MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — CBRE has brokered the $37 million sale of Northgate Apartments, a 179-unit multifamily complex in Middletown. Built in phases between 1969 and 1972, the property offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units with an average size of 888 square feet. Amenities include a pool, fitness center and a leasing office. Simon Butler, Biria St. John and John McLaughlin of CBRE represented the seller, an affiliate of Boston-based Eden Properties, in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer.
Northeast
EAST ORANGE, N.J. — Hudson Atlantic Realty has arranged the $15.6 million sale of a portfolio of four multifamily properties totaling 96 units in the Northern New Jersey community of East Orange. The sales price equates to $162,500 per unit. All four properties are located near the city’s downtown area and recently received renovations to their unit interiors, including new floors, upgraded kitchens and onsite laundry facilities. The buyer and seller were not disclosed.
SALEM, N.H. — Tuscan Brands has welcomed new tenants to Tuscan Village, its 170-acre flagship shopping, dining and entertainment destination located north of Boston in Salem, New Hampshire. Nike (15,000 square feet) and Chick-fil-A (5,000 square feet) both recently opened, and Mass General Brigham will open a primary and specialty care medical facility later this summer. The Container Store will launch a 15,000-square-foot store this winter. Other tenants that have committed to Tuscan Village include T-Mobile, Xfinity, Crumbl Cookies, Banfield Pet Hospital, LensCrafters and Bennett’s Sandwich Shop.
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 …
Multifamily Industry Must Band Together to Navigate Challenges in Affordable Housing
by Jaime Lackey
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.