PHILADELPHIA — honeygrow, a Philadelphia-based fast casual eatery known for made-to-order stir-fry, salads and honeybars, has signed leases to open four new restaurants in the Northeast. The restaurants will be located within the Lakeway Commons shopping center in Shrewsbury, Mass.; at the 150-acre Waldorf Station development in Waldorf, Md.; in the newly constructed Freehold Marketplace in Freehold, N.J.; and within Beltway Towne Center in Mechanicsburg, Pa. All openings are slated for 2025.
MORRISTOWN, N.J. AND NEW YORK CITY — Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ: VLY), the holding company for Valley National Bank, has sold $925 million worth of commercial real estate mortgage loans to Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM). Of the $925 million loan pool, $823 million had been previously identified and transferred to held for sale as of Sept. 30, 2024, as the firm sought to reduce its exposure to the commercial real estate sector. The loans were sold at a discount of 1 percent to value, which the bank expects will result in an immaterial net loss during the fourth quarter. Valley will retain customer-facing servicing responsibilities for the financings following the transaction. “The sale of this performing commercial real estate loan pool has helped to accelerate progress toward our strategic balance sheet goals,” says Ira Robbins, chairman and CEO of Valley. Valley is a regional bank with over $62 billion in assets under management. The company operates retail branch locations and commercial banking offices across New Jersey, New York, Florida, Alabama, California and Illinois. The Morristown, N.J.-based bank’s stock price closed on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at $10.48 per share, up slightly from $9.29 a year ago. Morgan Stanley & Co. …
By David DiRienzo, director — business development, at Talonvest Capital, Inc. This is part two of a two-part series discussing the key drivers behind transaction volume and the steps owners can take to ensure they are well positioned going forward. As highlighted in part one, despite substantial changes in the market over the past few years, the capital markets continue to offer quality financing solutions for real estate owners. Part two of this article series delves into two key drivers of current financing activity: elective refinancing to optimize the capital stack and the initiation of new business plans. Given the plethora of value-add projects in the pipeline and the interest in undertaking new business plans as equity capital returns to the market, these financing strategies are taking on greater importance than in past years. Interestingly, elective refinancing and starting a new business plan are two scenarios where the borrower’s actions are optional because an impending maturity is not a consideration. For this reason, it is important that borrowers understand the nuances behind these strategies as well as the approach that a capital expert might take. Elective Refinancing to Maximize Investment Performance While loan maturities trigger many refinancings, owners run into a …
EAST HANOVER, N.J. — Ares Commercial Real Estate has provided a $135 million construction loan for High Point on 10, a 584,000-square-foot industrial project that will be located in East Hanover, about 25 miles west of New York City. The development will have 380,000 square feet of build-to-suit cold storage space that is preleased to operator RealCold. Jordan Roeschlaub, Jonathan Firestone and Nick Scribani of Newmark arranged the debt on behalf of the developer, a partnership between Related Fund Management, Onyx Equities and Russo Development. An expected completion date was not announced.
NORWOOD, MASS. — Hobbs Brook Real Estate has topped out a 320,000-square-foot office and life sciences project in Norwood, a southern suburb of Boston, that is a build-to-suit for commercial property insurance company FM Global. The project replaces a 1950s-era building with a four-story office, lab and research and development building and adds a new 930-space parking garage and outdoor amenity spaces. Payette is the project architect, and Shawmut Design & Construction is the general contractor. Completion is slated for 2026. Construction began earlier this year.
PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged construction debt and joint venture equity for an industrial redevelopment project in the Northern New Jersey community of Parsippany. The amounts were not disclosed, but the project, which will convert an existing office property, carries a total price tag of $40 million. John Alascio, T.J. Sullivan, Chuck Kohaut, Chris Lentz, Jason Blankfein and Ethan Sokolow of Cushman & Wakefield worked on behalf of the sponsor, Altman Logistics Properties, to secure construction debt from Truist Bank and joint venture equity from a European investor.
WALTHAM, MASS. — ZoomInfo (NASDAQ: ZI) has signed a 101,000-square-foot office and life sciences lease in Waltham, a western suburb of Boston. The business-to-business data and AI-powered sales platform is taking space at 404 Wyman Street, a 384,841-square-foot building that is part of a larger 2.2 million-square-foot development. CBRE represented the landlord, Hobbs Brook Real Estate, in the lease negotiations. Newmark represented ZoomInfo.
NASHUA, N.H. — Whole Foods Market will open a 44,600-square-foot store at 272 Daniel Webster Highway in Nashua, located near the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border, on Tuesday, Dec. 10. The store will feature full-service meat and seafood counters, a bakery, prepared foods section and a wellness and beauty section, as well as a selection of more than 200 craft beers.
WATERTOWN, MASS. — A joint venture between New York City-based developer O’Connor Group, real estate private equity firm FrontRange Capital Partners and Japanese construction company Takenaka Corp. has broken ground on a 142-unit multifamily project in Watertown, a western suburb of Boston. Elysian Watertown Square will be a five-story building with retail space, and 15 percent of the units will be reserved for households earning between 65 and 80 percent of the area median income. Amenities will include a fitness center, coworking space, pet care spa and two rooftop terraces. ICON Architecture designed the project, and Dellbrook | JKS will be the general contractor. Completion is slated for summer 2026.
EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Locally based financial intermediary Largo Capital has arranged a $20 million loan for the refinancing of a 530,000-square-foot industrial property in East Syracuse. The name and address of the multi-tenant property, as well as the names of the direct lender and borrower, were not disclosed. Jack Phillips of Largo originated the debt, and a portion of the proceeds will be allocated toward capital improvements for the property.