NEW YORK CITY — Savanna closed its fourth fund with more than $440 million in commitments and added five New York City properties, totaling more than 2.5 million square feet, to its portfolio in 2014. Savanna Real Estate Fund III L.P. held its final closing in the fall with commitments from a wide variety of institutional investors, including insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, public and private pension funds, foundations, fund of funds and wealth management companies. The firm’s 2014 acquisitions in New York City include One Court Square, a 1.5 million-square-foot office tower in Long Island City; 540 West 26th Street, a development site in Chelsea; 110 William Street, a 930,000-square-foot office building in the Financial District; 10 Madison Square Park, a retail condo in the Flatiron District; and 141 Willoughby Street, a development site in downtown Brooklyn. So far in 2015, Savanna has acquired the former Schlitz Brewery in Bushwick and 461 West 14th Street, a newly built retail property in the Meatpacking District. Additionally, the firm plans to close on the purchase of a 175,000-square-foot property in the Bronx within the next month.
NEW YORK CITY — Eastern Consolidated has arranged a long-term lease with Jacadi, a high-end children’s fashion company. The company will occupy 1,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space at 106 Reade St. in Tribeca. The property offers 20 feet of sidewalk frontage, more than 200 square feet of mezzanine space, 16-foot tin ceilings, exposed brick walls and sub-cellar storage space. James Famularo and Ravi Idnani of Eastern Consolidated represented the undisclosed landlord, while Jason Turner of Zelnick & Co. represented the tenant in the transaction.
The central theme of the Northern New Jersey retail market heading toward 2015 can be captured in three words: flight to quality. Strong tenant demand, driven by the region’s diverse inventory of well-located existing and new high-end supply, is translating to tightening vacancies and upward pressure on rents. As more young professionals choose to live in urban centers and densely populated communities along transit lines, downtown retail, in particular, is benefiting from the momentum. Millennials are starting families and are creating the need for larger living spaces and full-service, family-focused neighborhood amenities. As such, many national and regional concepts that traditionally have targeted regional malls are now entering these markets. Daycare centers, schools, grocery stores and fitness centers also are actively targeting quality downtown locations. In response, developers and owners are adding new supply and renovating existing properties to accommodate this new generation of tenants in the space-constrained Northern New Jersey region. Mixed-use projects containing retail, residential, office and/or hospitality components in infill locations continue to gain traction. Along the Hudson Waterfront and downtown, mixed-use projects illustrating this trend include Shuster Development’s project at 360 Ninth Street in the Hamilton Park neighborhood of Jersey City, which will add approximately 29,000 …
TRUMBULL, CONN. — Massachusetts-based National Development, in partnership with EPOCH Senior Living, has begun construction on Bridges by EPOCH at Trumbull, a state-of-the-art memory community in Trumbull. Located at 2415 Reservoir Ave., the 64-unit apartment complex is slated to open in summer 2015. Bridges by EPOCH will feature a 24-hour specially-trained health care staff. The project team includes Boston-based CBT as architect; Portsmouth, N.H.-based JSA Inc. as interior designer; and Middletown, Conn.-based C.E. Floyd Company as general contractor.
DUNKIRK, N.Y. — Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap, has completed the sale Chautauqua County Home, a 133-room skilled nursing facility located near Lake Erie in Dunkirk. The asset sold for $16 million, or $74,000 per bed. The buyer has upgrades planned for the 216-bed facility that will improve operations and profitability. Joshua Jandris and Mark Myers of IPA Marcus & Millichap’s Manhattan office represented the seller, Chautauqua County, and procured the buyer, a regional provider.
CALVERTON, N.Y. — Riverhead Charter School (RCS), a $14.1 million charter school, has opened in Calverton. Situated on 5.8 acres at 3685 Middle Country Road, the 50,000-square-foot school features a two-story classroom wing with 16 classrooms, an auditorium/gymnasium, a library, an administration wing and a kitchen wing. The new school building was financed through two bonds totaling $21.3 million. Capital Markets Advisors served as RCS’s independent financial advisor for the transaction. RCS is the only K-8 charter school in New York’s Suffolk County. The project team includes Stalco Construction as general contractor; BBS Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers as architect, interior designer, site designer, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer; SCC as construction manager; and PW Grosser Consulting as civil engineer.
NEW YORK CITY — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of a retail property located at 7508 and 7524 Broadway in Queens. The 7,940-square-foot property sold for $5.9 million. The property is located between Broadway and 41st Avenue in the Woodside/Elmhurst section of Queens. Matthew Fotis, Lazarus Apostolidis and Tae Lee of Marcus & Millichap’s Manhattan office represented the seller, a private investor, and the buyer, a private investor, in the transaction.
SOUTH HACKENSACK, N.J. — NAI James E. Hanson has facilitated the lease of an industrial space in South Hackensack. Publishers Circulation Fulfillment Inc. has leased 22,203 square feet of space at 60 Saddle River Ave. The industrial space features two loading docks, one drive-in and 1,500 square feet of office space. Jeff DeMagistris and Tom Vetter of NAI Hanson represented the landlord, Safer Development and Management Inc., in the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — HKS Capital Partners has arranged $39 million in refinancing for Giraffe Hotel, which is located at 365 Park Avenue South in New York City’s Flatiron district. The 10-year loan features a 4.3 percent interest rate. Cantor Commercial Real Estate (CCRE) provided the CMBS loan. Jerry Swartz and Ayush Kapahi of HKS Capital negotiated the refinancing for the borrower. Henry Kallan owns the 39-key hotel, which is part of the Library Hotels Collection.
NEW YORK CITY — Greystone has acquired two adjacent properties — a landmarked building and a vacant lot — in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood for a combined total of $21.1 million. Located at 227 Fourth Ave., the first property, known as Brooklyn Lyceum, was originally constructed as a public bathhouse. The property was most recently used as a café and performance space. Greystone won a bid for the property at a Kings County foreclosure auction in October 2014 for $7.6 million. Greystone plans to restore the building’s façade and transform property into a townhouse-style condominium residence with ground-floor retails space. The second property, which sold for $13.5 million, is an adjoining vacant lot located at 225 Fourth Ave. Greystone plans to develop a mixed-use property on the site with approximately 68 rental units and 3,500 square feet of first-floor retail space. Additionally, the residential building will feature a fitness room, bike storage and roof deck.