The largest convention center in the Pacific Northwest will finally get a designated hotel now that ground has broken on the $224 million Hyatt Regency Portland. Mortenson is the developer and design-builder for the 600-key lodging destination, which will be owned and operated by an affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corp.

MMEX Resources Corp., a development-stage company specialized in the acquisition, development and financing of oil, gas, refining and infrastructure projects in Texas and South America, acquired 126 acres near Fort Stockton in Pecos County, Texas. The company intends to build a Phase I 10,000 barrel-per-day (BPD) crude distillation unit at the location.

Rivertech Park, a two-building office/R&D property in Billerica, Mass., changed hands. The former owner is KBS Real Estate Investment Trust I, which bought the asset in 2008 for $42.2 million, according to PropertyShark data. The buyer is a joint venture between Jumbo Capital Management and Boston Andes Capital.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Managing Directors Brian Barnett and Steffen Panzone, together with Vice Chairman Peter Joseph, represented KBS in the deal…

KBS REIT Trades MA Office Facility

Wyndham Worldwide will spin off its hotel business, thus creating two separate publicly traded companies, Wyndham announced late last week.

Wyndham Hotel Group will become a new publicly traded, pure-play hotel company and will remain headquartered in Parsippany, N.J. Wyndham Vacation Ownership, based in Orlando, Fla., will be the world’s largest publicly traded timeshare company and will be teamed with Wyndham Destination Network, home to RCI, the world’s largest timeshare exchange company.

CBRE has appointed Julie Purnell as managing director of CBRE Hotels. In her new role, Purnell will bolster the firm’s advisory practice in the northwest and mountain regions and work closely with Chris Kraus, managing director & northwest and mountain advisory practice leader for CBRE Hotels. Purnell will be based in the firm’s San Francisco office.

Westwood Financial has secured $171 million in first lien financing for a portfolio comprising 13 multi-tenant retail centers located throughout Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina and Texas.

The properties total 1,050,350 million square feet.

HFF placed a $94 million fixed-rate portfolio loan with Nationwide Life Insurance Co. used for refinancing and new acquisitions and a $77 million fixed-rate portfolio loan with a correspondent life insurance company to refinance existing debt…

Westwood Financial Snags $171M for Retail Portfolio

In downtown Milwaukee, Irgens has taken a big step forward in its plans for the development of the BMO Harris Financial Center, a 25-story office project to be anchored by BMO Harris Bank’s Wisconsin headquarters. The developer recently completed the purchase of the bank’s current home at 770 N. Water St. and its adjacent parking lot, where the new 349,000-square-foot building will be erected.

Silverstein Properties has reeled in a new tenant at 120 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. The REIT secured a commitment from Macmillan Publishers to take 261,000 square feet at the 1.9 million-square-foot, downtown office tower. The deal leaves the property 96 percent leased.

Hines arranged a new lease with Silicon Ranch Corp. at 222, a Class A, 25-story office tower currently under construction in downtown Nashville, Tenn. The tenant plans to move into the new space in the first quarter of 2018 and will occupy approximately 19,000 square feet on the building’s 19^th floor.

After more than two years under construction, Hotel Chaco, the contemporary luxury hotel inspired by the architecture and ancient civilization of Chaco Canyon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, opened in Old Town Albuquerque, adjacent to sister property Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town.

St. John Properties broke ground on Valley Grove, a 62-acre master-planned development in Pleasant Grove City, Utah, as part of a $250 million investment the company is making in the area.

“We are thrilled with the pro-business climate and warm reception we’ve received in Utah,” Edward St. John, St. John Properties’ chairman & founder, told Commercial Property Executive. “We strive every day to provide places for great companies to grow their businesses, increase employment, generate profits and pay taxes.”

Faris Lee Investments, on behalf of a Los Angeles-based private investor, sold Palm Canyon Shopping Center. The nearly 40,000-square-foot retail center in downtown Palm Springs, Calif., which was 56 percent leased at the time of sale, changed hands for $7.3 million.

AREA UPGRADES

The center is located at 471 S. Indian Canyon Drive, on the main thoroughfare in downtown Palm Springs’ commercial core. Additionally, Palm Canyon Road is currently undergoing multiple redevelopments and renovations which will bring new hotels, shops, restaurants, retail, residential and office to the area. Tenants at Palm Canyon Shopping Center include IHOP, Casa Moderno and Urban Yoga…

Urban redevelopment is a familiar story in metros across the country. In the New York City metropolitan area alone, submarkets in parts of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Jersey City and Hoboken (just to name a few) are many years into facelifts that encompass thousands of new apartment units mixed with office, retail and entertainment uses that create a live-work-play environment.

