NEW YORK CITY — DiamondRock Hospitality Co. (NYSE: DRH), a Maryland-based REIT, has sold the 725-room Lexington Hotel in Midtown Manhattan for $185.3 million, or roughly $256,000 per room. The sales price represents a cap rate of 5.4 percent based on the hotel’s 2019 net operating income. The Lexington Hotel features multiple meeting and event spaces. DiamondRock intends to invest the net proceeds from the sale in resort and urban lifestyle hotels. The buyer was locally based hospitality owner-operator MCR.
SOMERSET, N.J. — Brookfield Asset Management has acquired a 15.3-acre site at 425-429 Elizabeth Ave. in the Northern New Jersey community of Somerset for the development of a 176,000-square-foot warehouse. Elli Klapper, Charles Berger, Mark Silverman, Bill Waxman, Kevin Dudley and David Gheriani of CBRE represented Brookfield in its acquisition of the land. Construction is set to begin at some point in 2022.
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. — General contractor DJ Royce Construction Corp. will renovate Renaissance Hills, a 656-unit affordable housing community located in the Long Island village of Hauppauge. Hicksville, N.Y.-based Mark Design Studios designed the redevelopment, which included upgrades to unit interiors and amenity spaces. The property’s amenity package now consists of two pools, a sports court, dog park, outdoor grilling areas, a playground and a fitness and wellness center. Construction is set to begin this fall.
NEW YORK CITY — Columbia Property Trust is underway on the renovation of 149 Madison Avenue, a 114,000-square-foot office building in Midtown Manhattan’s Nomad neighborhood. The 12-story building was originally constructed in 1916. The redevelopment includes enhanced retail storefronts, windows and lobby, as well as the addition of new amenities such as a multi-purpose lounge and a fitness and wellness center. Gensler is the architect of the project, which is slated for completion by the end of the year.
NEW YORK CITY — Houlihan-Parnes Realtors LLC has received a $3.3 million loan for the refinancing of a 10,000-square-foot retail property in the Inwood area of Manhattan. A local bank provided the loan, which was structured with a fixed interest rate of 3.5 percent for the first 24 months of the five-year term and the option to extend the loan for an additional five years. Houlihan-Parnes owns the property in partnership with ISJ Management.
Content PartnerFeaturesLeasing ActivityMidwestMultifamilyNortheastSoutheastTexasWalker & DunlopWestern
Re-Evaluating Valuations: One Year Later
Four months into the pandemic, Meghan Czechowski, valuation lead for Apprise by Walker & Dunlop and managing director of the Midwest Region, advised multifamily appraisers not to jump to conclusions about the long-term impacts of the pandemic. “We did advise caution, and it ended up playing exactly the way we thought it would: results differed market by market and asset by asset. That’s how we approach valuation at Apprise to start with, and that approach is how most of the appraisal industry wound up valuing multifamily throughout the pandemic.” Over a year after her initial assessment, Meghan spoke again to REBusinessOnline about what has changed in the world of multifamily appraisals and where those changes are trending. Incorporating Valuation Data from 2020 Early in 2020, there was a general assumption that there would be a discount in multifamily values, but there were no sales to support that assumption until June/July of last year when sales comps appeared on properties in most markets. Now it is essential to ensure that the data Apprise collects reflects the current reality. Once the shutdowns ended, data collection became easier. Czechowski says that real-time information allowed for an even better way to understand, analyze and …
By Taylor Williams As consumers throughout the Northeast move closer to returning to their pre-pandemic lifestyles, unleashing pent-up demand on the retail, restaurant and entertainment sectors, owners of mixed-use properties are gaining a renewed appreciation for local concepts that create a special sense of identity. Of course, the inclusion of local uses and concepts in the larger overall retail tenant base is nothing new in the world of mixed-use development. And sources agree that having some marquee, national brands is also a critical ingredient in the recipe for a successful retail roster and experience. “High-quality retail creates places where people want to live and work, but unless you’re committed to doing a couple hundred thousand square feet, most of your retail component is going to be food and beverage (F&B),” says George Banks, founder of Revel, an Atlanta-based firm that provides food hall consulting services. “Everybody loves Shake Shack and Jeni’s [Splendid Ice Creams], but we advise our mixed-use clients to go as hyper-local as possible when it comes to F&B.” But in general, the COVID-19 pandemic hit local mom-and-pop operators, which often lacked the cash and credit to cover their revenue losses, much harder than their national counterparts. More …
BOSTON — Shawmut Design & Construction has completed the renovation of the 312-room historic Langham hotel in Boston. The building was originally constructed in the early 1920s to house The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and was designated as a historic landmark in 1978. Renovations included the addition of a new entrance canopy and awnings, a refurbished concierge and lounge area, a new staircase and upgraded finishes in guestroom corridors and other common areas. In addition, Shawmut renovated all of the hotel’s guestrooms, as well as the ballroom and the property’s multiple food and beverage spaces.
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. —Qualcomm has signed a 95,579-square-foot office lease extension at Somerset Corporate Center V in Bridgewater, located in the central part of the Garden State. The San Diego-based tech giant has been a tenant at the five-building, 1.2 million-square-foot campus since 2007. New York City-based SJP Properties owns Somerset Corporate Center. The campus includes a 170,000-square-foot athletic facility, a 31,000-square-foot coworking space, a 150-room AC Hotel by Marriott and multiple food and beverage options. Somerset Corporate Center is also located near both Newark International Airport and New York City and offers access to public transportation, including shuttle service to the Somerville train station just two miles from the property.
NEW HAVEN, CONN. — Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. (MMCC) has arranged an $8.6 million CMBS loan for a portfolio of eight multifamily properties totaling 99 units in New Haven. Robert Noeldechen arranged the nonrecourse loan, which includes five years of interest-only payments, on behalf of the locally based borrower, Pike International. The direct lender was not disclosed.