DARIEN, CONN. — Fantini & Gorga, a Boston-based mortgage banking firm, has arranged a $17.2 million loan for the refinancing of Hollow Tree Self Storage, a 90-unit facility in the southern coastal city of Darien. The facility spans 83,595 net rentable square feet and includes outdoor vehicle storage space. Casimir Groblewski of Fantini & Gorga arranged the loan through an undisclosed, locally based bank on behalf of the borrower, Connecticut-based Affordable Self Storage Inc.
NORWALK, CONN. — Shawmut Design & Construction has topped off the 24,000-square-foot office headquarters building for global luxury vinyl tile manufacturer HMTX Industries in Norwalk, located in the southern coastal part of the state. The facility will be situated on two acres and will include design studios and galleries. Construction of the four-story building began in June and is scheduled to be complete in 2022.
NEW YORK CITY — Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) has entered into an agreement to acquire 360 Park Avenue South, a 450,000-square-foot office building in Midtown Manhattan, for $300 million. The 20-story building is currently fully leased to a single tenant that will vacate the property at the end of the year. Boston Properties will subsequently implement a capital improvement program. The company expects to close on the asset in December. The seller was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based developer Lightstone Group has received $130 million in construction financing for Lightstone Moxy, a 303-room hotel that will be located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. MSD Partners LP, an affiliate of the private investment firm of tech magnate Michael Dell, provided a $90 million senior loan for the 16-story project. Lionheart Strategic Management LLC, an affiliate of Fisher Brothers, provided a $40 million mezzanine loan. Tao Hospitality Group will manage the hotel, which will feature multiple food and beverage concepts. Drew Anderman and Benjamin Nevid of Meridian Capital Group arranged the financing.
NEW YORK CITY — Criterion Real Estate Capital has provided a $125 million loan for the refinancing of 817 Broadway, a 140,000-square-foot office building in Manhattan’s Union Square neighborhood. The property was originally built in 1895 and features a 4,000-square-foot rooftop terrace. The borrower, Taconic Partners, which acquired the asset in 2016 in partnership with Nuveen Real Estate, will use a portion of the proceeds to fund tenant improvements and leasing costs.
PRINCETON, N.J. — New York-based private investment firm The Birch Group has acquired 600 and 700 Alexander Park, a 213,110-square-foot office portfolio in Princeton, for $47.3 million. The three-story building at 600 Alexander Drive consists of 141,176 square feet, and the three-story building at 700 Alexander Drive totals 71,934 square feet. Amenities include a cafeteria with indoor and outdoor seating, a fitness center, tenant lounge and walking paths. Kevin O’Hearn and Jose Cruz of JLL represented the seller, BentallGreenOak, in the transaction, and procured The Birch Group as the buyer. Greg Nalbandian, also with JLL, arranged acquisition financing.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — JLL has arranged a $43 million bridge loan for the refinancing of BELA, a 104-unit multifamily building in Jersey City. The newly built property offers one- and two-bedroom units that average 982 square feet and are furnished with stainless steel appliances, island kitchens and full-size washers and dryers. Amenities include a fitness center, grilling stations, outdoor lounge and a clubroom. BELA also houses 2,600 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Matthew Pizzolato and Thomas Didio Jr. of JLL arranged the floating-rate loan through BrightSpire Capital Inc. on behalf of the borrower, Golden Glades Capital Management.
By Brendan Carroll, director of research, Cushman & Wakefield The rapid emergence of greater Boston in the first two decades of the 21st century as a global center of advanced, technology-assisted biology has been followed by an even faster rate of growth since the start of the new decade. We have reached a critical mass in the greater Boston market, where we have developed a combination of skills, institutions and collaboration between companies that is supported and financed by an investor base that is qualified to evaluate the potential efficacy of new innovations. This landscape has created a self-propagating ecosystem for development and absorption of life sciences properties. The region’s large inventory of lab space has also evolved as a driver of new users into the market as biotechnology groups increasingly focus on speed to market for promising scientific breakthroughs. In response to these drivers, the inventory of biotechnology-focused laboratory space in greater Boston, which eclipsed 20 million square feet in 2016, is now on pace to reach 30.7 million square feet by 2023. Furthermore, the current inventory levels will likely approach and surpass 40 million square feet this decade, as a sizable set of projects are expected to move …
KUTZTOWN, PA. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a 546-unit self-storage portfolio in the Eastern Pennsylvania city of Kutztown. The portfolio consists of two existing facilities totaling 22,243 net rentable square feet across 131 climate- and non-climate-controlled units, as well as a development site for which 148 climate-controlled and 268 non-climate-controlled units have been proposed. Nathan Coe, Brett Hatcher and Gabriel Coe of Marcus & Millichap represented the buyer and seller, both of which were private investment groups based in Eastern Pennsylvania that requested anonymity, in the transaction. Sean Beuche of Marcus & Millichap assisted in closing the deal as the broker of record.
PHILADELPHIA AND IRVINE, CALIF. — Independence Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: IRT), a publicly traded apartment REIT based in Philadelphia, has agreed to acquire Irvine-based Steadfast Apartment REIT Inc. On a pro-forma basis, the combined company is expected to have a total enterprise value of approximately $7 billion and be equally owned by shareholders of both firms. Post-merger, the company will operate under the Independence Realty Trust banner and trade under the same stock symbol. The portfolio will total 131 apartment communities comprising approximately 38,000 units across 16 states. The combined company’s 10 largest markets by unit count would be Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Oklahoma City, Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Raleigh-Durham, Houston and Memphis. According to an investor presentation, the portfolio averages $1,231 in effective rent per month and is 96.2 percent occupied. The combined company would rank at No. 26 on the National Multifamily Housing Council’s (NMHC) 2021 ranking of the top 50 apartment owners. Neither Independence Realty Trust nor Steadfast Apartment REIT is on the NMHC Top 50 Owners ranking for 2021. Both companies expect the transaction to close during the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval of both companies’ stockholders. The boards of directors …