MEDFORD, N.Y. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $4 million sale of a 552,341-square-foot commercial development site in the Long Island community of Medford. The 12.6-acre site comprises two lots that can support a range of uses, including industrial or storage. Daniel Abbondandolo and Rob Cullen of Cushman & Wakefield represented the sellers, Mary Spina Realty Inc. & Philip Spina Realty Inc., in the transaction. David Pennetta and Stephen Cadorette, also with Cushman & Wakefield, represented the buyer, Blue Sky Endeavors.
NEW YORK CITY — Golfzon Social, an entertainment concept that centers on golf simulation, will open an 18,000-square-foot center at 11 Hoyt, a 57-story residential development in Brooklyn by Tishman Speyer. The venue will offer 16 hitting bays, screens for watching live sports, a chef-driven menu, craft cocktails and beers and an onsite professional for private lessons. Don Cafero of JLL represented Golfzon Social in its site selection and lease negotiations. Tishman Speyer was self-represented. The opening is scheduled for the fall.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Locally based developer Halpern Real Estate Ventures has topped out a six-story, 337-unit multifamily project located at 49 Fisk St. in Jersey City’s West Side neighborhood. Designed by Minno & Wasko Architects & Planners, the property will feature studio, one- and two-bedroom units and roughly 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenity space. Other project partners include JRM Construction Management and The Corcoran Group, which is marketing the property for lease. Completion is slated for the fourth quarter.
INDEPENDENCE, N.J. — New Jersey-based developer Woodmont Properties has begun leasing the first phase of Woodmont Liberty at Independence, a 120-unit multifamily project that is located on an 11-acre site about 60 miles west of Manhattan. The property offers one- and two-bedroom units that are furnished with custom-designed kitchens, walk-in closets, keyless entry mechanisms, individual washers and dryers and private balconies/patios. Amenities include a pool, outdoor grilling and dining areas, a fitness center, game room, conference center, walking trails and a dog park. Rents start at $2,440 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based brokerage firms Stav Equities LLC and Invictus Property Advisors have arranged the $3.7 million sale of a multifamily development site at 48 Somers St. in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. The site is approved for the construction of a seven-story building that will house 24 apartments, a community center and a retail space. Jacob Stavsky of Stav Equities and Andrew Levine, Josh Lipton and Jax Hindmarch of Invictus, represented both undisclosed parties in the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — VITAL, a full-service fitness and climbing gym, will open a 45,000-square-foot facility at Essex Crossing, a mixed-use development on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The three-story facility will offer bouldering, yoga, cycling, open weightlifting, fitness classes and climbing instruction. The opening is slated for spring 2024. A joint venture between Taconic Partners, L+M Development Partners, BFC Partners, The Prusik Group and Goldman Sachs Asset Management owns Essex Crossing.
NEW YORK CITY — Law firm Cohen Clair Lans Greifer & Simpson LLP has signed a 17,862-square-foot office lease at 919 Third Ave. in Midtown Manhattan. The lease term is 10 years. The 47-story, 1.5 million-square-foot building was originally constructed in 1970 and recently underwent a capital improvement program. Robert Alexander, Ryan Alexander, Emily Chabrier, Taylor Callaghan, Alex D’Amario and Nicole Marshall of CBRE represented the landlord, SL Green, in the lease negotiations. Craig Reicher and James Ackerson, also with CBRE, represented the tenant.
By Taylor Williams “Numbers never lie; they simply tell different stories depending on the math of the tellers.” Mexican-American poet Luis Alberto Urrea may not have been talking about commercial real estate development and investment when he wrote that line, but the implications of that statement are undeniably applicable to those fields. The use of numerical projections in commercial development and investment is different from employing sabermetrics in sports or using predictive analytics to diagnose illnesses in medicine. Hard costs are what they are, and the formulas that developers and investors rely on to make critical decisions tend to be well-established in their rigidity, even if their inputs can and do change. Respecting the time-tested veracity of these formulas can make the difference between coasting through a down cycle or being crushed by it. Yet this is a world in which complex equations, algorithms and computations increasingly influence key business decisions. And so the ability to accurately forecast, control and manipulate numerical inputs is beyond valuable. Underwriting represents the piece of the real estate development or acquisition process in which these numerical details are shoved under the microscope and relentlessly finagled in hopes of keeping a development or deal alive. …
CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. — David’s Bridal LLC and some of its subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Both the brand’s nearly 300 physical stores, as well as its online platforms, will remain open and operational, according to the company. The Conshohocken-based retailer is seeking customary “first-day” relief authorizations from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey to continue payment of employee wages and benefits, maintain certain customer programs and honor vendor obligations. The company had previously filed for bankruptcy in November 2018 and re-emerged under new ownership in early 2019. The retailer’s current ownership group comprises lenders led by global investment manager Oaktree Capital Management. Also in 2019, Brookfield Asset Management acquired a majority stake in Oaktree Capital Management. David’s Bridal has retained Gordon Brothers to assist with inventory sales. The company will also continue to evaluate its physical footprint and explore the sale of some or all of its assets. “Our business continues to be challenged by the post-COVID environment and uncertain economic conditions, leading us to take this step to identify a buyer who can continue to operate our business going forward,” says James Marcum, CEO of David’s …
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Higher Interest Rates Cause Affordable Housing Values to Return to Old Norms
Rising interest rates dinging commercial real estate and multifamily assets have plunged low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) properties back into reality, especially those coming to the end of their 15-year compliance periods. “There were some huge profits made in the affordable housing space over the last two or three years,” says Cliff McDaniel, a managing director with Lument, which is representing Harmony Housing in the $1.4 billion sale of its affordable housing portfolio to the Michaels Organization. “We sold a lot of properties for $60,000 a unit or even $120,000 a unit, and the debt was $40,000 a unit. But the mania over that type of profitability is over, and values are going back to where they were before.” Up until about five years ago, the phrase “huge profits” and “affordable housing” would rarely if ever have occurred in the same sentence. Or even in the same story. Prior to that, affordable housing properties typically had very little value at the end of their initial 15-year compliance periods, and limited partners who provided equity to the project by buying tax credits routinely agreed to sell their interest to the general partner for a nominal fee. At that point, the …