Northeast

NEW YORK CITY — U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG has unveiled plans to relocate its headquarters to Two Manhattan West, a new office building under construction in Midtown Manhattan’s West Side neighborhood. The 58-story tower is part of Brookfield Properties’ 7 million-square-foot Manhattan West mixed-use development. KPMG’s new space at Two Manhattan West is slated for completion in late 2025. The firm will relocate its roughly 5,500 New York-based employees and lease approximately 450,000 square feet. The new lease signing represents a more than 40 percent decrease in KPMG’s existing New York office space, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reports that KPMG is pursuing a hybrid work strategy where employees are expected to gather at company or client offices on some days. The firm is following suit of a number of companies that have downsized office footprints in exchange for nicer space following the pandemic. KPMG currently occupies space at 345 Park Ave., its headquarters, as well as 560 Lexington Ave. and 1350 Sixth Ave. The firm has been based in New York City since its inception in 1897. “As we celebrate our 125th anniversary and think about our firm’s future, this is an incredible …

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While rising interest rates, inflation and economic volatility have hurt many sectors of the economy, the rental housing market has maintained solid footing, according to Arbor Realty Trust’s Summer 2022 Special Report: Rental Housing Market Exhibits Cyclical Stability, Contains Structural Questions. The report was written by Ivan Kaufman, Arbor’s chairman and CEO, and Sam Chandan, founder of Chandan Economics. In a time of economic uncertainty, renting has become more appealing. Households seeking an affordable place to live, those who are delaying homeownership and others who prefer the flexibility and amenities associated with multifamily units all add to the increasing numbers of potential renters. Less traditional factors may also increase interest in renting, especially outside of tier-one markets. The expansion of work-from-home (WFH) culture is likely to be another reason rental demand is high right now. Meanwhile, the flexibility to work where the cost of living is lower and space is at less of a premium is pushing some renters who work remotely to explore living outside traditional hotspots. Economic Uncertainty Spreads as Interest Rate, Inflation Rise The Arbor Realty Trust report highlights a host of factors that are leading to economic uncertainty. Inflation (and its secondary effects) are contributing to …

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WORCESTER, MASS. — Shawmut Design & Construction has topped out a $325 million academic building that will be part of the UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester. The nine-story, 350,000-square-foot building will primarily be used to house and conduct biomedical research. Construction originally began in November 2020 and is slated to be complete in 2024.

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CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. — LCOR, a developer with three offices in the Mid-Atlantic region, has begun leasing The Birch, a 304-unit apartment community located in the northern Philadelphia suburb of Conshohocken. The property offers studio, one- and two-bedroom units and 17,000 square feet of amenity space that houses a pool, fitness center, lounges and a golf simulator. Rents start at $1,755 per month for a studio apartment. The first move-ins will begin on Sept. 1.

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ALLENTOWN, PA. — Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital has arranged a $20 million loan for the renovation and construction of Cityplace North & South, a 204-unit apartment complex in the Lehigh Valley city of Allentown. The North Building is a conversion of a hotel into apartments that opened in early 2020, and the South Building is ground-up construction. An undisclosed life insurance company provided the loan. The borrower was also not disclosed.

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CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) has welcomed several new tenants to Cherry Mill Mall in metro Philadelphia. Apparel brands Psycho Bunny and Levi’s have signed leases for 2,390 and 3,000 square feet with plans to open in mid-2023 and late 2022, respectively. Seafood restaurant Eddie V’s has also committed to 8,685 square feet and is targeting a spring 2023 opening. Laura Pomerantz of Cushman & Wakefield represented Levi’s in the lease negotiations. Steve Gartner and Drew Schaul of CBRE represented Psycho Bunny, and David Orkin, also with CBRE, represented Eddie V’s.

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HOLMDEL, N.J. — LT Apparel, a manufacturer of children’s clothing, has opened a 13,086-square-foot office within Campus, a 72,000-square-foot flexible workspace located within the Bell Works mixed-use development in the Central New Jersey community of Holmdel. Jeff Garibaldi, Tara Keating and Lindsey Florio of The Garibaldi Group represented the landlord, Inspired by Somerset Development, in the lease negotiations. Global cloud communications firm Vonage has also committed to an undisclosed amount of space at Campus, which houses breakout rooms and conference facilities.

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TRUMBULL, CONN. — New York City-based brokerage firm Rosewood Realty Group has negotiated the $101 million sale of The Royce at Trumbull, a 339-unit multifamily property located in southern Connecticut’s Fairfield County. AvalonBay Communities originally developed the property, which houses one-, two- and three-bedroom units, in 1997. Jonathan Brody of Rosewood Realty Group represented the seller, a partnership between Sym Investments and Skywood Properties, which acquired the asset in spring 2021 for $82 million. Brody also procured the buyer, Massachusetts-based Colony Hills Capital. The Royce at Trumbull was 99 percent occupied at the time of sale.  

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MIDDLETOWN, DEL. — Alcohol distributor Breakthru Beverage Group has opened a 282,500-square-foot distribution facility in Middletown, located in Delaware’s New Castle County. The facility features a clear height of 36 feet and a 29,350-square-foot, temperature-controlled room for cold storage, as well as 29,790 square feet of offices, training and break rooms. Lastly, the facility houses an experience center where clients can taste new products. MRP Industrial developed the project, with Ware Malcomb and Penntex Construction respectively serving as the architect and general contractor.

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LAWRENCE, MASS. — Reed Community Partners has completed Pac10 Lofts, an affordable housing project that will be located in the northern Boston suburb of Lawrence. Of the 180 units, 18 are reserved for households earning 30 percent or less of the area median income (AMI); 112 earmarked for renters earning 60 percent or less of AMI; and 40 are workforce housing units for households earning up to 80 percent of AMI. The remaining 10 residences will be rented at market rates. MassHousing recently provided $40.8 million in permanent financing for the community, which the development team expects to be fully leased by the end of the year. Rogue Architecture PLLC designed the community, and LaRosa Construction Co. served as the general contractor.

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