BETHLEHEM, PA. — Rittenhouse Realty Advisors has brokered the $21.4 million sale of a student housing portfolio located near Lehigh University in Bethlehem, a town near the eastern border of Pennsylvania. The portfolio consists of 44 properties totaling 219 beds. The buyer in the transaction was an undisclosed family office new to the student housing market. The seller was also undisclosed.
LIMERICK, PA. — RedGo Development has broken ground on a 25,000-square-foot office property in Limerick, a city located northwest of Philadelphia. The property will serve as the new headquarters of Maillie LLP, an accounting firm operating in the northeast. Avison Young is the construction manager; Customers Bank is the lender; D2 Groups is the designer; and Fickler Construction is the general contractor. Construction is underway and slated for completion in the summer of 2020.
HARRISBURG, PA. — Realterm Logistics, a Maryland-based investment firm, has acquired a 311,000-square-foot distribution facility in Harrisburg. Built on 52 acres in 2004, the property features 37-foot clear heights, 99 dock-high doors, six drive-in doors and immediate access to I-76, I-83 and I-81. Brandon Moghimi and Brad Feller of Stan Johnson Co. represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The property was fully leased at the time of sale.
PITTSBURGH — The vitamin and health supplement niche of the brick-and-mortar retail market continues to experience intense competitive pressure, observes veteran retail consultant Jeff Green. So it came as no surprise to Green when GNC Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNC) officials revealed in a second-quarter earnings call earlier this week that it will shutter up to 900 stores in North America by the end of 2020. “It used to be that specialty health supplements were only found in specialty stores such as GNC, Vitamin Shoppe and other regional chains,” says Green, a partner at Phoenix-based Hoffman Strategy Group. “Now you can find the same products sold at traditional supermarkets, specialty food stores and discount department stores.” Citing a decrease in mall traffic over time, Tricia Tolivar, CFO of Pittsburgh-based GNC, said during the earnings call Monday that the company could close up to 500 of its 800 stores that are currently located in malls across the United States and Canada. Ken Martindale, CEO of GNC, added that 28 percent of the company’s stores are situated in malls, while 61 percent are in strip centers. “The negative trends in traffic that we’ve seen in mall stores over the past several years have accelerated …
BLUE BELL, PA. — Colliers International has negotiated a 52,000-square-foot office headquarters lease in Blue Bell, located outside of Philadelphia, for national landscaping firm BrightView. Located at 980 Jolly Road, the property recently underwent $6 million in renovations, including the addition of a new fitness center, conference space and café. John Susanin and Kyle Hilbert of Colliers represented BrightView, which will occupy the top two floors of the building, in the lease negotiations. Kairos Real Estate Partners is the landlord.
PHILADELPHIA — CBRE has arranged a 62,000-square-foot lease in Philadelphia’s Center City for CommonGrounds Workplace, a San Diego-based coworking company. The new space will span two floors of the 32-story Market building, and the company’s in-house design division will renovate the space. The property will also house CommonGrounds’ East Coast regional office. Joseph Wolff, Kevin Maloney, George Cauffman and David Mendez of CBRE represented the landlord, Shorenstein Co. Jim Suber of Strategic Real Estate Advisory and Michael Gallagher of The Flynn and Co. represented CommonGrounds in the transaction.
BETHEL PARK, PITTSBURGH and NORTH VERSAILLES, PA. — Chicago Pacific Founders (CPF) and its subsidiaries, CPF Living Communities and Grace Management Inc., have acquired three senior living communities in the Pittsburgh metro area. The properties include The Residence at Bethel Park in Bethel Park, The Residence at Whitehall in Pittsburgh and Point Pleasant in North Versailles. Grace Management will take over operations of all three communities. The Residence at Bethel Park is also a rebrand to reflect the new ownership of the community, which was formerly known as The Residence at Logan. Terms of the deal, including the seller and price, were not disclosed. CPF plans to make capital investments in the campuses.
GLADWYNE, PA. — Ziegler has arranged $44.1 million in bond financing for Waverly Heights, which owns and operates a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) of the same name in Gladwyne, located northwest of Philadelphia. The 63-acre community was built in 1986 and includes 151 independent living apartments, 69 independent living villas, 33 personal care suites, 16 memory support rooms and 49 private skilled nursing rooms. The bond financing, along with other available funds, will be used to pay back existing bank debt.
ALLENTOWN, PA. — City Center Investment Corp. plans to open Downtown Allentown Market, a $4 million project in Allentown. The 12,000-square-foot retail space will be located within the City Center Allentown mixed-use development. The market will feature nine food and drink merchants, indoor and outdoor seating and flexible space for programming and pop-up shops. Brick-and-mortar tenants include sushi/poke concept Shinsen; Mediterranean restaurant Zahra; ice creamery Batch Microcreamery; Little Miss Korea; Doughnut Love, Licensed to Grill @ The Market; and Tavola pizzeria. The food hall will also house a distillery. City Center Investment Corp. partnered with Groundswell Design Group and mixed-use urban developer Cana Development on the project.
YORK, PA. — National real estate development and investment firm CRG will develop The Cubes at York, a 311,920-square-foot speculative distribution warehouse in York. The location is near the I-81/I-78 Industrial Corridor, just south of Harrisburg, and will be one of seven North American industrial properties in “The Cubes” brand that is owned and developed by CRG. Construction is expected to begin during fourth-quarter 2019. Clayco will be the design-builder on the project and its subsidiary, the Lamar Johnson Collective, is the architect.
