ETNA, PA. — Electric products and services provider Westinghouse will open an 87,420-square-foot industrial facility in Etna, located northeast of downtown Pittsburgh, a move that will add about 40 jobs and $18 million in capital investment to the local economy. Westinghouse will use the space at 51 Bridge St. to manufacture various electrical components and advance clean energy initiatives. New York-based private equity firm The AM Group owns the building. Construction began earlier this year and is slated for a first-quarter 2024 completion.
CHESTER SPRINGS, PA. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered sale of a retail pad site that is leased to CVS and an affiliated outparcel building in Chester Springs, about 35 miles northwest of Philadelphia, for a combined $6.1 million. Dean Zang and David Crotts of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, an affiliate of the Zukin Family, in the transaction and procured an undisclosed, publicly traded REIT as the buyer. Sean Beuche of Marcus & Millichap assisted in closing the deal as the broker of record.
BLUE BELL, PA. — JLL has negotiated the sale of a 199,532-square-foot office building located at 1400 Union Meeting Road in Blue Bell, a northwestern suburb of Philadelphia. The two-story building was originally constructed on 18.6 acres in 1961 and is now zoned for scientific, agricultural, industrial or research or development uses. Brett Segal and Matthew Blumberg of JLL represented the seller, Bridge Investment Group, in the transaction and procured the buyer, a foreign private investor. Specific plans for repositioning were not disclosed.
ALLENTOWN, PA. — Locally based firm Waterfront Development Co. has completed Six Fifteen Waterfront, a 120,000-square-foot office project in the Lehigh Valley community of Allentown. The six-story, waterfront building consists of 100,000 square feet of Class A office space and 20,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and features a two-story lobby, floor-to-ceiling windows and a variety of outdoor gathering and lounge spaces. A grand opening ceremony was held on Wednesday, Oct. 11.
PHILADELPHIA — JLL has arranged a $33.5 million loan for the refinancing of a portfolio of 10 industrial properties totaling 443,488 square feet in the Philadelphia metro area. The portfolio was fully leased at the time of sale to a mix of local and national tenants, including Boeing and Fiserv. Building features include clear heights ranging from 16 to 22 feet and a total of 82 dock-high doors, 15 drive-in doors and 768 parking spaces. Michael Klein, Steven Klein, Ryan Ade and Ryan Carroll of JLL arranged the five-year, fixed-rate loan through Securian Financial on behalf of the borrower, Wharton Industrial.
PHILADELPHIA — A partnership between Ensemble Investments, Mosaic Development Partners and Korman Communities has broken ground on a 614-unit multifamily project at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The development will have two buildings that house a mix of luxury, market-rate and affordable residences. A formal groundbreaking ceremony will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 24, and completion of the project is slated for 2025. CBRE arranged construction debt for the project, which is being financed by a $78 million loan from insurance company Ullico and a $95 million facility from M&T Bank and Israel Discount Bank of New York. In addition, New York City-based Basis Investment Group has contributed $100 million in equity to the capital stack.
PHILADELPHIA — Hilco Redevelopment Partners (HRP) has broken ground on the first phase of The Bellwether District, a redevelopment project encompassing 1,300 acres in South Philadelphia. The project will transform the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery into a state-of-the-art innovation, e-commerce and logistics campus. Demolition of the obsolete industrial site is now substantially complete. The redevelopment will be a 14 million-square-foot campus divided into two areas: 250 acres dedicated to innovation and 750 acres for industrial and logistics facilities. HRP expects The Bellwether District to augment the life sciences and research infrastructure in nearby University City and to bring supply chain logistics and advanced manufacturing to the site, which is located near Philadelphia International Airport and The Port of Philadelphia. “When our team arrived here in Philadelphia, we did not see a former refinery — we saw what I believe to be the most strategic piece of real estate east of the Mississippi, if not in the entire United States,” says Roberto Perez, CEO of HRP. HRP projects that the development of The Bellwether District will create 19,000 direct permanent jobs and nearly 28,000 direct construction jobs over a 10- to 15-year timeline. The groundbreaking marks the first phase of …
PHILADELPHIA — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged undisclosed amounts of construction financing and joint venture equity for a 40,000-square-foot industrial project in Philadelphia that is a build-to-suit for Stateside Vodka. The facility will be located within Crown 95 Logistics Center, a 381,200-square-foot development on the city’s northeast side, and will feature a clear height of 28 feet and seven loading docks. John Alascio, Aaron Graves, Chuck Kohaut, T.J. Sullivan, Mitch Rothstein and Claire Oster of Cushman & Wakefield arranged the debt through Univest and the equity from Tramview Capital Management. The borrower/developer was not disclosed.
PHILADELPHIA — Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and has received financial commitments totaling roughly $3.4 billion from lenders to support business operations as the company works to restructure its debt. The Philadelphia-based pharmacy and convenience store chain did not say whether it would immediately close any stores as a direct result of this filing, just that it would continue “assessing its footprint and closing underperforming stores.” However, in September, The Wall Street Journal reported that Rite Aid had proposed to its creditors a restructuring and rightsizing plan that would involve closing 400 to 500 of its 2,100 or so stores nationwide. The bankruptcy filing has long been expected within the industry, as Rite Aid’s position has grown more precarious in the wake of numerous lawsuits alleging the pharmacy’s role in supplying opioid drugs that contributed to overdose deaths. That legal activity reached its crescendo earlier this year when the U.S. Justice Department formally lodged a complaint against Rite Aid. According to CNN, the government alleged at that time that Rite Aid had “knowingly filled unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances.” According to CNBC, Rite Aid ended its most recent fiscal quarter on June 3 …
PHILADELPHIA — Florida-based investment firm DoveHill Capital Management has acquired a 329-room, dual-branded hotel in Philadelphia’s Wynnefield Heights neighborhood. The Hilton hotel was built in 2000 and was fully renovated in 2016, while the Homewood Suites hotel was built in 2005 and fully renovated in 2022. The hotels share 26,000 square feet of amenity space, as well as 1,300 parking spaces, and have jointly benefited from over $10 million in capital investment since 2015. DoveHill’s subsidiary, The Wurzak Hotel Group, will manage the property.