MAINE AND MASSACHUSETTS — Love Funding has secured a total of $32.64 million in HUD 232/223(a)(7) financing for a 10-property nursing home portfolio. Leonard Lucas of the firm's Boston office originated the loans, which each carry a 4.62 percent interest rate and a 35-year term. Rosewood Manor Rest Home is a 27-unit facility located in Harwich, Mass., and the only Masschusetts facility in the portfolio. The other nine properties, all located in Maine, consist of: Sonogee Rehab & Living Center in Bar Harbor, Southridge Rehab & Living Center in Biddeford, Somerset Rehab & Living Center in Bingham, Courtland Rehab & Living Center in Ellsworth, Edgewood and Orchard Park Rehab & Living Centers in Farmington, Maplecrest Rehab & Living Center in Madison, Borderview Rehab & Living Center in Van Buren and Heritage Living & Rehab Center in Winthrop.
Northeast
NEW YORK CITY — The Alliance for Downtown New York has unveiled a plan to transform Water Street in Lower Manhattan into a 24/7 pedestrian destination. The street already contains more than 20 percent of Downtown's commercial real estate, including more than 19 million square feet of office space. The new plans calls for the creation of a pedestrian-friendly commercial district that will appeal to office workers, residents and tourists alike. Proposals set forth include extending sidewalks to allow for café seating for restaurants, benches, bike racks and additional landscaping. Central spaces, including Wall Street Park, would be expanded to allow for event programming. Private building owners would also be encouraged to participate in the revitalization and plans include incentives to convert ground-floor lobby space to retail and other uses that would appeal to pedestrians. The study team for the project is led by Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects, with assistance from FXFOWLE Architects and Sam Schwartz Engineering. For more information about the project, visit the project's site.
NEW YORK CITY — A partnership between Highgate Holdings, Ashkenazy Acquisitions Corp. and Crown Acquisitions has purchased the historic Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City. The 300,000-square-foot building is located at 1466 Broadway in the heart of Times Square. The new ownership plans to convert the hotel to an upscale, boutique property with high-end retail space on the street level. The purchase also included an adjacent 10,000-square-foot lot, which will be developed into a new luxury retail complex. The seller was Danske Banke, which was represented by Jones Lang LaSalle in the deal.
NEW YORK CITY — The ribbon cutting ceremony has been held for Tapestry, a new apartment building located at the corner of 124th Street and Second Avenue in East Harlem. The 12-story building contains 185 mixed-income residences. Rents for the studio to three-bedroom units range from $1,950 to $3,750. The project is also applying for LEED – Gold certification. The developers of Tapestry are Jonathan Rose Cos. and Lettire Construction Corp.
HARTFORD, CONN. — The Metropolitan District, which manages the water and sewer systems for the Hartford region, has acquired the former Cinema City theater at 235 Brainard Road to expand its operations. It bought the 18,936-square-foot building from Joseph Sullo from $2 million. David Richard of Colliers Dow & Condon represented the seller in negotiations.
NEW YORK CITY — An investment fund controlled by Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helu has acquired 417 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan for $140 million. The 11-story office tower contains approximately 380,000 square feet space, including 23,500 square feet of Fifth Avenue retail space. The Cushman & Wakefield team of Richard Baxter, Jon Caplan, Yoron Cohen, Scott Latham, Helen Hwang and Karen Wiedenmann represented the seller, a joint venture operating as W2007 417 Fifth Avenue Realty LLC. The Helu investment fund that purchased the property is Inmobiliaria Carso, S.A. DE C.V.
WESTBOROUGH, MASS. — eClinicalWorks has acquired a 100,000-square-foot office building in Westborough for its new headquarters. The building is located at 2 Technology Drive. The tenant build-out is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2011. The seller was New Boston Fund.
NEW YORK CITY — The grand opening has been held for the new East Side Middle School on New York City's Upper East Side. The school is located at 331 E. 91st St. It occupies 80,000 square feet within a mixed-use building that also include 155 cooperative apartments and retail space. The new location will expand the school's capacity from 350 to 540 seats. The DeMatteis Organizations and The Mattone Group are the project's developers.
BAYONNE, N.J. — Continental Concession Supplies has purchased a 95,000-square-foot warehouse in Bayonne for $5.13 million. The property is located at 20 Pulaski St. Doug Richter and Ian Grusd of Sperry Van Ness | Richter Grusd represented the buyer. Raymond Musalo of Greiner-Maltz represented the seller, V&J Realty.
With a strong economic foundation based upon the education, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, the greater Philadelphia market has long been revered as one of the most stable markets in the United Statesthat isunaffected by the manic swings often experienced by other major markets. Even at the height of the recession, savvy retailers remained relatively active in top-tier, well-positioned segments of the market. In fact, several used the recession to position themselves more strategically and affordably in tough-to-penetrate areas, minus the frenzied competition they faced before the downturn. The black eye created by the closures of Circuit City and Linens ‘N Things, two of the most high-profile retail bankruptcies of the recession, has seemingly healed faster here than elsewhere,as many of the junior anchor spaces they vacated are getting absorbed by several electronics retailers. hhgregg, which had 12 simultaneous openings in the region on May 20, 6th Avenue Electronics and P.C. Richard & Sons are the most conspicuous of said retailers. hhgregg is making its first retail foray into the Northeast while the more regionally oriented 6th Avenue Electronics and P.C. Richard & Sons found themselves conveniently based in the New York metropolitan area and able to take advantage of these …