Northeast

Washington-Commons-Dumont-NJ

DUMONT, N.J. — Urstadt Biddle Properties (UBP) has purchased an equity interest in a new entity that owns Washington Commons Shopping Center, retail center that includes a residential component in Dumont. The two-building property features a freestanding 44,300-square-foot Stop & Shop and a three-story building that is occupied by retail tenants Valley Medical Group, Great Clips, Pet Valu, Blimpie and that includes 26 residential apartments. The residential unit mix consists of studio, one- and two-bedroom layouts. At the time of acquisition, the property was 100 percent leased. The transaction was structured as a DownREIT partnership whereby the seller, a regional real estate developer, received a combination of cash and operating partnership units in a new entity formed to purchase the property. UBP is the managing member of the newly formed entity and will manage and lease the property. UBP’s initial equity in the DownREIT was approximately $3.9 million, which represents an approximate 31.4 percent equity interest.

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Linchris-Hotel-Nashua-NH

NASHUA, N.H. — Linchris Hotel Corp. has received a $16.8 million loan to acquire the Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, located at 2 Somerset Parkway in Nashua. Linchris plans to reflag the 230-key hotel as a DoubleTree by Hilton following a property improvement plan. The property features an indoor pool, whirlpool, sauna, spa, fitness center, business center, meeting and banquet rooms, complimentary shuttle, club lounge and Speaker’s Corner & Pub. Greg LaBine and Martha Nay of HFF arranged the 10-year, fixed-rate loan through East Boston Savings Bank for the borrower.

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MILFORD, MASS. — RD Management has signed leases with HomeGoods and T.J.Maxx at Milford Crossing, a shopping center located at 120-129 Medway Road in Milford. HomeGoods will occupy 24,628 square feet and T.J.Maxx will occupy 21,863 square feet. Both stores are expected to open this fall. The 157,921-square-foot shopping center is currently being redeveloped and will be anchored by a Stop & Shop, which is slated to open in November. Additionally, the center features new 6,000-square-foot and 20,000-square-foot buildings. The 20,000-square-foot building will be occupied by Chipotle and Starbucks Coffee, which are scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2018.

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Commercial property owners around the country are cheering a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that breathes new life into constitutional guarantees of uniformity in taxation. Overruling a decade of lower court decisions, the ruling reestablishes the primacy of constitutional uniformity protections to taxpayers in the strongest possible language, fittingly issued just one day after the July 4 holiday. Nearly every state constitution requires uniformity in taxation, meaning that two like properties should receive the same assessment, no matter how they are owned, occupied, built or financed. Yet commercial property owners across the nation have been under attack by assessors attempting to alter appraisal theory in order to pin higher assessments and higher real estate taxes on specific owners. These assessors have been singling out occupied commercial properties by setting assessments based on financing mechanisms that fail to meet standard appraisal definitions of market sales, incorrectly basing taxable value on data relating to sale-leasebacks, turnkey leases and contract rights and duties associated with tenant financing. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, the only states that provide school districts a statutory right to file increase appeals, the school districts have been targeting specific commercial owners for higher assessments using this same flawed methodology. These …

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A trend in retail activity in Western New York and the Finger Lakes Region over the past six to 12 months has been the announcement or arrival of a number of high-end or specialty retailers and restaurants. Although traditionally these retailers are more selective about the markets they enter, as they continue to grow nationally they have to expand the list of potential markets they will consider. Some of them find that the Buffalo and Rochester metropolitan areas are markets in which high-end or specialty retailers or restaurants can thrive, particularly when Upstate New York’s lower occupancy costs and lighter competition are sufficient to offset potentially lower unit volumes. Whole Foods’ much-anticipated Western New York debut will be this summer in the Northtown redevelopment project by W.S. Development in Amherst. Whole Foods has also signed a lease in Brighton, a suburb of Rochester, for a 50,000-square-foot store at Palazzo Plaza, a proposed 90,000-square-foot shopping center on Monroe Avenue at Interstate 590. The project, being developed by the Daniele Family Companies, is currently making its way through the entitlement process. In a sign of the renaissance in progress in both Downtown Buffalo and Downtown Rochester, the first-ever national brand polished steakhouse …

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LincolnHealth-Damariscotta-ME

DAMARISCOTTA, MAINE — LincolnHealth has broken ground for the construction of a $13.7 million medical office building at the Damariscotta campus. Designed by E4H Environments, an architecture firm focused on the healthcare industry, the 39,800-square-foot facility will house primary, specialty and behavioral care services that are current spread across four buildings. The building will feature two practice floors and universal exam rooms for primary and specialty care; a community room for large group activities; and the psychiatry practice for Maine Behavioral Healthcare; as well as pediatric, internal medicine, OBGYN, surgery, orthopedics, ENT and urology practices. Lewiston, Maine-based Hebert Construction Corp. is serving as construction manager for the project, which is slated for completion in June 2018.

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Essence-144-East-Orange-NJ

EAST ORANGE, N.J. — KeyBank Community Development & Lending Investment has provided a $54.8 million bridge loan for Essence 144, an apartment community located at 144 S. Harrison St. in East Orange. The borrower is Blackstone 360, a design-build firm based in Newark, N.J. Essence 144 is an adaptive reuse project in which the abandoned 12-story existing structure was redeveloped into a 144-unit apartment community. Tom Peloquin and John Gilmore IV of KeyBank arranged the refinancing.

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CHERRY HILL, N.J. — GJT REIT has acquired a 109,700-square-foot industrial building located in Cherry Hill for an undisclosed price. The facility is currently leased and occupied by Avalon Flooring for a 15-year term. The building houses installation training and distribution services for Avalon’s 14 retail stores throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Avalon has invested in various improvements to the building including LED lighting, new racking, a new HVAC system, an upgraded façade and a new office build-out. The building is located with Cherry Hill Business Park, which consists of 31 buildings totaling 1.9 million square feet. The name of the seller was not released. GTJ REIT now owns 48 properties totaling more than 5.6 million square feet.

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Mallside-Plaza-South-Portland-ME

South Portland, Maine — HFF has arranged the $16.5 million sale of Mallside Plaza, a 98,948-square-foot shopping center located in South Portland, Maine. The company also secured $12.6 million in acquisition financing for the deal. Tenants at the fully leased center include DSW Shoe Warehouse, Five Below, Guitar Center, Dollar Tree and Mattress Firm. The sale also included an outparcel single-tenant building net leased to Five Guys Burgers. Jim Koury of HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Kimco Realty Corp., and procured the buyer, Northeast Capital Group. Porter Terry of HFF worked on behalf of the new owner to secure a 10-year, fixed-rate acquisition loan through Katahdin Trust Company.

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46-Mill-St-Orange-MA

ORANGE, MASS. — Jash USA has purchased a heavy manufacturing facility located at 46 Mill St. in Orange from VAG USA for $1.6 million. Situated on 37.7 acres, the facility features 234,000 square feet of industrial space. Sentry Commercial and Newmark Knight Frank were the sole brokers in the transaction.

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