PHILADELPHIA — Puttshack, an entertainment concept that combines mini golf with food and beverages, will open a 26,000-square-foot entertainment venue in Philadelphia. The facility will be located within The Shops at Liberty Place in the Center City district and will house four tech-driven courses, two bars and private event space. The opening is slated for summer 2023. Metropolis Investment Holdings Inc. owns the property. Puttshack currently operates facilities in Atlanta and Chicago and plans to open new venues in Boston and Miami this summer.
PENNSVILLE, N.J. — A partnership between California-based CT Realty and PGIM Real Estate will develop Garden State Logistics Park, a 1.7 million-square-foot industrial park that will be located in Pennsville, about 40 miles south of Philadelphia. Garden State Logistics Park will consist of two buildings totaling roughly 1.2 million and 500,000 square feet. The buildings will be situated on 282 acres and will feature clear heights of 40 feet. Brian Fiumara of CBRE brokered the sale of the land. CBRE has also been tapped to lease the development. Completion is slated for the third quarter of 2023.
BOSTON — The Wentworth Institute of Technology, a private university founded in Boston in 1904, will open a 640,000-square-foot life sciences facility at 500 Huntington Ave. in the city’s Longwood Medical District. Wentworth has selected a joint venture between The Fallon Co., Owens Cos. and Waldwin Development Co. to develop the property. The project is expected to create about 1,900 construction jobs and 1,500 full-time jobs upon completion. A construction timeline for the development, which will include retail and restaurant space, has not yet been finalized.
WILMINGTON, DEL. — 3650 REIT, a Miami-based direct lender, has provided an $85 million loan for the refinancing of WSFS Bank Center, a 371,000-square-foot office building in Wilmington, about 30 miles south of Philadelphia. Developed by Buccini/Pollin Group in 2006, the property serves as the corporate headquarters of WSFS Bank. David Strongwater of Lantern Real Estate placed the loan, which carries a 120-month term, with 3650 REIT on behalf of Buccini/Pollin.
VOORHEES, N.J. — New Jersey-based First National Realty Partners (FNRP) has acquired Eagle Plaza, a 227,000-square-foot shopping center in Voorhees, located in the southern part of the Garden State. A 66,500-square-foot Acme grocery store anchors the center. Other tenants include Ross Dress for Less, Wine Warehouse, Mattress Firm, T-Mobile, Chipotle, H&R Block, Allstate, Sherwin-Williams and South Jersey Federal Credit Union. Brad Nathanson of Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — JLL has arranged a $25.5 million loan for the refinancing of Nest Micro Apartments, a multifamily complex in Jersey City. Built in 2021, Nest Micro consists of 122 studio apartments and 1,350 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Matthew Pizzolato, Max Custer, Michael Oliver and Salvatore Buzzerio of JLL arranged the loan through Argentic Investment Management on behalf of the borrower, an entity doing business as 190 Academy Urban Renewal LLC.
By Taylor Williams As the pandemic recedes from the minds and wallets of American consumers, the food and beverage (F&B) industry finds itself embroiled in a host of new financial problems, driven this time by pure economics rather than public health. Inflation and supply chain disruption are working both in tandem and within independent channels to bring new hardships to the sector, mainly in the form of elevated costs and delayed timelines for operating and expanding restaurants of all types. At the same time, F&B owners and operators finds themselves awash with pent-up demand to dine out, drink, socialize and enjoy entertainment attractions and activities. Meanwhile, across the Northeast, quality F&B spaces that went dark during the first 18 months of the pandemic have largely been reabsorbed. That confluence of circumstances encapsulates major incentives and opportunities for landlords to raise rents. Add in the fact that these property owners have in many cases been operating on deferred, reduced or restructured rent payment schedules for much or all of the last two years, and the move to push F&B rents is even more justifiable. For owners of traditional retail product — from power centers to neighborhood strip malls to single-tenant, net-leased …
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Build-to-Rent Planning and Entitlements: How to Avoid Challenges
The build-to-rent (BTR) property type has gained significant traction in the commercial real estate market due to increasing interest from tenants, investors and developers. Developers moving into the BTR market before 2020 originally focused on this sector as an “in between” product for future home buyers who weren’t ready to commit to a single location but wanted additional space and amenities. The pandemic fueled tenants’ desires for more privacy and space without the long-term commitment of homeownership, which ignited growth in the sector. As costs for single-family homes continue to rise, the BTR niche also increasingly attracts would-be homeowners who are priced out of the homebuying market — and the growing demand for BTR properties draws the attention of more and more investors and developers. But not all stakeholders are immediately on board with development of BTR properties. The concept is rather new in some markets and local communities have questions about the zoning and operation of these hybrid communities, which are an intriguing mix of single-family concept and multifamily operations. Developers often need to educate municipalities about the BTR concept — and they need to plan BTR properties that work for the local community. This is where Bohler — a land …
DREXEL HILL, PA. — JLL has arranged a $43 million loan for Drexeline Town Center, an office and retail redevelopment project located on the western outskirts of Philadelphia. The 18.5-acre site currently houses five retail and office buildings that were originally constructed between the early 1950s and 2000s. The borrower, a partnership between Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate and New Jersey-based Hampshire Cos., plans to redevelop the center into a mixed-use destination. Initial plans call for a 172-unit apartment complex, a 120,000-square-foot self-storage facility, a 72,000-square-foot ShopRite grocery store, a PNC bank branch, a Wawa convenience store and fuel station and 20,440 square feet of pad and inline retail space. Jon Mikula, Michael Klein and Michael Lachs of JLL placed the loan through Investors Bank, a division of Citizens Bank.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — JD.com, a global e-commerce firm based in Beijing, has signed a 216,892-square-foot industrial lease in the Northern New Jersey community of Piscataway. Indianapolis-based REIT Duke Realty (NYSE: DRE) is developing the facility, which will feature a clear height of 40 feet and 38 trailer parking spaces, with a target completion date of this fall. Noah Balanoff and Jacquelyn Severino of Colliers, along with internal agents Ben Rosen and Gregg Bazzani, represented Duke Realty in the lease negotiations. Chuck Fern, Jason Barton and Thomas Tucci of Cushman & Wakefield, along with Andy Ho of Kander Pacific Inc., represented the tenant.