NEW YORK CITY — Developer Optima Real Estate has topped out construction for its boutique 21-story hotel located at 333 W. 38th St. in Manhattan’s Midtown West neighborhood. Designed by Gene Kaufman Architect, the 34,000-square-foot hotel will feature 79 rooms, a roof deck, a fitness center and breakfast rooms. The $10 million hotel was designed with four rooms per floor, allowing abundant natural light and views of the city.
METUCHEN, N.J. — Regency Centers has purchased The District at Metuchen, a retail center located in Metuchen, for an undisclosed price. Whole Foods Market anchors the 66,000-square-foot shopping center. Additional tenants include Comida Fresca, European Wax, Title Boxing and Chipotle. The name of the seller was not released.
QUAKERTOWN, PA. — EXP Realty Advisors has brokered the sale of a retail property located at 616 N. West End Blvd. in Quakertown. A New York City-based real estate investor acquired the property for $12.2 million in a 1031 exchange. BJ’s Wholesale Club occupies the 85,000-square-foot property. Andrew Greenberg and Daniel de Sa’ of EXP Realty Advisors brokered the transaction.
SADDLE BROOK AND FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Cronheim Mortgage has arranged $6.2 million in financing for a 420,000-square-foot industrial portfolio located in Saddle Brook and Franklin Township. The financings were structured on a 10.30 basis with a 3.44 percent interest rate and placed with The State Life Insurance Co. Located at 141 N. Fifth St. in Saddle Brook, a 100,000-square-foot property features four loading docks, 25-foot clear ceiling heights and office space. The remainder of the portfolio consists of three adjacent properties located at 101, 301 and 501 Cottontail Lane in Franklin Township. The properties feature 100,000 square feet, 116,480 square feet and 105,000 square feet of industrial space, respectively. Dev Morris, Andrew Tsukamoto and Andrew Stewart of Cronheim Mortgage originated and placed the financing.
BOGOTA, N.J. — River Development has completed the disposition of The River Club, a proposed multifamily development site located on the former Hess Oil Terminal and an adjacent parcel that was the former Sifford Pontiac site in Bogota. Jonathan Stein of PCD Capital acquired the development for $17 million. Situated on 13 acres, the proposed development will feature five multifamily buildings including 421 apartments, a clubhouse, secured parking, resort-style pool, a Riverwalk and retail space. Construction is slated to begin this spring. Kathy Anderson of Progress Capital brokered the transaction for the seller. Mike Bruno of Giordano, Halleran, Ciesla provided legal representation for River Development, while Chris Otteau of Otteau Realty Advisors provided legal counsel for the buyer in the deal.
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — Fairfield Properties has purchased two multifamily buildings located in Rockville Centre in Long Island. Suburban Associates at Grand and Maple LLC, a family developer that constructed the buildings in the 1970s, sold the properties for $16 million. Totaling 83 units, the two buildings are located at 145 Maple Ave. and 91-99 Grand Ave. The buildings are 100-percent rent stabilized and within walking distance of Rockville Centre village and the Long Island Rail Road. Corey Gluckstal and Guy Canzoneri of Five Point Real Estate represented the seller and buyer in the transaction.
BOSTON — The Davis Cos. has acquired a redevelopment site located at 1515 Commonwealth Ave. in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood. Curahealth/Nautic Partners sold the property for $15.7 million. Christoper Sower, Scott Dragos and Doug Jacoby of Colliers International represented the seller in the deal. Formerly operating as a long-term acute care hospital, the property is a 2.12-acre redevelopment site currently improved with a 58,000-square-foot structure.
NEW YORK CITY — Monticello Asset Management has provided $8 million in financing for the acquisition of a 140-bed skilled nursing facility in New York City.The facility was built in 1979 and currently has a five-star Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services rating. In addition to skilled nursing services, the facility contains a 40-bed, non-secure memory unit and a 28-bed short-term or subacute therapy unit. The property totals 45,888 square feet on an 8.2-acre plot. The financing is a bridge loan, which the undisclosed borrower plans to convert to HUD financing in the future.
NORWALK, CONN. — Angel Commercial has arranged the sale of a retail and warehouse building located at 173 Main St. in Norwalk. Servpro acquired the property from Brandman Realty LP for $1.9 million. The property features 17,500 square feet of retail and warehouse space. Headsquartered in Gallatin, Tenn., Servpro is a franchisor of fire and water cleanup and restoration franchises in the United States and Canada. Lester Fradkoff of Angel Commercial represented the seller, while Brett Sherman, also of Angel Commercial, represented the buyer in the deal.
WAYNE, N.J. — Toys ‘R’ Us is planning to shutter up to 182 underperforming stores across the country as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan. The planned closings represent about 20 percent of the retailer’s U.S. store fleet, or a collective 6.9 million square feet. The Wayne-based toy chain, which filed for bankruptcy last September, has been fighting to stay relevant amid competition from the likes of Amazon, Walmart and Target. “Like other retailers, traditional toy retailers have been decimated by multiple forces,” says Peter Braus, managing principal in the New York City office of Lee & Associates. “First, Walmart and Target took away much of the market from specialty toy stores. As Amazon and online retailers began to take a larger and larger share of the market, this became too much for Toys ‘R’ Us and was the nail in the coffin.” Other retail experts agree that competition in the marketplace is coming from all directions. “Even Barnes & Noble has gotten into the game by adding a large assortment of toys to their sales floor,” says Monetha Cobb, managing director of Franklin Street’s Atlanta office. Online sales of toys have picked up in recent years, and are continuing to …