Philip Blumberg Blog

JV Completes $121 Million Acquisition of Princeton Pike Corporate Center

A joint venture between Prism Capital Partners and Angelo, Gordon & Co. has completed the acquisition of Princeton Pile Corporate Center in Lawrenceville, New Jersey for $121 million, or $151 per square foot. Brandywine Realty Trust sold the 800,000 square foot complex; terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"This was a strategic acquisition and an expansion from northern New Jersey into the Princeton marketplace," said Eugene Diaz, principal of the Bloomfield, N.J.-based Prism Capital Partners. "Princeton Pike is a high quality set of assets in a cohesive office park environment, one that also offers future development opportunities on approved land. We are also very familiar with the asset, dating back to a relationship with the original developer, DKM, so this acquisition made complete sense."

The eight-building complex was approximately 90% leased at the time of sale. Situated on 100 acres at the intersection of U.S. Route 1 and I-195 and completed between 1984 and 1990, Princeton Pike Corporate Center is just minutes from downtown Princeton. Prism is handling the leasing of Princeton Pike Corporate Center. "This is a strategically located class A asset with access from all major corridors leading to and from the Princeton area," said Edwin Cohen, principal of Prism. "We anticipate a great deal of interest in the property's remaining availabilities."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Kaneohe Ranch Portfolio Comes to Market

The Harold K.L. Castle Foundation and Kaneohe Ranch Co. LLC have put the entire Kaneohe Ranch commercial real estate portfolio, which includes the town center in Kailua in Windward Oahu, on the market with Eastdil Secured. According to a Pacific Business News report, the possible sale of Kaneohe Ranch could easily top $1 billion and is similar to what happened when General Growth Properties Inc., the owner of Ala Moana Center, closed on a deal in 2002 to acquire Victoria Ward Ltd. for $250 million.

The properties are reportedly being marketed in their entirety or as two geographic sub-portfolios, the price of which is not currently available. Many of the existing commercial properties in Kailua were developed as leasehold interests 40 to 50 years ago, and several of the long-term ground leases "have either expired or will be expiring by the end of this decade, providing ownership with the opportunity to continue to upgrade and reposition downtown Kailua," the listing said.

The Hawaii portfolio also includes the land beneath the Windward City Shopping Center and Servco Windward Toyota in Kaneohe, and three properties in Honolulu. The Kailua town center includes a mix of fee-simple and leased properties whose tenants include Whole Foods Market, Foodland, Safeway, Times Supermarket, Longs Drugs, Macy's and California Pizza Kitchen.

The Mainland portfolio includes five leased fee land interests, three single-tenant retail and office assets and one multifamily asset located in San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Dallas, Phoenix and Portland, Oregon. Tenants in those properties include Lowe's in San Jose, California, a Kohl's department store in Phoenix, the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay and the U.S. government.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Winoker Brokers Five Office Deals

Winoker Realty Company, a privately held second-generation commercial real estate firm, brokered five office leases in Manhattan totaling more than 26,000 square feet. The leases are spread over four properties in Midtown and Midtown South. The leases include:

159 West 25th Street: 7,500 square feet leased on the fourth floor to Journelle Inc. Howard Epstein of Winoker represented the tenant in the 10-year term lease, while the landlord represented itself.

570 Lexington Avenue: 7,465 square feet leased to Rodman & Co. Corey Abdo of Winoker represented the landlord, while Keith Cody of CBRE represented the former tenant Volvo.

276 Fifth Avenue: two 4,340 square foot office suites leased to Ocean & Coastal Engineering P.C. Elliot Klein of Winoker represented the landlord, while the tenant was represented by Dan Chillemi of City Commercial Real Estate.

381 Fifth Avenue: 2,500 square feet leased for 10 years to Urban Angler. The landlord was represented by Klein, while Urban Angler was represented by Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Barbara Craig.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Mayor Emanuel Announces $1.1B for Elevate Chicago Project

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and Navy Pier announced plans this week for Elevate Chicago, a tourism and tradeshow infrastructure redevelopment program that would create a McCormick Place entertainment district and the redevelop Navy Pier. According to the Mayor's office, the project will bring to bear nearly $640 million in new investments, which will combine with $470 million of recently announced investments will become a $1.1 billion program that will create 10,000 construction jobs, 3,700 permanent jobs, and hundreds of millions of dollars in economic growth annually.

