NORWALK, CONN. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $12 million sale of a 2.3-acre multifamily development site in the downtown area of the southern coastal Connecticut city of Norwalk. The buyer, RMS Cos., plans to develop a six-story, 204-unit building on the site at 370 West Ave., which formerly housed a YMCA. Al Mirin, Kate Schwartz, Matthew Torrance, Jim Fagan, Gerry Lees and Maureen O’Boyle of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Norwalk Hospital, in the transaction.
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Gebroe-Hammer Associates and Berkadia have negotiated the sale of The Metropolitan Lofts, a 59-unit apartment complex in the Northern New Jersey city of Morristown. Built in 2018, the property offers one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 679 to 1,203 square feet in size and amenities such as a fitness center with yoga and spin studios, golf simulator with lounge seating and outdoor grilling and dining stations. Gebroe-Hammer and Berkadia represented the seller, a partnership between Veris Residential and Woodmont Properties, in the transaction. The buyer was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Global luxury group Kering has acquired a multi-level retail property at 715-717 Fifth Ave. in New York City for $963 million. The Paris-based company manages the development of a number of major fashion houses including Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen. The 115,000-square-foot space spans multiple levels at the base of the Corning Glass Building, a 28-story office tower developed in 1959. Rival fashion houses Dolce & Gabbana and Armani currently occupy the space. The Armani lease at the property is up in a few months, according to reports by the New York Post. Real estate developer Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties sold the space. The company also recently sold 720 and 724 Fifth Ave. to fashion house Prada for a combined $835 million. Eastdil Secured advised Wharton Properties in all three deals, according to the New York Post. Any potential impact on the space’s current tenants was not specified. Plans to maintain Gucci’s current flagship location across the street from 715-717 Fifth Ave. at Trump Tower were not mentioned in Kering’s release. Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue ranked as the world’s most expensive retail destination in Cushman & Wakefield’s latest Main Streets Across the World report. With …
With high operating costs eroding profitability at many urban stores, major retailers are concentrating development and store renovations in suburban locations with layouts geared to the latest consumer preferences. As more retailers follow suit, early adopters provide object lessons in best practices to better serve an evolving customer base and reveal pitfalls to avoid along the way. “Retailers are more sensitive to the pressures of high costs and loss prevention in urban markets, and as a result, they are backing off in those areas,” says Cornelius Brown, a principal and regional manager in the Philadelphia office of Bohler. “Retailers looking to grow, in our experience, are shifting to the suburbs and using retail program methods to cut costs.” Bohler is a land development design and consulting firm that helps developers move their projects forward quickly. Recently, those clients have been keen to avoid risk in both site selection and design features, Brown says. Streamlining Retail Development Retail programs allow developers to use pre-existing retail layout prototypes to determine optimal site arrangements. This approach uses checklists to assign one of several pre-made layouts to a development based on factors such as road location, grading and elevation, parking needs, drive-through layout, loading …
SHREWSBURY, MASS. — Cornerstone Realty Capital has arranged a $53 million construction loan for Edgemere Crossing, a 250-unit multifamily project in Shrewsbury, located in Worcester County in the central part of Massachusetts. Edgemere Crossing will house 116 one-bedroom units and 134 two-bedroom units that will be furnished with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, individual washers and dryers and private balconies/patios. Amenities will include a pool, clubhouse, fitness center, conference area, dog park and outdoor grilling and dining stations. The borrower and developer is a joint venture between The Dolben Co. and Belmont Capital. The direct lender was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Derby Copeland Capital, a locally based lending and investment firm, has provided two acquisition loans totaling $20.8 million for a pair of Manhattan apartment buildings with a combined 51 units. In the first transaction, Derby Capital provided $17 million for a 31-unit building in the East Village that includes ground-floor retail space that is leased to Lucy’s Bar and Top Beauty Salon. In the second deal, the firm funded a $3.8 million loan for a 20-unit building in Rose Hill neighborhood. The undisclosed borrower(s) plans to use portions of the proceeds to fund capital improvements.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based firm Monadnock Development has completed 300 Huntington, a 136,000-square-foot mixed-use building in Brooklyn. Designed by Dattner Architects and Bernheimer Architecture, the building consists of 49,000 square feet of office space and 17,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, with the remainder dedicated for various industrial uses. The development also features an 8,700-square-foot esplanade that serves as a gateway to the Gowanus public waterfront park.
RIVER EDGE, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $3.1 million sale of River Edge Town Mall, a 21,537-square-foot retail property located about 15 miles northwest of Manhattan. The property sits on 1.5 acres and was fully leased to five tenants at the time of sale. Andy Schwartz, Jordan Sobel, Andre Balthazard and Dan Bottiglieri of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Kamack Associates LLC, and procured the undisclosed buyer in the transaction.
PHILADELPHIA — Spiezle Architectural Group has opened a 6,200-square-foot office at 615 Chestnut St. in downtown Philadelphia. The space features 30 seats and 26 open workstations for collaboration, as well as views of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Bob Reid will lead the new office as principal. Spiezle now operates six offices across the country.
NEW YORK CITY AND TORONTO — Affiliates of Blackstone (NYSE: BX) have entered into an agreement to acquire Tricon Residential (NYSE: TCN) for $3.5 billion in a deal that will take the Canadian owner-operator private. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter. One of the acquiring entities, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), already has an 11 percent ownership stake in Tricon Residential following a $240 million equity purchase in 2020. Under the terms of the deal, the New York City-based global asset manager will acquire all outstanding shares of Tricon’s common stock for $11.25 per share in cash. The per-share price represents a 30 percent premium over Tricon’s closing stock price on Thursday, Jan. 18 and a 42 percent premium over the weighted average share prices of the last 90 days. Blackstone intends to maintain and leverage the Tricon platform as it undertakes $1 billion of single-family residential development in the United States and $2.5 billion of traditional multifamily development in Canada. Tricon’s U.S. platform encompasses roughly 2,500 single-family residences in various stages of development, as well as numerous land holdings that can support an additional 21,000 homes. Tricon’s apartment development pipeline in Canada consists of …