Spavia Day Spa enters the Greater Columbus market. The retailer chose Bridge Park in Dublin, Ohio, to be the future home of its third center in the state and plans to move into the 3,176-square-foot space in October 2017.

“We chose Bridge Park for our first Spavia in the Columbus Metropolitan Area because it is the most dynamic area with Dublin and its surrounding communities. Our guests will find this location to be accessible and enjoyable with its close proximity to the AC Hotel by Marriott and The Exchange by Cameron Mitchell Premier Events,” said Spavia Bridge Park Co-Owner Craig Andrew…

Bloomfield Capital closed a $3.2 million senior bridge loan for the refinance and renovation of a 30,000-square-foot retail center in Nashville, Tenn. The sponsor is a local real estate development firm that purchased the former single-tenant asset as REO from a bank. The company converted the asset into a multi-tenant retail property. Bloomfield’s loan proceeds refinanced a prior lender and provided the tenant improvement funds necessary to finish the interior build-out.

Lincoln Property Co. Southeast negotiated a new lease, a lease expansion and a lease renewal at Live Oak Square, a Class A, 200,000-square-foot office building in Atlanta. The asset recently underwent an extensive renovation program that included an exterior refurbishment and interior modernization.

Transwestern Investment Group, the independent investment management affiliate of Transwestern, has appointed Charles Hazen as president.

“My immediate plan is to get to know the team and begin focusing the entire organization on maximizing the performance of our existing portfolios as well as identifying new initiatives and strategies for growth,” Hazen told Commercial Property Executive. “For instance, we think there’s an opportunity in the multifamily sector to bring more product online that is modest in pricing. Much of the new product built over the last several years has been high-end, and certain markets are in need of rental housing that is geared toward the workforce.” 

Healthcare organization Hospital for Special Surgery signed a four-floor, 98,600-square-foot office sublease at 777 Third Ave., in Manhattan’s Midtown East neighborhood. HSS signed the sublease from beauty product manufacturer Avon until July 2026. HSS will relocate a part of its offices to the building’s second through fifth floors and remain in the space after the sublease expires.

Austin’s economy is strong and population is booming, but a heavy new supply of apartments is limiting rent growth. Rents in the metro were flat year-over-year compared to a 1.5 percent national growth rate as of May. The metro attracts Millennials to its urban core, as well as Baby Boomers retiring to the Texas Hill Country. However, with more than 16,000 units under construction, Yardi Matrix forecasts a modest rent growth of 1.1 percent in 2017, as the heavy new supply is absorbed.

After closing a 7,500-square-foot retail property deal in Norwood Park, Chicago, Marcus & Millichap arranged the $4.3 million sale of Applebee’s, a 5,156-square-foot property located in Rochester, Minn.

Investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap’s Minneapolis office— Adam Prins, Matthew Hazelton, Cory Vilaume and Sean Doyle—represented the buyer, a limited liability company and had the exclusive listing to market the asset on behalf of the seller…

Newmark Knight Frank facilitated the sale of Clipper Mill, a mixed-use and historic adaptive re-use development located in the Hampden-Woodberry neighborhood of Baltimore, Md. An affiliate of ValStone Partners acquired the property for an undisclosed amount.

Clipper Mill comprises approximately 141,000 square feet of former mill buildings that were converted into Class A apartments, creative office and artisan space…

Historic Baltimore Mixed-Use Asset Changes Hands

Lincoln Property Co. Southeast won the exclusive leasing assignment for The Gold Building, a 65,880 -square-foot office property in Atlanta. Lincoln Leasing Associate Matt Fergus will oversee leasing efforts at the recently renovated asset, along with Senior Vice President Hunter Henritze.

Located at 1945 The Exchange in the city’s Cumberland/Galleria submarket, The Gold Building sits on a 3.1-acre site near the new Atlanta Braves stadium. Developed in 1975, the four-story property is in a business corridor full of amenities including the 60-acre mixed-use project dubbed The Battery at SunTrust Park…

Real Properties of America Inc. sold Low Country Village, a power center in Bluffton, S.C. to a private California buyer for $22.1 million. Matthews Real Estate Investment Services‘ Senior Vice President & Regional Director of Shopping Centers Scott Henard, arranged the sale on behalf of RPAI.