"Establishing the McCormick Place entertainment district along with the redevelopment of Navy Pier is a vital step in tapping the full potential of the city," said Emanuel in the statement. "These projects represent a major economic engine for Chicago, injecting millions of dollars into our local economy and creating thousands of construction and fulltime jobs."

"Elevate Chicago" includes the development of two hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues surrounding the convention center; the long-awaited launch of a redesign at the Navy Pier lakefront entertainment complex; and reconfiguration of a congested section of the lakefront bike path from just south of the Chicago River north to Oak Street beach — a project known as the Navy Pier Flyover, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

"We are focused intensely on becoming and remaining the world's leading convention and trade show destination. To do this, we must have not only a state-of-the-art convention facilities, we also need this assembly hall and events center," said Jim Reilly, CEO of McCormick Place. "Most of our competitors have events centers, which allows them to attract a range of shows and conventions that are more difficult for us to attract with competitive pricing. We are fortunate to have a private partner in this venture to share construction and operations costs."

"We are taking what is good and making it great," said Marilynn Gardner, president and CEO of Navy Pier Inc. "We have a unique opportunity to create one of the world's signature attractions, one that, like Millennium Park, bridges elevated, contemporary design with popular appeal."

Click here to view a WGN-TV report on the announcement. For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

The Canyon in Oak Cliff Breaks Ground This Week

Stratford Land, a Dallas-based land investment manager, is breaking ground this week on a 211-acre mixed-used development five miles west of downtown Dallas. Plans for The Canyon in Oak Cliff, a 211-acre project, include up to 7,500 residential units, 1,000 hotel rooms, 1.2 million square feet of office space and 800,000 square feet of retail space, according to a Dallas Business Journal article. Frank Mihalopoulos, who is handling retail development for Stratford, announced agreements to build a Marriott hotel and a Denny's restaurant. He said inquiries from retailers have been brisk and efforts to land a grocery store continue.

"You see a piece of land and you know what it ought to be," said Steve Sanders, a senior investment manager for Stratford Land, owner of the property. "This is something that could be pretty spectacular." Stratford bought the Canyon site from 25 owners during the past five years. The property was part of the 19th-century La Reunion colony, City Council member Scott Griggs said. In later years, portions of it included a rock quarry and dairy.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

One WTC Construction Complete as Tallest Building in the Western Hemisphere

Towering 1,776 feet above the ground, in honor of the year that began the American revolution against British rule and what is considered the start of the modern United States, New York's One World Trade Center met the end of its construction as a tall, heavy spire was hoisted into place today. Installation of the final two sections of the 408-foot, 758-ton spire was completed after pieces of it had been transported to the roof of the building last week. It will serve as a world-class broadcast antenna. The spire makes the building the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, 47 feet taller than Chicago's Willis Tower, though it is substantially shorter than towers in the Middle East and Asia.

"It's a culmination of a tremendous amount of team work ... rebuilding the New York City skyline once again," said Juan Estevez, a project manager for Tishman Construction, from a temporary platform on the roof of the tower where he and other workers watched the milestone.

"It's going to have a light that you can see from tens of miles away," said Port Authority Vice Chairman Scott Rechler. "And that light will change colors and in the next few months we are going to be activating that light, and it will be a beacon of hope just like the Statue of Liberty."

9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels watched the spire piece rise Thursday morning from the memorial's office windows overlooking the World Trade Center site. "It's a big milestone in the history of the rebirth of the site," Daniels told NBC News. "This renewal of spirit, to see spring here and this beautiful weather, the memorial fountains and the flag on the spire piece going up. It was one of those things that you won't forget."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Greystone Acquires Brooklyn Development Properties

Greystone, a New York-based real estate development and financial services company, announced this week that it had acquired development properties with a projected value of over $50 million. The terms of the deal for the two development properties in Brooklyn, New York were not disclosed, but Greystone did announce that the transactions were closed by the Greystone Property Development team, overseen by Douglas Benach.

