MILFORD, CONN. — CBRE has negotiated the sale of Milford Plaza, a 180,315-square-foot shopping center located in the southern coastal part of the state. Anchored by grocer G-Mart, Milford Plaza was 65 percent leased at the time of sale, with other tenants including Planet Fitness, Dollar Tree and Hartford Healthcare. Jeffrey Dunne, David Gavin, Steve Bardsley, Jeremy Neuer and Travis Langer of CBRE represented the owner, The Hampshire Cos., in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer, Northpath Investments. Michael Klein, Max Custer and Ryan Carroll of JLL arranged $9 million in fixed-rate acquisition financing through Easthampton Savings Bank on behalf of the new ownership.
BRISTOL, CONN. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $5 million sale of a 69,494-square-foot industrial property in Bristol, located in Hartford County. The property was built in 1969 and renovated in 2020. Laurie Ann Drinkwater and Seth Richard of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a private investor, in the transaction. The duo also procured the buyer. Both parties requested anonymity.
WILMINGTON, DEL. — MRA Group has acquired Chestnut Run Lab Campus, a 163-acre life sciences and manufacturing campus in Wilmington, from industrial engineering firm DuPont for an undisclosed price. MRA Group is underway on a $500 million redevelopment of the property, which is being rebranded the Chestnut Run Innovation & Science Park (CRISP). Located at 984 Centre Road, the development is currently home to 780,000 square feet of lab, research and advanced manufacturing space. Redevelopment plans for the campus include the addition of a hotel, fitness center, conference space, an outdoor amphitheater and restaurant space. The first renovated building is set to be delivered in late summer 2022. DuPont will continue to lease 190,000 square feet located across two buildings at the property. “We are excited to be back in Delaware with such an incredible opportunity,” says Lawrence Stuardi, founder and CEO of MRA Group. “Our vision for CRISP will set a new standard for innovative campus redevelopment in the region, as we believe it will become Delaware’s leading biotechnology and science hub.” Delaware has the fourth-highest concentration of science, engineering and health employees with doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in the nation, according to MRA. The CRISP campus marks …
HARRISON, N.J. — Urby, a joint venture between Ironstate Development and Brookfield Properties, has begun leasing its namesake multifamily property in the Northern New Jersey community of Harrison. The community consists of 381 units with studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Amenities include a pool, community garden, grilling areas, fitness center with a basketball court, rentable chef’s kitchen, dog run and an onsite café. Dutch architectural firm Concrete designed the community. Rents start at $1,935 per month for a studio apartment.
MILLVILLE, N.J. — New York-based investment and management firm Irgang Group has acquired Union Lake Crossing, a 393,000-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping center in Millville, located in the southern part of the state. Built on 43.3 acres in 2006, the property houses tenants such as Shoprite, Kohl’s, Ross Dress for Less, Staples and PetSmart. Restaurant users include Buffalo Wild Wings, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Sonic. Ben Bruner of Bruner Group represented Irgang Group in the transaction. Chris Munley, James Galbally and Colin Behr of JLL represented the seller, Goodman Properties.
BALA CYNWYD, PA. — Ziegler has arranged $39.4 million in bond financing for Simpson, a nonprofit operator based in Bala Cynwyd, a suburb of Philadelphia. Formerly known as Methodist Episcopal Home for the Aged, the borrower operates three continuing care retirement communities in the region: Simpson House in Philadelphia, Simpson Meadows in Downington and Jenner’s Pond in West Grove. The portfolio totals 482 independent living units, 56 personal care units, 118 assisted living units and 178 skilled nursing units. Proceeds refinance existing bonds from 2015 and fund capital expenditures, among other uses.
BOSTON — MassHousing has provided $16.5 million in tax-exempt construction and permanent financing and $18.8 million in bridge loan financing for Bancroft Dixwell Apartments in Boston. As part of the capital improvement program, the borrower, Urban Edge, will merge the 45-unit Bancroft Apartments in the Roxbury neighborhood with the 33-unit Dixwell Apartments in Jamaica Plain. Of the 78 units, 75 percent are restricted to households earning 60 percent or less of the area median income. The development team includes NEI General Contracting, Davis Square Architects, WinnCos., Construction Services Consultation Co. of New England, Schwarzschild Consulting and Klein Hornig.
QUINCY, MASS. — CBRE has negotiated the sale of The Residences at Munroe Place, a 111-unit multifamily property located in the southern Boston suburb of Quincy. The property was built in 2003 and includes 10,100 square feet of retail space that is leased to Starbucks, JPMorgan Chase, T-Mobile and Miam Miam Macaronerie. Simon Butler, Biria St. John and John McLaughlin of CBRE represented the seller, 1205 Hancock Street LLC, an entity controlled by Structure Tone Equities LLC, in the transaction. The trio also procured the buyer, a joint venture between John M. Corcoran & Co. and an institutional investor.
Mall and shopping center owners nationwide are faced with the vacancy of major big box anchors that have closed their doors due to the continued uptick in online retail and changing shopping habits and desires of today’s consumers. Often massive, these two-story, or even three-story spaces seem impossible to fill with the decline of most brick and mortar retail stores. Developers are being challenged to think outside the [big] box to find new tenants and creative uses for the space. Malls were originally thought of as community centers for neighborhoods during the mall boom. That attitude fell by the wayside as malls removed their socially engaging aspects and lost their sense of place — instead of being a place for the community to gather, the mall became simply a place to shop. Now, largely expedited by the pandemic, there have been seismic shifts in retail and shopper habits/what the consumer wants out of their shopping experience. The key word here is experience. Malls have had to readapt to fill in vacant spaces from large department stores that consumers no longer favor. This has opened up a lot of atypical uses, from distribution centers to residential to entertainment components to medical facilities. …
BOSTON — Cabot Properties Inc. has sold its Value Fund V portfolio in two separate transactions for a total of $2.8 billion. Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc. (BREIT) acquired the portfolio, which features logistics properties in the United States and Europe. The U.S. portfolio includes 102 properties totaling 15.2 million square feet located in major logistics markets such as the Inland Empire, California; Eastern Pennsylvania; South Florida; and the New York metropolitan area. In a separate transaction, Blackstone’s European Core Plus business and its affiliates acquired the remaining European properties, which feature 22 properties totaling 2.2 million square feet of industrial space. The properties are located in European markets such as the Midlands, North West and South East in the United Kingdom; Amsterdam; and Düsseldorf in Germany. “The sale of our Value Fund V portfolio completes our most ambitious logistics property investment program over the past 20 years,” says Franz Colloredo-Mansfeld, chairman and chief executive officer of Cabot. “This portfolio was created through 90 transactions, including 24 development projects throughout the U.S., U.K. and Europe completed over the past five years. We are pleased to have now completed approximately $5 billion in three transactions with Blackstone Real Estate over …