BOSTON — Sawyer Enterprises has opened the new W Boston at 200 Newbury St. in Boston's Theatre District. The building features a W Hotel as well as The Residences at W Boston. The hotel portion, which takes up the lower 14 floors of the building, features 235 guestrooms, including 24 suites. The residential portion, which occupies floors 15 through 27, contains 123 condominiums ranging in size from studio to three bedrooms. The tower also contains casual restaurant Market, the first Boston location for Bliss spa, a fitness center and approximately 5,000 square feet of meeting space. Descent, an underground bar and lounge, will open at the building in early 2010. Sawyer Enterprises is the owner and developer of the project. The design team includes Boston-based William Rawn, New York City-based Bentel & Bentel, and TRO Jung|Brannen.
MARLBOROUGH, MASS. — Construction management firm J. Calnan & Associates has completed the multi-phase renovation of Acosta's corporate headquarters in Marlborough. Construction at the 90,000-square-foot building consisted of two main components. The first was the renovation of the sales and marketing company's new space, consisting of a basement and four floors of the building. New offices and conference rooms were constructed, and multiple floors received new paint, carpet and millwork. The first-floor kitchen and cafeteria were demolished and a new cafeteria and dining lounge were constructed in the basement. Also, energy efficient windows, modern furniture and a new entry door were installed. The project architect was Nelson. The second component, which J. Calnan completed on behalf of building owner TA Associates Realty, consisted of the renovation of the space Acosta formerly occupied in the building. A new atrium was created out of the first-floor entry stair and mezzanine. The vacant first-floor kitchen space was remodeled into finished office space with executive offices, a conference room and a kitchenette. The common areas were also refinished and a new glass door entryway was installed.
ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, PA. — Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL & Associates Properties has held the grand opening for Settlers Ridge, a new 600,000-square-foot, open-air retail center located in the Pittsburgh suburb of Robinson Township. Occupancy at the center is more than 94 percent. It is anchored by a 16-screen Cinemark theater, REI and LA Fitness. A 150,000-square-foot Giant Eagle Market District supermarket will open in November, and Barnes & Noble will open in spring 2010. Other tenants already open at the center include Panera Bread, P.F. Chang’s, Red Robin, Omaha Steaks, Sport Clips, Verizon Wireless and Vitamin Shoppe, among others.
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) has arranged the purchase of a 111,563-square-foot warehouse located in New Rochelle for $5.6 million. Situated on 3.75 acres at 30 Pine St., the single-story building features ceiling heights ranging from 14 to 20 feet. The Pearlgreen Corporation purchased the building and plans to move in by spring 2010. William Cuddy, Budd Wiesenberg and Kevin Langtry of CBRE’s Stamford, Conn., office represented the seller, Bakers Pride Oven Co., in the transaction. The same CBRE team also represented Bakers Pride in the leasing of a new property at 145 Huguenot St. for its customer service department. The company’s assembly and distribution operations, which also were previously located at the Pine Street facility, will move to a company-owned facility in New Jersey. Joel Feinberg of Feinberg Bros. represented Pearlgreen in the acquisition.
LAKE GROVE, N.Y. — Centro Properties Group has opened a new R Superstore within DSW Plaza in Lake Grove. The 71,343-square-foot store features full-size Toys ‘R Us and Babies ‘R Us locations under one roof. The space was formerly occupied by Stop & Shop but was turned over to Toys ‘R Us in February. Construction consisted of a new storefront façade, new loading docks and the reconfiguring of the parking lot. Centro invested approximately $200,000 in the project. Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based Lakota Construction served as general contractor.
NEW YORK CITY — Massey Knakal Realty Services has arranged the sale of a residential building and an adjacent development site located in Harlem, New York City, for $21.92 million. The first part of the transaction consists of a six-story, 120-unit affordable housing building that is situated on Fifth Avenue between West 116th and 117th streets. The second component of the deal is an approximately 44,402-square-foot, L-shaped lot that takes up the remainder of the block. The buyer, L&M Equities, plans to continue to operate the residential building as affordable housing. Plans for lot call for a building between 180,000 and 260,000 square feet in size. Shimon Shkury and Tom Donovan of Massey Knakal represented the seller, Metrovest Equities.
NEW YORK CITY — Nonprofit organization Community Counseling & Mediation has acquired a development site located at 226 Linden Blvd. in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, for $1.45 million. The site has been approved for the development of a 71-unit residential building. Including air rights that were previously purchased from an adjacent lot, the total amount of buildable space for the site is 59,629 square feet, including parking. Ofer Cohen of TerraCRG represented the undisclosed seller. Shay Zach of Itzhaki Properties also helped broker the deal.
FAIR HAVEN, CONN. — Press/Cuozzo Realtors has brokered the sale of the former East Pearl Street United Methodist Church located at 95-99 E. Pearl St. in Fair Haven. The 7,929-square-foot church was constructed in 1873. It features a sanctuary with seating for more than 200 people, a kitchen and dining areas, a side ante room and second-floor recreation areas. It traded for $350,000. John Cuozzo, Jr. of Press/Cuozzo represented the seller, East Pearl Street United Methodist Church, as well as the buyer, The Pentacostal Church of God IM.
UNITY, N.H. — Groundbreaking has occurred for Phase II of the expansion of Sullivan County Community Corrections Center in Unity. This phase of construction will add approximately 20,000 square feet to the jail building, consisting of an additional 70 beds as well as areas for in-treatment and work release programs. Completion is slated for mid-2010. Phase I of the project is approximately 80 percent complete and should be finished by the end of the year. North Branch Construction is serving as construction manager, with Sheerr McCrystal Palson serving as project architect.
BOSTON — Boston-based Fantini & Gorga has arranged $23.75 million in first-mortgage financing for a CVS/pharmacy portfolio. The portfolio consists of 10 retail pharmacies located in 10 states across the country. Some of the properties are situated in strong suburban locations in major metropolitan markets such as Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit and Phoenix. Keith Wentzel of Fantini & Gorga arranged the loan on behalf of the undisclosed borrower through one of the intermediary's national life insurance correspondents. Terms of the financing were not released.