PUBLICATION: OFFICE SNAPSHOTS

Located in Downtown DC, 1133 15th Street redefines the spec suite environment for the modern commercial market. Having recently purchased the building, Divco West sought to attract new tenants to lease vacant space on the seventh floor. They engaged Hickok Cole to develop an elevated yet neutral design concept for four spec suite offices in addition to providing design and FF&E services for a 2,500-SF shared amenity space. The result offers tenants looking to downsize with a high-quality, flexible office with access to the amenities expected from the modern workforce.

Tenants customize their space from a curated collection of sophisticated finishes that serve as backdrops for their unique brand while maintaining continuity with the other units to make expanding within the building, seamless. The luxury amenity center features a spacious lounge and pantry which connect to several, more intimate meeting spaces and private phone booths. A large conference room equipped with state-of-the-art technology is available to reserve for client presentations or video conferencing. A modern tropical design concept is articulated through palm leaf wallcoverings and natural finishes while contrasting angular forms take shape in the pantry backsplash, statement chandelier, and island sunburst accent. Lush furniture and polished materials combine with art deco accents, funky wallpaper, and delightful accents like travel-inspired coffee table books for a boutique-hotel atmosphere suited for comfort and productivity. The intimate amenity center offers tenants a third-place environment away from their desks to brainstorm ideas, have a personal conversation, or enjoy happy hour among colleagues. Bursts of color lend a creative personality to the central, shared space that anchor all tenants within the 1133 15th Street community. READ MORE.

PUBLICATION: LA BUSINESS JOURNAL

An office tower in Glendale known as Glendale Plaza has received a $145 million loan.

The 542,000-square-foot building is owned by San Francisco-based DivcoWest.
CBRE Group Inc.’s Brad Zampa, Michael Walker and Greg Grant represented the borrower in the five-year, floating-rate, over-30-day LIBOR loan, which was provided by a multinational investment banking company.

Glendale Plaza is a 24-story office building at 655 N. Central Ave. Built in 1999, it has an adjacent parking structure with eight levels.
The property is currently 77% leased to a mix of media companies, blue-chip financial services firms and law firms.

DivcoWest purchased the property in 2017. Since its purchase, DivcoWest signed more than 225,000 square feet of new leases and lease renewals.
The company invested more than $17 million to upgrade the property when it acquired the building. Renovations included creating an indoor/outdoor lobby, adding a conference center, creating a fitness area, modernizing restrooms and adding a mobile app concierge service… READ MORE.

PUBLICATION: BREWBOUND 

The rapidly evolving Cambridge Crossing (CX) neighborhood is celebrating the opening of Lamplighter CX, a brewery and taproom, the newest addition to its vibrant ecosystem of restaurants, retail, and public spaces. Located at 110 North First Street in the heart of the neighborhood, the brewery joins a collection of locally curated retailers now open at CX. Lamplighter CX will be the brewery’s second location in East Cambridge and will be an urban destination brewery that not only offers Lamplighter the opportunity to increase production and taproom services, but to create an inclusive community space that provides friends, both old and new, to experience the local Cambridge flavor in a vibrant new place.

“Lamplighter is all about creating unique beers and great experiences; in looking for our second location, we wanted to be in a community that shares our creative spirit,” said Cayla Marvil, co-founder.  “Being a part of Cambridge Crossing and its mix of local restaurant concepts, innovative companies, and abundance of outdoor spaces makes for a great setting. We’re really excited for our customers to experience this new taproom space among a dynamic new neighborhood.”

Lamplighter CX has over 6,000 square feet of taproom and production space on two levels of The Shed, an architecturally unique, standalone building which also features the restaurant trio The Lexington, Geppetto, and Café Beatrice by local restauranteur Will Gilson. The space will feature 16 beers on tap, a cheese and charcuterie board program, and a community-based event line-up including weekly trivia, happy hour yoga, and live music. The Shed sits amongst five of the 11 acres of open space within CX and features outdoor seating connected to the Picnic Grove and a central waterway.