"We believe in the incredible growth occurring throughout Brooklyn as it becomes one of the premier housing destinations in the region," said Jeffrey Simpson, Director in Greystone's Property Development business. "The buildings will be developed to provide great New York City quality living, while maintaining and celebrating Brooklyn's unique and vibrant past."

The properties include 137-43 North 10th Street in Williamsburg and 47-51 Bridge Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn. The 10th Street building, purchased from Brooklyn developer Rabsky Development, is a five-story, 30,000 square foot loft conversion that Greystone pans to convert to a 36-unit multifamily property. The property on Bridge street is a vacant development site that will be transformed into a 27-unit rental project.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Designs Released for $90M Westdale Redevelopment in IA

Frew Development Group, LLC, the project developer and property manager of Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, released plans today for a $90 million redevelopment of the complex. Frew is undertaking a redevelopment of the 34-year-old property, creating a town center that would offer housing, office, entertainment, retail, hotel, green space and connecting trails. The Westdale project design team, comprised of Shive-Hattery Engineers and Architects of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and SEM Architects of Denver, Colorado, prepared the Master Plan and related visioning documents.

"We are pleased with the collective effort of our development team and the city staff to produce a vision that revitalizes this civic treasure," said John Frew, President/CEO of Frew Development Group. "We are on track for consideration by the city council of our Master Plan and all related documents necessary for us to begin construction this summer."

The plans will go before Cedar Rapids City Council next week. If approved, developers hope to start construction in July, said Lisa Rowe, who was appointed the mall’s general manager just this week. The project has a 10-year timeline, but Rowe said project leaders plan to have the majority of the redevelopment complete in five years by being "as aggressive as possible."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

South Beach's Lincoln Place Sold for $66M

In a deal expected to close during the third quarter of 2013, Parkway Properties announced this week that it had entered into a purchase and sale agreement for Lincoln Place in Miami, Florida. Parkway is purchasing the 140,000 square foot office and retail building for approximately $66 million, or $472 per square foot. The building at 1601 Washington Ave. is being sold by 16th Street Partners, which is managed by LNR, according to a South Florida Business Journal article.

James Heistand, Parkway Properties' President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are excited for the opportunity to expand into the South Florida area. We believe this market is in the early stages of a recovery and has the potential to improve quickly given the diversity and vibrancy of its economy. Additionally, the South Beach submarket is highly land constrained and boasts a current vacancy rate of only 8.7%. Lincoln Place is a high-quality, core asset located one block away from the world-class retail destination of Lincoln Road. We hope to continue our expansion in the South Florida area with a similar blend of core, core-plus and value-add investments as we have done recently in several of our other markets."

Built in 2002, Lincoln Place is an 8-story mixed used building in the heart of the South Beach Historic District. The building is fully leased to LNR Corp., which has its headquarters there in a deal that runs through June 2021.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Investor Group Buys Travelers Tower I and II in Detroit

In a deal brokered by Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Capital Markets, the Travelers Tower I & II buildings in Southfield, the Detroit metro area's largest office submarket, traded hands this month for an undisclosed sum. An investor group led by Time Equities Inc. of New York purchased the 790,000-square foot, Class A office complex from an affiliate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. after winning out over a number of competing bidders. Larry Emmons, Patrick Shannon, Daniel Canvasser and Fred Liesveld from Newmark Grubb Knight Frank marketed the property.

"This is a gateway event signaling that out-of-town capital is once again interested in Detroit," said Larry Emmons, a senior managing director in Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's Capital Markets Group in Detroit. "We took the buildings to market right around Thanksgiving, and received nine offers within weeks."

"The Travelers towers acquisition is a great opportunity for us to expand our presence in the submarkets of Michigan. We have experience working with office properties like this one in multiple markets across the nation and know we are in a position to add value and stabilize the property," said Francis Greenburger, chairman of Time Equities Inc. "We plan to make improvements as necessary to preserve the long term usefulness of the property and maintain its Class A office status."

According to a Crain's Detroit Business article, the new owners have plans for $10 million in improvements to the properties. Chief tenants in Travelers Tower I, built in 1973 at 26555 Evergreen Road, include automotive firm Faurecia and Fox Sports. In Tower II, at 26533 Evergreen Road, major tenants include the corporate headquarters of R.L. Polk & Co., and Action Benefits.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.