In the News—Week of August 1, 2022
Deal of the Week
After acquiring a 259-unit class A multifamily asset in Tempe, Arizona in December 2020, a Utah-based real estate investment firm obtained permanent financing from a national bank lender to replace the acquisition bridge loan. The $42 million refinance transaction was closed by Sheila Hunter, Vice President, Senior Commercial Escrow Officer in our Scottsdale, Arizona office.
National
Etsy workers want to remain remote, company to close San Francisco office
Etsy is closing its San Francisco office because most workers prefer to work from home, The Real Deal reports. The Brooklyn-based e-commerce company that focuses on craft supplies and handmade items will close its offices at 20 California Street. Esty’s third-floor office has more than 7,800 square feet. The lease is up in October. “Many who are currently remote have told us they do not plan to return to an office in the near future,” Kim Seymour, chief human resources officer, wrote in a news release. “As a result, we are closing our offices in Hudson, NY and San Francisco . . . where employee office utilization has been extremely low.”
Energy & Efficiency
Paper battery shows promise for reducing electronic waste
Researchers in Switzerland have come up with a disposable paper battery that shows promise for reducing e-waste, Discover Magazine reports. The battery uses paper, salt, zinc ink and graphite ink. The ink is nontoxic; the other materials are biodegradable. It is about as powerful as a standard AA battery and lasts about an hour. If this is scalable, the researchers believe it could provide an alternative that is better for the environment.
Texas
Affiliate of Hines pays $145M for Park Place Tower in River Oaks
An affiliate of Hines has acquired a more than 206,000-square-foot office building in the River Oaks area for $145 million, the Houston Chronicle reports. Hines Global Investment Trust bought Park Place Tower at 4200 Westheimer from Stonelake Capital Partners. The price comes to more than $690 per square foot, which would be among the highest-ever reported made public for nonmedical office space.
Texas
Las Colinas community nearing completion after nearly half a century
In the 1970s, developers of the 12,000-acre Las Colinas community located between the DFW International Airport and Dallas set out to create a new town in the Trinity River bottoms. Five decades later, Las Colinas is one of Texas’ largest employment centers and residential districts, including the Irving Convention Center and the Toyota Music Factory entertainment district. “His vision was tilted more toward office and not as much residential,” says John Carpenter III, whose father Ben turned his family ranch into Las Colinas. “But what has unfolded has been a result of the market.”
Arizona
Camelback Corridor office property fetches record price per square foot
Camelback Collective office building fetched a record price per square foot when it changed hands recently, AZ Big Media reports. Holualoa Companies and LaPour Partners sold the 115,000-square-foot, Class A office building for $66.4 million, or $573 per square foot to Oklahoma City-based Humphreys Capital. That price is the highest per square foot in the history of the Phoenix market, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Holualoa and LaPour bought the site at 2081 E. Camelback Road in 2016 and demolished two buildings. They finished the new, LEED-certified building with a 326-space underground parking garage in 2018.
Mexico
Margaritaville, Karisma Hotels plan to open Riviera Maya property in 2023
Jimmy Buffett’s restaurant and hotel brand and Karisma Hotels and Resorts are planning to open an adults-only property in the Caribbean in 2023, Caribbean Journal reports. Margaritaville Island Reserve Riviera Maya will include 355 suites, nine restaurants and bars, three pools, two pickleball courts and a Landshark Brewery, a first in Mexico. It will be the third Margaritaville Island Reserve in the Caribbean joining ones in the Dominican Republic and the Riviera Cancun.