“We aim to deliver a more meaningful connection to our local community and are thrilled to welcome Lamplighter CX which embodies the spirit of Cambridge broadly, focusing on community, innovation, and craft,” said Mark Roopenian, Managing Director at DivcoWest. “Joining other local retailers at the Shed, Lamplighter CX is another important point of connection for CX residents, neighbors, and commercial tenants alike.”… READ MORE.

PUBLICATION: COMMERCIAL PROPERTY EXECUTIVE

DivcoWest has closed a $145 million refinancing deal for Glendale Plaza, a 24-story office tower in Glendale, Calif., according to ReBusiness Online. CBRE helped negotiate the five-year, floating-rate note on behalf of the borrower. The financing will retire a $120 million loan that AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. provided in 2017, CommercialEdge data shows.

DivcoWest acquired the 591,958-square-foot asset from PGIM Real Estate in 2017. The company paid $179 million for the 1999-built tower and has invested more than $17 million in renovations. Building upgrades included the addition of an outdoor event space, gym and conference center. The property offers 23,000-square-foot floorplates and a parking ratio of 3 spaces per 1,000 square feet. Last year, the property received LEED Gold recertification.

Located in the Vineyard neighborhood at 655 N. Central Ave., just off Ventura Freeway, Glendale Plaza is 2 miles from Griffith Park and some 10 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

Glendale Plaza is currently 77 percent leased to a tenant roster that includes DreamWorks Animation Television, flex workspace provider Regus, ATC Trading Corp., UNUM, a life insurance company and law firm Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, among others.

The CBRE Debt & Structured Finance team included Executive Vice President Brad Zampa and Senior Vice Presidents Michael Walker and Greg Grant…READ MORE.

PUBLICATION: AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL

Streaming TB startup will fill space with hundreds of new employees.

Atmosphere, the streaming television startup that broadcasts videos to bars and waiting rooms around Austin and the nation, will have a new home next year.

The company in late January signed a 10-year lease for 110,000 square feet in the new Bouldin Creek office building, nearly six times the size of its current main office on Congress Avenue. It will occupy space on the first, third and fourth floors, which it will fill with hundreds of new employees, with teams dedicated to content production, engineering, sales and more.

Tenant buildout is expected to take 14 to 16 months, so executives hope they can move in sometime in the second quarter of 2023.

As one of the few office leases of 100,000 square feet or more in Austin since the start of the pandemic, it’s another e xample of a company committing to a long-term office footprint near the urban core, even as questions abound about the future of the workplace.

Atmosphere Chief Financial Officer Mike Grisko said the company was drawn to Bouldin Creek by its design, led by Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, and its unique location, backing up to the creek that gives the building its name. The site features roughly two aces of green space that Atmosphere can now customize.

“The design that Michael had on the building was just an absolute jaw-dropper,” Grisko said. “The sanctuary and the green space that it sits on — I mean, it was a huge selling point for us.”

He said the outdoor space was viewed as a wellness bonus, and the neighborhood features plenty of restaurants and bars to help recruit during the Great Resignation. Bouldin Creek comes with the amenities you’d expect in a brand new class A building, like a gym, locker rooms and a rooftop deck, but Atmosphere also plans to build its own full cafe/bar and wellness center for employees. Atmosphere will also have prominent signage on the building exterior.

Atmosphere, which operates legally as Rarified Atmosphere Inc., leased from DivcoWest Real Estate Services LLC, the San Francisco-based investment firm that bought Bouldin Creek l ast summer. It has a burgeoning portfolio in Austin, including as co-developer of Sixth and Guadalupe… READ MORE

PUBLICATION: RE BUSINESS ONLINE

CBRE has secured $145 million in refinancing for Glendale Plaza, a recently renovated, Class A office tower in Glendale. Located at 655 N. Central Ave., the 24-story, 542,000-square-foot tower was originally constructed in 1999 and is currently 77 percent leased to a mix of media companies, blue-chip financial services firms and law firms. The property includes an adjacent eight-level parking structure.

