In The Pipeline: CoStar Development and Construction News for Nov. 15-21

In this week's issue, TMG Partners and The Related Cos. have been tapped as master developers for a $1 billion 77-acre mixed-use project in the S.F. Bay Area; Seavest Inc. and its JV partner are developing two medical office buildings on the new campus of St. Anthony Hospital near Denver; Hamann Construction has won a LEED Gold designation for its cold storage facility in San Diego County; Snyder Langston has finished a new library at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles; Kendall-Jackson will occupy a new 650,000-square-foot wine distribution center near Napa County; L-3 Communications is coming to the new commercial business campus in Maryland's Aberdeen Proving Ground, and Las Vegas developer Marnell Properties has broken ground on the $29 million Marnell Air Cargo Center at the McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. Also in Glitter City, a private investment firm acquired the stalled Spanish View Towers development project in Las Vegas at auction for $15.89 million.

This, plus more development news and land sales from around the U.S.

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CoStar Group's In The Pipeline is a column on significant land sales, transactions and trends affecting office, industrial, flex, multifamily, mixed-use, hotel and public works developers. Send us news leads about your new project -- and sign up to be added to our distribution list to receive future In the Pipeline columns by e-mail.

Read previous columns and articles.

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TMG Partners, Related Cos. To Master Develop $1 Bil. NASA Research Park

A university consortium has selected TMG Partners and the Related Cos. as master developers for a $1 billion 77-acre mixed-use project for education and research at the NASA Research Park in Moffett Field in the South San Francisco Bay Area.

University Associates-Silicon Valley LLC (UA-SV), established by the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Foothill-De Anza Community College District, signed a 95-year ground lease for the research park with NASA Ames Research Center in December 2008.

The ambitious new project, to be developed over a period of several years, will include about 3 million square feet of residential and non-residential development, including an integrated educational and research community featuring classrooms and laboratories, up to 2,000 housing units, retail and room for entrepreneurial partnerships.

The project, in collaboration with nearby NASA research facilities, will serve as a test-bed for advances in green technologies and provide an environment that nurtures innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability, the UA-SV consortium said.

TMG and Related will now enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with UA-SV outlining the terms of pre-development activities that include master planning and completing site entitlements.

William Berry, president and CEO of UA-SV, said the selection of New York-based TMG and Related "demonstrates the considerable attractiveness of this project, even in a tough economy." The development joint venture won out over Lowe Enterprises for the right to develop the project.

Seavest to Develop 2 MOBs in Lakewood, CO

Seavest Inc. and its joint venture partner, Aardex LLC, announced that they are developing two medical office buildings on the new campus of St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, CO. Seavest will be the majority owner of the buildings, which will total 250,000 square feet, in its first project in the Denver area.

The first building, a four-story, 100,000 square foot facility, will start construction in the first quarter of 2010. The second building will be five or six stories and between 125,000 and 150,000 square feet. The joint venture is seeking a LEED Platinum designation for the buildings, with energy costs expected to be 40% less than for a traditional MOB.

Centum Health Properties will serve as a transaction consultant for the project and will be handling the leasing for both buildings.

The new MOBs will give St. Anthony the space to support and recruit a broad array of physician specialists to continue the development and growth of key service lines, says, Vice President of Operations and Chief Business Development Officer Todd Folkenberg.

The St. Anthony campus now under construction will include a new facility for St. Anthony Central Hospital, OrthoColorado Hospital, an orthopedic specialty hospital; and other outpatient and wellness services that are in the planning stages, Folkenburg said.

Recently Built Cold Storage Facility Gets LEED Gold

El Cajon, CA-based Hamann Construction earlier this year delivered its 134,946-square-foot build-to-suit cold storage facility for Innovative Cold Storage Enterprises, Inc., (ICE) in San Diego County's Otay Mesa. And now the marvel of renewable energy and conservation has won LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Called ICE II, the property located on 6.78 acres near State Route 905 at 7350 Britannia Court is used as a refrigerated warehousing and storage facility for pre-packaged food items which are stored at minus-10 degrees Fahrenheit. The facility has a clear height of 60 feet, can hold 29,000 pallets and has a storage capacity of 7.5 million cubic feet.

The facility includes a one-megawatt solar photovoltaic roof developed jointly by Hamann and San Diego Gas & Electric. One 504 kilowatt Hamann-owned system will produce about 883,008 kilowatt-hours per year, directly providing about 36% of the facility’s energy requirements. The other 504 kilowatt system, owned by SDG&E, will provide locally generated power to the community.

