PEKIN, ILL. — An 88-room Hampton Inn & Suites hotel has opened at East Court Village in Pekin, about 10 miles south of Peoria. The four-story property is located at 3445 Court St. Amenities include a free hot breakfast, Wi-Fi, on-site parking, a heated indoor pool, fitness center and meeting spaces. The pool will open to guests soon. Face masks are currently required in all indoor public areas of the hotel for guests and employees. In 2016, Marigold Lodging purchased the 2.8-acre parcel for the hotel from Cullinan Properties Ltd., which owns and manages East Court Village, a regional power center.
GURNEE, ILL. — An unnamed developer has purchased a 2.6-acre parcel at 5742 Northridge Drive in Gurnee near Waukegan for $1 million. The buyer plans to build a hotel at the site, which includes a 24,000-square-foot, single-story building. The site is near Gurnee Mills, Six Flags and Great Wolf Lodge. Paul Cawthorn and Angelo Labriola of SVN | Chicago Commercial represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction.
BUCKEYE, ARIZ. — Scannell Properties has purchased a 70-acre development site, located near the corner of Miller and Durrango roads in Buckeye, for nearly $6.6 million. The buyer plans to develop an 850,000-square-foot, build-to-suit distribution facility at the property for specialty discount retailer Five Below. The tenant plans to initially bring approximately 150 new jobs to the area and expects to grow to nearly 300 employees over the next five years. Greg Vogel and Wes Campbell of Land Advisors Organization’s Metro Phoenix office represented the undisclosed seller in the deal.
NEW YORK CITY — Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) has signed a lease to fully occupy the office portion of The Farley Building, a mixed-use project under construction in Manhattan. The landlord, Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO), is redeveloping the historic property, which was formerly the James A. Farley Post Office Building. The social media giant will occupy 730,000 square feet in the building. A timeline for the move-in and the number of employees moving into Farley was not disclosed. “The Farley Building will further anchor our New York footprint and create a dedicated hub for our tech and engineering teams,” says Robert Cookson, Facebook’s vice president of real estate and facilities. The Farley Building spans a double-wide city block between 31st and 33rd streets and 8th and 9th avenues. The property is part of Vornado’s Penn District development. Vornado owns more than 10 million square feet in Penn District, which is undergoing a $2 billion redevelopment, not including infrastructure and transit improvements by City of New York totaling $3 billion. Penn District includes the Farley Building, Penn 1 and Penn 2, all of which are under construction. Penn 1 and 2 are redevelopments of One Penn Plaza and Two Penn Plaza, …
TOMBALL, TEXAS — JDR Cable Systems, a provider of underwater power cables for the energy business, has begun construction on a 65,000-square-foot office and industrial project in Tomball that will serve as the United Kingdom-based company’s new Houston area headquarters The facility will house a wide range of operations, including engineering and management for global projects, assembly of a variety of oilfield equipment and support for its offshore service business. Completion is slated for the first half of 2021.
ASTORIA, N.Y. — JLL has arranged $55 million in joint venture equity for a multifamily project in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. The project will be constructed on a 2.5-acre site at 30-77 Vernon Blvd and will consist of 534 units across three buildings. Stephen Palmese, Rob Hinckley, Jeffrey Julien, Nicco Lupo and Steven Rutman of JLL worked on behalf of the developer, Cape Advisors, to secure the undisclosed equity partner.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — DMG Investments has completed construction on Auden Upstate, a 486-bed student housing community located near the University of South Carolina Upstate campus in Spartanburg. The development — which consists of seven buildings totaling 94,000 square feet — offers two-, four- and five-bedroom, fully furnished units with bed-to-bath parity. Communal amenities at the property include a fitness center, basketball court, clubhouse, yoga studio, business center and a pool. The community features the company’s clean-living program, which was developed to provide best practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Leasing for the property is currently underway with move-in scheduled to begin this month. USC Upstate will begin its fall semester Aug. 20. Students will have the option to attend in-person classes or attend virtual classes.
ATLANTA — Strand Capital Group LLC will develop a 22-story, dual-branded hotel in downtown Atlanta. The Margaritaville Vacation Club by Wyndham and Club Wyndham hotel will overlook Centennial Olympic Park and will be situated within walking distance of the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and State Farm Arena. The hotel will offer 200 rooms and is expected to be delivered in early 2022. The property will offer one-bedroom standard and one-, two- and three-bedroom deluxe and presidential configurations. The rooms will feature living and dining areas, kitchenettes or fully equipped kitchens, and a Frozen Concoction Maker frozen drink machine in the Margaritaville suites. An undisclosed number of suites will be reserved for timeshares. Upon completion, Wyndham Destinations will acquire units at the property and manage the sales and marketing of the timeshares.
ROLLING MEADOWS, ILL. — Glenstar and Rubenstein Partners have completed a $20 million renovation of Continental Towers in Rolling Meadows. Built between 1978 and 1982, the 910,000-square-foot office complex is located at 1701 Golf Road. The three-building property sits on 34 acres and is home to tenants such as Verizon and Panasonic. The main portion of the modernization project was a one-acre outdoor space, which now houses flexible seating, gathering areas, fire pits and grills. Additional improvements were made to the lobbies, elevator cabs, common areas and tenant lounge. Michael Klein, co-founder and managing principal of Glenstar, says the owners have a robust program in place to address today’s safety and social distancing concerns. “Our new amenities, especially our sprawling outdoor areas, provide tenants the opportunity to work outdoors and meet with their colleagues at a safe distance.” In 2015, Glenstar invested $30 million in the construction of a parking garage, reconfigured site plan and renovation of a 23,000-square-foot fitness center run by Midtown Fitness. Glenstar originally acquired Continental Towers in 2013 and recapitalized the property in 2018 with the help of Rubenstein Partners, which is a fund manager for a series of private equity funds focused on office investments …
LONG BEACH, CALIF. — C.W. Driver Cos., as general contractor, has broken ground on a multi-disciplinary facility located at Long Beach City College’s Liberal Arts Campus in Long Beach. The $48.2 million property is the first design-build project at the school funded by the state of California and will house a variety of academic programs, including language arts, career technology education, computer studies, office studies, student success center and support programs. The project includes the demolition of two existing classroom buildings, as well as all associated utilities, hardscape, irrigation and landscaping. Originally two 1960s concrete frame buildings, the new three-story, 96,000-square-foot facility will be constructed as a single steel-frame structure complete with classroom, study and administrative spaces. Key areas will include a lecture hall, reading and writing focus areas and breakout rooms. Additionally, the project will be built around existing community courtyards where students can connect, study and socialize. Designed HPI Architecture to obtain LEED Gold certification, the project is slated for completion in November 2021.