MIDDLEBOROUGH, MASS. — Massachusetts-based Christmas Tree Shops will close all of its roughly 70 stores, according to reports from multiple mainstream news outlets including CNN and USA Today. Previously, the chain planned to sell, following filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May. Now, all stores will be closed, unless a last-minute buyer comes forward. Formerly, the brand was owned by Bed Bath & Beyond, which sold the concept to Handil Holdings in 2020 and filed for bankruptcy itself earlier this year.
NEWPORT, DEL. — Agilent Technologies, a provider of lab instruments and software, will undertake a $22 million expansion of its manufacturing facility in Newport, located just outside of Wilmington. Agilent is leasing 12,000 square feet of new space in a building that is adjacent to the existing facility and fitting out 9,900 square feet as lab space with new infrastructure, equipment and instrumentation. Over half of the remaining square footage will become a warehouse, storage and shipping/receiving area. The remaining balance will be used for offices. Agilent currently employs more than 100 people at its Newport facility and more than 900 throughout Delaware.
PEARL RIVER, N.Y. — Strides Pharma Inc. has signed a 57,197-square-foot industrial lease in Pearl River, located along the New York-New Jersey-border. The Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer will occupy the entirety of two buildings within Hudson Valley iCampus, a 207-acre development. James Schroeder of JLL represented Strides Pharma in the lease negotiations. Robert Lella, Sheena Gohil and Charles Hatfield of Colliers, along with internal agent Jamie Schwartz, represented ownership.
PATERSON, N.J. — Locally based brokerage firm Gebroe-Hammer Associates has negotiated the $3.7 million sale of two apartment buildings totaling 18 units in the Northern New Jersey community of Paterson. The buildings are located in the Wrigley Park area and include commercial uses. Debbie Pomerantz of Gebroe-Hammer represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — A partnership between Tishman Speyer and Silverstein Properties has received a $330 million loan for the refinancing of 11 West 42nd Street, a 960,000-square-foot office building in Midtown Manhattan. Originally constructed in 1927, the 32-story building was 99 percent leased at the time of the loan closing. Tenants include Michael Kors, Citizen’s Bank & Trust, New York University and Kohn Pederson Fox. Bank of America served as the senior lender, and Taconic Capital provided mezzanine financing. Dustin Stolly, Jordan Roeschlaub, Nick Scribani, Chris Kramer, Issa Abbassi and Holden Witkoff of Newmark arranged the debt, which was structured with a five-year term and a fixed interest rate, on behalf of ownership.
CLAYMONT, DEL. — Chicago-based REIT First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE: FR) is underway on construction of a 358,000-square-foot facility in the greater Philadelphia area. The site is located within the 425-acre First State Crossing mixed-use development. The rear-load facility will offer a clear height of 40 feet, 68 dock positions and 241 trailer parking stalls. Completion is slated for October. Blue Rock is the general contractor for the project, and Joseph V. Belluccia is the architect. CBRE is the leasing agent. Delivery is slated for the first quarter of next year.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — JLL has arranged a $17.5 million loan for the refinancing of two office and healthcare buildings totaling 218,372 square feet in White Plains, located north of New York City in Westchester County. The adjacent buildings were 86.5 percent leased at the time of the loan closing and offer amenities such as a renovated café, childcare facility and a fitness center. Michael Klein, Max Custer and Benjamin Morgenthal of JLL arranged the five-year, fixed-rate loan through Centreville Bank on behalf of the borrower, Northpath Investments.
LINDEN, N.J. — SRS Real Estate Partners has brokered the sale of a ground lease for a 185,682-square-foot retail building in the Northern New Jersey community of Linden that is occupied by Walmart. The building was constructed on 14 acres in 2019, and there are 17 years remaining on the corporate-guaranteed lease. Matthew Mousavi, Patrick Luther, Britt Raymond and Kyle Fant of SRS represented the sellers, Dallas-based developer Cypress Equities and San Francisco-based investment firm Stockbridge Capital Group, in the deal. David Chasin of Pegasus Investments Real Estate Advisory represented the buyer.
LAWRENCE, MASS. — MassDevelopment and Reading Cooperative Bank have provided a $6.6 million loan for a project that will convert two vacant buildings in Lawrence, located near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border, into a 24-unit affordable housing complex. The buildings previously housed a mix of office and retail uses, and the residential complex will include a food hall in the remaining retail space. MassDevelopment and Reading Cooperative Bank were equal participants in the loan, and MassDevelopment also enhanced the loan with a guarantee. Construction will begin in July and last about a year. The borrower is The Jowamar Cos.
Technology, like commercial real estate, becomes increasingly vulnerable to the need for replacement and updates over time. Just as multifamily landlords can update properties by periodically replacing outmoded flooring and fixtures to suit the latest occupier preferences, technology must also keep up with the latest trends. For the best renter experience, multifamily properties need Internet connectivity that will serve residents as their technological needs grow and their tolerance for frequent outages diminishes. Disruptions associated with repairs or network upgrades can threaten customer satisfaction and renewal rates. Unfortunately for many landlords who rely on traditional telecommunications lines for their properties’ Internet, modern usage is straining older infrastructure. Booming wireless technology use is gobbling up bandwidth to connect everything from consumers’ phones and laptops to fitness monitors, smart TVs and other household appliances. As a vice president of product catalog who has worked for over a decade at broadband service provider Pavlov Media, John Danner understands the problem of limited Internet bandwidth all too well. He is eager to see technological improvements that will replace these old systems. “The old copper infrastructure can’t meet the requirements of the next generation of wireless connectivity,” explains Danner. “With fiber-optic connections, the sky is the …