BOSTON — CBRE/New England’s Capital Markets team has completed the refinance of an $8.5 million construction loan for a recently built apartment community in South Boston. Completed earlier this year, the 24-unit multifamily community consists of one four-story building with 30 covered garage parking spaces, a private roof deck and a private balcony for each unit. John Kelly of CBRE/NE worked on behalf of the borrower to arrange the permanent financing.
Northeast
PARAMUS, N.J. — Direct Travel has signed a lease for 16,500 square feet of space at Paramus Corporate Center in Paramus. The tenant plans to relocate its regional headquarters from Mahwah, N.J., to the 115,000-square-foot office property, which is located on Route 17, this summer. Rich Mirliss and Anthony Rinaldi of Colliers International represented the tenant in the transaction, while Jeffrey Prezant of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, Gabrellian Associates, in the transaction.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Williamsville, N.Y.-based Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. has topped off Conventus, a seven-story medical office building located at 1001 Main St. in Buffalo. Situated on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, the 350,000-square-foot building is scheduled for completion in spring 2015. Located at the Northern Gateway to the medical campus, the building will be physically connected via enclosed walkways to the new John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital, the new University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Bioinformatics, and the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions. Tenants will include Kaleida Health, UBMD, AMRI and First Niagara Bank.
NEW HAVEN, CONN. — C. Cowles & Co. has acquired a manufacturing/warehouse facility located at 100 Kenna Dr. in North Haven from The Freedom Group Family of Companies for an undisclosed price. Situated on 23.5 acres, the 226,000-square-foot warehouse/manufacturing property offers 206,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 20,000 square feet of office space. Built in the 1960s, the facility also features 18-foot clear ceiling heights, 40- by 40-foot column spacing and a wide-open floor plan. The buyer, a precision metal stamping company, plans to consolidate two business units in one facility. Jim Panczykowski of Binswanger’s New Haven office handled the transaction.
SOUTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Colonna Brothers Inc. has acquired 319 Ridge Road in South Brunswick for an undisclosed price. The 121,361-square-foot industrial facility features sections of 20- to 30-foot high ceilings, 42- by 42-foot column spacing, 17 tailboards and one drive-in. Mark Tannen of United Realty Advisors represented the buyer, while Robert Sager and David Blitt of Bussel Realty Corp. represented the seller, 319 Ridge Road Associates LLC, in the transaction.
NORTH BERGEN AND PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered deals to facilitate the relocation of Hudson News Distributors from North Bergen to Parsippany. Bergen Logistics purchased Hudson News’ 23-acre, 475,000-square-foot headquarters located at 5903 Westside Ave. in North Bergen for an undisclosed price. In conjunction with the disposition, Cushman & Wakefield arranged the lease of 701 Jefferson Road in Parsippany for Hudson News. The company will use the 135,000-square-foot former Coca-Cola distribution facility as its new headquarters. Scott Perkins of NAI James E. Hanson represented the landlord, Jofra Realty, in the lease transaction. Bonni Heller, Richard Baumstein, Andrew Merin and Gary Gabriel of Cushman & Wakefield represented Hudson News in the transactions.
NEW YORK CITY — Delshah Capital has refinanced its existing debt on 1356 First Ave., located in New York City’s Upper East Side, for $11.5 million. The 20,000-square-foot property offers 26 one-bedroom condominium units and one retail unit. Petaluma, the Italian restaurant retail tenant, is being completely renovated and will reopen in this fall with C.J. Bivona as chef. Santander Bank originated the loan, which features a 4.05 percent interest rate with a 7-year term. Simon Rosenfeld of Meridian Capital Group represented both sides in the transaction.
In Providence, the Class A office market has stabilized, thanks to a number of large lease renewals last year as well as new activity in the market. The current vacancy rate for Class A office product is now under 9 percent in the Capital City with an overall office vacancy rate of 14 percent, which represents a decrease of 100 basis points compared to this same point last year. Consequently, this activity has pushed rental rates for Class A space back over $30 per square foot on new deals. Recently, Nortek completed a lease for 24,000 square feet at the Blue Cross Blue Shield building located in the Capital Center district of Providence. Tech startup Swipely has completed its move into more than 25,000 square feet at 10 Dorrance Street. But for the Swipely expansion, the downtown Providence Class B office market remains stagnant. There has been some activity on the capital markets front as well in Providence. The Foundry Associates recently completed its purchase of the former American Locomotive Works (ALCO) site, which totals more than 200,000 square feet of redeveloped office space, for $19.05 million. In addition, Providence-based Paolino Properties recently completed the acquisition of 100 Westminster (300,000 …
WALTHAM, MASS. — Equus Capital Partners, through one of its affiliates, has recapitalized University Office Park in Waltham, a suburb of Boston. The two-building, 288,127-square-foot office park was 87 percent occupied at the time of closing. Equus and Direct Invest LLC worked to restructure and recapitalize the previous tenant-in-common ownership structure. In addition to its preferred equity infusion, Equus also acquired more than 25 percent of the ownership interests in the buildings. The property will be managed by affiliates of Equus. The acquisition of the leasehold interest in University Park was made on behalf of BPG Investment Partnership IX, Equus’ $310 million private equity fund.
WOODBRIDGE, N.J. — HFF has arranged $27.2 million in construction financing for the development of a build-to-suit industrial property in Woodbridge. Situated on 9.33 acres at 275 Blair Road, the 190,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse and distribution facility will be fully occupied by Preferred Freezer Services, a freezer warehouse operator. Wells Fargo provided the 24-month loan for the borrower, a joint venture between Advance Realty and F. Greek Development. Jim Cadranell, Jon Mikula and Michael Lachs of HFF secured the construction loan for the borrower.