NEW YORK CITY — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $1.9 million sale of a two-story warehouse in the South Bronx. Located at 585 Jackson Ave., the 10,020-square-foot property includes two garage doors, gas heat and 50 feet of street frontage. Jonathan Squires and Michael Fioravanti of Cushman & Wakefield represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The buyer was also undisclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — The Carlton Group has arranged a $47.5 million construction loan for Sea Breeze Tower, a 20-story multifamily tower in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn. Located at 271 Sea Breeze Ave., the property will feature a limestone and glass façade and will offer a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Ruth Barone of the Carlton Group secured financing on behalf of the borrower, Rybak Development, through a private lender. The terms of the financing were not disclosed.
ROSELAND, N.J. — NKF has negotiated the $17.2 million sale of a 115,422-square-foot office building in Roseland. Located at 3 Becker Farm Road, the property is currently 97-percent leased to a tenant roster that includes Mandelbaum Salsburg and Tompkins McGuire. Kevin Welsh, Brian Schulz and Chuck Kohaut of NKF’s Tri-State Capital Markets represented the seller, Normandy Real Estate Partners, in the transaction. The buyer was international real estate fund Westwood Properties. The property was recently renovated with $2 million in capital improvements
BETHLEHEM, PA. — Larken Associates has acquired Pinnacle @ 65, a 10-story, 102,000-square-foot, mixed-use building in Bethlehem. The sales price was undisclosed. Located at 65 E. Elizabeth Ave., the property includes 48 residential units as well as 38,000 square feet of office and retail space. The building underwent a full renovation in 2017, including upgrades to the exterior façade, windows and common area corridors. Amenities include laundry and dry cleaning pick-up and drop-off, private storage units, and a package concierge system. Larken Associates acquired the property from Post Road Management.
WILMINGTON, DEL. —Real estate investment firm Excel Group has acquired the 96-room Residence Inn Wilmington Downtown in Wilmington. The sales price was undisclosed. Located at 1300 N. Market St., the property opened this year and is the first new hotel in downtown Wilmington in more than 20 years. The purchase is the fourth major transaction for Excel Group in 2018, representing a total transaction volume of more than $100 million. The property is an all-suite hotel that offers studio and one-bedroom suites.
NEW YORK CITY — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $3.8 million sale of a 24,155-square-foot office building in the Bronx. Located at 1314 Blondell Ave., the split-level property features a 24-car private garage and 16-foot ceilings on the ground floor. Jonathan Squires, Ian Brooks, and Robert Shapiro of Cushman & Wakefield represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The buyer was also undisclosed.
By Michael Prifti Technology is moving quickly across many different industries. Architects are now using emerging technology like virtual reality (VR) to improve experience for clients, tenants and the general public. An architecture firm can use VR to accomplish many different goals. VR can be used as both a design tool and a marketing tool. As a design tool, one can create impressive virtual mockups with the technology. To be used as a marketing tool, it is important to figure out the overall goals of the project, such as how interactive and immersive the VR models need to be. For example, higher quality VR models require higher computer processing power. In general, VR sets have become much more affordable, and jumping into this emerging technology doesn’t necessarily require a large investment. Today, VR headsets can be found for under $500, and the software has become so intuitive that nearly anyone can be taught how to produce very basic VR ready models in about 15 minutes. While two-dimensional renderings will likely never disappear, the use of virtual reality is becoming more widespread throughout the industry. 2D drawings or 3D models can give you a general idea of a building’s scale, but VR …
BOSTON — MassHousing has provided $45.7 million in acquisition and rehabilitation financing for a 201-unit affordable housing portfolio in Roxbury and Dorchester. The housing portfolio, formerly owned by the late Lorenzo Pitts, includes the Lawrenceville Apartments, Infill I, Infill II, Crawford House, Thane Street Apartments and the Gardner Apartments. MassHousing provided the borrower, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC), with a $26 million construction and permanent loan, an $18 million tax credit equity bridge loan and a $1.7 million Section 13A preservation loan. JPNDC will make extensive capital improvements as part of the transaction including masonry repairs, kitchen upgrades and bathroom upgrades, as well as updates to the electrical and plumbing systems. Of the 201 units in the portfolio, 175 are affordable to households earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) and 26 apartments are affordable to households earning at or below 80 percent of AMI. The AMI for Boston is $107,800 for a family of four.
NEW YORK CITY — Ariel Property Advisors has brokered the $4.5 million sale of a four-story mixed-use building in Brooklyn Heights. Located at 77 Atlantic Ave., the 7,895-square-foot property comprises two commercial units and six apartments. Victor Sozio, Sean Kelly and Matthew Lev of Ariel Property Advisors represented the seller, Silvershore Properties, in the transaction. The buyer was 77 ATL AVE LLC. The property is located near Brooklyn Bridge Park as well as retailers Urban Outfitters and Trader Joe’s.
WILMINGTON, DEL. — Harvey Hanna & Associates and partner Boxwood Industrial Park LLC have begun the redevelopment of a former General Motors plant in Wilmington. The demolition of the 3 million-square-foot property is the first step of the redevelopment into a business and distribution campus. The project will include 3 million square feet of commercial space spread across four buildings. The demolition of the former plant is expected to take 10 to 12 months, with a significant amount of materials to be reclaimed and recycled. The new campus is expected to create more than 2,100 permanent jobs in logistics, distribution, engineering and transportation. The plant was one of dozens of properties surrendered by General Motors Co. as part of its 2009 bankruptcy.