NEW YORK CITY — Rosewood Realty Group has brokered the sale of 1539 Park Place in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood. 1539 Park Place LLC purchased the property, which was built in 1910, for $5.1 million. Located between Buffalo and Rochester avenues, the four-story, 34,975-square-foot building features 34 residential units. Aaron Jungreis of Rosewood Realty Group represented the buyer, while David Berger, also of Rosewood Realty, represented the seller, Park 1539 Realty LLC, in the transaction.
WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — Wendel, a design and construction firm, has signed a lease to expand and relocate its Amherst, N.Y., corporate headquarters to Centerpointe Corporate Park in Williamsville. The design firm will occupy approximately 37,000 square feet at 375 Essjay Road in Centerpointe Corporate Park, Ciminelli’s flagship corporate park. Wendel expects to take occupancy in April 2015. This relocation will expand the firm’s office space by 10,000 square feet. Timothy Malchow of Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. represented the owner, Centerpointe Corporate Holdings LLC, in the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — Meridian Capital Group has arranged $228.5 million in construction financing for the condominium conversion of the former Flatotel hospitality property in New York City. A partnership between Chetrit Group and Clipper Equity plan to convert the asset, which is located at 135West 52th St., into a five-story boutique office condominium and a 37-floorluxury residential condominium property. The 55,000-square-foot office component will be located on floors two through seven and approximately 109residential units will span floors eight through 47. The total project is estimated to cost $300 million. Aaron Birnbaum and Emanuel Westfried of Meridian’s New York City headquarters negotiated the two-year, non-recourse, interest-only loan, which features a floating LIBOR-based interest rate and a one-year extension option.
STAMFORD, CONN. — Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap, has arranged the sale of Cornerstone at Bedford in Stamford. Delaware-based Cornerstone Apartments Property Owner LLC purchased the 368-unit apartment community for $75.1 million or $204,000 per unit. Located at 1425-1435 Bedford St., the 13-story property features a swimming pool with sundeck, a fitness center, a clubroom, a business center, a play area and a picnic area with gas grills. Steve Witten and Victor Nolleti of IPA, along with Eric Pentore of Marcus & Millichap, represented the seller, Fairfield Bedford LLC, in the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture partnership between The Kalikow Group and MKRO I LLC, an equity venture fund between Massey Knakal and RiverOak Investment Corp., has acquired a six-story multifamily building located at 68 Richardson St. in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. The partnership purchased the asset for $17.5 million from Dabby Investments. Located near McCarren Park, the 32,500-square-foot property features 24 residential units and one ground-floor commercial space. The new owner plans to renovate the building’s façade and common areas, as well as the individual apartment units.
KUTZTOWN, PA. — CBRE has arranged the sale of Weis Plaza, which is located at 15260 Kutztown Road in Kutztown. New York City-based Nassimi Realty LLC purchased the property from Cincinnati-based Phillips Edison Fund III for an undisclosed price. Constructed in 1972, the 115,359-square-foot shopping center is anchored by a 56,614-square-foot Weis Markets and was 77 percent leased at the time of sale. Additional tenants include Dollar General, Once Again Thrift Store, National Auto Stores and RadioShack. Brad Nathanson of CBRE’s Conshohocken, Pa., office represented the seller in the transaction.
RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. — New Jersey-based NAI Hanson has brokered the sale of a mixed-use building located in Ridgefield Park. Korean District of the Christian and Missionary Alliance purchased the 2,000-square-foot property, which is located at 169 Main St., for an undisclosed price. The buyer plans to use the property to expand its ministry. The property features 1,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and two second-floor residential apartments. Anthony Cassano of NAI Hanson represented the seller, Carol Avlon, in the transaction.
Accessibility, amenities and coworking spaces are driving the suburban and urban real estate markets in Philadelphia. While suburban office tenants prefer to have access to transit and amenities, Center City office tenants seek experiences and collaboration with new coworkers. Suburban Perspective The Philadelphia suburban market consists of 59.4 million square feet comprising 13 distinct submarkets. The majority of this inventory consists of dated commodity office space, mostly built prior to 1990. With an overall vacancy rate of 20.8 percent and average asking rents of $24.90 per square foot, the Philadelphia suburban market has been less dynamic than its Center City counterpart. Although many older properties suffer from functional obsolescence, well-maintained assets with access to major roadways/public transit and amenities outperform the market average. For example, the Radnor, Conshohocken and Bala Cynwyd submarkets remain the three strongest submarkets in the region. Vacancy rates in these markets range from 2 to 14 percent, with average asking rents ranging from $30.75 to $37.00 per square foot. All three of these submarkets have immediate access to major roadways, public transit and amenities. Suburban office developers have taken note of the strong fundamentals in these areas as well as Center City Philadelphia. They have created …
NEW YORK CITY — Madison Realty Capital (MRC) has closed a $32 million construction loan for a mixed-use project at the former 266,322-square-foot St. John’s Queens Hospital, located at 90-02 Queens Blvd. in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens. The construction financing follows an initial $38 million acquisition loan provided by MRC in December 2013, which brings the total financing package from MRC to $70 million. Located along Queens Boulevard between 57th Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard, the property allows for 148,109 square feet of residential space and 118,213 square feet of commercial and community space. Once redeveloped, the project will offer retail space and 144 residential units. Additionally, the purchaser acquired the four-story, 89,601-square-foot parking garage located behind the hospital building, which offers 290 parking spaces and direct access from Queens Boulevard. After the $38 million acquisition loan closed, MRC offered a conditional commitment to fund the remaining renovation of the property once the borrower received approvals on all building plans. St. John’s Queens Hospital has been closed since the hospital’s operator filed for bankruptcy in 2009.
LANSDALE, PA. — A joint venture partnership between Advance Realty and The Davies Companies has acquired 2750 Morris Road, a 675,000-square-foot high-tech assembly and warehouse facility in Lansdale. The facility features 570,000 square feet of climate-controlled technology, assembly, warehouse and production space and 105,000 square feet of two-story office space. Additionally, the property features dual substation power feeds, systems for delivery of chilled water and compressed air, and five diesel generators that are capable of providing continuous power to the entire building without interruption. Current tenants include Vygon Corp., Metso Corp. and Fox Bindery. The property also has 350,156 square feet of warehouse/manufacturing space and 70,442 square feet of office space available to lease. Christopher Bellapianta of Advance Realty represented the joint venture partnership in the transaction. Greg Nalbandian of NorthMarq Capital arranged debt financing through Wells Fargo for this acquisition. Additionally, Paul Touhey, Brian Smyth and Drew Green of CBRE have been retained to lease the property.