ROCKAWAY, N.J. — CBRE has negotiated the $19.6 million sale of a 121,038-square-foot industrial property in the Northern New Jersey community of Rockaway. The property sits on 13.7 acres and formerly served as an office building for Party City. Charles Berger, Mark Silverman, Elli Klapper and Thomas Mallaney of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. CBRE has also been tapped to market the complex for lease on behalf of the undisclosed buyer.
BRIDGEPORT, CONN. — New York City-based Ready Capital has closed a $7.7 million loan for the acquisition, renovation and stabilization of a 63-unit multifamily property in Bridgeport, Conn. The nonrecourse, interest-only loan carried a 36-month term and a floating interest rate and includes a facility to fund capital improvements. The borrower was not disclosed.
The need for affordable housing has grown, but factors like municipal slowdowns and delays in financing have helped contribute to a lack of supply. Gregg Gerken, head of U.S. Commercial Real Estate with TD Bank, spoke to REBusiness about why the need for affordable housing is at a critical juncture and why this need is so difficult to fill. Finance Insight: What is the state of affordable housing right now? Gerken: There is a supply/demand imbalance. There continues to be a desperate need for more investment in affordable housing, not less. The arrival of COVID introduced more challenges for affordable housing, but the struggle to find high-quality affordable rental housing existed well before the pandemic. Rent prices affect millions of Americans, especially those with low incomes, and rents have only increased. Furthermore, the pandemic has caused an interruption of the supply chain and much-needed new projects have been delayed. Finance Insight: Can you outline a few big-picture national trends that are most impacting affordable housing right now? Gerken: As I mentioned, the imbalance of supply and demand is negatively affecting affordable housing. Rising rental rates mean fewer people will be able to qualify for affordable housing. Coming out of COVID …
PHILADELPHIA — A joint venture between Chicago-based developers Sterling Bay and Harrison Street, as well as New York City-based Botanic Properties, will develop a 310,000-square-foot life sciences facility in Philadelphia’s University City neighborhood. The 13-story building will be situated on a 33,400-square-foot parcel at 3801 Chestnut St. The facility will house lab space to accommodate cell and gene therapy users. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2023 and to be complete in mid-2025.
NEW YORK CITY — Lument has provided a $115 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of an undisclosed multifamily property in New York City. The property was originally built in the 1950s and consists of seven residential buildings, 40 commercial units and a parking garage. The loan carries a 10-year term, fixed interest rate and a 30-year amortization schedule. Nicholas Diamond led the transaction for Lument. The undisclosed borrower will use a portion of the proceeds to fund capital improvements.
NEWARK, N.J. — JLL has arranged the sale of a 131,205-square-foot industrial warehouse and distribution center located on a five-acre site at 241 Oraton St. in Newark. The property features a clear height of 25- to 28-feet, nine loading docks and 9,789 square feet of office space. Jordan Avanzato, Marc Duval, Jose Cruz, Nick Stefans and Josh Stein of JLL represented the seller, Jewels Transportation, in the transaction. David Sitt, Peter Rotchford, Matthew Pizzolato and Jake Moore of JLL arranged acquisition financing for the deal through National Life Group on behalf of the borrower, Thor Equities. The nonrecourse loan was structured with an 11-year term and a fixed interest rate.
PASSAIC, N.J. — A partnership between locally based investment firm STRO Cos. and The Millstein Family Office has acquired a 90,000-square-foot warehouse and manufacturing building located at 147 Falstrom Court in Passaic, about 30 miles northwest of Manhattan. James McNerney of McBride Corporate Real Estate represented the buyer in the transaction. Additional terms of sale were not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — New York City-based Ready Capital has closed a $31 million loan for the acquisition, renovation and stabilization of a 200,000-square-foot industrial property located in the Andover/Lawrence submarket of Boston. The nonrecourse, interest-only loan carried a 48-month term and a floating interest rate and includes a facility to fund capital improvements. The borrower was not disclosed.
BOSTON — A joint venture between global asset manager Värde Partners and California-based Hawkins Way Capital has purchased the 1,220-room Sheraton Boston Hotel, located at 39 Dalton St. in the city’s Back Bay neighborhood. The hotel sold for $233 million, or roughly $191,000 per room, according to multiple local news outlets including The Boston Globe and WCBV. The partnership purchased the 29-story, 1.1 million-square-foot property from Maryland-based REIT Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ: HST). The luxury hotel offers amenities such as a pool, business center, fitness center, meeting space, spa and wellness center, convenience store and an onsite restaurant. The Sheraton is Boston’s largest hotel, and the sales price is below that of comparable hotel deals that traded in Boston’s downtown area prior to the pandemic, according to the Globe. Citing data from Pinnacle Advisory Group, the local newspaper puts the downtown Boston hotel market’s average nightly occupancy rate for 2021 at approximately 45 percent. The deal marks the sixth acquisition between Värde Partners and Hawkins Way Capital as part of a larger plan to acquire $1 billion in value-add and distressed hospitality and housing assets in major U.S. cities. The joint venture’s portfolio also includes the DoubleTree by …
HAWTHORNE, ELMSFORD AND YONKERS, N.Y. — JLL has arranged a $455 million refinancing loan for a portfolio of 45 properties totaling approximately 2.6 million square feet across three industrial parks in New York’s Westchester County. Bank of America provided the floating-rate, non-recourse loan to the borrower, Robert Main Co. Mike Tepedino, Andrew Scandalios, Jose Cruz, Peter Rotchford and Tyler Peck of JLL arranged the financing transaction. The loan terms were not disclosed. The portfolio is situated in infill locations within in the New York metropolitan area. The properties benefit from significant barriers to entry, limited new supply and access to Interstates 287 and 87. Over the past few years, Robert Martin Co. has made improvements to the properties including new roofs, LED lighting upgrades, solar panel installations, paving and landscaping. The three industrial campuses include Mid Westchester Executive Park at 2 Skyline Drive in Hawthorne; Cross Westchester Executive Park at 100 Clearbrook Road in Elmsford; and South Westchester Executive Park at 7 Odell Plaza in Yonkers, according to the Commercial Observer. The properties are occupied by approximately 300 tenants in a wide variety of industries including warehousing, transportation, mechanical, child care, health technologies and quantum computing research. “This portfolio has …