CANTON, MASS. — Shares of Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) rose by more than 15 percent yesterday as the Massachusetts-based coffee and breakfast chain moved forward with talks to be acquired by Atlanta-based Inspire Brands, the parent company of chains like Arby’s and Jimmy John’s. The New York Post reports that the deal, which would take Dunkin’ private is valued at $8.8 billion. Dunkin’s stock price closed at $89.80 per share on Friday, October 23 and peaked at $104.87 per share in yesterday’s trading before closing just below that mark. Dunkin’ opened at $101.69 per share today, up nearly 30 percent from a year ago. The New York Times reports that Inspire Brands has offered to purchase Dunkin’, which will release its latest earnings report on Thursday, at $106.50 per share.
PHILADELPHIA — Hilco Redevelopment Partners, the real estate development unit of Hilco Global, has revealed plans for the remediation and repositioning of the 1,300-acre former refinery site of Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES). The development will be known as The Bellwether District. The redevelopment plan includes the demolition of 105 onsite buildings, as well as hydrocarbon processing units, boiler rooms and wastewater treatment plants, to convert the site into a logistics hub that will house between 13 million and 15 million square feet of industrial space. The decommissioning and demolition plans also call for a significant amount of environmental cleanup work, including the removal of some 950 miles of pipeline and various pieces of infrastructure and equipment left behind at what was once the Northeast’s largest refinery.
BOSTON — JLL has negotiated the $72 million sale of a 228,912-square-foot creative office building located at 20 Guest St. in Boston. Designed by architecture firm ADD Inc. and completed in 2000, the property is located near the Boston Landing mixed-use development and was fully leased to seven tenants at the time of sale. Coleman Benedict, Kerry Hawkins and Ben Sayles of JLL represented the seller, NB Development Group, in the transaction. The buyer was a partnership between Griffith Properties LLC and Artemis Real Estate Partners.
EAST HAVEN, CONN. — Developer WinnCos. has completed The Tyler, a seniors housing project in East Haven that is a redevelopment of an 84-year-old former high school building. The Tyler offers 70 units for individuals aged 55 and older and amenities such as a fitness center, outdoor courtyard and an arts and crafts room. The property consists of 67 one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units. Twenty apartments rent at market rates, and 50 others are available for residents who earn 25 percent to 80 percent of the area median income.
NEW YORK CITY —Prime Clerk, a division of financial consulting firm Duff & Phelps, has signed a 52,000-square-foot office lease expansion at Liberty Bklyn, a 1.3 million-square-foot industrial and office waterfront redevelopment in Brooklyn. The tenant is expanding from its current 18,940-square-foot space on the fourth floor to an additional and adjacent 11,761-square-foot unit on the same floor and 21,000 square feet on the third floor. Madison Capital and Salmar Properties are the owners of Liberty Bklyn, which is located in Sunset Park and was formerly known as Liberty View Industrial Plaza.
NEW YORK CITY — Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc. (BREIT) has entered into an agreement to acquire Simply Self Storage from an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management for $1.2 billion. Brookfield acquired Simply Self Storage, whose operating portfolio spans approximately 8 million square feet across the country, in 2016 through one of its funds. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as legal advisor to BREIT, and BofA Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are serving as financial advisors to BREIT. RBC Capital Markets LLC, Newmark Group Inc. and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP advised Brookfield. BREIT currently owns a $300 million portfolio of self-storage facilities. Following this acquisition, BREIT will be the third-largest non-listed owner of self-storage in the country. Self-storage, which is typically viewed as a recession-resistant asset class, has seen its rates of absorption and leasing of new units rebound over the summer following a lull in move-in activity that normally occurs in the spring. Self-storage owner-operators expect some of the truncated move-in activity from spring and summer to be offset by the fact that in-person classes at many major universities have …
STAMFORD, CONN. — Newmark has negotiated the sale of the 760,000-square-foot Stamford Town Center, an urban mall in the city’s downtown area that was built in 1982 and houses approximately 100 tenants. According to the Stamford Advocate, the sales price was $20.1 million. The sale includes an additional 10 acres and a 3,500-space parking garage. Christian Bangert of Newmark represented the buyer, Yaraghi Realty, a division of family-owned furniture provider Safavieh, in the transaction. Christopher Hoffmann and Steven Livaditis of Eastdil Secured represented the seller, Taubman Centers. Anchor tenants at Stamford Town Center, which is located just two blocks north of Interstate 95, include Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th, H&M and Barnes & Noble.
ALLENTOWN, PA. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of 2100 Mack Boulevard, a 250,000-square-foot office building in Allentown, located in the Lehigh Valley region. The six-story property is situated on 22 acres and features an auditorium, fully equipped fitness center and a full-service cafeteria. Lehigh Valley Health Network has occupied the building since 2009; prior to that, the property served as the headquarters for Mack Trucks. Andy Merin, David Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel, Brian Whitmer, Kyle Schmidt, Frank DiTommaso, Seth Zuidema and Gerry Blinebury of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, J.G. Petrucci Co., in the transaction. BHN Associates purchased the asset for an undisclosed price.
BAYONNE, N.J. — A local developer doing business as 957 Broadway, Urban Renewal LLC has opened Bay One, a 91-unit apartment complex located in the Northern New Jersey city of Bayonne. Bay One offers studio, one- and two-bedroom units and an 8,000-square-foot rooftop garden with grilling and dining areas, a fire pit lounge, fenced dog run and pet spa station. Rents start at $1,750 per month for a studio unit.
PHILADELPHIA — Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital has acquired Philadelphia-based Maher Commercial Mortgage LLC, effectively expanding its presence in the Southern Pennsylvania and New Jersey region. The acquisition will add more than $900 million in annual loan volume and $3 billion in servicing to Bellwether Enterprise’s existing portfolios. Firm leader Thompson Maher will join Bellwether Enterprise as an executive vice president, and his six support staff and five loan producers will also join the acquiring entity.