PHILADELPHIA — Keystone Property Group has landed a new life sciences tenant at The Curtis, the metro Philadelphia-based developer’s 912,245-square-foot facility in Philadelphia that is a redevelopment of a former printing press. Aro Biotherapeutics Co., a developer of genetic medicines, has committed to an undisclosed amount of space at the 12-story building. Bob Zwengler, Anthony Pell, Matt Knowles and Paul Touhey of CBRE represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Tim Conrey, Lisa Berger Baskin and K.J. Kulik of Scheer Partners represented Keystone.
ERIE AND MECHANICSBURG, PA. — HJ Sims has arranged $47.6 million in financing for Bethany Village Retirement Center and Springhill, two seniors housing properties that are respectively located in Mechanicsburg and Erie. Bethany Village includes two campuses with 400 independent living units, 100 assisted living units, a 69-bed skilled nursing center and amenities. Springhill features 158 independent living and 35 personal care units, plus an 80-bed skilled nursing facility. The loans refinance bonds from 2012 and include a $20.4 million bank loan and tax-exempt, fixed-rate bonds totaling $27.2 million. The borrower was Asbury Communities Inc.
WOODBRIDGE, N.J. — New Jersey-based brokerage firm The Kislak Co. Inc. has negotiated the sales of three multifamily properties totaling 88 units in various parts of New Jersey. The three assets sold for a combined $9 million. The properties include the 41-unit East Park Apartments in Vineland, located in the southern part of the state; the 30-site Farrell Place Manufactured Home Community in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill; and a 17-unit complex in the Northern New Jersey community of East Orange. Joni Sweetwood of Kislak represented the sellers and procured the buyers in all three deals.
ASBURY PARK, N.J. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a site located at 1001 First Ave. in the coastal city of Asbury Park that is entitled for the development of 80 multifamily units. The sales price was approximately $2.2 million. Development plans for the 57,000-square-foot parcel also include two ground-floor retail spaces and 94 parking spots. Chez Eider, Fahri Ozturk and Richard Gatto of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which were private investors that requested anonymity, in the transaction.
PITTSBURGH — ibex, a Washington, D.C.-based provider of global technology solutions, has signed a 32,528-square-foot lease at Penn Center East, an office and retail campus in Pittsburgh. The campus features a tenant lounge, fitness facility and conference center. Dan Adamski and Nick Francic of JLL represented ibex, which plans to hire about 400 people to its regional workforce, in the lease negotiations. The name and representative of the landlord were not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc. (BREIT) has entered into an agreement to acquire Toronto-based WPT Industrial REIT for a cash price of US$3.1 billion. That figure includes the assumption of the publicly traded Canadian REIT’s corporate debt. Under the terms of the deal, shareholders of WPT Industrial will receive US$22 for each share of common stock they own. That figure represents a premium of 17 percent over the closing price of WPT Industrial’s stock on Friday, Aug. 6, the last day of trading prior to the merger announcement. The price per share also marks a 19.5 percent premium over the Canadian REIT’s weighted average unit price for the 30-day period that ended on Aug. 6. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. “Logistics continues to benefit from strong tailwinds driven by e-commerce,” says David Levine, senior managing director at Blackstone. “We look forward to expanding our logistics presence across key U.S. markets with the acquisition of this high-quality portfolio that WPT has built.” WPT Industrial owns, develops and manages warehouse and distribution facilities throughout the United States. The company’s U.S. footprint consists of 109 properties totaling approximately 37.5 million square feet of …
NEW YORK CITY — MSCI (NYSE: MSCI), a New York City-based global finance firm, has entered into an agreement to acquire Real Capital Analytics (RCA) for $950 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the late third or early fourth quarter. MSCI’s products and services include providing equity, fixed-income debt, stock market indexes and multi-asset portfolio analysis tools. Founded in 2000, New York City-based RCA provides a range of data and research services for commercial real estate owners and investors on a global basis. MSCI executives noted that the acquisition would significantly bolster the firm’s suite of real estate-based products and solutions by leveraging RCA’s platform that tracks more than $20 trillion in commercial transactions and features more than 200,000 lender and investor profiles. “With the addition of RCA’s wealth of commercial real estate data and analytics, investors will be better supported to access the opportunities that exist within this sector at scale, informed by industry-leading insights and the premier global database capturing the global commercial real estate footprint,” says Henry Fernandez, chairman and CEO of MSCI. “Our primary goal has always been to bridge the information gap between commercial real estate and other asset classes across …
NEWARK, N.J. — PGIM Real Estate, the real estate investment and financing business of PGIM, has provided $178 million in fixed-rate debt for the refinancing of a national portfolio of five manufactured housing communities. The properties total 1,731 sites and are located in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois and Florida. Amenities of the portfolio, which was 99 percent occupied at the time of the loan closing, include pools, fitness centers, putting greens, clubhouses, bocce ball courts and dog parks. In addition, four of the five properties feature age restrictions. The borrower was Chicago-based Hometown America. Bellwether Enterprise arranged the debt.
BELLINGHAM, MASS. — Restaurant equipment and foodservices supplier TriMark USA LLC has signed a 345,000-square-foot, full-building industrial lease at Bellingham Distribution Center, located about 40 miles southwest of Boston. Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. developed the building, which features a clear height of 36 feet, 130-foot truck court depths and 227 car parking spaces, in partnership with global investment manager Barings. Ed Jarosz and Rick Schuhwerk of Newmark represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Ellison Patten and James Tambone of Lincoln Property Co. represented the landlord on an internal basis.
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a 100,984-square-foot industrial building in the Upstate New York city of Binghamton. The property sits on 7.3 acres and was leased to aerospace and defense firm L3 Harris on a triple-net basis at the time of sale. Adam Abushagur of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a private investor, in the transaction. Marcus & Millichap also procured the buyer, Spirit Realty Capital. The sales price was not disclosed.