YONKERS, N.Y. — Hapik, an indoor climbing concept, has opened a 10,000-square-foot gym in Yonkers, located north of New York City. The gym will be located in the Ridge Hill lifestyle center and will feature 50 different auto belay fun climbing walls ranging from beginner to advanced levels, two ropes courses and a snack bar. The gym is the fitness company’s third in the United States and its 25th worldwide, with 15 in France and seven in the United Kingdom.
ISELIN, N.J. — Industrial technology firm Siemens has signed a 65,500-square-foot office lease at 200 Wood Avenue South, an office building located within the Metropark development in the Northern New Jersey community of Iselin. The 270,000-square-foot building features a newly renovated lobby, fitness center, collaborative common areas and landscaped outdoor amenity spaces. Jeff Babikian of CBRE represented Siemens in the lease negotiations. Wes Moore, also with CBRE, represented the landlord, SJP Properties.
COLUMBUS, OHIO — Amazon is opening an Amazon Style store at Easton Town Center in Columbus. The store will be the first Amazon Style location in the state of Ohio and the second nationwide for the e-commerce giant. The first Amazon Style store opened in the Los Angeles area May 25. As Amazon’s first-ever physical clothing store, Amazon Style is designed to help customers discover fashion looks through a personalized and convenient shopping experience using advanced technology. Customers can scan items on the Amazon Shopping app to send them to fitting rooms or directly to the pickup counter to purchase. In the fitting rooms, customers can use an in-room touchscreen to request additional sizes, colors and styles.
ITASCA, ILL. — Sonica International, a freight forwarding company, has signed a 43,672-square-foot industrial lease at 1420 W. Thorndale Ave. in Itasca. Dustin Albers, Andrew Maletich and Matt Garland of Cawley Chicago represented the tenant, which will utilize the space to separate its ocean and air freight. Hamilton Partners owns the building.
GARLAND, TEXAS — Verdi Commerce, a marketing and consulting platform for e-commerce users, has signed a 94,249-square-foot industrial lease at 3901 W. Miller Road in Garland, a northeastern suburb of Dallas. According to LoopNet Inc., the property was built in 2008 and totals 435,179 square feet. Merideth Murphey, Evan Hammer, Lauren Pesqueda and Brendan Zrowka of Whitebox Real Estate represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Robert Allen internally represented the landlord, First Industrial Texas.
NEW YORK CITY — Corporate communications and public relations firm Prosek Partners has signed a 34,000-square-foot office lease at 28 East 28th Street in Manhattan’s Midtown South area. The tenant plans to relocate to the 15th floor of the newly renovated building, which houses a Whole Foods Market on the ground floor, from 105 Madison Avenue in the fourth quarter. Barry Zeller, Jonathan Serko and Barry Garfinkle of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Peter Duncan, Matt Coudert and Alex Bermingham represented the landlord, George Comfort & Sons, which owns the building in partnership with Jamestown and Loeb Partners Realty, on an internal basis.
RAVENNA, OHIO — Boston Group, which designs and manufactures custom metal and plastic displays for retail stores, hospitals and pharmacies, has unveiled plans to relocate its headquarters from Boston to Ravenna, about 15 miles east of Akron. The company will also relocate from an existing manufacturing facility in Hubbard, Ohio. The new headquarters and manufacturing facility will span 308,000 square feet of office and warehouse space. The property owner, Industrial Commercial Properties, acquired the asset in March 2021 and renovated interiors and exteriors. David Stubblebine and David Skinner of The Stubblebine Co. and Kevin Joseph of Weber Wood Medinger/CORFAC International represented Boston Group in the transaction.
CHICAGO — Blue Bottle Coffee has signed a long-term lease to open a 1,188-square-foot retail space at The Shops at Tribune Tower in Chicago. Founded in 2002, Blue Bottle Coffee is a coffee roaster and retailer with more than 60 cafes globally. The Shops at Tribune Tower location will be Blue Bottle’s second in the Chicago area. The shop is expected to open in early 2023. Blue Bottle’s location is directly adjacent to the newly opened Foxtrot Market and the upcoming Museum of Ice Cream, which is scheduled to open July 16. The Shops at Tribune Tower consists of 50,000 square feet of retail space that anchors the ground floor of the 36-story, 740,000-square-foot Tribune Tower, which has been transformed into 162 luxury condominiums. CIM Group owns the property.
OMAHA, NEB. — Omaha National Group Inc., a provider of workers’ compensation insurance, has opened its new headquarters at 9110 W. Dodge Road in Omaha. The 52,000-square-foot building can accommodate up to 300 employees. The company currently has 200 employees. The office features private workspaces and areas for collaboration and multimedia purposes. The new office more than doubles the firm’s previous space and provides employees with a larger break room.
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Walker & Dunlop: Spring Multifamily Market Contends with Inflation, Housing Bubble Fears
By Walker & Dunlop’s Research Department Inflation and a New Era of Monetary Tightening Amid 40-year high inflation rates, home prices that have surged by over 40 percent in the past three years and double-digit price increases in basic necessities such as food, gas and electricity, the United States seems to be beset on all sides. Inflation has become the question of the day with little relief even after monetary tightening began earlier in the year. After a quarter point increase in the Federal Reserve target rate in March, the Fed implemented a whopping 50 basis point increase in the target Federal Funds rate in May after April inflation remained at 8.2 percent, near the March high of 8.6 percent.[1] The central bank’s goal is to reduce inflation to an annual rate of approximately 2 percent. The employment base, the Fed’s other prime objective, seems to remain strong. Unemployment (at 3.6 percent in April) remains low and employment growth of 390,000 in May beat economist expectations. The Fed’s job now is to beat inflation and prevent it from becoming embedded in consumer expectations. Why? Because once inflation becomes embedded in expectations, it changes consumer behavior and becomes somewhat of a …