NEW YORK CITY — Fitness Factory Health Club has signed an 18,000-square-foot lease s at 475 Clermont, a 363-unit multifamily building in Brooklyn. The lease term is 10 years. The facility will feature weight and circuit training equipment and a spa, as well as specialty class and personal training services. Beyond the Fitness Factory lease, the building has 17,000 square feet of retail space available for lease. Jason Pennington, Andrew Clemens, Benjamin Weiner and Jessica Hedrington of RIPCO Real Estate represented the landlord, RXR Realty, in the lease negotiations.
WOODBURY, N.Y. — JLL has negotiated the $4.3 million sale of a 26,000-square-foot office building in Woodbury, a city in eastern Long Island. Located at 110 Crossways Park Drive, the building offers 19,500 square feet of office space and 6,500 square feet of warehouse space with one drive-in door and 14-foot clear heights. Max Omstrom of JLL represented the buyer, Computech International, in the transaction. Harris Rousso of Real Estate Strategies Ltd. represented the undisclosed seller.
In the largest office markets of the Northeast, landlords are competing to attract valuable corporate tenants by providing the highest quality work-life balance for the region’s talented workforce. The Boston, New York and Philadelphia office markets are among the most competitive in the country. While factors like salary, commute time and personal fulfilment remain important in deciding where to work, employees are now placing more emphasis on amenities and work-life balance in their final decisions. Consequently, employers are making a point to meet those demands by investing in properties with convenient access to those amenities, in particular fitness, dining and transit. According to Colliers International, Class A office asking rents in Boston rose 9.9 percent in the third quarter of 2019, commanding $100 per square foot in the city’s hottest markets. Lauren Vecchione, senior vice president in the Boston office of Colliers, says that landlords have to provide competitive amenities if they want to command and achieve the asking rents in submarkets with the strongest demand, including the Seaport, Financial District, Back Bay and Cambridge’s Kendall Square. “Larger and smaller tenants alike are focused on finding efficient spaces that allow them to build out a creative office experience for their …
NEW YORK CITY — CenterPoint Properties has acquired the Flatlands Portfolio, a 925,411-square-foot industrial portfolio comprising three buildings and a one-acre lot in Brooklyn. The three buildings are located at 101-01 Ave. D, 103-00 Foster Ave. and 101-10 Foster Ave., and the one-acre lot is between Avenue D and Foster Avenue on East 105th Street. The buildings feature clear heights ranging from 22 to 32 feet, and the portfolio was 100 percent leased to 13 tenants at the time of sale. Mat Diana, Paul Yuras and Peter Derbar of DY Realty represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction and will represent CenterPoint in leasing the portfolio moving forward.
NEW YORK CITY — Financial security company Northwestern Mutual has signed a 91,217-square-foot office lease at 200 Liberty Street, a 40-story, Class A office building in Manhattan. Northwestern will occupy the entire 30th through 32nd floors of the 1.74 million-square-foot building. Cesar Pelli & Associates Architects designed the building, which was completed in 1986. Scott Vinett of JLL represented Northwestern in the lease negotiations along with Chris Joyner and Andrew Hegmann of Fischer & Co. Mikael Nahmias represented the landlord, Brookfield Properties, on an internal basis along with Paul Glickman and John Wheeler of JLL.
MONROE, N.J. — JLL has brokered the $32.3 million sale of Concordia Shopping Center, a 135,090-square-foot retail center in Monroe, located approximately 30 miles northeast of Trenton. Situated at 1600 Perrineville Road, the retail center was 95 percent leased to tenants including Stop & Shop, UPS and Monroe Physical Therapy at the time of sale. Chris Munley, Jose Cruz and James Galbally led a JLL team that represented the seller, Concordia Shopping Manager Corp., in the transaction. A joint venture of KPR and DRA Advisors was the buyer.
NEW YORK CITY — Helmsley Spear LLC has negotiated an 8,266-square-foot office lease renewal and expansion for boutique corporate and real estate law firm Burgher Gray LLP in Manhattan. The law firm, which moved into its office space at 1350 Broadway in October 2016, renewed its lease for 10 years. The company also expanded its office space by 3,460 square feet to a total of 8,266 square feet. Often called the Herald Square Building, the 25-story tower spans 400,000 square feet. Rene Hamilton and Shanae Ursini represented the landlord, Empire State Realty Trust, in the lease negotiations.
FREEHOLD, N.J. — CBRE has arranged the $8.8 million sale of a 154,824-square-foot industrial property located at 500 Halls Mill Road in Freehold, located approximately 30 miles east of Trenton. Situated at 500 Halls Mill Road, the property offers convenient access to the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. The buyer, Treetop Development, plans to redevelop the site as an approximately 200,000-square-foot distribution facility with a clear height of 36 feet. Elli Klapper, Charles Berger and Kevin Dudley led a CBRE team that represented Treetop Development in the transaction. The seller was undisclosed.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The University of Rochester (UR) plans to develop The UR Medicine Orthopaedics & Physical Performance Center at The Marketplace Mall in Rochester. The 330,000-square-foot facility would be the largest off-site building in UR history. Wilmorite, owner of The Marketplace Mall, plans to sell the former Sears department store and surrounding mall property to UR. Plans call for repurposing the vacant Sears building as the shell for the new ambulatory surgery center, with new operating rooms and procedure rooms. New construction would create a multi-story tower above the surgery center, housing services such as diagnosis and treatment of bone, spine, muscle and joint conditions as well as sports medicine, injury prevention and other wellness services. The Orthopaedics & Physical Performance Center could cost up to $240 million, which will be paid for through a combination of philanthropy, UR funds and borrowing. Trustees have approved $11 million for project design. If approvals and construction proceed as expected, the campus could be completed by 2023.
ALLENTOWN, PA. — Center City Investment Corp. will develop 1 Center Square, a 296,000-square-foot Class A office building in the City Center business district of Allentown, located approximately 60 miles north of Philadelphia. The 16-story office building will be built with a speculative corporate headquarters anchor tenant in mind and will feature open floorplans and theater-style auditoriums. JDavis Architects is designing 1 Center Square and Gensler is the interior designer. North Star Construction Management is the general contractor. Construction is slated to begin this fall, with initial occupancy scheduled for 2022. The project is estimated to cost $100 million.