LOWELL, IND. — John Deere has purchased 234 acres of land in Lowell, a city in northwest Indiana, for $7 million. The company plans to build a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility. Nancy Frigo and Nicholas Smith of Coldwell Banker Commercial Realty represented the seller, Hallmark Construction Co. Venture One will serve as the developer for the project, which is expected to create approximately 1,200 union construction jobs and 400 to 500 permanent positions upon completion. The project site, located at the southwest corner of I-65 South and Route 2, has gas, sewer and water availability.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Developer Nasser Freres has broken ground on a $300 million mixed-use project that will be located at 25 Cottage St. in the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City. Designed by Handel Architects with AJD Construction serving as the general contractor, the development will consist of 622 apartments, approximately 45,000 square feet of Class A office space and ground-floor retail space, all within a 28-story building. Units will come in studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans, and the building will feature a double-height lobby lounge with a reception area. Other amenities will include a relaxation zone and spa, an art gallery and studio, children’s playroom, karaoke room, pet spa, bowling alley, screening room, game lounge, speakeasy, VR sports room with arcade games and a catering kitchen. Residents will also have access to a coworking space with a lounge, private work pods and conference rooms, as well as a fitness center, coffee bar, podcast/TikTok room and a party lounge. Lastly, a landscaped rooftop envisioned by Melillo Bauer Carman Landscape Architecture will feature a lounge with kitchen and dining areas, private grilling stations and a pool with a deck and loungers. Completion is slated for the first quarter of …
BOSTON — The Chiofaro Co., a locally based investment and development firm, has begun the second of three phases of the $100 million transformation of International Place, a 1.8 million-square-foot office complex in downtown Boston. Phase II includes the renovation of the “IP Commons” central gathering space, as well as the Fort Hill Plaza and grand entrance, which link the downtown area to the Seaport District. The new central gathering space will feature increased seating, a new 55-foot signature water feature, raised planting beds and an expanded events program. The Fort Hill entrance, which has often been viewed as the project’s “front door,” will be replaced with a modern 32-foot-tall and 80-foot-wide glass portal connecting the updated plaza to the interior IP Commons venue. Built in phases between 1987 and 1992, International Place consists of a 46-story tower and a 35-story building that are home to more than 90 tenants. Global architecture firm Gensler is leading the design of the project, Phase I of which centered on the development of a 16,000-square-foot amenity center known as The Aries Club. Phase I began in October 2023, and the entire redevelopment is expected to take about two years to complete.
NEW YORK CITY — BHI, a full-service commercial bank that is the U.S. division of Israel’s Bank Hapoalim, has provided a $95 million construction loan for a 226-unit multifamily project in Brooklyn. The site at 2359 Bedford Ave. is located in the Flatbush neighborhood, and the development will house 72 studios, 86 one-bedroom units and 68 two-bedroom units, as well as 23,000 square feet of commercial and storage space. Thirty percent of residences will be set aside as affordable housing. Specific income restrictions on those units were not disclosed. A tentative completion date was also not disclosed. The borrower is a partnership between David Bistricer of Clipper Equity and Anshel Friedman of Nalcorp.
NEW YORK CITY — Boston-based developer The Davis Cos. has topped out a 97-unit multifamily project at 1975 Madison Ave. in Harlem. Designed by DXA Studio and built by Broadway Construction Group, the eight-story building will house one- and two-bedroom units, with 30 residences earmarked as affordable housing. Amenities will include a fitness center, resident lounge, coworking space, pet spa and a rooftop terrace. The building will also house a 2,500-square-foot community center. Construction began in late 2023. Completion is slated for late 2025.
PHOENIX — CBRE has arranged the sale of The Blake, a multifamily community currently under development in Phoenix. A venture between StreetLights Residential and an affiliate of RED Development sold the asset to a venture between RXR and Korman Communities for an undisclosed price. Slated for completion in early 2025, The Blake will offer 400 apartments featuring 10-foot ceilings with coves in the living rooms; wood-style flooring in living areas and bedrooms; tile flooring in bathrooms; both granite and quartz countertop design options in bathrooms; walk-in closets; washers/dryers; energy-efficient stainless steel appliances; custom cabinetry and hardware; and Sonos speaker systems in all units. Community amenities will include a clubhouse with library, dining room, coffee bar, conference rooms, co-working stations and TV seating areas. The private resident bar includes a roll-up window leading to outdoor seating around a resort-style pool and spa area with cabanas, fire features, televisions, barbecue grills and dining areas. The Blake is part of the mixed-use project being developed on the former Paradise Valley Mall site. Matt Pesch, Asher Gunter, Sean Cunningham and Austin Groen of CBRE represented the sellers in the transaction.
— By Bendix Anderson — Empty nesters and millennials with children are increasingly drawn to new subdivisions of build-to-rent (BTR) houses for lifestyle and financial reasons. These professionally managed BTR homes come in many shapes and sizes. For a growing family, a new three- or four-bedroom rental house might be the ideal fit. Renters who don’t need a lot of space, but who value private parking and a modest backyard, can move into a one- or two-bedroom cottage-style home. These properties provide more living space and privacy than a typical apartment and at a more affordable cost than a for-sale home. New BTR developments of single-family rental (SFR) homes are finding renters in every region of the country. Developers define “BTR” in different ways, but all of them create new subdivisions of single-family homes offered as rentals. Urban Townhouses Draw Families In April, workers finished the first units at Oxenfree at WeHo, a new development of SFR townhouses in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood of Nashville. In May, the paint was finally dry on the model unit. By the beginning of June, work had finished on 10 new single-family townhouses. In the past month, Oxenfree has hosted nearly 50 in-person tours and …
NEW YORK CITY — Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, which owns and operates a majority of IKEA stores globally, has purchased a one-third stake in the development of a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use tower underway in Manhattan. As part of the arrangement, IKEA will open a two-level store at the base of 570 Fifth Avenue, which will include a corner entrance along Fifth Avenue. Extell Development Co. is the master developer of 570 Fifth Avenue, which will feature Class A retail space and offices at the intersection of Manhattan’s Plaza and Grand Central districts. The project marks the largest development on Fifth Avenue in more than 60 years, according to Ingka Investments. “We have been working on assembling this project for almost two decades, and Ingka Investments’ substantial commitment allows us to move forward with the construction and leasing of the best new office building in New York,” says Gary Barnett, founder and chairman of Extell Development, which will retain a two-thirds ownership stake in the development. Ingka Investments’ stake in the tower includes the planned IKEA store. IKEA will open a “customer meeting point,” the retailer’s small-format store prototype, within the tower’s 80,000 square feet of planned …
HIALEAH GARDENS, FLA. — Excel Construction has delivered a 266,000-square-foot industrial facility at 10701 N.W. 142nd St. in Hialeah Gardens, approximately 20 miles outside Miami. World Electric Supply will occupy the property, which features 253,390 square feet of warehouse and packaging space and 12,862 square feet of office space. The building is situated within Northwest Dade Logistics Center I, which is owned by The Easton Group. Ware Malcomb was the architect on the project, and Luis Caicedo and Juancarlo Lopez of Excel served as the project manager and superintendent, respectively.
BALTIMORE — MCB Real Estate has completed vertical construction on The Enolia, a 473-bed, off-campus student housing development located in Baltimore near Morgan State University. According to the developer, this marks the first off-campus housing project for the university in 20 years. Scheduled to open in 2025, the property will feature 151 units at 4529 Harford Road. The project is named after civil rights icon Enolia Pettigen McMillan.