The Durham County Board of Commissioners voted Monday night to merge the Wake and Durham mental health agencies and to sign a letter of intent for the merged agency to lease 55,000 square feet in a Triangle Transit-owned building in the Imperial Center.

The new agency is expected to move into its new headquarters July 1.

A number of private landlords who were competing for the lease had complained about the deal.

Triangle Transit purchased the 75,000-square-foot building in December for nearly $3.8 million using money from its general fund, which comes from vehicle registration taxes paid by residents in Durham, Orange and Wake counties.
 

Franklin Street Properties, a Massachusetts real estate firm, has bought Quintiles headquarters in Durham for $75.8 million.

The 259,531-square-foot, 10-story building was completed in 2009, and is entirely occupied by Quintiles.

The deal, which works out to about $292 a square foot, is the latest sign of investors strong appetite for trophy properties in the Triangle.

Durham's Hock Plaza I fetched a similar premium last year when Hines Global REIT paid $98.05 million for the 12-story office building, which includes 327,160 square feet.

Quintiles glass-and-concrete headquarters is the signature building in the Imperial Center off Interstate 40 at Page Road.

At night, it glows from within, lit by more than 3,000 lights.

It was developed by Tri-Properties.

RMF Engineering is leaving Durham's Imperial Center for Brier Creek.

The firm has signed a lease for 13,500 square feet in the Brier Creek 6 building.

The new space is about 15 percent larger than RMF's current space, said CEO Duane Pinnix.

Pinnix said the company's space in Imperial Center is spread across two floors.

The move to Brier Creek, which is expected to be completed by April 1, will allow the company to consolidate on one floor and also will provide space for future growth.

RMF, which has its headquarters in Baltimore, employs 45 people in the Triangle. It has about $31 million in revenues and 200 employees in seven offices.
 

After selling a distribution facility last fall, Crown Realty and Development has added to its portfolio in the Imperial Center business park near Research Triangle Park.

The Irvine, Calif. company paid $7.475 million for a 182,000-square-foot warehouse at 4400 Emperor Boulevard. The property is fully leased to Phoenix Telecom Solutions, which moved in in March.

The space was previously occupied by Flextronics.

The seller was Meridian Development Group of Clearwater, Fla. Meridian bought the property in May 2007 for $6.2 million.

In December 2007, Crown Realty paid about $115 million for 13 office and industrial buildings at Imperial Center business park, off Interstate 40 at Page Road.

Last fall, Crown Realty sold one of those properties -- the Essex Center, a 450,000-square-foot distribution center -- to data storage company EMC for $22.6 million.