Sales: Did You Know?
CIM Group has tucked away five office buildings
in Oakland, CA into its portfolio for $412.5 million.
The sale price included $316.9 million in cash and
the assumption of three existing mortgages totaling $95.6 million. Totaling 1. 7 million sf, the class
A assets are located in Oakland’s Lake Merritt
and City Center districts. The portfolio includes the
city’s tallest high-rise, the 28-story Ordway Building
at One Kaiser Plaza, as well as the Center 21
office complex, which comprises properties at 1333
Broadway, 1901 Harrison St., 2100 Franklin and
2101 Webster. Brandywine Realty Trust, repped
by Reed Smith LLP, was the seller…On behalf
of Regency Realty Group, Colliers International
has sold the leasehold interest in a 95-year ground
lease for Santa Maria Commons, a retail center in
Santa Maria, CA, to First California Holdings LLC
for $10 million. The 117,000-sf shopping center is
anchored by Kohl’s and includes such tenants as
Rite-Aid and Wachovia…Village Square, a 128-unit,
garden-style apartment complex in Harleysville, PA, is
now in the hands of GPX Partners LP. The company
purchased the property for $13.1 million from an
unnamed seller. Situated on 10. 7 acres, the property
is comprised of one- and two-bedroom units. On-site
property management will be provided by Halfpenny
Santa Maria Commons
A definite upside of the deal is the relative strength of the Boston market. While
many major cities are feeling the strain
of the economic downturn, Khan says,
“Boston fortunately doesn’t have as much
exposure to the financial industries as New
York City or San Francisco. It’s very diversified, with accounting, legal and mutual fund
businesses.”—Danielle Douglas
Finance
MIAMI MIXED-USE TOWER
OBTAINS $250M PAPER
Miami—A construction loan for $250 million
has been secured for one of Downtown’s
most anticipated mixed-use developments,
Met 2. The $1-billion, two-tower project
will feature 750,000 sf of class A office
accommodations and 358 hotel rooms. It is
being developed by a joint venture of MDM
Development Group and New York City-based MetLife.
Providing the funds are lead agents Bank
of America and Wachovia Bank, as well as
HSBC Bank USA, RBC Bank and Bank of
Scotland, according to Tim Weller, vice president at MDM. To have secured a $250-mil-
lion construction loan in this economic climate is unusual, he says.
The joint venture used equity and a bridge
loan to start the project, Weller explains, and
began to seek new construction funds well
before the current market downturn. “That
gave us a real advantage,” he says.
Currently, construction on the project has
reached the 25th floor of the office building
and the 18th level of the hotel tower, says
Weller. At build-out, the office portion will
span 47 stories. The second tower will hold
a Marriott Marquis-branded hotel and the
first Hotel Beaux Arts, the newest flag in
Marriott International’s luxury group, and top
out at 42 floors.
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has recently
inked a 50,000-sf, 12-year lease at the
Met 2
office building, joining international law firm
Greenberg Traurig LLP, which signed for
150,000 sf this summer. Both companies
will move into Met 2 in fall 2010. A total of
1. 9 million sf of new office space is expected
to come into the Downtown Miami market
by that time, including Met 2 and competing
new construction buildings, 1450 Brickell
and Brickell Financial Centre.
Met 2 is part of MDM and MetLife’s
Metropolitan Miami project, which also
includes Met 1, a 447-unit condominium
tower; Met 3, a 696-unit condominium high-rise featuring Downtown’s only Whole Foods
Market; and Met Square, an urban retail
center.—Crystal Proenza, GlobeSt.com ◆
Reprint orders: www.remreprints.com
Enter code: F11084
Management Co…KBS Real Estate Investment
Trust I has added Five Tower Bridge, a 223,736-sf
office building in Conshohocken, PA, to its portfolio.
The asset sold for $73 million, or $326.28 per sf.
Located within the 45-acre master-planned development Tower Bridge, the building is 97% leased
to such tenants as Keystone Foods, Nationwide
Insurance and Eli Lilly & Co. CB Richard Ellis advised
the seller, Five Tower, a subsidiary of Cornerstone
Real Estate Advisors. The buyer used in-house
representation…Colliers Spectrum Cauble engineered the sale of First Industrial Realty Trust’s
First ParkTerminus West, a 585,000-sf distribution
center in Atlanta. CenterPoint Properties Trust paid
$20 million for the asset. The facility is fully leased to
Excel Logistics…St. Paul-based Retail Investment
II LLC has flipped Marktplatz Mall, a 60,000-sf shopping center in New Ulm, MN, to New Ulm Retail and
Development LLC. Wilshire Finance Partners funded
$375,000 of the acquisition, while American Bank of
Minnesota provided the balance of $700,000. The
center, which is anchored by Herbergers department
store, will undergo renovations.
Finance: Did You Know?
With $260 million in hand, El-Ad Group and Kingdom Holding have converted the construction loan used to
refurbish New York City’s iconic Plaza Hotel, now a 282-unit hotel and condominium property, into a long-term
permanent mortgage. A consortium of banks headed by HSBC Bank USA provided the funds, which include
a $40-million mezzanine piece from Transwestern Realty Finance Partners LLC…Citizens Bank and
Bank of America have teamed up to issue $80 million to STAG Capital Partners. STAG will use the financing package to launch its fourth investment fund, which will target warehouse, flex, manufacturing and office
assets…Kennedy Funding has forwarded a $10.2-million loan to 888 Biscayne Enterprises LLC for the
purchase of the four-story, 44,000-sf commercial portion of the Marina Blue
Condominium in Miami. The space consists of two terraces for outdoor seating and a 185-slot parking garage. More than 90% of the residences in the
60-story, upscale tower have been sold…Industrial properties in Arkansas,
Tennessee and Virginia serve as collateral for $14.7 million in financing provided by Cronheim Mortgage. The assets, which total 425,285 sf, house
such tenants as Federal Express, Airborne Express and Stribling Packaging
Inc. Each loan carries a term of 10 years with amortizations that range from
15 to 30 years. The borrowers were not disclosed…The development of
a 126-room Hyatt Place in Reno, NV can soon get under way thanks to a
$15-million first mortgage given to InterMountain Management LLC by
RockBridge. The all-suite hotel is located two miles from the Reno-Sparks
Convention Center and Downtown Reno. The Plaza