Brad Zampa, Michael Walker and Greg Grant of CBRE’s Debt & Structured Finance group represented the borrower and building owner, DivcoWest, in the financing. The five-year, floating-rate loan was secured through a multinational investment banking company.

DivcoWest acquired Glendale Plaza in 2017 and has invested more than $17 million into building upgrades, including the addition of an indoor/outdoor experience, common areas, event and conference space for tenants, a fitness area and modernization of the restrooms. The company is also planning to add a restaurant and café to the asset. READ MORE.

PUBLICATION: THE REGISTRY

San Francisco-based investment firm DivcoWest is continuing to buy properties across the Bay Area, most recently closing on the acquisition of several apartment assets in Berkeley. According to The Mercury News, DivcoWest purchased three properties from The Green Cos., based in Portland, Oreg., for a combined $102 million.

In the largest deal, Stadium Place was acquired for $42.8 million, or about $321,800 per unit. The 133-unit  complex is located at 2130 Fulton Street.

Telegraph Gardens, at 3001 Telegraph Ave., totals 38 units. The property was purchased for $31 million or about $815,800 per unit. Public records show that The Green Cos. originally paid $25.38 million, or about $667,895 per unit, for the asset in 2019.

Lastly, Allston Place sold for $28.2 million, or about $470,000 per unit. The property totals 60 units and was originally constructed in 2002. The complex is located at 2161 Allston Way. Records show that it last traded in November of 2016 for $22.39 million… READ MORE.

PUBLICATION: THE REAL DEAL SAN FRANCISCO 

DivcoWest, which bought a South San Francisco office building for a life science conversion, bought more than 200 residential units in three apartment complexes in Berkeley.

The company, acting through three separate affiliates, bought Stadium Place, Telegraph Gardens and Allston Place for a total of $102 million, the Mercury News reported.

The purchase of those apartments reflects a trend of investors buying multifamily residential properties in markets with slower growth, like Berkeley. Since the city isn’t in the midst of a housing boom, DivcoWest and other investors won’t face increased competition from new housing projects. That means the company can take the time needed to renovate the apartments to make them more attractive to potential residents.

The Stadium Place property, which is located at 2310 Fulton Street, consists of 133 units with rents ranging from $2,300-$6,000 per month. The purchase price of $42.8 million comes out to about $321,800 per unit.

The 38-unit Telegraph Gardens, which is located at 3001 Telegraph Avenue, cost DivcoWest $31 million, or $815,800 per unit. The complex, which was built in 2013, rents units for $3,250-$4,450 per month. READ MORE…

PUBLICATION: THE MERCURY NEWS

PUBLICATION: BUSINESS JOURNAL SAN FRANCISCO

Call it a sign of the times: A South San Francisco building that formerly housed several divisions of Johnson & Johnson employees is slated for conversion into Class A lab space.

San Francisco investor DivcoWest acquired the 143,383-square-foot office and R&D building from Johnson & Johnson for $164.5 million, or about $1,147 a square foot, on Jan. 7, the company said in a statement. It intends to immediately begin work to convert the property for lab use.

The Business Times reported in March last year that Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) planned to close the facility, located at 5000 Shoreline Court in South San Francisco. J&J acquired the building in 2017 as part of its acquisition of Actelion.

DivcoWest will outfit the building with a new generator system, a lab-quality HVAC system as well as utility upgrades and updates to common areas, the company said in its statement. It will begin work on the property without a tenant in hand, though it expects the building could be ready for tenant occupancy as early as the first quarter of next year. It did not disclose the cost of the planned renovation work.

The buy represents DivcoWest’s second life science grab in the last few weeks: The company acquired a 99,000-square-foot single-story research building at 6550 Dumbarton Circle in Fremont in mid-December 2021, the company confirmed. Property records show DivcoWest paid $72 million for the property.

The company’s website shows it already owns a number of life science properties in the Cambridge, Massachusetts, submarket, another of the country’s biotech hubs. DivcoWest is actively expanding its life science portfolio in the Bay Area, the company said in its statement…READ MORE.