BROOKSHIRE, TEXAS — Stream Realty Partners has broken ground on Empire West Business Park, a speculative industrial project that is situated on 300 acres in the western Houston suburb of Brookshire. Designed by Houston-based Powers Brown Architecture, the property fronts Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 90. The initial phase of the project will consist of roughly 1 million square feet of space across three buildings while the second phase will focus more on build-to-suit opportunities and potential sales to corporate end users. The project team includes general contractor Rosenberger Construction and engineering firms BGE Inc., LJB Inc. and Cope Engineering. Stream Realty is underway with site infrastructure work at Empire West, including detention, roads, wastewater and water that will serve the park. The developer expects to complete the Phase I buildings in spring 2021.
Development
EAST GREENWICH, N.J. — Miami-based Scout Capital Partners is nearing completion of Scout Cold Logistics Center, a 332,000-square-foot cold storage facility in East Greenwich, located 18 miles outside Philadelphia in Southern New Jersey. The facility features 80 loading docks and 36-foot clear heights and is expected to be complete by the end of summer. A logistics company that specializes in transport of perishable foods has leased 97,000 square feet at the property. The remaining floor plans range in size from 65,000 to 235,000 square feet. Colliers is handling leasing of the facility.
PLAINFIELD, N.J. — JMF Properties has begun leasing the second and final phase of Quin Sleepy Hollow, a 212-unit apartment community in the Northern New Jersey city of Plainfield. The transit-served property features one- and two-bedroom units with floor-to-ceiling windows, quartz countertops and individual washers and dryers. Amenities include a resident lounge with billiards, a library, theater room, business center, dog park and a fitness center with a yoga studio. Move-ins are expected to begin later this summer.
ST. PETER, MINN. — Kraus-Anderson Construction Co. has completed a $70 million renovation and expansion of Nobel Hall of Science at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, about 70 miles southwest of Minneapolis. Nobel Hall houses the departments of biology, chemistry, geography and geology, along with interdisciplinary programs in biochemistry, molecular biology and environmental studies. Designed by Hastings+Chivetta, the 182,828-square-foot project nearly doubled the building’s footprint. A lobby and laboratory theater connects Nobel Hall to the Schafer Fine Arts building. The project also added new research and teaching laboratories, offices, classrooms and meeting rooms as well as a museum, greenhouse and auditorium.
TOPEKA, KAN. — GO Topeka has unveiled plans to build a large-scale animal health innovation campus in Topeka. The economic development group has selected Clark Enersen Partners and BioRealty Inc. to begin identifying and evaluating prospective locations. The developers, which both have expertise building scientific research parks, will present initial findings this winter. The development will be home to Plug and Play’s animal health program as well as research and development labs and offices for startups and partners. Topeka is centrally located within the KC Animal Health Corridor, which is home to more than 300 animal health companies.
Orion Investment Real Estate Negotiates Sale of 18.5-Acre Commercial Development Site in Arizona
by Amy Works
SURPRISE, ARIZ. — Orion Investment Real Estate, along with Property Dimensions Real Estate Group, has arranged the sale of an 18.5-acre commercial land site located at the northwest corner of Litchfield and Cactus roads in Surprise. Veramonte Land Holdings sold the parcel to Terry B. Brodkin & Associates, as 18.5 Litchfield & Cactus LLC, for $2.2 million. The buyer is working with LGE to develop high-quality flex space at the back of the property, while frontage is being sold off as retail pads. Judi Butterworth of Orion and Cathy Cheshier of Property Dimensions represented the seller in the transaction.
Vantage Data Centers, Colony Capital Agree to Form $3.5B Partnership to Grow Data Center Platform
by John Nelson
DENVER AND LOS ANGELES — Data center developer and operator Vantage Data Centers has entered into a definitive agreement with an investor group led by Colony Capital Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) to form a $3.5 billion partnership that will expand Vantage’s data center platform in North America and Europe. The firms expect the agreement to be finalized toward the end of the month. As part of the agreement, the Colony-led investor group will invest $1.2 billion in Vantage’s portfolio, including 12 stabilized North American data centers that span more than 1.4 million gross square feet in Santa Clara, Calif.; Quincy, Wash.; Montreal; and Quebec City, Canada. Vantage’s management team, led by President and CEO Sureel Choksi, will continue to manage and operate these assets as part of its global data center footprint. The Colony-Vantage partnership will allow Vantage to develop and maintain top-performing data centers in new and existing markets. The Denver-based company has been expanding in Europe the past few months, entering Wales through its acquisition of data center campus Next Generation Data that was announced in April. Vantage also acquired data center provider Etix Everywhere in February. The deal included a data center under construction in Frankfurt, Germany. Vantage …
NEW YORK CITY — JEMB Realty is nearing completion of 1 Willoughby Square, a 500,000-square-foot office building in Brooklyn. The 34-story tower will feature underground parking and various outdoor amenity terraces and green spaces. FXCollaborative designed the project and will also be the anchor tenant upon completion, which is scheduled for the fourth quarter. The development team notes that the project represents the first ground-up office project in downtown Brooklyn in decades.
SiO2 to Invest $163M to Expand Auburn Plant to Provide Vials for Potential COVID-19 Vaccine
by Alex Tostado
AUBURN, ALA. — SiO2 Materials Science will invest $163 million to expand its Auburn plant that will produce vials and syringes to aid a potential COVID-19 vaccine. Construction is underway on the 70,000-square-foot project, which is located at 2425 Innovation Drive, less than one mile from SiO2’s current plant located at 2250 Riley St and seven miles southwest of Auburn University. SiO2 expects to create 220 jobs when the expansion is complete. In June, SiO2 announced a $143 million contract with federal government agencies for a production scale-up of the company’s packaging platform for storing coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics. Auburn-based SiO2 applies a patented glass-like coating to plastic surfaces.
ATLANTA — Alliance Residential will develop Broadstone Upper Westside, a 314-unit apartment complex in Atlanta’s Upper Westside neighborhood. The complex will offer studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Communal amenities will include a community kitchen, clubroom, fitness center, courtyard and a saltwater pool. The Phoenix-based developer closed on the 12-acre site in late June and expects to break ground this year. Alliance plans to open the community in fall 2021. Located at 2167 Bolton Drive NW, the asset is situated seven miles northwest of downtown Atlanta adjacent to the city’s West Midtown district. Dynamik Design is the architect of Broadstone Upper Westside.