WILKES-BARRE, PA. — HREC Investment Advisors has brokered the sale of the 115-room Red Roof Inn Wilkes-Barre Arena, 20 miles south of Scranton. The sales price was not disclosed. The buyer is a northeast operator and an existing Red Roof franchisee. HREC represented the seller in the transaction, Red Roof Inn Corporate. The sale was negotiated by Zane Varvel and Herb Warmbrodt of HREC. The hotel is six miles south of a 400,000-square-foot Amazon distribution center.
NEW YORK CITY — ReadyCap Commercial has hired new team members in Chicago and New York to expand its bridge lending team. Fernando Mendez has been hired as associate director and Joram Coxworth has been hired as a production analyst for the New York City office. Mark Blaha has been hired as director of originations for the Chicago and Midwest regions. Blaha has more than seven years of commercial real estate lending and finance experience in the Chicago and Midwest markets. Coxworth previously served as a credit analyst with M&T Bank and was added to the New York City office to support originations. The bridge lending team is headquartered at the Sutherland Asset Management offices located in New York City.
NEW YORK AND CHICAGO — Brookfield Property Partners (NASDAQ: BPY) has agreed to acquire all remaining shares of GGP Inc. (NYSE: GGP), a Chicago-based mall owner. BPY, a global real estate company based in New York City, and its affiliates already hold a 34 percent stake in GGP. The deal struck between the two parties is for GGP shareholders to receive $23.50 per share in cash, a total cash consideration of $9.25 billion. Alternately, shareholders may elect to receive stock in either BPY or a new REIT that BPY plans to list on one of the major U.S. exchanges. “This is a compelling transaction that enables GGP shareholders to receive premium value for their shares and gives them the ability to participate in the long-term upside of their investment,” says Brian Kingston, CEO of BPY. The newly agreed-upon deal comprises a cash-to-equity ratio of 61/39, which is more cash-centric than BPY’s original 50/50 cash-to-equity offer to acquire the remainder of GGP last November. Shares in the new REIT will be equivalent to that of a BPY unit. BPY’s parent company, Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM), has guaranteed the exchange of the shares between the two stocks (totaling 254 million units) …
HOBOKEN, N.J. — Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Prism Capital Partners have unveiled plans to recapitalize and develop a former industrial facility in Hoboken as an 89-unit apartment property with 10,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenity space as well as a street-level retail space for $120 million. Parkwood Development Corp. started the project in 2012 and will retain an ownership stake in the development. Originally built in 1909 and used as an industrial facility that produced Wonder Bread, the project, dubbed the Wonder Lofts, will be made up of five separate buildings and retain a significant amount of the property’s existing architectural detail. The project has received necessary approvals and nearly all demolition and construction preparation has been completed.
NEW YORK CITY — Rosewood Realty Group has arranged the sale of a 56,700-square-foot apartment building in Manhattan for $44.1 million. Located at 1274-1275 Fifth Ave., the six-story, 54-unit building sold at a capitalization rate of 2.71 percent. Former New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who held office from 1934-1945, lived in the penthouse of the building shortly before Gracie Mansion became the official mayoral residence in 1942. Billy Billitzer of Rosewood Realty represented the buyer, Akelius Real Estate Management. Aaron Jungreis, also of Rosewood, represented the seller, Ofer Yardeni’s Stonehenge Partners. The property is located just east of Central Park on Fifth Avenue’s Museum Mile.
MALVERN AND LANGHORNE, PA., FRANKLIN, MASS. — Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Real Estate (GSAM) has acquired a portfolio of five industrial flex properties in suburban Philadelphia and Boston totaling 525,000 square feet for an undisclosed amount. The properties are located in Malvern and Langhorne Pa., and Franklin, Mass. The addition of the five properties brings GSAM Private Real Estate’s industrial portfolio in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions to 13 properties totaling 2.4 million square feet. GSAM Private Real Estate represented itself in the transaction. The seller was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — GFI Realty Services has arranged the sale of a six-story, 46-unit apartment building in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn for $12.5 million. The pre-war property, located at 218 74th St., consists of 16 studios, 28 one-bedroom units and a couple of two-bedroom units, all of which are rent-stabilized. Yosef Katz and Natan Safdieh of GFI Realty represented the seller in the transaction, Madeleine Behette, a local investor. Erik Yankelovich, also of GFI, procured the buyer, Meridian Properties. The property is located on a tree-lined block between Ridge Boulevard and 3rd Avenue.
NEW YORK CITY — Westbridge Realty Group has arranged the sale of a 5,600-square-foot apartment building located at 20-35 Gates Ave in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens. The vacant six-unit building, which was built in 1930, sold for $2.2 million. The sales price equates to $379,000 per unit. Adam Traub and Isaac Shrem of Westbridge Realty represented both the buyer, an active investor in Queens, and the seller, a long-term holder who purchased the property in 1985.
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — Rosewood Realty Group has arranged the sale of a two-story medical office building in Southampton for $9.7 million at a 6.8 percent capitalization rate. Built in 1996, the 21,606-square-foot building is located 92 miles east of Manhattan at 365 County Road 39A and sits on 2.4 acres of land. Aaron Jungreis of Rosewood represented the seller, Benton Plaza LLC. Rosewood’s Jack Zalta represented the buyer, a private investor.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Washington Trust’s Commercial Real Estate Group has provided $19.6 million in financing to Kettle Point Apartments LLC for the construction of a 134-unit apartment complex in East Providence. The complex is the first in a two-phase project at the 6.6-acre site on Kettle Point Avenue that will eventually include 228 units. Phase I will feature three apartment buildings, one with 40 units and two with 45 units, as well as a townhouse building with four units. Amenities include a clubhouse with fitness center and outdoor swimming pool. The property features views of Narragansett Bay to the south and the city of Providence skyline to the northwest. The first building in Phase I of the project is scheduled for completion in June. The completion date for Phase II is unknown.