In another sign that the commercial real estate market is in the early — very early — stages of a recovery, Duke Realty Corporation recently released a solidly positive report from its Cincinnati office showing that the company’s activity in that Midwest city was on the rise.
Duke’s Cincinnati office reported that in the first half of the year its team closed 76 leasing transactions covering more than 1.9 million square feet.
“We’ve had a busy first six months and are looking forward to sustaining this momentum during the remainder of 2011,” said Jon Burger, senior vice president of Duke Realty’s Cincinnati Operations. “We appreciate the support of the Cincinnati brokerage community and their efforts to promote our properties to their clients. Their involvement has been a key factor in our ability to successfully close so many deals during the first half of the year.”
New leases, extensions, renewals and expansions in both industrial and office properties were all part of the office’s leasing activity. In a new industrial lease, Southwest Stainless, L.P., which was represented by Bill Keefer with Colliers International, will occupy 166,400 square feet in World Park Building 14.
Extending the term of its 646,469-square-foot lease term in Hebron Building 1 was Innotrac Corporation, which was represented by John Gartner with Colliers International. In two other industrial transactions, Kellogg’s increased its space by 63,410 square feet and renewed its 142,990-square-foot lease in Mosteller Distribution Center Building II, while Standard Textile expanded its space at Skyport Building 2 by 81,288 square feet, bringing its total square footage to 340,188. Standard Textile was represented by Brad Meyer with CB Richard Ellis.
In the office segment of its portfolio, Duke Realty signed Crossmark, Inc. to a new 13,683-square-foot lease in Centre Pointe VI. Renewals included Siemens IT Solutions’ 93,523-square-foot lease in Governor’s Pointe 4705, and United HealthCare Services’ 61,629-square-foot lease at Pfeiffer Woods and its 50,310-square-foot lease at Centre Pointe II. Siemens was represented by Chuck Male with CB Richard Ellis in its transaction, while United HealthCare was represented by Josh Gerth and Peggy Momper-Duncan with Jones Lang LaSalle.
New construction projects include the new U.S. headquarters for itelligence, Inc., a company providing a range of consulting and customer support services to maximize SAP solutions, in Legacy Pointe in Blue Ash. itelligence, Inc. has purchased a 8.09-acre site within the park and has selected Duke Realty to construct two buildings — a new 69,856-square-foot, Class-A office building and a state-of-the-art 14,742-square-foot data center. Marc Sebens with Cincinnati Commercial Realtors represented intelligence in this third-party construction transaction.
Duke Realty is also building a second medical office building adjacent to Good Samaritan Medical Center–Western Ridge on the west side of Cincinnati. Western Ridge MOB II is a one-story 29,700-square-foot facility that will be anchored by Wellington Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine with 18,920 square feet. Tri-State Centers for Sight Inc. has leased 4,500 square feet.
In keeping with its strategy of repositioning its portfolio by reducing its investment in office properties, particularly those located in Central Business Districts, Duke Realty sold three buildings totaling about 1 million square feet. Two of these properties,312 Elm and 312 Plum, are located in downtown Cincinnati.
