NEW YORK CITY — Shawmut Design & Construction has signed a 27,015-square-foot office lease at 488 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The lease term is 15 years. The 23-story building was originally designed in 1949 and was known as the “The Look Building” for the defunct magazine that was its primary tenant until 1971. David Hollander and Jared Freede of CBRE represented the tenant represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. David Turino represented the landlord, The Feil Organization, on an internal basis.
What should potential landlords know about leasing space for cell towers or renegotiating their legacy leases? “Landlords need to understand what economic opportunity they have available to them,” says David Moore, CEO and principal at NAI Global Wireless. Involving cell tower lease consultants, especially for existing leases, and considering cell site buyouts are two powerful tools available to cell site landlords today. For decades, Moore explains, property owners have been willing to sign less-than-ideal agreements with carriers and tower companies. Over the years, landlords, thinking that just because these cell tower sites are small and out of the way or because they did not want to turn down “free money,” were willing to sign disadvantageous lease agreements. Landlords often do not understand the impact of signing a lease agreement with a potential term of 30 years (made up of five-year terms), especially when tenants might use leases to constrain certain real estate negotiations (including rights like tenant approval for buyers, rights of first refusal and noncompetition clauses). In many cases, tenants have the unilateral right to terminate their lease without notice, a right about which landlords frequently aren’t aware. Rent escalations, terms and conditions, inflation and more need to be …
In May, The White House announced its Housing Supply Action Plan to address rising housing costs by increasing the supply of housing in communities across the country over the next five years. The plan aims to create more housing of all asset types through new construction and preservation and singles out the importance of affordable housing, particularly in a time of high interest rates and inflation. The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout have uniquely impacted renters unlike previous times of economic uncertainty. Renter demand and rental rates have increased at the fastest pace in decades, underscoring the importance and urgency of increasing the stock of affordable rental housing. The Housing Supply Action Plan does just that. Specifically, the plan seeks to finance more than 800,000 affordable rental units by expanding and strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. Similar language was included in the Build Back Better Plan, which included a variety of actions aimed to bolster the lower and middle class with investments in housing, infrastructure and labor markets. This important piece of the proposed legislation would significantly increase resources that will ultimately expand the number of affordable units available. The Housing Supply Action Plan includes …
CARTERET, N.J. — Crow Holdings has broken ground on a 1.2 million-square-foot speculative industrial project in Northern New Jersey. Carteret Crow Holdings will be located on a 126-acre site just off Exit 12 of the New Jersey Turnpike and will consist of three buildings ranging in size from 335,000 to 480,000 square feet. Building features will include clear heights of 40 feet and a total of 179 car parking spaces, 174 dock doors and six drive-in ramps. Crow Holdings expects to deliver the first building in September, with full completion slated for the first quarter of 2023. Cushman & Wakefield is marketing the development for lease.
WOBURN, MASS. — Locally based firm Cabot, Cabot & Forbes has filed plans with the Planning Board of the City of Woburn, a northern suburb of Boston, to develop a 300,000-square-foot life sciences campus. Plans call for a 175,000-square-foot lab and office building and a 135,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. Cushman & Wakefield has been tapped to lease the project. The developer expects to receive the necessary permits and approvals by the end of the summer.
BOSTON — Atlantic Capital Partners, a division of brokerage firm Atlantic Retail, has arranged the $32.8 million sale of The Shops at Riverwood, a 78,484-square-foot retail center in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Developed in phases by Finard Properties, the center was fully leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Burger King, Starbucks, Boston Medical and Planet Fitness. Justin Smith, Chris Peterson, Sam Koonce, Cole Van Gelder and Ben Starr of Atlantic Capital Partners represented the buyer, Urban Edge Properties, and the seller in the transaction.
HAZLETON, PA. — CIT, a division of First Citizens Bank, has provided $17 million in construction financing for two industrial projects in Hazleton, located roughly midway between Scranton and Allentown. The sites are located within the 3,000-acre Humboldt Park and can support Class A developments of 105,000 and 115,000 square feet. The borrower was Saxum Real Estate.
YONKERS, N.Y. — Hapik, an indoor climbing concept, has opened a 10,000-square-foot gym in Yonkers, located north of New York City. The gym will be located in the Ridge Hill lifestyle center and will feature 50 different auto belay fun climbing walls ranging from beginner to advanced levels, two ropes courses and a snack bar. The gym is the fitness company’s third in the United States and its 25th worldwide, with 15 in France and seven in the United Kingdom.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — New York City-based developer Kushner has broken ground on One Journal Square, a 2 million-square-foot mixed-use project in Jersey City. The site is adjacent to Journal Square PATH Station, and the neighborhood name stems from the area’s history as a media and publishing hub. The centerpiece of the development will be two 64-story towers that will house a combined 1,723 apartments, 45,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenity space and a 40,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space that is fully preleased to an undisclosed tenant. One Journal Square will also include a new public plaza at its base facing John F. Kennedy Boulevard that will feature green space and seating areas for residents and visitors. Woods Bagot is the project architect, and AJD Construction is the general contractor. Phase I will center on the construction of 900 residential units and is expected to take approximately three years. Full completion of the project is scheduled for 2026. One Journal Square will feature an array of amenities that promote health and wellness. These will include an indoor and outdoor pool; fitness center with a yoga studio, sauna and spa; full-size basketball court; squash court; and a …
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Columbia Property Trust has completed the redevelopment of 95 Columbus, a 680,000-square-foot office building in Jersey City. The project centered on the revamping of the lobby to allow more natural light and provide more efficient seating and meeting areas. Columbia Property Trust also augmented the landscaping at the building’s entrance and upgraded the lobby’s windows and flooring, among other features. The developer also modernized various building systems to promote health and wellness, including the installation of touchless doors, bipolar ionization air filtration and destination dispatch elevators. Lastly, Columbia added a bike storage room, additional shower facilities and a 500-space attached garage. Cushman & Wakefield is leasing the building post-renovation.