NEEDHAM, MASS. — Fantini & Gorga, a mortgage banking firm based in metro Boston, has arranged $10 million in acquisition financing for a portfolio of four retail properties occupied by Walgreens in the Northeast. Three of the properties are located in Massachusetts, and the fourth is in New York. Casimir Groblewski and Colin Monahan of Fantini & Gorga arranged the debt through multiple banks on behalf of the borrower, Union Station LP, which acquired the portfolio via a 1031 exchange.
PITTSBURGH — JLL has negotiated the sale of a 125-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites hotel in Pittsburgh. The six-story hotel sits on a 1.7-acre site on the city’s south side and offers an indoor pool, fitness center, business center and 600 square feet of meeting and event space. Ketan Patel and Phil White of JLL represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction. The sales price was also not disclosed.
WATERTOWN, MASS. — Seven new tenants have committed to spaces at Arsenal Yards, a mixed-use development in Watertown, located roughly 10 miles outside Boston. Tea One Tea House, Skin Laundry, Restore Hyper Wellness and GNC have recently opened stores, and Blackbird Doughnuts is scheduled to open this fall. Chip City and Medium Rare have also signed leases at the development, with Chip City scheduled to open later this year. A partnership between Wilder Cos. and Boylston Properties owns Arsenal Yards.
NEW YORK CITY — Trading and technology firm GTS Securities has signed a two-year lease extension for its 30,094-square-foot office space at 545 Madison Avenue, a 17-story, 140,000-square-foot building in Manhattan’s Plaza District. The tenant’s footprint includes spaces on the 9th, 15th, 16th and 17th floors of the building, which is owned by Marx Realty. No third-party brokers were involved in the deal. Other tenants at 545 Madison Avenue include private equity firm Snow Phipps and Vialto Partners, a spinoff of PwC.
NORTHBOROUGH, MASS. — Colliers has brokered the $79 million sale of two industrial facilities totaling 387,544 square feet in Northborough, located outside of Worcester in central Massachusetts. According to LoopNet Inc., the warehouse at 301 Bartlett St. was built in 2018 and totals 220,106 square feet, and the facility at 150 Hayes Memorial Drive was constructed in 2020 and spans 167,438 square feet. Frank Petz, Matthew Sherry and Jack Barrett of Colliers represented the seller, Boston-based TA Realty, in the transaction. The buyer was industrial investment firm LBA Realty.
TOMS RIVER, N.J. — New Jersey-based developer Garden Communities has completed the lease-up of Green Meadows at Pleasant Plains, a 175-unit apartment complex located in the coastal New Jersey community of Toms River. The property, which is now fully occupied, offers a mix of two- and three-bedroom townhomes and one- and two-bedroom apartments. Select residences offer private balconies/patios. Amenities include a pool, fitness center, community room, playground and walking trails.
ELIZABETH AND ROSELLE, N.J. — Locally based financial intermediary Cronheim Mortgage has arranged $13.1 million in financing for two shopping centers totaling roughly 99,500 square feet in Northern New Jersey. Color Plaza, a 49,309-square-foot asset in Elizabeth, was approximately 95 percent leased to 12 tenants at the time of the loan closing. Roselle Commons was built in 2004 and is fully leased to 18 tenants, including Pep Boys, Green Grocer, Quest Diagnostics, GNC and T-Mobile. Andrew Stewart, Dev Morris and Allison Villamagna of Cronheim Mortgage originated the financing on behalf of the borrower, New Jersey-based Color Management. The direct lender was not disclosed.
NEWTON, MASS. — Newmark has brokered the sale of a 28,244-square-foot office complex located at 70 Wells Ave. in the western Boston suburb of Newton. The sales price was roughly $4 million. Robert Griffin, Joseph Alvarado, George Demoulas and Casey Valente of Newmark represented the seller, Wingate Cos., in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer, Legacy Real Estate Ventures.
NEW YORK CITY — Spanish fashion and fragrance retailer Puig has signed a 25,200-square-foot, long-term office headquarters lease at 45 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan. The company is relocating and expanding from a 12,762-square-foot space at 183 Madison Ave. to the 32nd floor of the 40-story building, which was originally constructed in 1935. Tishman Speyer owns 45 Rockefeller Plaza.
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Lee & Associates’ Second-Quarter 2023 Economic Review by Sector
Lee & Associates’ newly released 2023 Q2 North America Market Report outlines industrial, office, retail and multifamily outlooks trends in the United States. This sector-based review of commercial real estate trends for the second quarter of the year examines the difficulties facing each property type and where opportunities in the landscape may be emerging. Troubles with absorption dogged each sector, with the exception of retail, throughout the first half of 2023. Scheduled deliveries for industrial, office and multifamily indicate this trend will continue throughout much of the United States for the foreseeable future. Lee & Associates has made the full market report available here (with further breakdowns of factors like vacancy rates, market rents, inventory square footage and cap rates by city). The summaries from each sector below provide high-level considerations of the overall outlook and challenges in the market. Industrial Overview: Industrial Growth on Track for Least Gain in Years In a reversal from the ballooning logistics capacities required during the pandemic, demand for industrial space has slowed across North America. After continuously rebuilding inventories from the fall of 2021 through the third quarter of last year, many retailers and wholesalers are taking a breather, pausing further inventory accumulation out of caution over …