ECIDA approves aid to 4 projects

Development efforts for four high-profile projects all cleared major milestones Monday morning when the Erie County Industrial Development Agency board of directors approved abatement packages for each one.

The projects included major renovations for the Hyatt Regency Buffalo hotel, two multi-tenant industrial buildings and the long-discussed expansion effort by Canisius High School.

The directors unanimously approved a tax-exempt bond financing package for Canisius' ambitious $25 million renovation project that includes constructing a sports complex in West Seneca for football, lacrosse and soccer and a running track and a series of developments on its main Delaware Avenue campus in Buffalo.

The Delaware Avenue work, which accounts for $14 million, includes constructing a 26,000-square-foot fieldhouse, demolishing an existing three-story administration building and a 27,000-square-foot science and math department addition.

Officials in West Seneca and Buffalo have both signed on the respective aspects of the Canisius projects.

Also unanimously approved was a $19.6 million industrial revenue bond package to help finance a series of renovations at the downtown Hyatt hotel. The project is being partially financed by a $5.1 state grant.

"In order to keep it as a Hyatt flagship, the hotel desperately needs these renovations," said Karen Fiala, who helped craft the Erie County Industrial Development Agency's financing package for the project.

The deal comes one week after the Buffalo Urban Development Corp. forgave a 25-year-old $8 million construction loan that hung over the Hyatt in return for a $700,000 payout including $400,000 in upfront monies.

Broad-Elm Management Inc. received approval for a mortgage recording tax break to help finance the construction of a 102,000-square-foot, multi-tenant building in the Riverview Commerce Park in the Town of Tonawanda. The building is the second in the fledgling office park.

No tenants have been signed, but negotiations are underway with some prospective tenants.

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source: bizjournals.com

Toshiba relocates local headquarters in Wilmington

Toshiba Business Solutions New England relocated its regional headquarters into 32,000 square feet of brand new office space.

The document management company signed a long-term lease and moved into 800 Research Drive, in Wilmington, Mass., last month. Toshiba Business Solutions relocated to 800 Research Drive in Wilmington Technology Park from 30 Upton Drive in Wilmington, Mass. The building totals 51,936 square feet and is owned by Wakefield Investments. Toshiba is the first tenant to sign a lease at the building which was completed in November.

Toshiba was represented by UGL Equis Corp. in the lease transaction. Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts Inc. represented Wakefield Investments.

"This new location will be used for Toshiba's regional headquarters and sales force functions, as well as warehousing operations," said Brendan Callahan, a senior vice president at UGL Equis, in a statement. "As Toshiba actively pursues opportunities to expand its profile throughout the Northeast, this increased space flexibility and efficient floor plates provide an ideal foundation for launching that growth."

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source: bizjournals.com

Computer Sciences Corp. ready to negotiate sale of downtown building

Silicon Laboratories Inc. may be able to complete the consolidation of its offices now that Computer Sciences Corp. is ready to sell its leasehold interest in the second of two buildings that it developed downtown.

After inking an agreement with the city in 1999, Computer Sciences Corp. built twin mixed-use buildings at 200 and 400 West Cesar Chavez on either side of Austin's City Hall. But the information technology company never fully occupied the office space in both buildings and ended up offloading the building on the west side of city hall to Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) in 2005. Austin-based Silicon Labs moved hundreds of its employees, including product development and its executive team, to the offices at 400 West Cesar Chavez last year.

Last week, the Austin City Council decided not to exercise an option laid out in the original development agreement that gave the city right of first negotiation to the leasehold interest in the roughly 220,000-square-foot building at 200 West Cesar Chavez. That opens the door for Computer Sciences Corp. to negotiate with others to take the property. Silicon Labs has made no secret of its intentions to relocate all of its employees from offices in Southwest Austin to downtown. Fred Evins, redevelopment project manager with the city's Office of Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services, says the city has been notified CSC has an offer to acquire the property.

Shannon Pleasant, director of corporate communications for Silicon Labs, says the council's decision was a key step in allowing negotiations between the two companies on the building, but she stopped short of saying Silicon Labs was committed to taking the property. She says more information on a potential deal could be released this week.

Evins says if Silicon Labs does end up acquiring the building, their increased presence would be a welcomed addition to the downtown office scene. "They've already been great to work with on Block 2," he says.

Five of the six stories that encompass the building are dedicated to office use while the ground level is retail that makes up part of the emerging Second Street District.

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source: bizjournals.com

Storage company secures Largo space

Pack-M LLC, a franchisee of a company that offers portable storage units, has leased 27,256 square feet in Largo.

It is Pack-M's fourth location in Florida within a year's time, said Jeffrey C. Bardin of GVA Advantis, which negotiated the long-term lease for the company.

Pack-M's new space is in a single-story 70,000-square-foot multi-tenanted manufacturing building at 8601 Somerset Drive. Constructed in 1983, the building is situated off Ulmerton Road near Starkey Road.

Bardin, senior director of the GVA Tampa office, Executive Director Scott Nelson of the GVA Advantis Atlanta office and Executive Director Tim Hague of the GVA Advantis Washington, office exclusively represented Pack-M. The landlord, Clearwater-based Workman Properties Inc., represented itself.

Pack-M is a foreign limited liability company based in Wallace, N.C., and a franchisee of 1-800-Pack-Rat LLC, which is headquartered in Washington, a release from GVA Advantis said. 1-800-Pack-Rat's storage units are all-steel, weatherproof, secure and climate controlled, the release said.

In May, Bardin, Nelson and Hague represented Pack-M in a 35,446-square-foot new lease at 41 Industrial Center, marking 1-800-Pack-Rat's entrance into the Tampa market.

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source: bizjournals.com

Receiver appointed for Berman Mortgage

Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wilson appointed Michael I. Goldberg receiver for Berman Mortgage Corp., Money Asset Management Corp. (MAMC) and related entities at the Florida Office of Financial Regulation's request.

Coconut Grove-based Berman Group, which is the parent company of Berman Mortgage and hard money lender MAMC, could not be immediately reached for comment.

The OFR filed a complaint Tuesday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, seeking an injunction against the companies, which are controlled by Dana Berman, and requesting a receiver. The complaint alleges the companies sold unregistered securities in the form of fractionalized interests in mortgages, operated as unregistered securities dealers, made misrepresentations to investors and misapplied investors' money by funding commercial mortgage loans.

The OFR said the companies got at least $192 million from more than 700 investors and told the investors that they would receive annual average returns between 12 percent and 14 percent. The funds were used to fund the acquisition and construction of commercial real estate projects, OFR said, most of which are incomplete with defaulted mortgage loans.

In September, MAMC asked the clients who financed its real estate loans to provide the funds to keep it operating. At the time, Alan Goldberg, head of Crisis Management, was acting as chief restructuring officer and said the company was trying to work out $192 million in loans.

Later on that month another company with Berman connections, DB Key Largo, filed for bankruptcy, listing assets and debts between $1 million and $100 million.

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source: bizjournals.com