Symetra Financial Center Sold for $185M

Walton Street Capital of Chicago, a private equity real estate investment firm, has sold the Symetra Financial Center in Bellevue, Washington to Sterling Realty Organization for $185 million, or about $422 per square foot. Bellevue-based Sterling Realty Organization has, since the late 1950s, owned the land under Symetra Center as well as seven contiguous acres. Tom Gilchrist, President of Sterling Realty said, "We are excited to own a Class A building in Bellevue. It complements our downtown holdings and is a natural evolution in our recent growth." Full terms of the deal and representative agents were not disclosed by either company.

Walton Street Capital originally put the property on the market in 2014 as part of a large group of office buildings in the Puget Sound region, then again as a single listing in 2015. Walton Street originally took over ownership of the property along with ten other Seattle area assets when a Goldman Sachs-sponsored commingled fund defaulted on a $900 million mezzanine loan.

"We have owned this property for a while, and we have done a great deal of work on the asset to improve it over time. We think now is a good time to be a seller. There is a great deal of demand for both from tenants looking for space and for capital looking to buy assets in the greater Seattle marketplace," Eric Mogentale, a managing principal with Walton Street, said of the property last fall.

Symetra Financial Center, formerly known as Rainier Plaza, is a 25 story office tower in Bellevue's Central Business District. Built in 1986 and designed by McKinley Architects, the glass tower at 777 108th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue boasts 445,089 square feet of space, the top floor of which was occupied by The Harbor Club until 2014. Major tenants include Symetra Life Insurance Company, TD Ameritrade, Columbia Bank, Baird, MWBoone & Associates, LLC, and North Way Investments, Inc.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

RXR Closes $1.65B Avenue of the Americas Acquisition

An affiliate of RXR Realty LLC announced the closing of the $1.65 billion acquisition of 1285 Avenue of the Americas, as well as the long-term lease renewal of more than 900,000 square feet to keep UBS's North American headquarters in the office building. The Real Deal first reported that Scott Rechler's RXR Realty was on the verge of a deal to acquire the 42-story office tower, and reports this week that it partnered on the deal with real estate investor David Werner, according to the Commercial Observer, noting that the duo financed the purchase with $1.2 billion in loans from AIG and Morgan Stanley. AXA Financial Inc. sold the property in partnership with JPMorgan Chase & Co.; AXA first put the tower on the market last fall along with 787 Seventh Avenue, which has since been sold to CalPERS; one source noted that both properties had been "institutionally owned for decades," and would likely fetch around $4 billion because they have "institutional-quality tenants [with] high credit and the in-place market rents are significantly below market."

Located between 51st and 52nd Streets and also known as the Equitable Building, 1285 Avenue of the Americas is a Class-A mixed-use tower featuring office, retail, and storage. RXR Realty plans to upgrade the building's lobby, modernize the elevator mechanical systems and make improvements to the plaza. "We are excited to close on the acquisition of 1285 Avenue of the Americas and simultaneously execute a long-term renewal with UBS," said Scott Rechler Chairman and CEO of RXR Realty. "It is only fitting that one of the city's most prestigious buildings will remain the home to some of the city's most prestigious companies for decades to come." In addition to UBS, the building is co-anchored by law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP in 550,000 square feet and Omnicom Group affiliate BBDO, a marketing and communications firm, in 325,000 square feet.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

New York REIT Buys JBG Cos. to Create $8.4B Company

New York REIT, Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the properties and the management business of JBG Companies, forming a new $8.4 billion enterprise to be renamed JBG Realty Trust. JBG was rumored to be in talks with New York REIT earlier this month, a deal in which the Chevy Chase developer accomplishes the goal of going public — an objective it's been weighing for more than a year — without the cost and regulatory burdens of filing an initial public offering.

The combined company's portfolio will span over 14.5 million square feet of office, residential and retail properties across the gateway markets of New York City and Washington, D.C., concentrated in transportation served, urban-infill submarkets. Approximately 22% of the portfolio will be located in New York City, with the balance of approximately 78% located in premier submarkets within the Washington, D.C. Metro area. The combined portfolio includes over 9.7 million rentable square feet of high quality office assets, approximately 1.0 million rentable square feet of retail assets, and approximately 4,500 residential units.

As part of the transaction, New York REIT's external management contract will be terminated upon closing and the combined company will be internally managed by JBG's current management team. W. Matt Kelly will be named Chief Executive Officer, David Paul will be named President and Chief Operating Officer, James Iker will be named Chief Investment Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer, and Brian Coulter will be named Chief Development Officer. Michael Happel, New York REIT's current President and Chief Executive Officer has agreed to assist in the transition and will serve as a consultant to the combined company for a transition period.

Randolph Read, Chairman of the Board of NYRT, said of the deal, "We are extremely pleased to be able to announce this transaction with The JBG Companies which is nothing short of transformative for New York REIT. This combination creates a substantial REIT in New York City and Washington, D.C. We believe that the expertise of the JBG management team is recognized throughout the industry and that this combination will provide the NYRT stockholders with a unique opportunity to participate in the value creation potential that this combination will bring." JBG Realty Trust will be headquartered in Chevy Chase, MD with a regional office in New York City.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Sumitomo Buys Miami Tower for $220M

Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA), the largest subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, one of the world’s leading traders of goods and services, has closed on the purchase of Miami Tower in the city's central business district for $220 million. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, LaSalle Investment Management’s LaSalle Income & Growth Fund V, and procured the buyer. The deal more than doubles LaSalle's investment on the office building, which it purchased in December 2010 for $105.5 million from Wealth Capital Management, Inc. Prior to that, the building was purchased in 2003 for $85 million by Blue Capital.

