NEW YORK CITY — Verizon has signed a 140,000-square-foot office lease to be an office anchor tenant at Essex Crossing, a 2 million-square-foot mixed-use development under construction on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Josh Kuriloff, Andrew Braver and Peyton Horn of Cushman & Wakefield represented Verizon in the lease negotiations. Taconic Partners is developing Essex Crossing in partnership with L+M Development Partners, BFC Partners, The Prusik Group and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The development will ultimately comprise 350,000 square feet of office space, along with 1,000 residences, 300,000 square feet of retail space and 100,000 square feet of green space.
Northeast
MOORESTOWN, N.J. —OPEX, a manufacturer of automated machines, has purchased a 115,422-square-foot industrial building at 1224 N. Main St. in the Southern New Jersey city of Moorestown. Situated on eight acres, the property features a clear height of 22 feet and 12 loading docks, as well as proximity to Interstate 295, the New Jersey Turnpike and State Route 38. Scott Mertz of NAI Mertz represented the buyer, which will also occupy the building, in the transaction. The seller was Northbridge Partners.
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Demographic, Economic Trends Likely to Sustain Build-For-Rent Sector’s Growth
Institutional investors have been increasingly interested in the build-for-rent (BFR) space over the last five years. But the pandemic poured gasoline on an asset class that offers tenants space, privacy and the flexibility of renting. Now that COVID appears to be receding in some areas, can the BFR sector maintain its growth? Paul Garner, director at Walker & Dunlop, believes that demographic and economic trends will maintain the demand for BFR, especially in the Sun Belt states, for the near future. Opportunities for Growth and a Focus on the Sun Belt Garner sees the most potential for BFR growth in suburban areas — particularly those located 15 to 20 minutes outside of a metropolitan statistical area. The economic growth and increasing populations of nearby cities determine whether suburban BFR setups will attract tenants. According to Garner, the dedicated BFR/single-family rental (SFR) team at Walker & Dunlop has started to see a lot of action similar to what they saw on the West Coast (especially in Arizona) four or five years ago. He notes, “BFR properties are becoming increasingly popular all throughout the Sun Belt states, especially Florida and the Carolinas. There’s a potential in this area to get land very, …
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based firm JDS Development Group has topped out The Brooklyn Tower, a 93-story residential tower that connects to the historic Dime Bank Savings Building in the borough’s downtown area. Designed by SHoP Architects and rising 1,066 feet, Brooklyn Tower will house 150 residences for sale and 400 units for rent, as well as approximately 100,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Thirty percent of the rentals will be designated as affordable housing. Sales are scheduled to begin in early 2022, and leasing is slated to begin in mid-2022. The development team expects the first units to be available for occupancy in late 2022.
PRINCETON, N.J. — Virginia-based AvalonBay Communities (NYSE: AVB) has purchased two office buildings totaling approximately 110,000 square feet in Princeton with plans to redevelop the site into a 221-unit apartment community and an 80-unit affordable seniors housing property. The future development will feature a four-story apartment building with an elevator, as well as three-story walk-up buildings and high-end luxury rental townhomes. A construction timeline was not disclosed. Jeffrey Dunne, Jeremy Neuer, Steven Bardsley, David Gavin, Travis Langer and Zach McHale of CBRE represented the previous owner and seller buildings, KABR Group, which bought the property in 2018 and shortly thereafter executed a sales contract with AvalonBay.
MIDDLESEX, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the sale of a 400,000-square-foot industrial facility in Middlesex, about 40 miles southwest of New York City. Built on 30.3 acres in 2021, the property offers a clear height of 36 feet, 38 loading positions, 334 car and 281 van parks and 130-foot truck court depths. Gary Gabriel, Kyle Schmidt, David Bernhaut, Ryan Larkin, Jules Nissim and Kimberly Bach of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Rockefeller Group, in the transaction. A fund sponsored by CBRE Investment Management acquired the asset for an undisclosed price.
EAST HAVEN, CONN. — JLL has provided a $20.4 million Freddie Mac loan for the refinancing of 510 Main, a 214-unit multifamily asset in East Haven, located in the southern coastal part of the state. The property features studio and one-bedroom units that range in size from 425 to 482 square feet and include private balconies/patios. The amenity package consists of a fitness center, coffee bar, a Wi-Fi resident lounge and a package locker system. Elliott Throne, Mona Carlton, Alex Staikos and Amit Kakar of JLL originated the 10-year, fixed-rate loan on behalf of the borrower, Beachwold Residential.
NEW YORK CITY — Target will open a 90,000-square-foot store at Kings Plaza, an enclosed shopping center by California-based REIT Macerich (NYSE: MAC) in Brooklyn. Target will backfill a three-story anchor building previously occupied by J.C. Penney. An expected opening date was not released. Other retailers at Kings Plaza include Macy’s, Zara, Burlington, Primark and Michael Kors.
WOODBRIDGE, N.J. — Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. (NYSE: DRE) has broken ground on a 267,575-square-foot, build-to-suit cold storage project in the Northern New Jersey community of Woodbridge for FreezPak Logistics. The facility will consist of roughly 209,500 square feet of freezer space, a 45,760-square-foot cool dock and another 12,000 square feet of office space. The construction plan includes a clear height of 67 feet in the freezer and 30 feet in the cool dock area, as well as 34 dock doors, 70 trailer spaces and 167 automobile parking spaces. David Gheriani, William Waxman, Mindy Lissner and Kevin Dudley with CBRE, along with internal representative Ben Rosen, represented Duke Realty in the lease negotiations with FreezPak.
SOMERSET, N.J. — Denver-based EverWest Real Estate Investors has acquired a 125,790-square-foot industrial property in the Northern New Jersey community of Somerset for $27.7 million. Joel Lubin, John Buckley and Gary Politi of JLL, along with internal agent Stephen Feinberg, negotiated the deal on behalf of EverWest. The seller was Citgen Realty LLC. The Class A property was fully leased to drug developer Rising Pharma Holdings Inc. at the time of sale.