NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between investment and development firms Harbor Group International (HGI) and Turnbridge Equities has sold a 90,000-square-foot industrial property leased to Amazon in Brooklyn. The joint venture acquired the property in 2018, when it was vacant, and invested $2.6 million in capital improvements. Institutional investor BentallGreenOak purchased the property for an undisclosed price.
NEW YORK CITY — Connecticut-based developer Dynamic Star has unveiled updated plans for Fordham Landing, a mixed-use project in the University Heights neighborhood of The Bronx that is valued at $3.5 billion, according to Crain’s New York. Current plans call for 3,000 market-rate and affordable housing units, 800,000 square feet of life sciences space, 600,000 square feet of office space, 50,000 square feet of retail space, an 80,000-square-foot public school and 12 acres of open green space. Other uses will include a hotel, esports arena and a senior living community, while the open green space will include a public farm and garden plots. Dynamic Star expects to receive zoning and permitting approvals by the third quarter of 2022 and to deliver the first phase of the project in the first quarter of 2025. The design team includes New York City-based Perkins Eastman, Boston-based NADAAA and Tarrytown, New York-based Margie Ruddick Landscape.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based real estate private equity firm Madison Realty Capital has provided a $106 million construction loan for Myrtle Point, a mixed-use project that will be located along the Brooklyn-Queens border. Designed by S9 Architecture, the 17-story building will house 130,000 square feet of commercial space that is preleased to two big box retailers and 133 residential units, 30 percent of which will be designated as affordable housing. The borrower was a partnership between developers Arch Cos. and AB Capstone. A tentative completion date was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Newmark has arranged a $76 million construction-to-perm loan for a last-mile distribution center at 280 Richards St. in Brooklyn that will be occupied by Amazon. Located in the Red Hook neighborhood, the property will span 312,100 square feet and will feature 28 loading docks, 128-foot truck courts and additional rooftop parking for fleet vans and trucks. The borrower and developer is Thor Equities Group, which has owned the site since 2005. Jordan Roeschlaub, Dustin Stolly, Nick Scribani, and Dominick Calisto of Newmark arranged the fixed-rate loan through Apollo Global Management.
NEWBURGH, N.Y. — Third-party logistics firm National Freight Inc. has signed a 60,143-square-foot industrial lease at Northeast Business Center, a 141-acre industrial park in Newburgh, about 70 miles north of Manhattan. Bob Scherrik of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Brian Sekel represented the landlord, National Realty & Development Corp., on an internal basis.
NEW YORK CITY — Knotel Inc., a New York City-based flexible workspace provider, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Knotel concurrently has agreed to sell the business to an affiliate of commercial real estate services firm Newmark Group Inc. (Nasdaq: NMRK), which is providing Knotel with $20 million of debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to help fund day-to-operations. The DIP financing, provided by a Newmark-backed entity known as Digiatech LLC, is subject to court approval. Founded in 2016, Knotel provides custom offices for company’s using an in-house team of architects, interior designers and workplace strategists. The total number of existing Knotel locations was not available, but Knotel has a presence in several global cities, including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Berlin, Boston, Dublin, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington, D.C. Amol Sarva, co-founder and CEO of Knotel, cites the COVID-19 pandemic as a black swan event for his firm, which was hampered by companies opting to work from home during the outbreak. “The pandemic created a uniquely challenging operating environment, with significant impacts on leasing velocity and the rate of renewals in key markets, particularly New York …
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of the Holiday Inn Buffalo International Airport, a 207-room hotel, for $3.9 million. The property was built in 1968 and features banquet facilities, a fitness center, shuttle service, business center and an outdoor pool. Jerry Swon, Daniel Zagoria, Luke Prybylski and Will Nollmann of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, DSM California LLC, in the transaction. The team also secured the buyer, Stephen Development LLC.
NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based mortgage banking firm Meridian Capital Group and global investment manager Barings have launched a new multifamily lending platform that will be headed by former Freddie Mac CEO David Brickman, who left the agency late last year. Under the terms of the agreement, the joint venture will acquire the assets and liabilities of Barings Multifamily Capital and operate that entity’s origination and servicing businesses for its portfolio of agency loans. The philosophy behind the new venture centers on leveraging the depth and reach of the platform of Meridian Capital, which in 2020 closed approximately $40 billion in loans via deals with more than 250 unique lenders. The newly created platform will be operated as a standalone business under its own name and branding, which will be announced prior to the transaction closing. Meridian will own a majority of the newly created platform, the day-to-day operations of which will be overseen by Brickman. “Our partnership with Barings will enable us to join forces with one of the world’s leading asset managers and reintroduce Meridian to the direct agency lending arena,” said Ralph Herzka, chairman and CEO of Meridian Capital. “The addition of David Brickman to our executive …
CANANDAIGUA, BROCKPORT AND FAIRPORT, N.Y. — Greystone has provided a $61.2 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of a portfolio of multifamily properties totaling 769 units in Upstate New York. The portfolio comprises the 295-unit Centerpointe Apartments & Townhomes in Canandaigua, the 160-unit Willowbrooke Manor Apartments in Brockport and the 314-unit Highview Manor Apartments & Townhomes in Fairport. Drew Fletcher, Matthew Hirsch and Paul Fried of Greystone originated the financing, which was structured with a 10-year term and a fixed interest rate, on behalf of the borrower, locally based investment and development firm Sinatra & Co. Real Estate.
NEW YORK CITY — JLL has negotiated the sale of the 443-room New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott hotel in Queens. The building spans 224,620 square feet and houses the Ditmars Bar & Grill restaurant, a fitness center and 13,000 square feet of meeting and event space. The property received $30 million in renovations in 2018, including reconfigurations of public spaces and meeting areas, as well as remodeling of guest rooms and upgrading of parking lots. K.C. Patel, Kevin Davis and Nikhil Chuchra of JLL represented the seller, Rubicon Cos., in the transaction. California-based ASAP Holdings purchased the asset for an undisclosed price.