COLLINGSWOOD, N.J. — Pewter Realty LLC has sold Pewter Village, an 84-unit, active-adult apartment complex in Collingswood, for $7.25 million. Located at 1058 Eldridge Ave., Pewter Village's six two-story buildings include 64 one-bedroom and 20 two-bedroom units. Tenants are age 55 and older. Joel Schwartz and Joseph Brecher of Gebroe-Hammer Associates represented the Pewter Realty in the deal. They also procured the buyer, a long-time Gebroe-Hammer client.
JAMAICA, N.Y. — Oh! Nuts Candy, a chocolate, nuts and gift basket retailer, has purchased a 42,000-square-foot industrial property in Jamaica for $2.9 million. Located at 120-65 168th St., the property includes four interior loading docks and an 8,200-square-foot parking lot. Oh! Nuts has four New York locations and plans to use the building as a chocolate processing plant as well as their main distribution center. Robert Klein and Joel Kohn of Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates represented the buyer and the seller, Baisley Property, in the transaction.
HUNTINGTON, N.Y., CENTEREACH, N.Y. — Harbor Freight Tools, a tool and equipment retailer, will open a 19,000-square-foot store in Huntington and a 16,000-square-foot store in Centereach. Both stores are slated to open in the first quarter, and will be the company's fourth and fifth locations in Long Island. The Huntington store is located at 301 W. Jericho Turnpike and the Centereach store is located in the town's main shopping corridor on Middle County Road. The landlords in each deal were represented in-house. Douglas Weinstein of the Long Island City office of Sholom & Zuckerbrot Realty represented Harbor Freight in the transactions.
PHILADELPHIA — Law firm Morgan Lewis has extended its 289,432-square-foot office lease at Six Penn Center in Philadelphia. The company occupies all of the office space at Six Penn, which consists of floors six through 18. The lease now expires Jan. 31, 2021. W. Whitney Hunter and Peter Talman of Jones Lang LaSalle represented Morgan Lewis in the transaction. The building is owned by a joint venture controlled by Lexington Realty Trust. Morgan Lewis is one of the 15 largest law firms in the U.S., according to The National Law Journal's ranking of the 250 largest law firms.
Industrial demand in New Jersey has picked up dramatically over the past year, in tandem with a clear shift in corporate America’s mindset to get serious about dealmaking while conditions remain favorable. During the market downturn, tenants with two or three years left on their leases frequently tested the market, making offers that expected property owners and developers to assume the trailing liability of existing lease terms. Most owners simply were not willing to do that, and deals regularly fell apart or remained stagnant. Beginning in mid-2010 and through the first three quarters of 2011, we have experienced a promising increase in real commitments. In fact, during the first six months of this year, some 11.1 million square feet of new industrial leasing took place in Northern and Central New Jersey — a 74 percent year-over-year increase. This included 12 transactions over 100,000 square feet during the second quarter alone. The largest involved Wakefern Food Corporation’s impressive 1 million-square-foot lease at 8001 Industrial Ave. in Carteret. Why the jump? While we are seeing the stock market decimated what seems like every other week, corporate America for the most part is flush with cash. At this point, companies have extracted about …
The Pittsburgh retail market remained tight throughout the third quarter of 2011, maintaining a vacancy rate at just over 5 percent. Absorption within the market edged close to 200,000 square feet, with new big box and specialty retailers entering the region. The influx of grocery and discount chains continued with the opening of Trader Joe’s in Pittsburgh’s South Route 19 submarket. The 12,000-square-foot specialty market is the company’s second location in the area. In addition, Fresh Market confirmed its entrance in the Pittsburgh region just down the street from Trader Joe’s. The high-end specialty grocer has purchased a former Roth Carpet site and plans to demolish the existing building in preparation for a new 18,000-square-foot store. Construction is scheduled to commence in the spring of 2012. Big box retailers ALDI, Bottom Dollar, Walmart and BJ’s Wholesale Club are scouting the area for additional locations as well. Bottom Dollar Foods has taken occupancy of more than 60,000 square feet year-to-date and has approximately 40,000 square feet in two new locations scheduled to open in early 2012. The discount food chain prefers to anchor strip centers or neighborhood shopping centers within the area’s suburban submarkets. Though development activity has been largely focused …
CRANSTON, R.I. — The historic Garden City shopping center in Cranston will be renovated and expanded into a new 20,000-square-foot building. Owner Wilder Cos. says the multi-million dollar redevelopment will include breaking up retail spaces formerly held by larger tenants into mid-size and smaller specialty stores. Ann Taylor is among the new stores moving in, and Williams-Sonoma is expected to expand. Other current tenants have signed new multi-year leases including Starbucks and Hallmark. Construction is expected to begin this spring, and should be completed later this year.
HARRISBURG, PA. — Brick, N.J.-based Tryko Partners has acquired the 163-unit Harrisburg Park in Harrisburg for $5.8 million. The apartment property, located at 1410 S. 15th St., was built in 1967 and includes recent upgrades to select kitchens. Ridge MacLaren, Andrew Townsend and Clarke Talone of the Philadelphia office of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a partnership. They also secured Tryko, a private equity real estate group.
NEW YORK CITY — Massey Knakal Capital Services has closed on a $2.5 million loan for an 8,000-square-foot retail property located on 86th Street in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood. The 5-year, non-recourse loan carries a 4.7 percent interest rate. Morris Betesh of Massey Knakal Capital arranged the financing through an undisclosed lender.
ITHACA, DEER PARK, N.Y. — BJ's Wholesale Club plans to open three new stores this month, including two locations in New York: 1900 The Arches Circle in Deer Park, N.Y. and 400 Graham Rd. in Ithaca, N.Y. Each of the 85,000-square-foot stores will feature a BJ's cafe, optical department and Verizon Wireless kiosk. The stores will also hold a grand opening celebration Jan. 28 and Jan. 29. An additional store opening is planned in Gainesville, Va.