FULL OCCUPANCY

Built in 2001, the 140,000-square-foot power center was 100 percent occupied at the time of sale by 14 tenants. Notable retailers include Pier 1 Imports, Cost Plus World Market, Ross Dress for Less, Big Lots and Michaels. The property is located between two Tanger Factory Outlet Centers just outside of Hilton Head…

The Buccini/Pollin Group acquired the 302-key Sheraton DFW Airport Hotel in Irving, Texas, for $46 million. PM Hotel Group will be in charge of operating the hotel, which is the buyer’s second in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc., has acquired the fee-simple interest in Oceans Edge Hotel & Marina, a 175-key hotel in Key West, Fla., for $175 million. Additionally, Sunstone acquired a combined 52 wet and dry boat slips and amenities in the attached marina which offers direct deep channel access to one of the most sought after fishing destinations in the country.

Rail car leasing firm GATX decided to trade Chicago’s Franklin for Willis Tower. The company signed a 90,000-square-foot lease at the iconic 110-story skyscraper, well in advance of its lease expiration at 222 W. Adams St. NKF’s Vice Chairman Melissa Copley negotiated the lease terms on behalf of GATX.

Center Core Properties is the new owner of Corporetum Office Campus VI, a two-building portfolio part of the larger Corporetum Office Campus in Lisle, Ill. Winthrop Liquidation Trust, the previous owner, tapped HFF to market the 168,698-square-foot asset, which is part of the company’s liquidation plan.

HFF succeeded not only in finding a buyer but also in procuring a three-year $9.5 million acquisition bridge loan originated by Thorofare Capital…

Liberty Property Trust inked a new lease with LaserShip Inc. and a lease renewal with Home Depot at a 241,578-square-foot industrial building in Kennesaw, Ga. Following these deals, the property has reached 100 percent occupancy.

Located at 1325 Chastain Road, the distribution warehouse is part of the two-building Chastain Distribution Center developed in 1998. The facility features four front-loading suites, each offering 30-foot clear heights, as well as oversized drive-in ramps and 22 dock-high doors. The property offers 104 parking spaces and a 220-foot truck court…

By 2022, Marriott International will have a new $600 million urban campus headquarters and flagship hotel at 7750 Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Bethesda on a site developed by The Bernstein Cos. and Boston Properties.

The 1.8 million-square-foot Centre Square, a prominent office complex in Philadelphia’s central business district, has come under new ownership in the largest office transaction in the city’s history based on square footage. Acting on behalf of Equity Commonwealth, capital solutions and investment sales provider CBRE Capital Markets orchestrated the sale of the seminal two-tower property to Nightingale Properties LLC for $328 million.

Radcliffe Jewelers signed a 5,687-square-foot lease at The Shops at Kenilworth in Towson, Md. The retailer plans to move its Towson Town Center shop to the new location in fall 2018.

RECENT UPGRADES

Located at 800 Kenilworth Drive, the shopping mall sits next to the Baltimore Beltway, which connects Jones Falls and Baltimore-Harrisburg expressways. Opened in 1979, The Shops at Kenilworth is in the final phase of a $20 million renovation that includes interior/exterior upgrades, a new entrance and a new 20,000-square-foot, three-story marketplace. Additionally, Amaryllis, Quiet Storm and ZenLife have opened new stores here earlier this year…

PGIM Real Estate completed the acquisition of Regions Plaza, a Class A, 502,846-square-foot office tower in Midtown Atlanta. The company purchased the 23-story asset on behalf of institutional investors. According to Yardi Matrix, the seller was Crocker Partners, an Atlanta-based real estate and management firm.

Located at 1180 W. Peachtree St. NW, Regions Plaza features full-service concierge, a conference facility, valet parking, an on-site Flywheel and FlyBarre Studio, dry-cleaning, dining and on-site banking services. Completed in 2001, the building is LEED Gold certified and ENERGY STAR-rated, attracting a range of tenants including law firms, banking, sales, technology and construction…

A joint venture between LBG Real Estate Cos. and Aviva Investors has acquired Hilltop Mall, a 1,100,000-square-foot regional mall in the East Bay city of Richmond, Calif.

After landing a loan for the renovation and conversion of a century-old Manhattan hotel, Bridgeton Holdings sold the Pioneer Building in San Francisco, a 37,104-square-foot office asset, to American Realty Advisor. The property changed hands for $34 million, in an off-market transaction. At the time of sale, the asset was fully leased to Musk Industries, a venture backed by Elon Musk.

