NEW YORK CITY — The red brick façade work is continuing on a new 57,593-square-foot Holiday Inn that has just topped off at 150 Delancey St. in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in New York City. The 132-unit hotel is eight stories and will feature a lounge, restaurant, bar and fitness center. Gene Kaufman Architect P.C. designed the hotel, which is slated to be delivered in March 2012.
NEW YORK CITY — Walgreens has renewed its lease on the ground floor of the Empire State Building, and exchanged 10,000 square feet of retail space on the concourse level to 10,000 square feet on the second floor near the Observatory exit elevators. The all-glass second floor store is slated for a first quarter 2012 completion. Walgreens’ lease in the Empire State Building is for a 15-year term and totals 18,818 square feet. The vacated space on the concourse level is expected to house a fitness center. Andrew Goldberg, Eric Gelber and Matt Chmielecki represented the landlord, W&H Properties, in house for both the lease renewal and lease reconfiguration.
LOWELL, MASS. — Pine Properties has purchased Middlesex Garden Apartments, a 41,300-square-foot apartment complex at 1895-1905 Middlesex St. in Lowell, for $3.7 million. Yannios RE Investment Services’ James Yannios represented the seller, Heritage Properties, in the transaction, as well as procured Pine Properties. The complex is comprised of 48 units and offers 32,928 square feet of livable space.
NEW YORK CITY — Beech Street Capital has provided $31.9 million in Fannie Mae conventional loans to refinance a 21-property multifamily portfolio in New York City. Beech Street provided the financing through its relationship with Meridian Capital Group, the loan’s originator. The loans for 19 of the properties have fixed-rates with 10-year terms and 30-year amortization schedules, while the remaining two loans have 7-year terms and 30-year amortization schedules. Beech Street’s Joel Goodman, Kanett Curtis, Amy Sodeinde and Tyrone Purdie helped underwrite the transaction, while Linda Clark of Beech Street closed the deal. Michael Kesselman and Matt Texler represented Meridian in house.
NORWOOD, MASS. — Illinois Tool Works, Inc. has signed a long-term lease extension for 110.194 square feet of flex space at 825 University Ave., a 166,574-square-foot office/research and development complex in Norwood owned by KBS Capital Advisors. Mike Frisoli and J.R. McDonald of Cushman & Wakefield’s Boston office represented Illinois Tool Works, and Brian McKenzie, John Lashar and Rob Byrne of Richards Barry Joyce & Partners represented the landlord, KBS.
NEW YORK CITY — SKI Realty, an affiliate of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, has purchased a 59-unit decontrolled apartment building at 425 E. 76th St. in New York City for $20.65 million. The 35,573-square-foot, 10-story property will house Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center staff and students. Eastern Consolidated, Inc.’s Deborah Gutoff, Brian Ezratty, George Moss and Lipa Lieberman represented the seller, Mann Realty, and Gutoff and Ezratty procured SKI Realty.
NEW YORK CITY — A new boutique known as treasure&bond has opened an 11,137-square-foot store at 350 W. Broadway in New York City. The store is owned by Nordstrom and houses more than 150 different designers’ merchandise, including books, furniture, jewelry, clothes and accessories. The business plans on donating 100 percent of its profits to nonprofits such as The Edible Schoolyard NYC, Association to Benefit Children, Children’s Health Fund, The New York Public Library Programs for Children and Young Adults, New York City’s Young Men’s Initiative, Coalition for the Homeless: Camp Homeward Bound Sleep-Away Camp and After School Services, Friends of the High Line’s Family and Education Programs and Memorial Sloan Ketterling’s Pediatric Cancer Care.
HATBORO AND AMBLER, PA. — Beech Street Capital has provided $12.58 million in financing for a package of apartment buildings including Wellington 2529, Livingstone Apartments and Oak Terrace Apartments, all in Hatboro, and Longford Apartments in Ambler. In all, the communities total 225 units, and Longford Apartments was financed through a separate loan. The fixed-rate Fannie Mae DUS loans have 10-year terms, and were originated by Meridian Capital Group.
ELIZABETHTOWN, PA. — MWI Veterinary Supply, Inc. has leased 110,000 square feet of industrial space at 1499 Zeager Rd. in Elizabethtown’s Conewago Industrial Park inside a 280,000-square-foot multi-tenant property. The property includes 46 loading docks and 37-foot ceilings. Cushman & Wakefield’s Gerry Blinebury, Pat McBride and Leah Balerno represented the property owner, The Jay Group, in lease negotiations.
New Hampshire has a big story to tell: a lower than average unemployment rate, low poverty and crime rate, high median household income and a well-educated population. We are among the healthiest and safest states in which to live. All of these factors contribute to continued population growth which will drive the goods and services sectors. New Hampshire also benefits from its proximity to Massachusetts and Maine as well as Canada whose shoppers are eager to take advantage of the absence of a sales tax. Prior to 2009, the Northern New England retail market was vibrant and active. However, retail expansion in the market came to a halt in 2009 and 2010 while the economy tried to dig itself out of stagnation. This year has seen a moderate uptick in activity both from a local and national perspective. Demand for retail space in northern New England is slowly returning. For the past several months, national retailers have been focusing on major metropolitan markets rather than peripheral markets. If retailers have a limited open to buy, chances are smaller cities such as Portsmouth may not be on their initial target list for expansion. However, quality retail space is continually being absorbed. …