REIT Buys UN Building in NYC for $114M

Government Properties Income Trust, an REIT owning properties throughout the United States that are majorly leased to the government, has acquired the New York City building leased to the United Nations for $114 million according to a Bloomberg report. The 16-story property at 305 E. 46th St. was sold by Extell Development Corp. and the transaction was brokered by Stan Johnson Company and Williamson, Picket, Gross Inc.

"This property fits well within our business strategy of owning buildings leased to the government," said David Blackman, president and chief operating officer of Government Properties Income Trust. "We like it because of its Manhattan location and we believe that the UN will stay in this building long term."

The property, also known as the Albano Building, contains 187,060 square feet that is 100% leased to the United Nations per a deal inked in 2007. The building was designed by Frank S. Parker and built in the early 1950s, undergoing extensive renovations in recent years.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Microsoft Moving to Moffett Towers

Microsoft Corporation announced this week that it has entered into a long-term lease agreement to take up 237,000 square feet at Moffett Towers in Sunnyvale, California according to a GlobeSt.com article. The company will be making the move from its current spaces in Palo Alto and Mountain View, a total of roughly 160,000 square feet of space, and expects to begin occupying 1020 Enterprise Way in January 2012. While the terms of the deal were undisclosed, it's been reported that asking rates for Moffett Towers are $2.95 per square foot per month.

Moffett Towers is a 1.8 million square foot office/R&D campus in the heart of Silicon Valley developed by San Francisco-based Jay Paul Company. Other tenants include HP, which leased 393,776 square feet in April, and Motorola Mobility, which leased 236,444 square feet in March.

"Microsoft's lease is another significant endorsement from a market leader of the unparalleled Moffett Towers office park experience," said Cornish & Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank Executive Vice President Phil Mahoney, which represents Jay Paul Company's Moffett Towers property in all leasing engagements. "Recent leasing activity at Moffett Towers alone has dropped the city of Sunnyvale's office vacancy rate nearly 10 percentage points. This state-of-the-art campus is changing the landscape of this real estate market."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Cassidy Turley to Acquire Carter Property Management Business

Cassidy Turley, the commercial real estate services provider, has entered into an agreement to buy the brokerage and property management business of Carter for an undisclosed amount according to a St. Louis Business Journal article. Carter, founded in 1958 in Atlanta, is a national leader in project development, commercial real estate services and investments with full-service offices in Atlanta and Tampa. Once the acquisition is completed, Carter's Brokerage Services and Property and Facility Management groups will operate as Cassidy Turley.

"Cassidy Turley is delighted to announce our commitment to acquire the brokerage and property management businesses from Carter," said Mark Burkhart, Cassidy Turley CEO. "Carter's thoughtful and client-driven approach is consistent with ours and will provide our clients across the country access to the best advice from an industry leading team in this region. The addition of Carter will allow us to offer our full spectrum of services in two significant markets—Atlanta and Central Florida."

"We are excited about moving forward in the process to join Cassidy Turley. This move will allow us to grow and strengthen our service business by leveraging Cassidy Turley's leading capital markets, leasing, property management and corporate services platforms" said Bob Peterson, Chairman and CEO of Carter. "With Cassidy Turley's national platform and service approach, we can better serve our clients with multi-market needs. In addition, Cassidy Turley's scale and reputation for workplace satisfaction will enable us to offer our professionals additional growth opportunities and a culture that complements Carter's."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Philip Blumberg on CNBC Squawk Box 5/26/11

Investment in Real Estate is Investment in Commodities

Commodity pricing has a huge effect on commercial property prices and commodity prices help to drive up the price of office real estate, Philip Blumberg, founder and Chairman, Blumberg Capital Partners told CNBC. Western markets were also still oversupplied in terms of housing compared to emerging markets, he added.

$1B Midtown Office Tower to Resume Construction

After signing a new lease with the law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP, Boston Properties announced this week that construction on its 39-story office tower in New York City would resume as early as this fall. Morrison & Foerster will lease roughly 180,000 square feet at the tower at 250 West 55th Street and expects to move into the completed building in the spring of 2014.

After breaking ground in late 2007, Boston Properties announced it would halt construction on the tower in early 2009 after the completion of excavation and foundations and construction of the building to grade level according to a CoStar report. The 1,000,000 square foot, LEED Gold pre-certified office building is expected to cost $1.05 billion once the project is complete. Morrison & Foerster LLP was represented by Paul Myers, John Maher and Tom Shirocky of CBRE, and Boston Properties was represented by John Powers and Peter Turchin, also of CBRE.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

PNC Building New $400M Headquarters

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. announced this week that it would be constructing a new skyscraper in Pittsburgh, dubbed the Tower at PNC Plaza, that will serve as the company's new headquarters when complete in 2015. Located at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Wood street, the approximately 40 story, 800,000 square foot building will be "the world's most environmentally friendly skyscraper" according to PNC.

"When the Tower is complete, we will have invested more than $700 million in green buildings at the heart of the city," said James E. Rohr, chairman and chief executive officer of PNC. The Tower will feature a double glass facade, state-of-the-art, high efficiency heating and cooling systems and will be oriented to take advantage of sunlight in workspaces, reducing the need for artificial light during the day. The designers in the Pittsburgh office of Gensler are also currently exploring fuel cells, solar panels, geothermal systems and other alternative power generation sources that will significantly reduce carbon emissions. The Tower will also feature green rooftops to collect rainwater and channel it for use in other parts of the structure.

"A headquarters facility is the cornerstone building of any company's portfolio, embodying company values and business ethics. PNC is making a strong statement by building their forthcoming headquarters to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards," said S. Richard Fedrizzi, president, chief executive officer and founding chairman of the United States Green Building Council.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

NAR Says CRE Markets Stabilizing

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has released its latest Commercial Real Estate Outlook report with projections and observations for the commercial real estate sectors and analysis of quarterly data. The report indicates that the improving economy and job creation will lead to growing demand for commercial real estate and reflects an overall stabilization in the market. "Job growth creates demand for commercial space, and the economy should be adding between 1.5 million and 2 million jobs annually both this year and in 2012, with the unemployment rate falling to 8.0 percent by the end of next year," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. "Given the minimal new supply in recent years, the rising demand means vacancy rates will be trending down in the commercial real estate sectors. Individual markets are now stabilizing and in some cases rising."

An excerpt from the report regarding office market conditions:

Vacancy rates in the office sector are expected to fall from 16.3 percent in the second quarter of this year to 15.3 percent in the second quarter of 2012.

The markets with the lowest office vacancy rates currently are Honolulu and New York City, each with vacancies below 9 percent.

Office rents are projected to rise 0.3 percent this year and another 4.3 percent in 2012. In 57 markets tracked, net absorption of office space, which includes the leasing of new space coming on the market as well as space in existing properties, is likely to be 26.6 million square feet in 2011.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.