Robert Obringer, vice president of Sumitomo Corporation of Americas Commercial Real Estate Unit, sees solid value in this latest acquisition. "We are excited to add Miami Tower to our portfolio of commercial properties here in the U.S.," explains Mr. Obringer. "As part of our constant management of assets, we are always looking for opportunities that will maximize return on investment, and this property offers a strong upside potential for in-place cash flow and the opportunity to increase value."

"Miami Tower is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the exciting renaissance of the Miami CBD, which has been ranked as top U.S. metro for job growth in 2015 and sixth most important city in the world for ultra-high net worth individuals" Hermen Rodriguez, senior managing director with HFF, said in a prepared statement.

Previously known as the CenTrust Tower, the iconic Miami Tower was originally built in 1987 and designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect, I.M. Pei. The 47-story tower located at 100 SE 2nd Street ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida. The property consists of two separate structures: a 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. The tower's three tiers allow it to have multiple color schemes in tribute to certain holidays and seasons. Major tenants include Carlton Fields, TotalBank, UBS Financial Services, Genovese Joblove & Battista, Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin and the General Services Administration.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Hines REIT Pays $140M for Utah Corporate Center

Hines Global REIT II, Inc. has agreed to pay $140 million for Cottonwood Corporate Center, a four-building, Class-A office project located in Cottonwood, Utah. The property is being sold by NOP Cottonwood Holdings, LLC, according to an SEC filing. Hines Global II expects the closing of this acquisition to occur on or about June 10, 2016, subject to a number of closing conditions.

This isn't the first time Hines has had an interest in the property; in 2005, the Salt Lake City office of Hines acquired Cottonwood Corporate Center on behalf of National Office Partners Limited Partnership (NOP), its investment partnership with the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), from Cottonwood Partners for an undisclosed amount.

Located at 2755-2855 East Cottonwood Parkway, Cottonwood Corporate Center was originally designed by Giles Stransky Brems Smith and built between 1997 and 2000 to offer 490,030 square feet of rentable space. The CommonWealth Partners property management team began retrofitting the Cottonwood Corporate Center in 2012 to increase its already impressive ENERGY STAR® score of 94 and winning a 2015 Mid-Rise Suburban Office Park Toby Award. According to the filing, the property was 91% leased at the time of sale with major tenants including SanDisk and Extra Space Storage. The complex is in a submarket of Salt Lake City, situated at the base of Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood canyons, and is in close proximity to Salt Lake International Airport.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

$314M Refi Loan Provided for 63 Madison

A partnership between Loeb Partners, Jamestown, and George Comfort & Sons named 63 Madison Associates has secured a $313.5 million loan from the Bank of China for 63 Madison Avenue in Manhattan. The loan replaces old debts on the property and provides the owners with capital to complete renovations on the building. The Real Deal reports that Jamestown bought a 49% stake in 63 Madison Avenue earlier this year for $271 million, as well as a stake in George Comfort & Sons and Loeb Partners’ 26-story, 750,000-square-foot 200 Madison as part of the same transaction, paying $293 million.

63 Madison Avenue was originally completed in 1961 and occupies the entire block between East 27th and 28th Streets. The 15 story, 870,000 square foot office building is currently 100% leased with major tenants including IBM and Birchbox. This isn't the first time the Bank of China has provided a loan on the property, having issued a $152.3 million loan in February of 2015 and $150 million in February 2010. Renovation plans have not been disclosed, but New York-based Rosen Johnson Architects released designs to convert the ground-floor conference center to retail use with new storefronts, signage, easier access to stores and greater visibility overall.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

C-III Capital Partners Acquires Resource America for $207M

Resource America, Inc., a Philadelphia real estate investment and finance firm, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by C-III Capital Partners LLC, a New York-based real estate investment company, for a total of approximately $207 million, or $9.78 per share. Resource America's Board of Directors unanimously approved the agreement, which is expected to close late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter of 2016, pending approval by Resource America stockholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. C-III said in a statement that it intends to retain the leadership and staff of Resource America's asset management businesses. Proskauer represented C-III Capital Partners in the acquisition while Evercore served as exclusive financial advisors to Resource America.

"We are very pleased with this transaction, which we believe provides excellent value to our shareholders and positions the businesses that we have created for further growth," said Jonathan Cohen, President and CEO of Resource America. "C-III is a highly regarded real estate services and investment management organization with outstanding leadership, deep commercial real estate expertise and a management team, led by Andrew Farkas, that has a 30-year track record of acquiring and enhancing businesses and helping them flourish. This transaction should enable Resource America to focus on reaching a new level of excellence, which will benefit our employees, customers and partners."

Resource America is the external manager of one publicly traded REIT, four non-traded REITs and two other registered investment companies and focuses on capital-raising activities through the independent broker-dealer network. The combined company will manage over $25 billion of gross assets, and will be the owner or manager of over 70,000 apartment units across the U.S., the companies said.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.