MEDFORD, N.J. — NAI Mertz has brokered the sale of a 63,000-square-foot industrial complex located east of Philadelphia in New Jersey. The property was originally built in the 1970s and consists of five buildings on a 9.7-acre tract. Jonathan Klear of NAI Mertz represented the seller, Medford Industrial Park, which will lease back a portion of the space. An affiliate of Philadelphia-based investment firm Velocity Venture Partners purchased the property, which was fully leased at the time of sale, for an undisclosed price.
NEW YORK CITY — Mother, a creative advertising agency with offices in London, Shanghai and South America, has signed a 61,000-square-foot office lease in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn for its new headquarters in New York City. The company signed a 15-year lease to occupy space at Roulston House, a redeveloped office building that originally served as a warehouse for Roulston, a grocery chain founded in the 1880s. Michael Schoen, Marc Schoen and Harrison Katzman of The Schoen Group, a division of New York City-based Savitt Partners, represented Mother in the lease negotiations. Joseph Hamway and Josh Sloan represented the landlord, ICP Realty, on an internal basis.
NEW YORK CITY — Ariel Property Advisors has arranged the $5.8 million sale of a 24-unit multifamily portfolio located at 1130-1134 and 1142 Bryant Ave. in the Foxhurst neighborhood of The Bronx. The three buildings that comprise the assemblage were recently renovated. The seller was local operator Jerome Avenue Associates and the buyer was a private investor that has been active in the market for the past two years. Jason Gold, Shimon Shkury, Daniel Mahfar and Oliver Elihu of Ariel Property Advisors brokered the deal.
PORTLAND, MAINE — Locally based brokerage firm Cardente Real Estate has negotiated a 5,618-square-foot office lease at 11 Baxter Blvd. in Portland. Matthew Cardente of Cardente Real Estate represented the landlord, the William C. Rowell Family LP, in the lease negotiations. Derek Miller of The Boulos Company represented the tenant, behavioral healthcare provider LifeStance.
PITTSBURGH — Dick’s Sporting Goods will open three new stores in the Northeast region this month. The Pittsburgh-based retailer will debut two new stores in Massachusetts, a 45,000-square-foot location at Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis and a 48,000-square-foot location at Westgate Mall in the Boston suburb of Brockton. Simon Property Group and New England Development are the respective owners of those malls. A third, 65,000-square-foot store will open at Macerich’s Deptford Mall, located just outside Philadelphia in New Jersey.
RIDGEFIELD PARK, CLIFFSIDE PARK AND LEONIA, N.J. — Kislak Co. has negotiated the $19.2 million sale of an 85-unit multifamily portfolio in Bergen County, located just west of New York City. The portfolio includes The Madison, a 36-unit property in Ridgefield Park; The Manor, a 34-unit complex in Cliffside Park; and a 15-unit building in Leonia. Novel Property Ventures sold the portfolio, which was fully occupied at the time of sale, to Titanium Capital Partners. Robert Squires and Don Baxter of Kislak brokered the deal.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of Central Storage, a 348-unit self-storage facility located in the Upstate New York city of Rochester. The property is situated on 1.5 acres and offers 51,209 net rentable square feet of non-climate-controlled space. Nathan Coe, Brett Hatcher and Gabriel Coe of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which were limited liability companies that requested anonymity, in the transaction. John Krueger of Marcus & Millichap assisted in closing the deal as the broker of record.
LOWELL, MASS. — NorthMarq has arranged a $5.5 million Freddie Mac loan for the refinancing of Mill Falls Apartments, a 72-unit multifamily asset in Lowell, located north of Boston near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. The property features one- and two-bedroom units. Robert Ranieri of NorthMarq arranged the 10-year loan, which carried a fixed interest rate and a 30-year amortization schedule, on behalf of the undisclosed borrower.
WEST CHESTER, PA. — Pennsylvania-based Kendal Corp. has completed construction of Preston, an expansion of its Barclay Friends seniors housing community in West Chester, approximately 25 miles west of Philadelphia. Preston features 60 new apartments, including 20 for memory care services, across 61,000 square feet. The building was named after Dr. Ann Preston, a 19th century Quaker activist who was one of the first women in America to become a medical doctor.
By Alex Patton Retail real estate investors in Boston are cautiously evaluating the risk profiles of tenants even as businesses reopen following temporary closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The emerging consensus is that until a vaccine is developed to safely treat the virus, the safest investments are tied to essential tenants with reliable incomes. That short list includes grocers, drugstores, home improvement businesses and liquor stores. Like the rest of the country, all nonessential retail businesses in Massachusetts were forced to close temporarily in early March, for what was originally expected to be a short period. After several weeks, the commonwealth’s government implemented a phased reopening system that allowed some retail businesses to resume operations. However, after months with significantly reduced income, a number of small retailers are declaring bankruptcy and permanently closing stores to save money. “The underlying question that permeates the retail investment industry, as an investor or a lender, is how much of the income is durable? In other words, which retailers are going to survive?” asks James Koury, senior managing director of investments at the Boston office of Institutional Property Advisors (IPA). “A vaccine would be a game-changer, but we can’t know if it will …