BOSTON — Suffolk Construction will oversee the 12-month renovation of 185 Franklin St., a historic high-rise office building in Boston's Financial District. The building has been rebranded 50 Post Office Square. Plans for the project call for renovations to the building's lobby, commercial space and common areas and 110 new underground parking spaces. Suffolk is currently developing the first phase of construction, which includes the addition of 21,000 square feet of street-level retail space. The two-phase project is slated for completion in 2013.
WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. —Five Tower Bridge, one of Philadelphia's premier suburban office towers, has sold for a reported $70 million to MIM-Hayden Real Estate Funds. MIM is a partnership between Conshohocken-based Miller Investment Management and Hayden Real Estate Investments, and David Cos. of Boston. The 222,000-square-foot tower was built by Oliver Pulver Tyrone in 2001 and is located at 300 Barr Harbor Dr. in West Conshohocken. The building is fully occupied. KBS Realty Advisors of Newport Beach, Calif. was the seller.
NEW YORK CITY — The final hurdle has been cleared for the construction of a 74,000-square-foot supermarket and 79,000-square-foot retail center at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The U.S. Army has agreed to transfer the navy yard's six-acre Admirals Row site to New York City. The city plans to turn the property over to Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. for redevelopment. Plans for the project also include new industrial space and the rehabilitation of long-neglected buildings. The historic timber shed and residential home, will be used for retail or office space. The project will break ground this year.
WATCHUNG, N.J. — G.S. Wilcox & Co. has arranged $6 million in financing for Watchung Commons, a 32,696-square-foot, multi-tenanted retail building in Watchung. The borrower will use the 10-year loan to recoup construction costs for upgrading the property and adding Party City as its largest tenant.
ASHLAND, MASS. — Beech Street has provided a $17.8 million Fannie Mae loan for the acquisition of Chestnut Place Apartments, a six-building, 207-unit complex in Ashland. Chestnut Place was built in 1970. In the last year, property improvements have included new roofs, landscaping upgrades and a resurfaced parking area. The 10-year loan has an initial 2.5-year interest-only period followed by a 30-year amortization schedule. Mike Edelman of Beech Street originated the transaction.
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 …