In the summer of 2019, Hogan Lovells will be moving its Northern Virginia office to Boro Tower, a 20-story trophy office tower currently under construction at The Boro in Tysons, Va., The Meridian Group announced. The company will lease a 44,500-square-foot space and will occupy the entire 17th floor and half of the 16^thfloor of the building. Rick Rome and Alexandra deVilliers of Savills-Studley represented Hogan Lovells.

Colony NorthStar has acquired a 2.8-million-square-foot, 20-property industrial portfolio located along the Interstate 95 corridor from TA Realty LLC, for $201 million.

The properties in the portfolio are situated within the states of Maryland and Delaware, with the largest percentage being in the Baltimore metro area…

TA Realty Sells $202M Mid-Atlantic Industrial Portfolio

orderTalk Inc., a provider of online food ordering systems and service solutions for the restaurant industry, expanded its corporate headquarters in Flower Mound, Texas. The company now occupies roughly 8,000 square feet, nearly tripling its initial space. As part of its expansion, orderTalk hired three new employees and is set to fill four more positions soon.

Vornado Realty Trust has added 330 Madison Ave. to its list of recently refinanced Manhattan office buildings, announcing that its 25 percent owned joint venture secured a $500 million loan for the 40-story office building.

More than 160,000 square feet of office space have recently been leased at One North Central, a 20-story office tower located in downtown Phoenix. Parallel Capital Partners negotiated four new leases, bringing the building to 93 percent occupancy.

The upcoming tenants are Quicken Loans, Live Nation, Coleman & Finch and Urban Eye Care, who will be joining Ryley Carlock & Applewhite and Renaud Cook Drury Mesaros, among other firms…

Dimension Development received management assignment for The Westin Crystal City, a 220-key hotel located in Arlington, Va. The property brings the company’s overall portfolio to 10,000 rooms and marks the first Westin property to be managed by Dimension. The growth-oriented hospitality management company expanded its footprint by 14 properties in the last two years.

CBRE has been selected to provide property management and leasing services for a 146,327-square-foot, Class A mixed-use building in Miami Beach, Fla. The property, known for its parking garage designed by Herzog & de Meuron, encompasses 94,488 square feet of creative office space and 51,839 square feet of premier retail and restaurant space.

Located at 1111 Lincoln Road on the corner of Alton and Lincoln Road, the property recently traded in a $283 million deal. CBRE Global Investors and Universal-Investment acquired the fully leased asset on behalf of Bayerische Versorgungskammer, one of Germany’s largest institutional investors…

CBRE completed the sale of Red Palmetto Shoppes, a 59,925-square-foot retail center in Miami Lakes, Fla. Red Palmetto Associates Ltd., an entity affiliated with Courtelis Co., sold the leasehold interest in the property to Ham Palmetto LLC, led by Augusto Ham, in a $12.2 million deal.

Douglas Emmett Inc. has acquired 9665 Wilshire Blvd., a 171,000-square-foot Class A office property in Beverly Hills, Calif., for $177 million, upping its ownership share in the market to more than 25 percent.

The 10-story property will be held by an existing consolidated joint venture with institutional investors including Qatar Investment Authority. Douglas Emmett and QIA also purchased 1299 Ocean Ave. and 429 Santa Monica Blvd. this past April. Douglas Emmett contributed 20 percent of the equity capital and will manage the joint venture…

Real estate investment trust Brandywine Realty Trust will relocate its corporate headquarters to FMC Tower at Cira Centre South in Philadelphia from 555 E. Lancaster Ave. in Radnor, Pa. Although the firm will centralize its business to urban Philadelphia, the suburban location will continue to serve as a secondary branch, in addition to being a hoteling workstation for employees on the move.

Hines has taken a big bite out of Germany’s office market with the acquisition of Allianz Campus Berlin, an office project to be predominantly occupied by Allianz Deutschland AG. Acting on behalf of a Korean real estate fund managed by Vestas Investment Management, Hines purchased the 650,000-square-foot office complex in a share deal forward funding transaction from Corpus Sireo Real Estate, the German real estate arm of Swiss Life Asset Managers.

Irvine Co., the owner of three of the seven trophy towers rising in Downtown Chicago, inked more than 20 leases accounting for more than 300,000 square feet of office space. The locations were One North Wacker, 300 North LaSalle and 71 South Wacker.

Most of the leases involved spaces of up to 10,000 square feet. Office expansions for law firms Barnes & Thornburg and Quarles & Brady represented the largest deals.

