News and Notes on Trends, New Projects and Construction Entering Or Leaving the Commercial Real Estate Development Pipeline Around the U.S.
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Apple Acquires Nearly 100 Acres Near Cupertino HQ
With iPads, iPhones, laptops and other products flying off the shelves this holiday season, fast-growing Apple Inc. has closed on the purchase of Hewlett Packard's nearly 100-acre campus site in Cupertino, CA. The transaction effectively doubles the size of Apple's holdings in its headquarters city in the Silicon Valley.
A grant deed, with Apple listed as the buyer and HP as the seller, was filed with the Santa Clara County Recorder's Office on Nov. 16. Hewlett Packard President and CEO Leo Apotheker mentioned the transaction, without naming Apple as the buyer, in the company's quarterly earnings call on Nov. 22. Apotheker revealed that the company completed the sale of its Cupertino campus and will be consolidating those operations into the computer company's Palo Alto global headquarters over the next three years.
The price and other terms were not immediately available for the sale, first reported by the San Jose Mercury News. Cupertino-based Apple reported $65 billion in sales for its fiscal year ended in September, a 50% increase over last year, and added 12,300 employees.
The site is part of the city of Cupertino's North Vallco Master Plan, east of Apple’s Infinite Loop headquarters. The HP campus is bounded by Homestead Road on the north, Wolfe Road on the west, Tantau Road on the east and Pruneridge Avenue on the south.
Apple bought 50 acres south of Pruneridge in 2006 for a reported campus extension, so the acquisition gives the tech company more than 140 contiguous acres from Homestead south to Interstate 280.
Nucleus Announces Construction Team for Research Bldg
The University of Louisville Foundation and Nucleus announced the hiring of the architecture firm and construction manager for construction of the first research building on the old Haymarket site in downtown Louisville.
Nucleus President and CEO Vickie Yates Brown named architecture firm Arrasmith, Judd, Rapp, Chovan Inc., and construction company Sullivan & Cozart, Inc. to oversee the project. The first building is expected to be finished in 2012. When all phases are completed, the facility is expected to generate 8,700 jobs.
Officials are hoping the project will be a catalyst for positioning Louisville as a national leader in the life science and medical sectors.
The project is a collaboration between the university, Mayor Jerry Abramson’s office, Gov. Steve Beshear’s office and Greater Louisville Inc. Nucleus is able to move forward on construction in part due to a commitment from Signature HealthCARE through their development of the International Center for Long Term Care and Innovation to become the building’s anchor tenant.
Nucleus is finalizing the financing plan for the downtown research park in conjunction with potential funding through the University of Louisville Foundation and via state tax-increment financing. In this case, the tax district includes the 210-acre development area around the Haymarket site.
Builder Delivers $55 Million School in Orange County
Barnhart Balfour Beatty has completed Orchard Hills School, a K-8 school in the Tustin Unified School District on 15 acres at 11555 Culver Drive in Irvine, CA.
The school opened for the 2010-11 school year with more 450 students in grades five and six. The district will add additional grades in upcoming years. The project is master planned to house more than 1,200 students and contains 45 teaching stations and supporting facilities totaling 147,524 square feet.
In addition to classrooms and laboratories, the facility includes a kindergarten with separate play areas, specialty classrooms, an administration building, elementary and middle-school libraries, a multi-purpose/food-services building with a stage, a gymnasium, and track and sports fields.
HFF Arranges Construction Financing For NJ Office Project
The New Jersey office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) has arranged a $20.4 million construction loan for Centra at Metropark, a 105,000-square-foot Class A office building in Woodbridge, NJ.
HFF senior managing director Jon Mikula and director Michael Klein worked exclusively on behalf of The Hampshire Companies to secure the three-year construction loan through US Bank on the property is located at 186 Wood Avenue, across the street from the Woodbridge Hilton within the MetroPark office complex close to the Garden State Parkway in Woodbridge.
Due for completion in mid-2011, the four-story LEED-certified property will feature a café, fitness center, conference center and common area lounge. Centra at Metropark is the first phase of a four-phase development that upon build-out will include four Class A office buildings plus two parking garages.
The Morristown, NJ-based Hampshire Companies is a full-service private real estate firm with equity in assets valued at more than $2 billion.
Glenwood Plans Residential Tower at Fordham University
Multifamily developer and landlord Glenwood Management will acquire a parcel from Fordham University at the school's Upper West Side campus to build a high-rise residential tower.
Glenwood signed a $100 million contract with Fordham to buy property on Amsterdam Avenue for the project, according to Crain's. The university is hoping to raise money to fund a major expansion of its Lincoln Center campus.
Fordham earlier this year won approval to add six new buildings to the campus between West 60th and West 62nd streets and Amsterdam and Columbus avenues. The initial phase of the project includes construction of a new law school and the university will later add a graduate school of business administration with dormitory space, a graduate school of social services and education, a new space for the Quinn Library and a dramatic arts theater.
Construction Begins on Morgan Hill Apt. Project
Urban Housing Communities, LLC. has begun construction of a 42,200-square-foot multifamily project, the Horizons at Morgan Hill, in Morgan Hill, CA.
The affordable senior housing community on Central Avenue will consist of 49 affordable apartment homes. It will be completed August 2011 and will offer apartments for seniors age 55 and older who earn between 30 and 50% of the Santa Clara County median income.
The community will consist of 36 one-bedroom, one-bath units, and 13 two-bedroom, two-bath units. The unit sizes span from 778 square feet to 1,025 square feet and will occupy a three-story building.
KTGY Group, Inc. is the architect for the community and Urban Housing Communities is the developer. (By Lauren Kremers)
Skanska To Build 52,000-SF School in Long Island
Skanska has been awarded a contract by the NYC School Construction Authority for $61 million to construct a new intermediate and high school at 1-50 51st Ave. Long Island City, NY.
The new school will stand 5 stories at approximately 52,000sf. With 26 classrooms and other common areas, including an approximately 1,400 square foot roof terrace, the School will be designed to accommodate approximately 1,000 students.
The building will be constructed to meet Silver LEED certification. Ground was broken on this project November 22, 2010 and is due to be completed October 2013. (By Tara Healy)