Commercial real estate
* Boston Properties Inc. is in talks with Verizon Communications Inc.'s Oath Inc. subsidiary for a possible anchor lease at its The Hub on Causeway tower project in Boston, the Boston Business Journal reported, citing multiple real estate industry sources. Negotiations are underway for a lease spanning at least 300,000 square feet of office space for the new digital-media subsidiary, according to the report.
Boston Properties changed the design of the planned $1.2 billion mixed-use project above North Station, the Boston Business Journal reported separately, citing a notice of project change filing to the city. The change is an attempt to "respond to a new generation of office companies and their workforces," the report noted, citing the notice.
The 24-story office tower will now span 651,500 square feet and rise 495 feet at the highest occupable point, compared to the previously planned height of 420 feet and a total area of 668,000 square feet.
* The Advanta Office Commons campus in Bellevue, Wash., was acquired by Shidler Group and an affiliate for just under $224.9 million, reflecting the largest real estate deal so far in 2018 in the Puget Sound region, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported, citing public records. The 600,000-square-foot property is occupied by Microsoft Corp., which renewed its lease in 2017.
The seller was JPMorgan Chase Bank. The report noted that the sale price was 6.3% lower than what JPMorgan paid in 2010, with a possible reason being that the lease renewal was for five years instead of 10 years as is typical for this kind of office lease.
* Prologis Inc. has fully leased the Prologis Gateway International building in Hebron, Ky., to WIN.IT America Inc., a logistics partner of eBay Inc., the Cincinnati Business Courier reported. The 2125 Gateway Blvd. building spans 520,000 square feet, or roughly 12 acres. The tenant is expected to move to the space in the second quarter.
* Plymouth Industrial REIT Inc. fully leased its 527,127-square-foot building at 3500 Southwest Blvd. in Columbus, Ohio, to Stonecrop Technologies on a three-year lease commencing March 15. The lease is subject to annual rent escalations and one three-year renewal option.
* Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal is expected to announce Facebook Inc.'s plans for a 416-acre data center campus in Newton County on March 7, two weeks earlier than initially anticipated, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported, citing an unnamed source. It was reported in January that the social networking giant is expected to spend up to $42 billion on the server farm at the 1,620-acre Stanton Springs masterplanned development.
Facebook is expected to initially invest $750 million to create up to 100 jobs at the campus, which will be developed in four phases with roughly $2.5 billion in investments planned through 2029, the report added.
* Joint venture partners Trammell Crow and Diamond Realty sold a 1.15 million-square-foot Amazon.com Inc. warehouse in rural Cecil County, Md., for $112 million, the Baltimore Business Journal reported, citing state records. The price paid by Clarion Partners LLC subsidiary CLPF Principio LLC for the newly opened 95-acre asset marked a new record for a class A industrial property in Maryland, according to the report.
* Muss Development and HomeFed Corp. landed a $198.3 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan from CGA Capital to refinance their leasehold on the office portion of the Brooklyn Renaissance Plaza property in Brooklyn, N.Y., The Real Deal reported, citing property records. The new mortgage replaces an $80.8 million Bank of New York Mellon loan from 1996.
The mixed-use tower at 350 Jay St. contains 820,000 square feet of office space that is fully leased, a 667-room Marriott hotel and a garage, according to the report.
Muss is partners with AvalonBay Communities Inc. on a 28-story mixed-use project in Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay, the report added, noting that the project will include 236 rental and condominium units and around 15,000 square feet of commercial space.
* The Praetorian Group, a newly-formed company that labels itself as a cryptocurrency real estate investment vehicle, or CREIV, filed the first initial coin offering registering tokens with the SEC, Renaissance Capital reported. The company is looking to raise $75 million by offering 15 million "PAX tokens" that will be backed by real estate properties.
The tokens, which investors may buy with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, are expected to be traded on various cryptocurrency secondary exchanges. Token holders will be entitled to net profit from property rents based on their holdings relative to the total float. The company plans to buy five to seven properties per month with the proceeds, according to the report. The offering is not underwritten.
* The Wall Street Journal reported, citing real estate data provider Trepp LLC, that the delinquency rate for real-estate loans in CMBS was 4.51% in February, down from 5.31% in February 2017. The publication noted that the rate has been dropping for eight consecutive months, despite investors' expectations that defaults would increase in 2016 and 2017.
* Russian billionaire Vlad Doronin's OKO Group and investment firm Cain International plan to develop a 47-story, 135-unit luxury waterfront condo building at 175 Southeast 25th Road in Miami's Brickell neighborhood, The Real Deal reported. The project, dubbed Una, comes at a time when luxury condo sales are seeing a slowdown in the Miami market, the report pointed out.
* The Los Angeles City Council conditionally approved the Walter and Aesha Jayasinghe family trust's plans for a residential and commercial project near Los Angeles' Westlake neighborhood, The Real Deal reported. The Lake on Wilshire project includes a 41-story, 478-unit apartment tower along with a 14-story, 220-room hotel, a five-story culture and performing arts center and 933 parking spaces.
The conditions include having at least 10 affordable housing units and more than $2 million in donations to cultural and community programs, the report noted.
* The University of Miami plans to issue $241 million in bonds to investors primarily to fund two construction projects, the South Florida Business Journal reported. The projects are the 1,100-bed Student Housing Village on its Coral Gables, Fla., campus and a new proton therapy center at its medical campus in Miami, the report noted, citing Jacqueline Travisano, the university's COO and executive vice president for business and finance.
* FNB Corp., the parent company of First National Bank, is leasing at least 30,000 square feet at a planned 31-story mixed-use tower at 401 S. Graham St. in uptown Charlotte, N.C., for its local headquarters, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. The project will contain more than 160,000 square feet of office space and 215 apartments, along with street-level retail that will be occupied by an FNB branch.
* Ryan Cos. US Inc. filed plans for a $95 million, 281-unit senior living facility in Clayton, Mo., the St. Louis Business Journal reported, citing documents filed with the city. The project, dubbed Clarendale of Clayton, would span 440,230 square feet across a 13-story independent living tower, a two-story assisted-living tower and a three-story memory care and assisted-living tower 7651 Clayton Road.
The developer has the 3.3-acre property under contract, the report noted, citing city documents. Life Care Services will be a co-owner and operator of the property, the report noted.
After the bell
* Spirit Realty Capital Inc. unit Spirit MTA REIT publicly filed with the SEC its plan to separate from the single-tenant net-lease real estate investment trust.
* Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust Inc., which recently launched a strategic review aimed at maximizing shareholder value, decided to suspend the dividend on its common stock and common unit in its operating partnership for the rest of 2018.
Housing
* Bloomfield Homes is planning to build 750 homes in the Ridge Ranch community of Mesquite, Texas, The Dallas Morning News reported. The city saw a 30% increase in the average value of new homes permitted in 2017 to roughly $262,000, the report noted, citing a statement from city manager Cliff Keheley.
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng fell 1.03% to 30,196.92 and the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.77% to 21,252.72.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.01% at 7,145.94 and the Euronext 100 had dipped 0.46% to 1,004.58.
On the macro front
The ADP Employment Report, EIA Petroleum Status Report and the Beige Book are due out today.
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