NEW YORK CITY — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the $64.7 million sale of The Metro Portfolio, a collection of six multifamily properties in Manhattan. Robert Shapiro, Andrew Berry, Michael Gembecki, Charlie Gravina, Austin Fabel and Nicholas Kontos of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Metro Management, in each transaction. The buyer was not disclosed.
ISELIN, N.J. — Opal Holdings LLC will renovate Metropark194, a 452,133-square-foot office building in the Northern New Jersey community of Iselin. Capital improvements to the nine-story, transit-served building will include an upgraded lobby, renovations to the café and the addition of a new fitness center. Avison Young will provide construction management services for the project. Construction is scheduled to begin before the end of November and to last about five months.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Cleeman Realty Group, an investment advisory firm with offices in New York City and Miami, has negotiated the sale of Airport Plaza, a 97,000-square-foot shopping center in Syracuse. The sales price was $4.2 million. Airport Plaza was fully leased at the time of sale. Sam Seelenfreund of Cleeman Realty represented the undisclosed buyer and seller in the off-market transaction.
STAMFORD, CONN. — Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) has signed a 71,484-square-foot office lease for its new headquarters at 677 Washington Blvd. in Stamford, located in the southern coastal part of Connecticut. The lease term is 12 years. The tobacco giant will relocate from 120 Park Avenue in Manhattan beginning in late 2022. Richard Bernstein and Steven Baker of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Peter Duncan and Dana Pike represented the landlord, George Comfort & Sons, on an internal basis.
EAST ORANGE, N.J. — Locally based brokerage firm Gebroe-Hammer Associates has negotiated the $113 million sale of a 641-unit workforce housing portfolio in the Northern New Jersey community of East Orange. The portfolio consists of 10 transit-oriented properties that are all located within two miles of one another in the city’s downtown area. Milrose, a private investment group based in Central New Jersey, sold the portfolio to Spaxel. Joseph Brecher, David Oropeza and Niko Nicolaou of Gebroe-Hammer brokered the deal.
LEHIGH COUNTY, PA. — G.S. Wilcox, a commercial mortgage banking firm based in Northern New Jersey, has arranged a $44 million construction loan for a 70,000-square-foot healthcare project in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. The exact location of the single-tenant project was not disclosed. Wesley Wilcox of G.S. Wilcox arranged the fixed-rate loan, which carried a 23-year term, on behalf of the undisclosed borrower.
ALLENDALE, N.J. — New Jersey-based investment firm Tryko Partners has acquired The Allendale Community for Senior Living, a 299-bed facility located in Northern New Jersey’s Bergen County. The 146,000-square-foot facility was built in the 1960s and offers skilled nursing, assisted living and memory care services. The seller and sales price were not disclosed.
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.
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.
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, …
