BEAUMONT, TEXAS — ExxonMobil has begun the $2 billion expansion of its petrochemical refinery in the East Texas city of Beaumont. The initiative was launched in 2019 but subsequently paused and delayed due to COVID-19. The plant was originally built in 1903 along the banks of the Neches River and has grown to encompass more than 2,700 acres and include manufacturing and packaging operations that employ more than 2,000 people on a daily basis. The Beaumont refinery processes some 366,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and the company expects that the expansion will increase that figure by an additional 250,000 barrels per day.
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Locally based developer The Hampshire Cos. has completed Max on Morris, an 85-unit apartment complex in the Northern New Jersey community of Morristown. The property offers studio, one- and two-bedroom units and amenities such as an entertainment lounge, coworking spaces and work pods and outdoor grilling and dining areas. Max on Morris also houses 610 square feet of retail space. Rents start in the $2,300s for a studio apartment.
LIVINGSTON, N.J. — Sunrise Senior Living has opened an 86,000-square-foot community in Livingston, approximately 20 miles west of Manhattan. Sunrise of Livingston provides assisted living and memory care services. Although the number of units was not disclosed, Sunrise said the property can serve more than 120 residents. Lantz-Boggio Architects designed the property, which Wohlsen Construction Co. built.
DETROIT — Bedrock has begun pre-leasing the Book Tower in downtown Detroit. The seven-year, $300 million redevelopment project is nearing completion. The 500,000-square-foot, 38-story building has been converted into 220 apartment units, 117 ROOST apartment hotel units and 52,000 square feet of retail, office and dining space. Located at 1265 Washington Blvd., Book Tower will also offer coworking, meeting and event space. Originally built in 1926 by the Book Brothers, Book Tower was the tallest building in Detroit at the time of completion. Bedrock acquired the Louis Kamper-designed, Italian Renaissance Revival-style building in 2015. The building was in a state of disrepair after sitting vacant for more than a decade. Bedrock’s project team included New York-based architecture firm ODA for architecture and interior renovation, Detroit-based Brinker/Christman for construction and Kraemer Design Group for historic preservation. Amenities include an indoor-outdoor lounge, a 3,000-square-foot coworking space, fitness center, entertaining suite and 300-space parking garage. The Rotunda is a three-story, marble-arched atrium that serves as the entrance to the property and features an original 1920s skylight. A portion of the units will be reserved as affordable housing for persons making at or below 80 percent of the area median income.
CHICAGO — Bask Development, a Chicago-based real estate development firm, has entered into an agreement with Charlotte-based hospitality chain Extended Stay America to develop eight hotels in Florida under the Extended Stay America Premier Suites brand. The locations of the hotels weren’t disclosed but Bask says the properties will be located in “major markets.” Bask operates throughout the United States, with 30 hotels under management and an additional six under construction. Extended Stay America Premier Suites comprises both new construction as well as renovated properties with fully equipped kitchens, apartment-style layouts for working and dining, free in-room Wi-Fi, cable TV, onsite guest laundry and an enhanced breakfast offering, along with upgraded design elements including larger TVs, increased storage space and a signature bedding package. Extended Stay America currently has 36 Extended Stay America Premier Suites open and operating throughout the United States.
ASHBURN, VA. — H5 Data Centers has broken ground on a three-story, 255,000-square-foot data center in Ashburn, a city in Northern Virginia. The Denver-based developer has begun preleasing the property, which is set for delivery in the third quarter of 2024. The data center located on Beaumeade Circle will qualify for Virginia data center sales and use tax exemption, according to H5. Ashburn is known as the data center capital of the world and houses facilities leased to Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta, among others.
SUNRISE, FLA. — Capital Funding Group has provided a $27.2 million construction loan for the conversion of a partially completed hotel in South Florida to a 191-unit assisted living community. The property is located at 3003 N. University Drive in Sunrise, about 10 miles west of Fort Lauderdale. The borrower, YMP Real Estate Management, will use $7.4 million of the financing to complete the shell construction. YMP will also manage the seniors housing community when it opens. The construction timeline was not disclosed.
BOSTON — Berkeley Investments has received approval from the Boston Planning & Development Agency to move forward with development of its 176 Lincoln mixed-use project in Boston’s Allston neighborhood. Plans call for Class A lab and R&D space, offices and apartment units. Designed by CBT, 176 Lincoln will be built on a five-acre site with two acres of landscaped open space. The two main commercial buildings will include 720,000 square feet of lab, R&D and office space. The project will also include onsite housing, including 252 apartment units with 10 live-work units for artists. The project will be situated within immediate proximity to Harvard’s recently completed Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Harvard Business School and the recent expansion of Harvard academic and cultural facilities such as the Harvard Innovation Labs. The expanding Harvard presence in Allston is establishing a new cluster for innovation and research in greater Boston, according to Berkeley. “With its location adjacent to Harvard’s growing Allston campus and its introduction of state-of-the-art, Class A lab space, 176 Lincoln will be an important addition to the rapidly growing life sciences, medical, academic research and corporate corridor stretching through Boston and into Cambridge,” says Young Park, …
LUBBOCK, TEXAS — McGrath Real Estate Partners will develop The Saltus, a 234-unit, 736-bed student housing development located near the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock. The project is named after the city’s namesake, Thomas Saltus Lubbock, and will serve students at Texas Tech University. The project will offer nine different floor plans ranging in size from 559 to 2,025 square feet. Shared amenities will include a pool with cabanas, pickleball courts, grilling stations, dog park and an outdoor amphitheater. Completion is slated for fall 2025.
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh International Airport has unveiled designs for the next phase of its $1.4 billion redevelopment. The latest stage of the project will center around a passenger tunnel/bridge that connects the existing hub of the airport with the new terminal that is under construction. The development team broke ground on the new, 700,000-square-foot terminal in October 2021 and expects to complete the project in 2025. The new terminal will consolidate ticketing, security checkpoints and baggage claim operations and offer a multi-modal complex with a 3,300-space parking garage, rental car facilities, parking lots and roadways.