The freezer interior has extremely narrow aisle racking to maximize the use of space. Additionally, the facility uses radio frequency technology and energy efficient electric forklifts. Other energy efficient features include day-lighting and high-efficiency lighting, a cool roof, increased ventilation, carbon dioxide monitors, reflective concrete and water re-use and conservation. The facility also includes about 5,000 square feet of office space.

The facility took four years to design and 14 months to build, said Gregg Hamann, vice president and CFO of Hamann Companies.

"We not only value green building from an environmental standpoint, we value it from an economical one as well," Hamann said. "Much consideration and evaluation was conducted on all possible energy-efficient measures, and we worked closely with expert subcontractors."

The ICE facility is 62% more energy efficient than a standard cold storage facility, and the energy efficiency features alone will save more than 3.4 million kilowatt-hours annually at an annual estimated savings of more than $408,000 at today's energy prices.

Between the entire solar roof system and the 10, one-kilowatt wind turbines mounted on the parapet, 73% of the facility’s energy will be provided through renewable energy sources.

Snyder Langston Delivers Library at Loyola Marymount

Snyder Langston has completed the 120,000-square-foot William H. Hannon Library facility at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. The three-level university facility is currently pursuing a U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED Silver rating.

The library has 180-degree views of the Hollywood Hills and Pacific Ocean. The first floor features an information commons and circulation desk, reference section, a media lounge and café with 40 interior and 40 exterior seats, two electronic classrooms and seating for 160 students.

The second floor houses media services and reserves, technical services, an approximately 174,000-volume main stacks collection, and seating with 200 computers for students. The third floor of the facility features special collections and archives, the library administration and faculty center, the main collection stacks and seating.

Construction of the facility began in May 2007 and was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.

Wine Distribution Center Delivers North of Vallejo, CA

A new 650,000-square-foot wine distribution center recently delivered at 1200 Green Island Road in American Canyon, CA. Kendall-Jackson will occupy 475,000 square feet, and Biagi Brothers, the industry's largest wine transporter, will occupy 175,000 square feet.

The facility cost $28.8 million to complete and features an advanced cooling system to maintain the wine at 55 degrees, and Union Pacific rail serves the property with a new 1,600-foot spur and 14-railcar dock to simplify loading the cars.

Jackson Family Wines decided to open the warehouse in order to consolidate distribution activities currently based in Napa, Santa Rosa, Windsor and elsewhere. Approximately 5 million cases of wine, or 60 million bottles, will be shipped worldwide from the new facility.

The Roseville construction firm Sierra View built the project for Scannell Properties, a privately owned real estate investment and development company based in Indianapolis. (By Eric Kies)

L-3 Communications Entering The GATE at Aberdeen

L-3 Communications’ Command & Control Systems and Software (C2S2) is coming to The Government and Technology Enterprise (GATE), the new commercial business campus in Maryland's Aberdeen Proving Ground.

The defense contractor signed a lease for the three-story, 75,000-square-foot office building at 6280 Guardian Gateway, currently under construction and due to deliver in November of next year. Owner/developer St. John Properties Inc. is developing the building to achieve LEED Silver certification. L-3 C2S2, based out of Marlton, NJ, plans to bring about 400 jobs to Aberdeen.

"These are exactly the type of jobs, filled by highly-educated and skilled workers, that will create a long-lasting ripple effect to the benefit of area businesses and retailers," said Harford County Executive David R. Craig.

The primary reason for the site selection was its proximity to the U.S. Army's Team C4ISR Center of Excellence, noted L-3 C2S2 President John Medea. "After considering other options, we concluded that the proximity of The Gate to our customer would enhance communications and interactions and would strengthen our partnership," he said.

Matthew Holbrook and Jerry Wit provided in-house representation for St. John Properties in lease negotiations.

The GATE is a 413-acre R&D/technology business park intended for government and private sector use. It is the only commercial development within the Aberdeen Proving Ground. The first phase of The GATE includes five office and R&D buildings, totaling more than 285,000 square feet.

St. John Properties expects The GATE project to grow to more than 2 million square feet of total development over the next 20 years. (By Andrew Deichler)

Marnell Breaks Ground on Las Vegas Air Cargo Center

Las Vegas developer Marnell Properties has broken ground on Marnell Air Cargo Center at the McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. The $29 million, 200,928-square-foot airfreight logistics center will be located at Terminal 3.

