Continuing with the downward trend of real estate prices, PS Business Parks bought 350,000 -square- foot Shady Grove Executive Center for $60 million (despite the myriad renovations done by previous owners, BlackRock Realty) which in 2005 had fetched $79.6 million. What is interesting is that the value of acquisition was below the replacement cost of the property.
80% of the total property is leased to 17 tenants who include Lockheed Martin and InvestorPlace Media occupying the 9231 and 9201 Corporate Blvd respectively.
Another real estate company, St. John Properties has commenced construction on three tentative office buildings spanning 135,000 square feet at the Aberdeen Proving Ground.
The complex will cater to the military and private contractors at the Harford Country Base where the army will be repositioning its C4ISR – command, control, computer, communication, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations.
Jerry Witt, the company’s senior vice-president for marketing expressed a positive trend. He stated that they are finding that the tenants need rapid access to new office or research and development space to satisfy contract requirements, so they needed to remain aggressive and proactive in their planning. True to his hopes, the 2.5 million-square-foot campus has drawn many tenants even before its first phase of development. � have already signed full-building leases.
Another venture of the St. Johns Properties at The Gate is the 6245, 6165 and 6175 Guardian Gateway (31,280/ 51,120/ 54,120 square feet respectively) meant as Class A R&D flex/office space. These building are awaiting silver certification under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards for their top notch maintenance features.
Terra Properties, a physicians group, bought a previously Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center(14, 844 square feet) for $3.75 million, close to the asking price, within 30 days of being placed on the market. This, along with sales like the Montrose Park in Rockville ($22.5 million), ward off worries about a slump in real estate trading.
The Montrose Property consisting of three buildings 3202,3204,3206 Tower Oaks Blvd totaling approximately 135,664 square feet was bought by LLC.
McShea & Co. of Gaithersburg, who represented the owners, The Realty Associates Fund VI, confirmed that they had leased more than 90,000 square feet of another property of theirs, the Research Plaza in Rockville. With the SunTrust renewing their lease for 20,839 square feet for 7 years and Thomson Reuters leasing 69,686 square feet for five years, the building occupancy rate has gone up to 90%.
The Penrose Group of Vienna, Va. was awarded around $36 million for breach of contract claims against the Camalier and Davis families who owned the property on which a two-tower high-rise luxury apartment was to be developed. The defendants were found guilty of breaching the ground leases and consequently meddling with the $115 million of construction financing and equity that had been committed for Penrose Group to complete construction.
JDS Industries, sports memorabilia supplier is expanding by acquiring the 40,500 square foot property at 8257 Patuxent Range Road, in Jessup, almost double the size of its former office. REEF were the agents in the deal.
Via: Gazette
