BETHLEHEM, PA. — Regional brokerage firm Zimmel Associates has negotiated a 70,000-square-foot industrial lease in the Lehigh Valley city of Bethlehem. The 120,000-square-foot building at 2500 Emrick Blvd. was constructed in 2017 and features a clear height of 32 feet and 3,500 square feet of office space. David Zimmel of Zimmel Associates represented the tenant, Romeo & Layla Warehousing, in the negotiations for the seven-year lease. Locally based developer J.G. Petrucci Co. owns the building.
PHILADELPHIA — Dave’s Hot Chicken will open three restaurants at properties owned by Federal Realty Investment Trust in the Philadelphia metro area. Scheduled to open this month, the first store will span 2,995 square feet at Northeast Shopping Center in Philadelphia. Dave’s will also open restaurants at Ellisburg Shopping Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Willow Grove Shopping Center in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, in the spring and fall of this year. Those stores will span 3,086 and 2,825 square feet, respectively.
BATH, PA. — San Francisco-based Prologis has acquired a 449,500-square-foot speculative warehouse in Bath, located north of Allentown in the Lehigh Valley. The building is located within the 40-acre Cubes at Lehigh Valley development and features a clear height of 40 feet, 42 dock-high doors, four grade-level doors, an ESFR sprinkler system and parking for 111 trailers and 237 cars. CRG, a development and investment firm with eight offices around the country, developed and sold the building, which was fully leased to Smart Warehousing at the time of sale.
COLLEGEVILLE, PA. — Chemicals manufacturer Dow Inc. has signed an 800,000-square-foot lease extension at its office and life sciences campus in Collegeville, about 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia. A partnership between New York City-based David Werner Real Estate Investments and regional firm GreenBarn Investment Group purchased the 1.9 million-square-foot campus, which consists of 14 buildings on 340 acres, from Pfizer in August 2023. Newmark represented Dow Inc., which first moved to Collegeville in 2012, in the lease negotiations.
PHILADELPHIA — Spiezle Architectural Group has opened a 6,200-square-foot office at 615 Chestnut St. in downtown Philadelphia. The space features 30 seats and 26 open workstations for collaboration, as well as views of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Bob Reid will lead the new office as principal. Spiezle now operates six offices across the country.
PITTSBURGH — Excelitas Technologies Corp., a provider of photonics products for the medical, defense and automotive industries, has signed a 45,000-square-foot office lease in Pittsburgh’s Strip District for its new headquarters. The company, which is relocating from metro Boston, plans to invest $2.3 million in the build-out and take occupancy this summer. Dan Adamski and Dennis Davin of JLL represented Excelitas Technologies in the lease negotiations. The name and representative of the landlord were not disclosed.
PITTSBURGH — North Carolina-based grocer The Fresh Market will open a 32,131-square-foot store in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood. The building at 5880 Centre Ave. was originally constructed in 2002 for Whole Foods Market, which vacated the space in 2022 for a larger store on nearby Penn Avenue. Herky Pollock of CBRE represented the undisclosed landlord in the lease negotiations. Brian Kerr of Hanna Langholz Wilson Ellis represented the tenant. The store will be Fresh Market’s first in Pittsburgh.
FEASTERVILLE-TREVOSE, PA. — JLL has secured construction debt and joint venture equity for a 320,250-square-foot industrial project in Feasterville-Trevose, about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia. The sponsor is regional developer J.G. Petrucci Co. The building will be situated on a 19.5-acre site at 4626 Somerton Road and will feature a clear height of 36 feet, 55 tailgate doors, two drive-in doors and parking for 56 trailers and 195 cars. Jon Mikula, John Plower, Ryan Cottone and Michael Lachs of JLL arranged the construction loan through Principal Asset Management and structured the joint venture with Boston-based Cabot Properties.
ALLENTOWN AND BETHLEHEM, PA. — New Jersey-based investment firm Denholtz Properties has acquired a portfolio of 18 industrial buildings totaling 723,734 square feet in the Lehigh Valley. Denholtz acquired the buildings, which are located in Allentown and Bethlehem, in a joint venture with an undisclosed partner. Brad Ruppel and Tristan Cade of CBRE represented the seller, PennCap Properties, in the transaction. The sales price was not disclosed.
MONROEVILLE, PA. — KeyBank has provided $90.7 million in financing for the acquisition and rehabilitation of Cambridge Square Apartments, a 204-unit affordable housing property in Monroeville, an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh. The financing consists of a $35 million construction loan, an $18 million Fannie Mae permanent loan, $15.7 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) equity and $22 million in tax-exempt bonds that were sold by KeyBanc Capital Markets. Cambridge Square Apartments consists of eight three-story buildings in one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans, with 97 percent (198) of the units subject to a 20-year Section 8 Housing Assistance contract. Residents have access to services such as healthcare education, financial and computer literacy, childcare, youth activities, nutritional services, disability services, tenant homeownership training and parenting programs. Anna Belanger and Jonathan Wittkopf of KeyBank structured the tax credit equity and debt financing for the transaction. Robbie Lynn of KeyBank structured the tax-exempt bonds, which were marketed for sale by Sam Adams of KeyBanc Capital Markets. The sponsor is Community Preservation Partners.