The Marnell Air Cargo Center is to consist of two buildings: a 79,000-square-foot FedEx building and a 121,900-square-foot multitenant structure. The project will house the freight and mail-sorting operations of FedEx Corp., Southwest Airlines, Worldwide Flight Services, Allegiant Air, UPS and others.

The project is expected to deliver in fourth quarter 2010. R & O Construction has been hired as the general contractor for this project. (By Michael Fontaine)

OneCap Wins Bid for Distressed Vegas High-Rise

OneCap Mortgage Corp., a private investment firm and subsidiary of OneCap Holding Corp., acquired the distressed Spanish View Towers project in Las Vegas at auction for $15.89 million.

The luxury high-rise project, originally valued at $660 million, went into bankruptcy in 2007. Tower Homes, the developer, was served an involuntary petition filed by several of the mechanics’ lien creditors. OneCap held the trust deeds on the property, valued at about $36 million.

Construction has been stopped since July 2006. The site has a partially constructed subterranean garage. It consists of 390 units in three 27-story towers along with 29,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. Tigg Mitchell of Wilson Properties in San Diego, CA, represented the seller. A buyer's broker was not disclosed. (By Jason Kuyper, CoStar COMPS #1795673)

Mill District City Apartments Breaks Ground

Village Green, a Michigan developer of luxury apartment buildings, has broken ground on the Mill District City Apartments at 225 Portland Ave. in Minneapolis.

This $25 million development is under construction at the corner of Portland Avenue and Washington Avenue in Minneapolis' Mill District/Washington Street Corridor. A five-story, 175-unit luxury apartment complex is planned for the site, along with a 3,500-square-foot specialty market, a business center and a private park.

A joint venture between Holtzman Interests and Avergis & Associates owns the property. The architect is Boarman Kroos Vogel Group. Completion is expected in fall 2010 and the retail space has already been preleased. (By David Egbert)

COPT Buys Nursery Corner Office Bldg. for $38 Million

Corporate Office Properties Trust acquired the Nursery Corner office building in Linthicum, MD, from receivership for $38 million, or approximately $243 per square foot. The Circuit Court of Anne Arundel County appointed CB Richard Ellis as the receiver to market the office property for sale.

The five-story, Class A office building at 1550 W. Nursery Road totals 156,215 square feet. Construction of the fully leased building was completed last month. Opus East LLC, the bankrupt developer, completed approximately 80 percent of the construction and the receiver arranged for a third party to complete the remaining construction. Northrop Grumman, the sole tenant, is expected to occupy the property by the middle of this month.

Robert Cashman, Jonathan Beard, Jeffrey Ackerman and Ryan Sciullo of CB Richard Ellis represented the seller. (By Christine Dorr, CoStar COMPS #1817059)

More New Development and Land Transactions

U.S. Army Acquires 20 Acres in Newark, DE

The United States Army Corps acquired 20.65 acres of land at 1001 Ogletown Road in Newark, DE, from a private seller for $7.73 million, or approximately $375,000 per acre.

Located in the South New Castle County submarket, the site has more than 1,000 feet of frontage on Newark Christiana Road. Reportedly, there is a 193,460-square-foot industrial building on the property. The building is vacant and the buyer plans to demolish it.

Neil Kilian of NAI Emory Hill represented the seller. Kelly Van Horn of Newmark Knight Frank Smith Mack and Mark Deering of MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services LLC represented the buyer. (By Melannie Skinner, CoStar COMPS #1761702)

City, County Agencies Buy Land for $5.3 Million

The city of Lafayette, CO, and the county of Boulder acquired 144.8 acres 12680 Baseline Road in Lafayette from Mountainview Egg Farms Inc. for $5.25 million, or approximately $36,257 per acre.

The city will use the land for open space. No brokers were involved. (By Vicky Quinn, CoStar COMPS #1792397)

Stevensville Land Trades Hands

Cedar Creek LLC purchased a 7.42-acre site at 6048 Cleveland Ave. in Stevensville, MI, from Jasper Lundin Trust for $584,500, or approximately $78,774 per acre.

At the time of sale, the location consisted of a single out building. The buyer intends to demolish the building and build a strip center on the site. Also included with the strip center will be a stand-alone bank location.

Loren Gerber at Core Real Estate represented the buyer. Jim Fisher at the same firm represented the seller. (By Jason May, CoStar COMPS #1806978)