MESA, ARIZ. — Trez Capital has closed a construction loan for Dale Cavan for the development of Hawes Commerce Park, an industrial project at the intersection of East Pecos and South Hawes roads in Mesa. Currently under construction, Hawes Commerce Park will feature 10 buildings with a combined 16 units and a total of 153,000 net rentable square feet. The property sits adjacent to Phoenix’s secondary airport, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Completion is slated for third-quarter 2024.
NEWARK, N.J. — A joint venture between two locally based development and investment firms, CrownPoint Group Inc. and Lamar Cos., will develop a 1,200-unit self-storage facility in Newark’s Ironbound district. The site is a former salvage yard that comprises four lots totaling roughly one acre, and the six-story, climate-controlled facility will span 135,000 gross square feet. Construction is set to begin in the fourth quarter. Extra Space Storage will operate the property. Michael Klein, Jon Mikula and Ryan Carroll of JLL arranged a $19 million construction loan through Provident Bank on behalf of the development team.
SPRINGDALE, OHIO — Ditsch USA has unveiled plans to expand its operations in the Cincinnati area. The expansion includes a building purchase and renovation, adding fully automated bakery production lines and increasing industrial freezer storage capacity. The pretzel manufacturer has made a commitment to bring 150 new jobs over the next three years to the area. The expansion comes nine years after Ditsch selected Springdale, Ohio, as its first location outside of Germany for its U.S. headquarters. Ditsch is converting a former Costco site in Springdale, offering future employment opportunities for production associates, maintenance technicians and line supervisors. JobsOhio, a private nonprofit economic development corporation, is planning to assist the project with talent acquisition services. The expansion was also made possible with support from REDI Cincinnati, the first point of contact for companies locating or growing in the 16-county region at the heart of southwest Ohio, northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana.
TROY, ILL. — Contegra Construction Co. has completed a 35,000-square-foot fabrication facility for NuWay FAB in Troy, an eastern suburb of St. Louis. The project quadruples NuWay’s annual rebar production capacity, enabling the company to produce 15,000 tons of reinforcing steel or rebar annually. The project features a 31,000-square-foot fabrication shop and 4,000 square feet of office space. There are three overhead cranes, three bays and five drive-in doors. Joining Contegra on the project were J.F. Electric, Vee-Jay Cement Contracting, Illinois Electric Works and Affton Fabricating & Welding Co.
BROOKLYN PARK, MINN. — Ryan Cos. US Inc. has completed PrairieCare’s youth and young adult psychiatric inpatient hospital expansion in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park. Ryan completed the project three weeks ahead of schedule. The nearly 30,000-square-foot expansion includes an additional 30 inpatient beds as well as activity and therapy spaces. The expansion enables PrairieCare to serve an additional 1,000 youth and young adults each year. The hospital is located adjacent to 610 Medical Center, a two-story medical office building that houses PrairieCare, PrairieCare Medical Group and the PrairieCare Foundation. Ryan also built and designed 610 Medical Center. Pope Architects served as the architect and interior designer for the expansion project.
PHILADELPHIA — A partnership between two Philadelphia-based development and investment firms, McGovern Holdings and Saxum Real Estate, has opened Hagert + York, a 294-unit apartment community in Philadelphia’s Fishtown/East Kensington area. Hagert + York offers studio, one- and two-bedroom units and amenities such as a fitness center, resident lounge, coworking space, package room, rooftop lounge, community kitchen and a café. Rents start at $1,280 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.
GLOUCESTER COUNTY, N.J. — An affiliate of German asset management firm DWS Group will undertake a 141,000-square-foot industrial expansion project at Commerce Corner, a 259,910-square-foot development located about 25 miles outside of Philadelphia in Southern New Jersey. The expansion project, which is expected to cost about $29 million, is a build-to-suit for Performance Food Group. Construction is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter and to last about a year. In conjunction with the project, Performance Food Group is extending its lease by 15 years.
ATLANTA — McShane Construction Co. plans to build the second phase of Ashley at Scholars Landing, a mixed-income apartment development located at 680 Atlanta Student Movement Blvd. in Atlanta. The developer is The Integral Group. Phase II will comprise three- and four-story buildings spanning 212 affordable housing and market-rate apartments, as well as a clubroom, fitness center, micro-offices and an activity space. Designed by JHP Architecture, Ashley at Scholars Landing II is set for completion in July 2025. Phase I comprised 135 apartments and opened in 2020.
NEW IBERIA, LA. — First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), an Arizona-based provider of solar panels, has broken ground on a $1.1 billion manufacturing facility in New Iberia, located just southeast of Lafayette in the south-central part of Louisiana. The facility will be located on the grounds of Acadiana Regional Airport and will ultimately encompass more than 2 million square feet. The project, which local community leaders and members of the development team believe is the biggest in the history of the parish, is expected to generate about 700 new permanent manufacturing jobs within the local economy. First Solar anticipates that the plant will be fully operational and able to begin shipping products by the first half of 2026. When that scenario materializes, the company’s total manufacturing capacity will increase from 3.5 gigawatts to approximately 14 gigawatts in the United States and 25 gigawatts globally. At full capacity, the plant will be capable of churning out more than a dozen panels per minute. To secure the project in Iberia Parish, the State of Louisiana offered First Solar an incentives package that includes the workforce solutions of LED FastStart, a Louisiana Economic Development program for training and onboarding workers. Additional incentives include …
PLANO, TEXAS — Ryan Cos. has topped out a 23-story, 409,000-square-foot office building within the Legacy West mixed-use development in Plano. Global tax firm Ryan LLC plans to occupy about half of the building as its new headquarters, and JLL is marketing the remaining space for lease. ACORE Capital provided construction financing for the project, which Ryan Cos. is developing in a joint venture with the real estate investment arm of Kansas-based conglomerate Koch Industries. Amenities will include a fitness center, multiple conference rooms, tenant lounge, pickleball courts and a café. Gensler is the project architect. Construction began last summer and is slated for a late 2024 completion.
