Rhode Island’s retail market continues to improve, although not to the point that new ground-up major projects are feasible. There is considerable activity with retailers expanding and absorbing the existing supply of retail space. In the past few years, a lot of the activity has focused on absorbing the mid-size boxes that went dark after the start of the recession, due to the closings of stores such as Circuit City, Linens ’N Things, and Borders. The leasing activity over the last several years seems to be the final stages of the absorption of these vacant boxes. As the supply of these existing anchor spaces continues to be reduced, the health of the retail market continues to improve with the result being a slight upward pressure on rents. The 500,000-square-foot Garden City Center in Cranston, which first opened in 1948, continues to upgrade its tenants, with The Wilder Company’s ongoing multi-year expansion and renovation of Rhode Island’s premier open-air mixed-use shopping center. New tenants opening over the last year include The Container Store, which has taken 25,000 square feet, as well as French natural skin care retailer L’Occitane and natural burger concept b. good. Additional new leases have been signed with …
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — RK Centers has acquired Middletown Village, a retail center located on Route 114 in Middletown, for $16.7 million. The 98,575-square-foot center is occupied by a variety of national tenants, including Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Michaels and Petco. The name of the seller was not released.
WEST WARWICK, R.I. — CBRE/New England has brokered the sale of The Apartments at Royal Mills, a multifamily community located at 125 Providence St. in West Warwick. JG Royal Mill LLC/JJH Royal Mill LLC, an affiliate of Readville, Mass.-based Geraghty Associates, purchased the 251-unit property for $31.7 million from SBER Royal Mill LLC. The property consists of two main historic mill buildings: Royal Mill, ranging from four to six stories, and the four-story Ace Dye Mill. Additionally, the property features a two-story machine shop mill with two townhome units and a vacant two-story gatehouse building, which can be converted into amenity or residential space. Community amenities include a clubhouse, pool table, wet bar, fireplace, resident lounge, fitness and business centers, riverfront barbeque area, kayak launch, landscaped river walk, waterfall-powered hydro plant, landscaped common areas and courtyards and climate controlled on-site garage parking. Simon Butler and Biria St. John of CBRE/NE represented the seller in the transaction.
WAKEFIELD, R.I. — CBRE/New England has brokered the sale of Harbor Village in Wakefield. An affiliate of JRK Property Holdings acquired the 234-unit apartment community, which sold for an undisclosed price. Harbor Village consists of 16 residential buildings and a clubhouse. The residential buildings comprise five two-story direct-entry townhome buildings and 11 three-story garden-style buildings. The property offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units, with an average apartment size of 1,113 square feet. Simon Butler and Biria St. John of CBRE/NE represented the undisclosed seller in the deal.
NARRAGANSETT, R.I. — A subsidiary of Dividend Capital Diversified Property Fund Inc. has purchased Salt Pond Shopping Center for $39.2 million. Located at 91 Point Judith Road in Narragansett, the property is occupied by Stop & Shop, Marshalls/HomeGoods, Sports Authority, West Marine and Dollar Tree. Chris Angelone, Bill Moylan, Nat Heald and Bruce Lusa of CBRE/NE represented the undisclosed seller and the buyer in the transaction.
NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I. — CBRE/New England’s Capital Markets team has brokered the sale of Windsor at Brentwood, a 240-unit garden-style apartment community located in North Providence. Bower Hill Associates, an affiliate of GID Investment Advisors LLC, sold the property to Brentwood Apartments Limited Partnership, an affiliate of SMC Management LLC, for $25.8 million. Built in 1988, Windsor at Brentwood consists of 12 two- and three-story buildings with a mix of 178 one-bedroom apartments and 72 two-bedroom apartments. The apartments range in size from 541 to 965 square feet. At the time of the sale, 166 units had received kitchen and bathroom renovations along with community amenity upgrades. Simon Butler and Biria St. John of CBRE/NE represented the seller and procured the buyer in the transaction.
COVENTRY, R.I. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of two retail centers, located at 670-678 and 710-720 Centre of New England Blvd. in Coventry. MTM-CNE LLC sold the assets, which total 16,895 square feet, for $4.4 million to 1465 Third Avenue LLC. Current tenants include 863 Sushi, Cilantro Grille, Royal Nails, UPS, Spring, We-R-Wireless, GameStop, Starkey Hearing, Supercuts and T-Mobile. Bob Horvath and Todd Tremblay of Marcus & Millichap represented both the seller and buyer in the transaction.
WARWICK, R.I. — RE/MAX Commercial has brokered the sale of a 31,500-square-foot medical office building in Warwick. Situated on four acres at 390 Toll Gate Road, the property sold for $3.2 million. The building is occupied by 12 medical groups, including Kent Cardiology, Kent Hospital Lab Services, Bayside Endocrinology, King Opticians, West Bay Surgical Associates and Kent Urology. Andy Kusher and Michael Milano of RE/MAX Commercial represented the seller, Toll Gate Associates. Tom Sullivan of Commercial Realty Advisors represented the buyer, BEM Realty Trust, in the transaction.
Rhode Island’s economy continues to struggle with unemployment that is above the national average. As a result, it has been difficult to get new ground-up development projects started with only a few exceptions. In Johnston, Saletin Real Estate Group has completed construction on the first phase of Johnston Towne Center on Hartford Avenue. The 95,000-square-foot shopping center is anchored by a 40,000-square-foot Price-Rite grocery store. BankRI has also opened a new free-standing facility on the site. In order to make the development a reality, the mayor and town council worked with the developer and issued tax increment bond financing. The project is considered a major redevelopment victory for the town of Johnston, as the construction of Johnston Towne Center required the demolition of the former Stuart’s Plaza shopping center — which had been 100 percent vacant for many years, and had become an eyesore along Hartford Avenue, one of Johnston’s busiest streets. Johnston Towne Center serves as the second victory for the rejuvenation of Hartford Avenue. The former Shaw’s grocery store, which had been vacant for several years and shares the same traffic signal as Johnston Towne Center, is now fully leased to Ocean State Job Lot and Planet Fitness. …
In Providence, the Class A office market has stabilized, thanks to a number of large lease renewals last year as well as new activity in the market. The current vacancy rate for Class A office product is now under 9 percent in the Capital City with an overall office vacancy rate of 14 percent, which represents a decrease of 100 basis points compared to this same point last year. Consequently, this activity has pushed rental rates for Class A space back over $30 per square foot on new deals. Recently, Nortek completed a lease for 24,000 square feet at the Blue Cross Blue Shield building located in the Capital Center district of Providence. Tech startup Swipely has completed its move into more than 25,000 square feet at 10 Dorrance Street. But for the Swipely expansion, the downtown Providence Class B office market remains stagnant. There has been some activity on the capital markets front as well in Providence. The Foundry Associates recently completed its purchase of the former American Locomotive Works (ALCO) site, which totals more than 200,000 square feet of redeveloped office space, for $19.05 million. In addition, Providence-based Paolino Properties recently completed the acquisition of 100 Westminster (300,000 …