MARLBOROUGH, MASS. — Atlanta-based developer Wood Partners has broken ground on Alta French Hill, a 276-unit apartment complex that will be located in the western Boston suburb of Marlborough. Units will come in one, two- and three-bedroom floor plans and will be furnished with stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, wood-style flooring and individual washers and dryers. Amenities will include a pool, fitness center, dog park, resident lounge and outdoor grilling and dining areas. Alta French Hill will also house 10,000 square feet of retail space. Preleasing will begin in 2024, with the first move-ins scheduled to begin in February 2025.
BELLEVILLE, N.J. — Locally based brokerage firm The Kislak Co. Inc. has negotiated the $11.8 million sale of Brighton Estates, a 95-unit multifamily property located in the Northern New Jersey community of Belleville. Built in 1962 and recently renovated, Brighton Estates consists of three two-story buildings that house 13 studios, 66 one-bedroom units and 16 two-bedroom apartments. Tom Scatuorchio of Kislak represented the seller in the transaction. Andrew Scheinerman of Kislak procured the buyer. Both parties requested anonymity.
BURLINGTON, N.J. — IronLink Logistics, a third-party freight company formerly known as MD 3PL, has signed a 71,056-square-foot industrial lease in the Southern New Jersey community of Burlington. IronLink will occupy the entirety of a newly constructed building at 2609 Rancocas Road, which features a clear height of 32 feet. Nate Demetsky, Dean Torosian and Matt Kemery of JLL represented the landlord, metro Philadelphia-based developer Endurance Real Estate Group, in the lease negotiations. Casey Mungo of Daum Commercial represented the tenant.
TORRINGTON, CONN. — Colliers has brokered the sale of 245 Alvord Park, a 37,731-square-foot medical office complex in Torrington, a western suburb of Hartford. Litchfield Hills Orthopedic Associates, an affiliate of Hartford Healthcare, anchors the property. An entity doing business as IJAN 2 CT Realty LLC sold the asset to a partnership between Boston-based Sendero Capital and alternative asset manager Angelo Gordon for $8.1 million. Phil Gagnon, Ian Hunt and John Cafasso of Colliers brokered the deal.
Following the financial markets crash 15 years ago, banks and other lenders began working with commercial real estate (CRE) borrowers who had run into trouble. Solutions included loan extensions, loan sales, recapitalizations and foreclosures. Today lenders are pulling out the playbook again. “We have seen a huge number of loan workout deals come across our desk,” says Jeff Salladin, a managing director with Dallas-based private debt fund Revere Capital. “Any lender that holds loans on their books is seeing the same thing.” Back in 2008, dodgy and highly leveraged residential and CRE loans — along with the emergence of exceedingly risky debt derivatives created by Wall Street — eventually crashed, causing the credit market to collapse. Today credit is still available, but the cost of it has spiked over the last 18 months. Consequently, many commercial properties owners have seen values plummet, making it difficult to find refinancing. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s (FDIC) imminent auction of Signature Bank’s $33 billion in commercial property loans and other assets is expected to attract bids as much as 40 percent below face value, according to The Wall Street Journal. That’s just the latest gloomy bellwether regarding CRE values and underscores the predicament …
NEW YORK CITY — Steve Cohen, owner of the New York Mets baseball team, will develop Metropolitan Park, an $8 billion sports-anchored entertainment district in Queens. The development will occupy the 50 acres surrounding the team’s ballpark, Citi Field. The land is currently vacant. Plans for the project include a food hall, an entertainment complex including a Hard Rock hotel, live music venue and gaming, 20 acres of open green space, five acres of community athletic fields and playgrounds, new connections to the waterfront, a renovated mass transit station and improved roads, bike paths and parking infrastructure. Hard Rock International will partner with Cohen for the development, and the project team includes SHoP Architects, landscape architect Field Operations and design and construction firm McKissack. Metropolitan Park is expected to create roughly 15,000 permanent and construction jobs, according to Hard Rock. A construction timeline was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based firm Simone Development Cos. will undertake a 1.8 million-square-foot expansion of Hutchinson Metro Center, a mixed-use development located in the Morris Park neighborhood of The Bronx. Specific plans for the expansion are still being finalized, but the development can support additional life sciences, technology, healthcare and academic space, as well as hospitality, housing and retail uses. Upon completion, Hutchinson Metro Center will consist of more than 4 million square feet across 75 acres.
YONKERS, N.Y. — MediaPro North America, a provider of Spanish programming, in partnership with Great Point Media, has broken ground on a new film and entertainment production studio at 1500 N. Broadway in Yonkers, a northern suburb of New York City. The campus will feature three sound stages totaling 20,000 square feet, as well as post-production facilities and other amenities to support a range of media production and entertainment endeavors. First Citizens Bank provided construction financing for the project. Completion is slated for next fall.
NEWVILLE, PA. — Northmarq has negotiated the sale of Big Spring Terrace, a 159-unit manufactured housing community in Newville, about 140 miles west of Philadelphia. The property was originally constructed on a 94-acre site in 1975 and was roughly 94 percent occupied at the time of sale. Anthony Pino and Ari Azarbarzin of Northmarq represented the seller, Pennsylvania-based Big Springs Properties, in the transaction. The buyer and sales price were not disclosed.
UPPER DARBY, PA. — Dwight City Group, the investment arm of New York City-based lender Dwight Capital, has completed a multifamily adaptive reuse project in Upper Darby, a western suburb of Philadelphia. The project converted a 125,000-square-foot warehouse at 901 Quarry St. that was constructed in 1925 and had been dormant for three decades into an 84-unit apartment complex. The complex now features one- and two-bedroom units and amenities such as a playground and dog park. Rents start at roughly $1,500 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.