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Tag: office park

Wise County IDA buys vacant office building for $1.2M

The Wise County Industrial Development Authority purchased a vacant office building in the Lonesome Pine Regional Business and Technology Park with a $1.2 million loan from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, officials announced Wednesday.

The 10,000-square-foot building sits on approximately 4.63 acres at 5957 Windswept Blvd. and came furnished. The building is adjacent to the Carbon Research and Development Co.’s Graphene Research Center and a Tier III data center.

The IDA originally sold the property to Southern Coal Corp., which built the office building. Davis Mining & Manufacturing Inc. most recently owned and occupied the building. The company vacated it in late fall 2021, and Wise County IDA applied for a VCEDA loan in January. The VCEDA board approved the loan in its February meeting.

“Wise County does not now have any available space for business recruitment efforts, and acquisition of this building and grounds will enhance the efforts of the IDA to offer commercial office space which would meet the concept standards of the Master Plan for the Lonesome Pine Regional Business and Technology Park,” Wise County IDA Executive Director Brian Falin said in a statement.

A technology business is interested in leasing at least part of the building, VCEDA Executive Director and General Counsel Jonathan Belcher said, but the plan is for the building to be available on a multi-tenant basis.

“The way the building is laid out, it really is conducive to being an incubator-type arrangement,” he said. “It’s a very marketable building that I think would appeal to any type of company that needed Class A-type office space.”

The building has 19 individual offices, a fire-resistant vault, four restrooms, a kitchen/break room, two conference rooms and a reception area at the entrance. Near the center of the building, an open, 600-square-foot area could suit varying needs.

A roughly 800-square-foot metal storage building is near the rear of the building. The building’s parking lot accommodates 30 vehicles.

11-building office portfolio in Henrico sells for $87M

An 11-building office portfolio in Henrico County sold for $87 million, according to Henrico County property records.

A partnership between New York-based Jack Sitt Real Estate LLC and Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Gulf Islamic Investments LLC bought the portfolio on Dec. 1. Thalhimer did not disclose the seller. The properties are owned by various limited liability companies including Hillcrest Investments, FC Richmond II and Highland II.

The 567,000-square foot Glen Forest Office Portfolio sits on an 85-acre campus between Glenside Drive, Forest Avenue and Interstate 64. It is 86% leased to 89 tenants and includes eight Class A office buildings, one medical office building and two Class B office buildings.

The properties are:

  • Arrington: 93,645 square feet, 1802 Bayberry Court
  • Hillcrest: 97,061 square feet, 1801 Bayberry Court
  • Meridian: 58,114 square feet, 1800 Bayberry Court
  • Bayberry: 46,052 square feet, 1700 Bayberry Court
  • Forest Plaza I: 36,382 square feet, 7201 Glen Forest Drive
  • Forest Plaza II: 37,057 square feet, 7275 Glen Forest Drive
  • Capstone: 41,472 square feet, 7100 Forest Ave.
  • Highland I: 46,768 square feet, 7231 Forest Ave.
  • Highland II: 67,899 square feet, 7229 Forest Ave.
  • Utica: 29,581 square feet, 2701 Emerywood Parkway
  • Willard: 12,970 square feet, 2601 Willard Road

Of the tenants whose leases expired over the past 14 months, 84% renewed or expanded into more space. Over the past year, 28 tenants — more than 157,000 square feet — have signed new, renewal or expansion leases, with an average lease term of 4.9 years.

From Thalhimer’s Capital Markets Group, Eric Robison, executive vice president, and Bo McKown, associate, represented the seller, along with William “Bill” Collins, executive vice chairman, and Eric Berkman, vice chairman, with Cushman & Wakefield’s Washington, D.C. Capital Markets Group.

Amy J. Broderick and Kate Hosko with Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer will handle leasing for Highland I and Highland II. The buildings have up to 18,790 square feet available. CBRE will continue to handle leasing for the other buildings.

Virginia Beach office buildings sell for $15.8M

Three buildings in the Pembroke Office Park in Virginia Beach sold for $15.77 million, S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. announced Monday.

Pembroke Buildings Four, Five and Six total 167,660 square feet. Pembroke Office Park is a 300,000-square-foot park with five multitenant office buildings.

Seminole Trails Properties LLC bought the buildings. Stephanie Sanker, a certified commercial investment member, and Sam Rapoport from S.L. Nusbaum worked with Ten-X to represent the seller, Suburban Capital Inc.

Aging office parks embrace multifamily

A weekday lunch hour is relatively quiet on the grounds of the Boulders office park, south of Richmond, except for a few people chatting during a walk around a lake and the honking of two geese skimming the water.

Overlooking that lake are gray and white apartments recently built from scratch on vacant land — 250 units at 50% occupancy. A phase-two build of 215 units will start in the spring, says Michael Campbell, president of Dominion Realty Partners, developer of Boulders Lakeside Apartments.

Built in the 1980s, the Boulders is one of Chesterfield County’s more mature mixed-use office parks. Woodsy but close to plenty of retail and traffic, it’s a 15-minute drive from the Virginia State Capitol.

Residential development has been a part of the mixed-use suburban office park since its beginning. But even as the Boulders settles into its fourth decade, it’s getting new multifamily life. This residential boom is happening across the region near older office parks, with developers hoping for a better return on investments, following shifting trends of where people choose to live and work by building new apartment buildings on empty parcels.

Boyd Homes is preparing a 245-unit apartment complex in the county’s Gateway Centre office park. At neighboring Henrico County’s Innsbrook, which is more than 40 years old and had apartments for some time, new developments in the works include Highwoods Properties’ plan to construct a 34-acre mixed-use project with office and residential space.

With more people working remotely now, Anthony J. Romanello, executive director of the Henrico Economic Development Authority, says that people have greater freedom to live where they like.

“What that means is that place is more important than ever,” he says. “That’s what’s at the heart of these developments and redevelopments.”

In addition to the Boulders, Dominion Realty Partners also has plans for Innsbrook, where it bought a partly wooded 12.5-acre tract from Dominion Energy Inc. that previously held surface parking for the utility. Campbell anticipates breaking ground this year on 300 units for rent and 58 town homes around the corner from Markel Corp. and Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co.

His company has pursued similar projects in other markets, he says, because older suburban parks are sites with employment, amenities and accessibility.
“I think the counties are a little more open to multifamily development than they have been in years past.”