Irvine Leases 300 KSF+ of Office Space in Downtown Chicago

Velocis has completed the purchase of One Clearlake Centre, a 218,461-square-foot, Class A office tower in West Palm Beach, Fla. Joint venture partner CREC will provide management and marketing services at the 18-story property. CBRE represented the seller, AEW Capital Management, in the transaction, while also procuring acquisition financing on behalf of the borrower/buyer.

Marcus & Millichap closed a 7,500-square-foot retail property deal in Norwood Park, Chicago. The asset is net-leased by PNC Bank. The buyer, a Canadian investment group, paid $4.1 million for the property. Two teams of brokers with Marcus & Millichap represented both the buyer and the seller.

Divaris Real Estate Inc. expanded its leasing and management portfolio with the addition of five retail properties totaling 1,294,277 square feet. The assets are all located throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia and bring the company’s portfolio in the Mid-Atlantic and South-Central U.S. to nearly 32 million square feet. The recently assigned to lease or manage properties are as follows:

• Village at Towne Centre in Fredericksburg
• Parkridge Center in Manassas
• The Edge in Midlothian
• GreenGate in Short Pump
• Crossroads Shopping Center in Roanoke

UC Funds and Gold Crown Properties Inc. opened East 9 at Pickwick Plaza, an apartment and retail community in Kansas City, Mo. East 9 at Pickwick Plaza features 260 units and 35,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor. The two companies worked together to structure and fund a $57 million capital solution for the project, which included a $30 million first mortgage loan, federal and state tax credits and equity. UC Funds also helped the borrower arrange federal tax credits for redevelopment through the National Park Service.

Vestar acquired Twin Creeks Marketplace—a 43,134-square-foot grocery-anchored neighborhood center in Allen, Texas—from StreetLevel Investments. The sale was subject to an $8.7 million, 15-year term permanent loan from the Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. Earlier this year, Vestar also led the rebranding process and a strategic leasing campaign for Crockett Row at West 7th, a Fort Worth shopping center.

Washington Prime Group Inc. will redevelop Markland Mall in Kokomo, Ind., by investing $17 million in the addition of several new open-air retail spaces. As part of the approximately 84,000-square-foot renovation, the company plans to bring new tenants into the spaces formerly occupied by a department store. This anchor space was previously occupied by Sears, which closed following a lease expiration.

Dallas-based Billingsley Co. has refinanced a seven-building office portfolio totaling 801,153 square feet at the International Business Park located in Plano and Carrollton, Texas, through a $110 million loan secured by HFF. The company arranged the three-year, floating-rate, non-recourse loan with two one-year extension options through Ares Commercial Real Estate Corp.

Proceeds of the loan will be used to refinance the existing debt and fully stabilize the property. The new financing replaces a $102.5 million CMBS loan placed Oct. 1, 2007, through Wells Fargo Bank that was originated by Bank of America and was due to mature in October of this year, according to Yardi Matrix data…

Two months after Colony Northstar leased part of the 33rd and 34th floors of 590 Madison Ave., Greenspoon Marder has relocated its New York office to the 41-story building. The law firm occupies the 18th floor, encompassing nearly 25,000 square feet of office space. According to Yardi Matrix data, the property is 19.5 percent vacant.

Silicon Valley is the nation’s largest tech hub, a top-performing venture capital market and one of the most prominent locations for startups. The metro continues to thrive as an attractive destination for businesses and young, educated workers, as a result of consistent employment and wage growth. However, the rental market is cooling as San Jose becomes increasingly unaffordable, even for higher-paid workers. Rents dropped 1.3 percent year-over-year through May to $2,675, more than double the national average.

Feldman Equities has signed a new lease with CAPTRUST Advisors LLC at Park Tower, a 475,000-square-foot office tower in downtown Tampa. The tenant will relocate its headquarters and will occupy an approximately 10,500-square-foot space at the Class A building.

Located at 400 N. Tampa St., Park Tower is currently undergoing an expansive renovation program anticipated for completion in the first quarter of 2018. CAPTRUST will occupy Park Tower’s 18^thfloor and will relocate to its new space later this year, after almost 20 years in the CAPTRUST building at 102 W. Whiting St. That property is scheduled for demolition as part of Feldman’s Riverwalk development…

Gramercy Property Europe has completed its previously announced sale of all of its assets to a consortium of clients managed by AXA Investment Managers—Real Assets.

The deal’s total gross valuation reportedly is about €1.0 billion ($1.1 billion), with an exit cap rate of about 6.2 percent. The transaction resulted in net distributions to Gramercy Property Trust of €90.8 million ($103.8 million).