WILMINGTON, DEL. — Evergreen Apartment Group Inc. has acquired Canby Park Apartments, a 255-unit apartment community located at 1600 Bonwood Road in Wilmington, for an undisclosed sum. Evergreen has rebranded the apartment community as Evergreen Apartments at Riverfront Heights. The buyer plans to implement a significant interior and exterior renovation and improvement program at the property, which was built in 1968. Apartment amenities include in-unit washers/dryers, individually controlled central HVAC, modern kitchens with ceramic tiles, walk-in closets, private entrances and balconies. Community amenities include a full-service leasing and community center, state-of-the-art lifestyle and fitness center, an indoor swimming pool and resident lounge. Fannie Mae provided financing for the acquisition, with Key Bank servicing the loan and AMA Financial serving as the mortgage broker.
NEPTUNE CITY, MATAWAN AND ABERDEEN, N.J., AND WILMINGTON, DEL. — HFF has secured $65 million in financing for a three-property, 974-unit multifamily portfolio in New Jersey and Delaware. The portfolio includes the 20-building, 428-unit Brighton Arms located on West Sylvania Ave. in Neptune City; the 24-building, 268-unit Tree Haven located at 120 and 130 Ravine Dr. in Matawan and 33 Aberdeen Road in Aberdeen; and the 28-building, 278-unit Valley Run at 2601 Carpenter Road in Wilmington. Jim Cadranell and Jon Mikula of HFF represented the borrower, PRC Group, to secure the fixed-rate financing for the portfolio in three separate transactions through Investors Bank.
NEW CASTLE HUNDRED, DEL. — KeyBank Real Estate Capital has secured a $20.8 million Fannie Mae loan for the acquisition of Village of Windhover Apartments in New Castle Hundred. Built in 1979 and renovated in 2014, the complex features 383 garden-style apartment units. Jeannie Johnson of Key’s Commercial Mortgage Group arranged the financing for an undisclosed borrower.
NEWPORT, DEL. — Business partners E. Thomas Harvey III, Kostas Kalogeropoulous and Vince DiFonzo have partnered to form TKo Hospitality. As an affiliate of Harvey, Hanna & Associates, the new company will specialize in hotel and restaurant operations, third-party management, sales, marketing, food and beverage, and franchise relationship management. TKo currently operates and manages Lighthouse Cove Resort in Dewey Beach, Del., which consists of the Hyatt Place Hotel, The Residences of Lighthouse Cove Condominiums, The Lighthouse Restaurant, Que Pasa Mexican Restaurant, Crabbers Cove Restaurant and The Bay Center, an on-site large event venue. TKo plans to have 1,000 rooms in its portfolio. Additionally, the company has three development projects in the pipeline and plans to acquire existing third-party management contracts. Harvey will serve as chairman, Kalogeropoulous as president/CEO and DiFonzo as COO for the newly formed company.
WILMINGTON, DEL. — Odyssey Charter School, a Delaware public charter school, has acquired 36 acres of land located in Barley Mill Plaza in Wilmington. The acquisition and redevelopment of the new school campus was financed through the issuance of $34.7 million in bonds by The Delaware Economic Development Authority. Odyssey Charter School currently serves 933 students in grades kindergarten through seventh. The school plans to add grades eighth through 12th in successive years until to become a full K-12 school in the beginning of the 2019-20 academic year. Scott Matthews and Geoff Grosso of Tarabicos Group LLP served as legal counsel to Odyssey Charter School, while Emilie Ninan of Ballard Spahr LLP served as bond counsel in the transaction.
The New Castle County office market includes roughly 16 million square feet of total inventory with nearly 3 million square feet of that vacant. Vacancy in Class A space has improved somewhat as tenants take advantage of market conditions but these moves have not had much impact on overall vacancy rate. Jackson Cross Partners reports 2014 absorption of 80,000 square feet; although positive, this indicates we have years of recovery before a healthy overall vacancy rate is reached. We are seeing a number of projects that will have some impact on reducing inventory and improving vacancy rates as marginal office space is redeveloped for various non-office uses. These projects include: • A group of local investors purchased 1001 Jefferson Street in the city of Wilmington, which contains 170,000 square feet of office space on approximately 1.4 acres in May 2014, following a failed auction process. The building was recently demolished and the site is now being improved for surface parking, at least temporarily. Although a new office project is not being ruled out down the road, the site is being marketed for other uses, including residential and retail. • 1300 Market Street, also in the City of Wilmington, containing 62,000 …
NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DEL. — KeyBank Real Estate Capital has secured $24.8 million in Fannie Mae early-rate lock loans for two apartment complexes located in subdivisions of New Castle County. A $20.8 million loan was secured for Hampton Walk, a 366-unit apartment complex located in New Castle Hundred. The property was built in 1952 and renovated in 2008. The financing was used to pay off an existing Fannie Mae loan, which was scheduled to mature in 2018. KeyBank also secured a $4 million loan for Driftwood Club Apartments, a 60-unit apartment complex located in Christiana Hundred. Built in 1966, the property was most recently renovated in 2013. The undisclosed sponsor plans to use the financing for future investment opportunities. Jeannie Johnson of KeyBank’s multifamily team arranged the financing for both properties.
WILMINGTON, DEL. — Colliers International has arranged $18.3 million in financing for a two-property multifamily portfolio in Wilmington. The properties, Limestone Terrace and Mill Creek Apartments, offer a total of 292 residential units. The 12-year loan features a fixed term and a 30-year amortization schedule. The loan features an 80 percent loan-to-cost ratio and a rate of 4.64 percent. Kris Wood, John Banas, Dean Costalas and Alex Hails of Colliers negotiated the non-recourse loan.
WILMINGTON, DEL. — NAI Emory Hill has arranged the sale of a warehouse building, located at 1320 Clifford Brown Walk in downtown Wilmington. 1320 CBW LLC purchased the four-story, 83,000-square-foot building, which is situated on two acres of riverfront property along the Brandywine River. The owner plans to convert the property into an 80-unit residential development called The Lofts at Clifford Brown Walk. The building was formerly home to Iron Mountain, Security Archives & Storage Company, and Kaumagraph. Jon Hicky of NAI Emory Hill Real Estate Services represented the seller, Sasco Realty Too Inc., in the transaction. Brett DiClemente of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the buyer, which is an affiliate of Chatham Bay Group, a Wilmington-based development company.
NEWARK, DEL. — NAI Emory Hill has brokered more than 278,000 square feet of office space leases at its White Clay Corporate Center in Newark. CitiGroup Technology renewed its lease for approximately 88,000 square feet of office space and JP Morgan Chase inked a deal for several spaces totaling 190,000 square feet to accommodate an expansion. Neil Kilian of NAI Emory Hill brokered the transactions, which total more than $11.6 million.