and has a number of significant contracts in Abu Dhabi, 100 miles down the road from Dubai in the U.A.E.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Griffin Towers in Santa Ana Sold for $129M

An affiliate of Blackstone, the global investment and advisory firm, completed the purchase of the Griffin Towers in Santa Ana, California for $129 million, making it the largest commercial office transaction to take place in Orange County this year. A joint venture between Lincoln Property Company and Angelo, Gordon & Co. sold the property with representation from CBRE while Blackstone represented itself. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Our acquisition and subsequent sale of the Griffin Towers is representative of Lincoln's value-add strategy as an owner, operator and manager of Class-A office space across Southern California," said Kevin Hayes, Senior Vice President at Lincoln Property Company. "We identified a trophy asset in financial distress, invested energy and capital into alleviating deferred maintenance, and took a hands-on approach to improving occupancy in a challenging leasing environment."

The twin 12-story office buildings at 5 and 6 Hutton Centre Drive was previously purchased by the Lincoln-led JV in 2010, which then made thorough upgrades to the common areas, improving the occupancy rate from 71% to 88%. The buildings' largest tenants include Corinthian Colleges, one of the largest post-secondary education companies in North America; CH2M Hill; Ultimate Software; and Premier Business Centers.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

WP Carey Picks Up QBE Holdings Building for $43M

W. P. Carey Inc., the New York-based net-lease REIT, announced this week that it had purchased 2700 Frye Road in Chandler, Arizona for approximately $43 million. The Class A office building was sold by Regent Properties of Los Angeles; terms of the deal were not disclosed. Neil Glassmoyer, senior vice president; Tivon Moffitt, vice president; and Peter Bauman, senior associate; all of Colliers International in Greater Phoenix, served as brokers for the buyer and seller.

"This acquisition represented an opportunity to secure a well-located new Class-A office facility leased to a credit tenant on a site that also offers the possibility for additional development," said W. P. Carey Managing Director and Co-Head of Global Investments, Gino Sabatini. "Located in the Price Road Corridor, one of the most desirable areas of the Phoenix submarket, the investment provides attractive current cash flow."

Regent Properties completed the building’s construction after purchasing the property in 2011 and then fully leased the building shortly thereafter. QBE FIRST, part of QBE Insurance Group Limited, signed an 11-year lease at the property in 2012 providing them with a significant QBE FIRST call center operating as its West Coast regional headquarters.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Watson Realty Acquires Sanford Industrial Property

Watson Realty Associates has purchased a 341,250 square foot industrial building in Sanford, North Carolina for an undisclosed price. Binswanger, an international full-service real estate organization, handled the transaction; terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Located at 541 Harvey Faulk Road in Sanford, the industrial property sits on 23.13 acres located just west of Highway 87 at the southern terminus of the Highway 421 bypass. The building was constructed in 1989 and features roughly 10,000 square feet of office space, a reinforced concrete floor, an insulated metal roof, and paved and marked parking for several hundred vehicles.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.