Avison Young completes sale of 72,000-sf office building in Phoenix, AZ

Dan Vittone

 Irvine, CA – Avison Young, the world’s fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm, announced it has completed the sale of Corporate Center at Southbank, a class A office building totaling 72,000 square feet (sf) in Phoenix, AZ.

 Avison Young Principals Dan Vittone and Alan Pekarcik, based in the company’s Irvine, CA office, represented the buyer, HB University Drive, LLC – a partnership of New York-based HighBrook Investment Management, LP and San Diego-based Cypress Office Properties, LLC. The seller, SBCC, LLC was represented by CBRE. The building was acquired on an off-market basis.

 Built in 1989, the three-story building is located at 3410 East University Drive and features a two-story lobby with stone flooring and high-end finishes, landscaped entry and balcony suites.

Situated across the street from five hotels, the property is immediately off Interstate 10 at University Drive, and is 1.5 miles from Sky Harbor International Airport and approximately four miles from downtown Phoenix and Tempe. The property is leased to three tenants occupying approximately 22% of the rentable area.

Alan Pekarcik

HighBrook and Cypress plan to perform several cosmetic upgrades to the interior and exterior of the building. This strategy is expected to strengthen the building’s position within the submarket and improve tenant retention and new leasing efforts.

HighBrook and Cypress also recently purchased the Foothills Gateway Corporate Center, a 68,000-sf class A multi-tenant office building in the Southeast Valley submarket of Chandler, AZ. 

The property was 45% leased at close of escrow. The partnership has completed a comprehensive renovation of the building as well as the construction of multiple new lease-ready speculative office suites. Numerous new leases have already been secured.

For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Darcie Giacchetto

D.G. Communications, Inc.

949.278.6224

Lincoln Brokers Pauley’s Crêpe Bar’s New Lease in Atlanta, GA

Kirk Williams

ATLANTA, GA – Lincoln Property Company Southeast (Lincoln) has brokered Pauley’s Crêpe Bar’s new 6,500-square-foot lease at 935 Marietta St. in Atlanta’s burgeoning West Midtown submarket.

 The site will mark the second location for Pauley’s, which features creative dishes made with crêpes and an extensive beer menu; the first and original site is in Athens, Georgia. The West Midtown location is slated to open in April 2015.

 Kirk Williams, vice president of retail leasing for Lincoln, represented Pauley’s in the transaction; Brittany McCall of Vantage Realty Partners represented the landlord.

 935 Marietta St. is the location of 935M, a mid-rise apartment tower. Pauley’s will be on the ground floor of the property.

Brittany McCall

 “Pauley’s is the perfect addition to the growing, hip West Midtown neighborhood,” Williams said. “There is a lot going on in this area — including a new Bartaco — and Pauley’s will be adjacent to the new Osteria del FIGO Pasta.”

 “Great retail is about creating a sense of place,” Williams said. “The addition of Pauley’s to the Westside demonstrates once again our ability to understand the complex puzzle that includes the retailer, the neighborhood and the real estate.”

 “We are thrilled with all the recent activity happening on this stretch of the Westside and believe Pauley’s is the perfect tenant for our roster at 935 Marietta St. as well as the area in general,” McCall said. “Plus it’s always great to get a slice of Athens in Atlanta!”

 For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Stephen Ursery

The Wilbert Group

404-405-2354

sursery@thewilbertgroup.com

HFF secures refinancing for Houston area multi-housing communities

Cortney Cole

HOUSTON, TX – HFF announced it has secured refinancing for Shadowbrooke and Silverbrooke, two Class A multi-housing communities totaling 552 units in Stafford, Texas.

HFF worked exclusively on behalf of the borrower, Venterra Realty, to arrange the refinancing in two separate transactions. 

 HFF secured the five-year, 3.07 percent fixed-rate loans with two years of interest-only payments through Freddie Mac’s (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) CME Program.  

The securitized loans will be serviced by HFF through its Freddie Mac Program Plus® Seller/Servicer program.  HFF brokered the sale of the properties and arranged acquisition financing for Venterra when the company originally purchased the assets in 2011.

Shadowbrooke and Silverbrooke are located at 1025 Dulles Avenue and 1020 Brand Lane respectively in Stafford, about 18 miles southwest of downtown Houston. 

 Shadowbrooke was completed in 2003 and features 240 units that are 95.8 percent leased.  Completed in 2007, Silverbrooke has 312 units and is 96.15 percent occupied.  The properties are adjoined by a private park including shared amenities such as a jogging trail, sand volleyball court, playground and putting green.  Each houses its own resort-style swimming pool, hot tubs, clubhouses and fitness centers.  

 

The HFF debt placement team representing the borrower was led by director Cortney Cole and real estate analyst Will Crawley.

Venterra specializes in the identification, finance, acquisition and management of multifamily residential communities in the southern United States.  

Venterra currently manages a portfolio of approximately 17,000 multifamily units totaling more than $1.45 billion in value that generates gross annual income in excess of $180 million.  

The organization has completed in excess of $2.2 billion of real estate transactions.  Venterra has offices in both Houston and Toronto and employs more than 500 people.

For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Olivia Hennessey

Public Relations Coordinator

HFF | 9 Greenway Plaza, Suite 700 | Houston, TX 77046

tel 713.852.3403 | fax 713.527.8725 | www.hfflp.com

ohennessey@hfflp.com

RealtyTrac Reports U.S. Foreclosure Decreases 2 Percent in June to Lowest Level Since July 2006, Before Housing Bubble Burst

Daren Blomquist

IRVINE, CA — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for real estate data, today released its Midyear 2014 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows a total of 613,874 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — in the first half of 2014, a 19 percent decrease from the previous six months and down 23 percent from the first half of 2013.

The report also shows that 0.47 percent of all U.S. housing units (one in 214) had at least one foreclosure filing in the first six months of the year.

“Nationwide foreclosure activity in June reached an important milestone, dropping to levels not seen since before the housing price bubble burst in August 2006,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Over the next six to nine months nationwide foreclosure numbers should start to flat line at consistent historically normal levels.

“There continue to be concerning trends in some states and local markets that clearly indicate those markets are not completely out of the woods when it comes to the lingering foreclosure problem left over from the housing bust,” Blomquist continued.

“While it’s important that any remaining foreclosure infection is addressed promptly to keep it from festering, foreclosures are no longer a widespread contagion threatening to derail the housing market’s return to full health.”

For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Jennifer von Pohlmann

949.502.8300949.502.8300949.502.8300949.502.8300, ext. 139

jennifer.vonpohlmann@realtytrac.com