NEW YORK CITY — Equicap has closed a $16 million bridge loan for two retail properties located in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn for an undisclosed borrower. The loan was used to acquire two Santander locations that were owned by Santander Bank. Both locations included accompanying retail space, some of which was occupied and vacant. Daniel Hilpert of Equicap arranged the financing for the borrower.
KING OF PRUSSIA, PA. — A joint venture between Merion PHC Holdings LLC and Moreland Development LLC has acquired an office property located at 950 Pulaski Drive in King of Prussia, approximately 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Hemar Realty Co. sold the asset for $8.2 million. The 40,000-square-foot property is currently configured as physicians’ offices, exam rooms and labs. Gary Leone and Steven Gartner of CBRE represented the seller in the deal.
NEW YORK CITY — Cleeman Realty Group has brokered two separate transactions in Brooklyn totaling $6.1 million. In the first deal, an undisclosed buyer acquired a three-story, 3,440-square-foot residential walk-up building in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene area for $2.5 million. The building features eight rental units, four of which are vacant. Zach Hering of Cleeman Realty represented the buyer and undisclosed seller in the transaction. In the second deal, an undisclosed seller sold a vacant mixed-use building located on St. Felix Street in Brooklyn for $3.5 million. The 4,600-square-foot property features five residential units and two floors of community space. The building has been vacant since it was built in 2007. Michael Cleeman of Cleeman Realty represented the seller, while Hering represented the undisclosed buyer in the deal.
OLD SAYBROOK, CONN. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a retail property located at 107 Main St. in Old Saybrook. An undisclosed limited liability company acquired the 3,690-square-foot property for $3 million. Laurie Ann Drinkwater and Seth Richard of Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale. The name of the seller was not released.
WORCESTER, MASS. — Kelleher & Sadowsky has arranged the sale of a 3,200-square-foot office space located at 31 Harvard St. in Worcester. Private investor Kenneth Davis acquired the property for an undisclosed price and plans to convert the property into office and residential space when vacated by the current tenant, Family Service Organization of Worcester. Will Kelleher and David Cohen of Kelleher & Sadowsky brokered the transaction. The name of the seller was not released.
With employment representing one of the most critical factors in the health of the office sector, people naturally look to the unemployment rate as a key metric to quickly assess a given market. By this standard, Fairfield County should be thriving, with the unemployment rate at 4.4 percent in April 2017 — just under the 4.8 percent rate reached just prior to the recession. And yet, the availability rate in Connecticut’s largest office market stood at 24.5 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2017 — a far cry from the 15.2 percent rate seen at year-end 2007. There are two reasons for the discrepancy. First, it is far more accurate to look at office-using employment (information, financial, professional services and other industries) versus overall employment as a barometer. While office-using employment has rebounded approximately 4.0 percent since the depths of the latest recession, today’s count is still 8.4 percent lower than the latest peak. Second, a marked shift in the desired style of office and an upswing in remote working opportunities have led to reduced utilization rates in terms of square feet per employee. Today’s employers want to be in buildings that make their employees happy and …
STAMFORD, CONN. — CBRE has arranged the sale of Stamford Towers, a two-building office property located in Stamford’s central business district. SL Green and TH Real Estate sold the property to CBRE Global Investors for $97 million. Tenants at the Class A property include Citigroup, UBS Financial Services, H/2 Credit Manager, Titan Advisors, Gerald Metals, Bank of Ireland, Oaktree Capital, Oppenheimer, CoreCommodity and Newmark. Jeffery Dunne, David Gavin and Travis Langer of CBRE Institutional Properties represented the sellers in the transaction.
SECAUCUS, N.J. — Rialto Capital has completed the sale of 150 and 200 Meadowlands Parkway, two office buildings in Secaucus. Alma Realty acquired the buildings for $21 million. Totaling 212,666 square feet, the two buildings were 77 percent leased at the time of sale. Current tenants include Schiavone Construction, Ashley Stewart, Cory 1st Choice Home Delivery and Image Processing Systems, a data center for VXchange and Frontage Laboratories. Jeffrey Dunne, Jeremy Neuer and Geoffrey Schubert of CBRE represented the seller in the deal.
HOBOKEN, N.J. — 722 Jefferson St LLC, a joint venture between Derby Consulting and Crimson Capital, has broken ground for a condominium project located at 722 Jefferson St. in Hoboken. The five-story building will feature 15 residences in two- and three-bedroom layouts with deeded parking spaces; 2,000 square feet of courtyard space; two private rear yards and three private 930-square-foot roof decks. Minervini Vandermark is serving as architect and Fields Construction Co. is serving as construction manager and general contractor for the project, which is slated for completion by spring 2018.
NEW YORK CITY — TerraCRG has arranged the sale of a residential development site located at 172 Montrose Ave. in Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg neighborhood. An undisclosed buyer acquired the 17,000-square-foot site for $14.5 million. The site is zoned for 51,000 buildable square feet of residential space. Ofer Cohen, Dan Marks, Nicole Rabinowitsch and Mike Hernandez of TerraCRG brokered the transaction. The name of the buyer was not released.
