DETROIT — Amazon has unveiled plans to open six new fulfillment and sortation centers in metro Detroit this year in order to support operations closer to customers. The sites are expected to create more than 2,000 full- and part-time jobs. In addition to a robotics fulfillment center in Detroit, Amazon will build centers in Hazel Park, Pinnacle Park (2), Plymouth and Pontiac. The new Detroit property will span 823,000 square feet and is expected to create 1,200 new full-time jobs upon its opening. Amazon currently operates 10 facilities in Detroit that support customer fulfillment and delivery operations, including four properties that opened in 2020. Since 2010, Amazon has created more than 13,500 jobs in Michigan and invested more than $2.5 billion across the state, including infrastructure and compensation to its employees.
NAPERVILLE, ILL. — MZ Capital Partners has begun pre-leasing efforts for Vantage Naperville Apartments. The 112-unit apartment community, located at 1350 E. Ogden Ave. in Naperville, is slated to open in April. To commemorate the opening of the property, MZ donated a gift to the Northern Illinois Food Bank that will feed a local family of four for an entire year. Vantage Naperville Apartments features small studio and one-bedroom units with monthly rents as low as $950. Residents who pre-lease units are eligible to receive one month of free rent. Amenities include a fitness center, package pickup, common areas and private work suites.
SOUDERTON, PA. — Atlanta-based Core5 Industrial Partners has begun construction on Core5 Logistics Center at Park 31, a 591,360-square-foot speculative industrial project that will be situated on 74.4 acres in Souderton, about 35 miles north of Philadelphia. The first phase of the development will consist of two buildings totaling approximately 400,000 square feet that are expected to be complete in the third quarter. Michael Golarz and Tom Golarz of Colliers International are handling leasing of the project.
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — The NRP Group has broken ground on Renaissance at Lincoln Park, a 179-unit workforce housing project in New Rochelle, located north of New York City. The project will also include the construction of a 23,400-square-foot Boys & Girls Club facility that will feature a gym, basketball court, recording studio, demonstration kitchen, administrative offices and other rooms for work and play. The NRP Group is developing the project in partnership with Guion Renaissance Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC), Kensworth Consulting, The Boys & Girls Club of New Rochelle and The City of New Rochelle. The total development cost of the project is $97 million. The New York State Homes & Community Renewal provided $48 million of tax-exempt bonds issued by its Housing Finance Agency to help fund development costs.
PALO ALTO, CALIF. — Alta Housing (formerly Palo Alto Housing), a nonprofit affordable housing developer, has broken ground on Wilton Court, a 100 percent affordable housing community in Palo Alto. Located at 3705 El Camino Real, the four-story property will feature 59 units offering independent living for a mix of single- and two-person households earning between 30 percent and 60 percent of the area median income. Twenty-one of the units are reserved for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. The property is within walking distance of a grocery store, retail, restaurants, parks and public transportation. The project team includes L&D Construction Co. as general contractor and PYATOK as designer. Completion is scheduled for summer 2022. The City of Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, Wells Fargo Bank, Enterprise Community Partners California Community Reinvestment Corp., California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, California Department of Housing and Community Development, and California Municipal Finance Authority are providing financing for the $46.3 million project.
BOWLING GREEN, KY. — Ball Corp. plans to open a new 500,000-square-foot building in Bowling Green that will serve as a manufacturing facility for aluminum can tops. According to the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, Ball will invest $305 million to develop the facility. The Westminster, Colo.-based company expects to create 200 jobs at the property, which is scheduled to open in early 2022. The project’s construction is also expected to support 391 jobs. The facility will be situated within Transpark, a 300-acre industrial development owned by the City of Bowling Green and Warren County. Ball will be the first tenant at the site. Transpark has CSX Railroad service through the southern end of the property and is located five miles from Interstate 65. A design team for the project was not disclosed. Ball supplies aluminum packaging solutions for beverage, personal care and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government.
CLAYTON, N.C. — Ardmore Residential has purchased 20 acres in Clayton to develop Ardmore at Flowers, a planned 396-unit apartment community in the Raleigh-Durham area. The property will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans with modern kitchens, designer cabinetry and wood-style vinyl flooring. Communal amenities will include a cyber café, two fitness centers, two pools, several grilling areas, a clubhouse and a dog park. The developer expects to break ground on the community in the spring. Greensboro, N.C.-based Ardmore acquired the land from Southwest Crossroads Holdings LLC for $6.5 million. Sarah Godwin and John Mikels of JLL worked in partnership with John Koonce of York Properties to represent the seller in the transaction.
STAMFORD, CONN. — Developer Building & Land Technology (BLT) has opened Escape, a 435-unit waterfront apartment community located in the Harbor Point district in Stamford. The property offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units as well as four-bedroom penthouses that range in size from 701 to 4,445 square feet and that feature floor-to-ceiling windows and stainless steel appliances. Amenities include a pool, fitness center, lounges, a café and a wine tasting room, as well as courts for basketball, pickleball and shuffleboard. Rents start at approximately $2,500 per month for a one-bedroom unit, according to Apartments.com.
WALTHAM, MASS. — Callahan Construction Managers has broken ground on Broadstone Watch City, a 244-unit multifamily project that will be located in the western Boston suburb of Waltham. The development will span 348,936 square feet and will consist of 195 market-rate residences and 49 affordable housing units. Amenities will include 293 parking spaces, an outdoor pool and courtyard, resident lounges, a conference room and a fitness center. CUBE 3 Studio is designing the project, which is being developed by a partnership between Alliance Residential Co. and The Carlyle Group. Completion is scheduled for May 2022.
MOORESTOWN, N.J. — Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) has received a zoning approval that will allow the Philadelphia-based mall owner to add up to 1,065 multifamily units and a hotel to its Moorestown Mall in Southern New Jersey. For PREIT (NYSE: PEI), which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early November, the move is part of a larger effort to diversify the real estate at several of its regional malls. Dubbed a “densification plan” by company executives, PREIT’s plan to sell parcels of land to multifamily developers is expected to generate as much as $150 million in proceeds that will be used to reduce its outstanding debt. The company is in the process of delivering 3,500 apartments across its properties as part of the initial phase of the plan, which could ultimately see as many as 7,000 multifamily units and several hotels added to PREIT’s properties. The first phase of the multifamily component at Moorestown Mall will consist of 375 units and a hotel with an unspecified number of rooms. “Our foresight has shaped a high-quality portfolio with a strong retail core that attracts a distinctive mix of new uses to redefine the future-ready retail and leisure district,” said …