Philadelphia’s diverse local economy, healthy hiring trends and area-employers’ ability to draw fresh talent from the metro’s deep college-graduate pool, continue to attract businesses to the area and support improvements in the office property segment. In 2016, Philadelphia firms increased payrolls by 1.9 percent with the creation of 54,000 new positions. Hiring was driven by office-using employment sectors which, over the four-quarter period ending with the second quarter of 2016, accounted for the addition of 21,700 jobs, or nearly 37 percent of all new hires. This year, it is expected that the local workforce will add 49,000 to its ranks, representing a 1.7 percent expansion. Hiring will continue to be strong among office-using companies, as well as in the healthcare and education segments. In the first half of 2016, developers sluggishly completed 178,000 square feet of new office space. In the second half of last year, the construction pipeline exploded, and by year-end 1.2 million square feet of office space had been delivered to the marketplace, with a significant amount of completions pre-leased, which helped mitigate any effects to vacancy levels. Office projects completed in 2016 were spread throughout the metro within the submarkets of Delaware County, Lehigh-Northampton, Harrisburg Area …
MONROE, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of an industrial building located at 26 Englehard Drive in Monroe. A Boston-based advisor acquired the 324,540-square-foot property from Principal Real Estate Investors for an undisclosed price. The property features 45- by 50-foot column spacing, 170-foot truck courts, 48 loading positions and rail line service by Conrail. Gary Gabriel, David Bernhaut, Andrew Merin, Kyle Schmidt, Brian Whitmer, Jules Nissim and Jason Goldman of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the deal.
BOSTON — Affiliates of Rockwood Capital have completed the disposition of Courtyard Boston Logan Airport, located at 225 William F. McClellan Highway in Boston. The 12-story hotel features 351 guest rooms, 2,257 square feet of function space, an indoor swimming pool, fitness room, business center, complimentary shuttle service and Brinkley’s Restaurant & Lounge. Daniel Peek, Denny Meikleham, KC Patel and Alan Suzuki of HFF represented the seller in the transaction. The name of the buyer and acquisition price were not released.
NEW YORK CITY — Ariel Property Advisors has brokered two transactions of multifamily properties in Northern Manhattan. In the first deal, an undisclosed buyer acquired a 15,300-square-foot property, located at 304 E. 147th St. in Hamilton Heights, for $7.3 million. The building features 33 residential units in a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom layouts. Victor Sozio, Shimon Shkury, Michael Tortorici, Matthew Gillis and Joshua Kwilecki of Ariel Properties represented the buyer and undisclosed seller. In the second transaction, an undisclosed buyer acquired an 11,105-square-foot apartment building located at 422 Saint Nicholas Ave. in Central Harlem for $4.3 million. The building features two two-bedroom units and eight three-bedroom units, as well as 9,178 square feet of air rights for future development. Victor Sozio, Joshua Kwilecki and Matthew Gillis represented the buyer and undisclosed seller in the deal.
MIDDLETOWN, CONN. — Chozick Realty has arranged the sale of Wilcox Apartments, located at 305 S. Main St. in Middletown. Up Realty acquired the property from Hamilton Point Wilcox Investors for $7 million, or $86,420 per unit. The 81-unit property features 11 different floor plans, including flats, lofts and townhome-style apartments. Rick Chozick and Steve Pappas of Chozick Realty represented the seller and procured the buyer in the transaction.
GREENWICH, CONN. — Houlihan-Parnes Realtors has arranged a $3.2 million first mortgage for a retail and office building located at 79 E. Putnam Ave. in Greenwich. Christie Houlihan of Houhlian-Parnes secured the financing for the undisclosed borrower. The non-recourse loan has a fixed interest rate for seven years. The 20,000-square-foot building was fully leased at the time of financing.
WEEHAWKEN, N.J. — Landsea has closed on a $102.3 million construction loan for Avora, a condominium project in Weehawken. With occupancy scheduled for first quarter 2018, the 11-story building will feature 184 condominium units in one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts, 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, a private screening theater, a business center, a fitness center, an outdoor pool, sun decks, grilling areas and an amphitheater. Thomas Didio, Michael Gigliotti and Dan Cashdan of HFF secured the financing through Bank of the Ozarks for the developer.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Saxum Real Estate has purchased a vacant retail building, located at 37 Easton Ave. in Brunswick, for an undisclosed price. Completed in 2009, the two-story building features 18,000 square feet of space that can be reconfigured to multi-tenant retail, office and residential space. Marc Duval, Jose Cruz, Kevin O’Hearn, Michael Oliver and Stephen Simonelli of HFF represented the undisclosed seller in the deal.
EASTCHESTER, TUCKAHOE AND GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Q10 New York Realty Advisors, an affiliate of Houlihan-Parnes Realtors, has arranged an $8.9 million permanent loan secured by three properties in Westchester County, N.Y. The borrower is a long-term owner of the properties, which include a retail strip center in Eastchester and two warehouse/industrial buildings in Tuckahoe and Greenburgh. The warehouse buildings are net-leased to Verizon. Jeanne Cronin of Q10 secured the five-year loan, which features a 30-year amortization schedule, through a community bank for the borrower.
CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Cronheim Mortgage has arranged $8.2 million in refinancing for two office properties located in Cherry Hill. David Turley, Janet Proscia and Jeff Pacailler of Cronheim Mortgage secured the 42-month loan, which features a 30-year amortization and prepayment flexibility, for the undisclosed borrower. The two buildings offer a total of 112,965 square feet of office space.