NEW YORK CITY — Locally based investment and development firm Innovo Property Group is underway on construction of a 736,000-square-foot industrial project located at 28-90 Review Ave. in the Long Island City area of Queens. The six-story building, which is designed to accommodate two tenants per floor, will feature a clear height of 32 feet and parking for 166 cars and 118 trailers. Last summer, Innovo received $354 million in construction financing from Axos Bank and Cerberus Capital Management and equity from Goldman Sachs Asset Management. JLL arranged the financing, although details about the amount of each component within the capital stack were not disclosed. The topping out of the complex is slated for later this year. Full completion is scheduled for 2025.
Northeast
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Locally based developer Halpern Real Estate Ventures has completed Birch House, a 337-unit apartment community located at 49 Fisk St. in Jersey City’s West Side neighborhood. Designed by Minno & Wasko Architects & Planners, the six-story building houses studio, one- and two-bedroom units and roughly 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenity space. Other project partners included JRM Construction Management and The Corcoran Group, which is marketing the property for lease. Construction began in late 2021 and topped out in spring 2023.
WESTPORT, CONN. — Matthews Real Estate Investment Services has brokered the $45.5 million sale of Compo Shopping Center in the southern coastal Connecticut city of Westport. The 76,368-square-foot center was approximately 91.5 percent leased at the time of sale, with CVS serving as the anchor tenant. The buyer was Florida-based REIT Regency Centers, and the seller was undisclosed. Joanna Manfro of Matthews brokered the deal.
ROCKY HILL, CONN. — Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. (MMCC) has arranged a $9.5 million loan for the refinancing of a retail center in Rocky Hill, located just south of Hartford. The address and square footage of the property, which houses a supermarket and a bank, were not disclosed. Gerald Kray of MMCC arranged the loan, which was structured with a five-year term, 7.1 percent interest rate and 65 percent loan-to-value ratio. The borrower and direct lender were also not disclosed.
DANBURY, CONN. — Regional brokerage firm Northeast Private Client Group (NEPCG) has negotiated the $5.2 million sale of Willow Park Apartments, a 21-unit multifamily complex located in the southern Connecticut city of Danbury. According to Apartments.com, the property exclusively offers one-bedroom units that span 575 square feet. Jeff Wright and Rich Edwards of NEPCG represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction.
BOSTON — Related Beal, the Boston office of Related Cos., is underway on construction of Phase III of Innovation Square, a 345,000-square-foot life sciences project in Boston. The 1.8-acre site is located within Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in the Seaport District, and the seven-story building is fully preleased to Vertex Pharmaceuticals. A consortium of lenders consisting of Santander Bank, Ullico, LBBW and Washington Capital are providing construction financing for Phase III of Innovation Square, and Basis Investment Group is an equity investor in the project. Completion is slated for 2026. The project is expected to generate as many as 700 construction jobs and approximately 500 permanent jobs for the city.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based investment firm Benchmark Real Estate Group has acquired a 62-unit apartment building located at 194 E. 2nd St. in Manhattan’s East Village area for $43 million. The elevator- and doorman-served building was constructed in 1999 and houses one-, two-, four- five- and six-bedroom units as well as 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Joe Koicim, Logan Markley and Matt Berger of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, Skyline Developers, which purchased the building in 2000, in the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — Bungalow Projects, a real estate investment firm specializing in media and content production facilities, in partnership with Boston-based Bain Capital Real Estate, has purchased an industrial development site in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn for $34 million. The partnership’s plans for the property at 145 Wolcott St. include a 225,000-square-foot production facility with four soundstages averaging 18,000 square feet each, as well as 82,000 square feet of ancillary production support space and 200 below-grade parking spaces. David Behin of Newmark represented ownership in its off-market purchase of the property.
NEW YORK CITY — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $9.4 million sale of a 6,250-square-foot retail building in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood that is leased to Bank of America. The financial institution has occupied the building since 2006, and the lease is corporately guaranteed through 2034 and includes multiple renewal options. Scott Plasky and Alexander Arustamian of Marcus & Millichap represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The buyer was also not disclosed.
NEWARK, N.J. — HAX, a tech concept backed by global venture capital firm SOSV that serves as an incubator for startup companies, has opened its 35,000-square-foot headquarters facility in Newark. The facility includes space for chemical, mechanical and electrical engineering labs, as well as 3D printing, manual metal fabrication, computer numerical control machining and laser cutting. More than 30 companies will operate from within the facility.