NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between development and investment firm Olshan Properties and New York City-based O’Connor Capital Partners has broken ground on Parkchester Gardens, a 221-unit affordable senior living project in the Parkchester area of The Bronx. Units will be reserved for renters earning 50 percent or less of the area median income. Wells Fargo is financing the project in conjunction with the New York City Housing Development Corp. and the Department of Housing Preservation & Development. Completion is slated for the middle of 2023.
NEW YORK CITY — New York-based Fleet Financial Group will develop Eastern Mirage Medical Center, a 104,000-square-foot healthcare facility in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens. The facility will be located within an 18-story building that will also house a 208-room hotel with amenities including a pool, spa, fitness center and meeting rooms. The healthcare facility is slated to open in the third quarter, the same time that Fleet Financial expects to deliver the building.
ROSLYN, N.Y. — Locally based developer JK Equities has received approval from the Village of Roslyn, located on Long Island, to proceed with construction of a 54-unit apartment project at 281-301 Warner Ave. The site is zoned for commercial use and currently houses vacant retail space; the new building will also feature retail space on the ground floor. Mojo Stumer Associates is the architect for the project, which will also feature 104 parking spaces. Construction is scheduled to begin in the third quarter and to be complete early in the second quarter of 2023.
NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based Ready Capital has closed a $78.7 million bridge loan for the acquisition, renovation and stabilization of a portfolio of four multifamily properties totaling 540 units in New York’s Hudson Valley region. Christopher Peck, Scott Aiese, Rob Hinckley, Marko Kazanjian, Alex Staikos, Nicco Lupo and Andrew Cohen of JLL arranged the funds, a portion of which will be used to fund capital improvements to the unit interiors and amenity spaces. The borrower was Aker, Baxter and Pearlmark. The nonrecourse loan was structured with a 36-month term, floating interest rate, two extension options and flexible prepayment options. The financing also includes a facility to provide future funding for capital expenditures and interest shortfalls.
VICTOR, N.Y. — Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) has opened a 100,000-square-foot store known as House of Sport at Eastview Mall in Victor, located in western New York. The store features a 17,000-square-foot outdoor turf field and running track, a rock-climbing wall, batting cage, golf driving bays and a health and wellness area for customers dealing with athletic injuries. The Pittsburgh-based retailer plans to open a second House of Sport store in Knoxville, Tenn., later this year.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based landlord Helmsley Spear LLC has negotiated a 43,542-square-foot office lease with Quest Workspaces at 48 Wall Street in Manhattan’s Financial District. The flexible workspace provider will occupy the entire 10th, 11th and 12th floors. Andrew Simon, James Emden and Randy Sherman represented Helmsley Spear on an internal basis. Laura Kozelouzek represented Quest Workspaces, also on an internal basis.
NEW YORK CITY — U.S. regional and superregional malls posted a record vacancy rate of 11.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021, up 90 basis points from 10.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a new report from New York City-based Moody’s Analytics. The total U.S. retail vacancy rate registered 10.6 percent in the first quarter of 2021, up 40 basis points from 10.2 percent during the same period a year ago, according to Moody’s Analytics. On a nationwide basis, retail vacancy was relatively unchanged between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. In formulating the report, Moody’s Analytics sourced data from 77 U.S. metros, finding that 40 of those markets experienced declines in effective rent growth. However, the report noted that this data actually reflects improvement; of the 77 metros surveyed in the fourth quarter of last year, 60 reported declining rental rates. The average effective rent in the U.S. retail sector clocked in at $18.58 per square foot in the first quarter of 2021, down from $18.87 per square foot on a year-over-year basis.
NEW YORK CITY — Alpha Realty has brokered the $4.8 million sale of a 27-unit multifamily building located at 1580 Edison Ave. in The Bronx. The property, which includes retail space, traded at a cap rate of 6.3 percent and a price that equates to $209 per square foot. Lev Mavashev and Yehuda Leser of Alpha Realty represented the buyer and seller in the off-market deal. Both parties requested anonymity.
NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based institutional investment firm BentallGreenOak has closed on its acquisition of Metropolitan Real Estate Equity Management LLC, formerly a division of Washington, D.C.-based global private equity firm The Carlyle Group. The deal creates an entity with approximately $55 billion in assets under management. Moving forward, Metropolitan will operate under the name BGO Strategic Capital Partners.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based investment firm Conway Capital has purchased two multifamily and retail buildings in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn for $7.9 million. The 7,200-square-foot building at 155 Fifth Ave. was constructed in 1920 and consists of eight apartments and a ground-floor restaurant/jazz bar. The 4,900-square-foot property at 138 St. Marks Place was built in 1931 and includes 10 apartments and a pizzeria. The assets sold for $4.2 million and $3.7 million, respectively. Adam Lobel of BRG represented the seller of 155 Fifth Ave., and Eddie Setton and Adam Hess of Meridian represented the seller of 138 St. Marks Place.