NEWARK, N.J. — MCR, a hospitality owner-operator based in Dallas and New York City, has acquired the 150-room Courtyard by Marriott Newark Downtown. The property, which opened in 2012, is located near Newark Penn Station, Newark Liberty International Airport and the Prudential Center, a live music venue. Hotel amenities include a restaurant, coffee shop, snack shop, a fitness center and more than 4,000 square feet of meeting and event space. The seller and sales price were not disclosed.
MONTVALE, N.J. — HFF has negotiated the sale of 5 Paragon Drive, a 120,000-square-foot office property in Montvale, located near the New York border. The site also houses a Wegmans grocery store and a Life Time Fitness center. Tenants at the property, which was 71 percent leased at the time of sale, include BMW, Benjamin Moore, KPMG and Sharp Corp. Jose Cruz, Kevin O’Hearn, Stephen Simonelli, Michael Oliver and J.B. Bruno of HFF represented the seller, a private equity firm, in the transaction. The buyer and sales price were not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Rosewood Realty Group has arranged the $16.2 million sale of a six-story multifamily building located ar 135-145 W. Kingsbridge Road in the Kingsbridge Heights/Jerome Park area of The Bronx. The 79,000-square-foot building, which houses 58 apartments and nine retail stores, was built in 1922 and sold at a cap rate of 5.4 percent. Aaron Jungreis of Rosewood Realty Group represented the seller, Morgan Group, in the transaction and procured the buyer, a private investor.
MONROEVILLE, PA. — Next Tier Connect has acquired the former Westinghouse Nuclear headquarters campus in Monroeville. The 505,000-square-foot campus is located at 4350 Northern Pike, 15 miles east of downtown Pittsburgh. The property comprises two buildings connected by a common entrance. Other features of the facility include 206,000 square feet of contiguous space on the second, third and fourth floors of the East Tower; a shipping and receiving area with three loading docks. This is the first acquisition by Next Tier Connect, which is a recently formed partnership between New York City-based companies Next Tier HD and RedBird Capital Partners. The new partnership plans to reposition the property and rebrand it as Next Tier Connect — Pittsburgh East. The two buildings are currently home to several Fortune 500 companies for office, call center, business continuity, and data center spaces. Next Tier Connect has also signed new tenants since closing on the sale. In a press release announcing the new company, RedBird and Next Tier HD officials said, “Next Tier Connect will seek to acquire mixed-use, mission-critical real estate properties and data center-related properties across the United States.” Mission-critical real estate assets are purpose-built facilities designed to support the most essential …
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — CBRE has arranged a $53.6 million loan for the acquisition of 445 South Street, a 320,274-square-foot office building in Morristown, located west of Newark. James Gunning, Donna Falzarano and Kyle Saviano of CBRE sourced the financing through Morgan Stanley to finance the sponsor’s prior all-cash acquisition of the property. The borrower was Strategic Real Estate LLC. The building is leased to tenants such as Travelers Insurance, Covanta Energy Corp. and Arch Reinsurance Co., and offers amenities such as a outdoor basketball court, a fitness center, two conference rooms and a full-service cafeteria.
BOSTON — A joint venture between urban developer Accordia Partners and a private equity fund managed by Ares Management Corp. has acquired 2 Morrissey Boulevard, a 425,000-square-foot office complex in Boston. Located in the city’s Dorchester neighborhood, the five-building property was fully leased at the time of sale to Santander Bank. The complex is also situated across the street from the 20-acre site of the former Bayside Expo Center, which the joint venture is redeveloping. Newmark Knight Frank represented the seller, an affiliate of Beacon Capital Partners, in the transaction, and arranged acquisition financing for the buyer.
EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. — American Equity Partners has purchased One Tower Center, a 23-story office property in East Brunswick, located roughly midway between Trenton and Newark, for $38 million. The property was 39 percent leased at the time of sale, and the new ownership will implement a value-add program that will reimagine the lobby and expand the amenity package. Jeffrey Dunne, Jeremy Neuer, Travis Langer and Zach McHale of CBRE represented the seller, an institutional investor, and procured the buyer in the transaction.
WEST CHESTER, PA. — HJ Sims has arranged $20.5 million for the rebuilding of a portion of Barclay Friends, a nonprofit continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in West Chester, a borough 25 miles west of Philadelphia. In 2017, a fire destroyed the Woolman Building, which housed residential, dining, common areas, administrative space and the memory care programming. While the skilled nursing areas reopened following renovations in 2018, ownership is still finalizing plans to replace the Woolman Building. Barclay’s property and casualty insurance coverage was expected to fund a portion of the replacement facility along with an equity contribution; the remainder was to be provided via external debt financing. Sims arranged the financing package, which will both fund the rebuilding and refinance existing debt. M&T provided the capital. Construction is scheduled to begin this year
NEW YORK CITY — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $9.5 million sale of a five-story office building located at 32 E. 39th St. in Midtown Manhattan. Built in 1907 in the Murray Hill neighborhood, the historic structure was owned at one time by Jacob Ruppert Jr., an American businessman who also owned the New York Yankees from 1915 until his death in 1939. The building features a conference room, executive suites and a private roof deck. John Stewart, Nicholas Biedron and Stephen Bell of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a private investor, in the transaction.
The Pittsburgh office market has experienced significant new development over the last five years, particularly in the urban and downtown fringe submarkets. This is expected to continue in the coming years, with several new developments that are currently in planning or under construction. Historically, urban office supply in Pittsburgh has been constrained due to the economic hurdles of new development. With limited sites for new projects, land costs at a premium and significant site work required, Pittsburgh’s nominal rent growth did not allow for economically viable projects. However, rent growth in recent years has led to a new wave of development, which has accommodated companies moving to Pittsburgh along with existing businesses growing and/or relocating within the market. Most of the new office development has taken place in urban submarkets surrounding downtown, including the Strip District, Oakland, East Liberty and the North Shore. These submarkets have attracted more development than the CBD due to greater availability of development sites, as well as lower construction costs. Development Pockets Total development costs of Class A office buildings on the fringe of the CBD are generally $250 to $300 per square foot. For this project cost, gross rents in the range of $30 …
