FLINT, MICH. — Bernard Financial Group (BFG) has arranged a $23 million loan for the refinancing of a 328,770-square-foot industrial facility in Flint. Joshua Bernard of BFG arranged the loan on behalf of the borrower, Flint Commerce Center 1 LLC. A life insurance company provided the loan.
CICERO, ILL. — CRG has begun development of The Cubes at Cicero, an 85,680-square-foot speculative industrial facility in Cicero, just west of Chicago. The project at 5401 W. Roosevelt Road will feature a clear height of 32 feet, 16 dock-high loading doors, two drive-in doors and approximately 2,000 square feet of office space. Thomas Rodeno, Patrick Turner and Sean Austin of Colliers will market the development for lease. DSI is the general contractor. Lamar Johnson Collaborative, CRG’s integrated architecture and design firm, is the project architect.
LAREDO, TEXAS — Partners Real Estate has brokered the sale of a portfolio of three industrial buildings totaling 361,750 square feet in the Rio Grande Valley city of Laredo. The buildings, which are situated on a combined 20 acres at the nexus of interstates 35 and 69, have been fully occupied by the same unnamed tenants since the mid- to late-2000s. Shaffer Braun and Marc Peeler of Partners represented the buyer, Austin-based investment firm Evergen Equity, in the off-market transaction. The seller and sales price were not disclosed.
KENILWORTH, N.J. — Newmark has brokered the $322 million sale of a facility within the Northeast Science & Technology Center, a 107-acre data center and life sciences campus located in the Northern New Jersey community of Kenilworth. Spanning roughly 2 million square feet and formerly owned and occupied by pharmaceutical company Merck, the campus comprises nine buildings with office, lab and research-and-development space, as well as a 50-megawatt substation, cogeneration and chiller plants and a central boiler facility. The buyer, New Jersey-based data center owner-operator CoreWeave, committed last fall to a 280,000-square-foot lease and a larger $1.2 billion investment at the property. The seller, a partnership between Onyx Equities and Machine Investment Group, bought the campus in 2023 for $187.5 million with plans to reposition the property into a life sciences and innovation hub. The Newmark deal team included Andrew Warin, Josh King, Brent Mayo, Doug Harmon and Jordan Roeschlaub. Cushman & Wakefield represented the buyer in the transaction.
SUGAR LAND, TEXAS — Texas Logistic & Fulfillment Services has signed a 299,731-square-foot industrial lease in Sugar Land, a southwestern suburb of Houston. The third-party logistics company will occupy the entirety of the building at 12900 W. Airport Blvd., which according to LoopNet Inc. was constructed in 1998. The facility also features a cross-dock configuration and 11,600 square feet of office space. Joseph Smith and Pearce Martens of CBRE represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Denver-based Sagard Real Estate owns the property.
SOMERDALE, N.J. — NAI Mertz has negotiated the $6.4 million sale of a 44,055-square-foot industrial building in Somerdale, located outside of Philadelphia in Southern New Jersey. According to LoopNet Inc., the building at 900 Kennedy Blvd. was originally constructed in 1980 and features a clear height of 12 feet and five loading docks. Scott Mertz of NAI Mertz represented the buyer, plumbing and HVAC products distributor F.W. Webb, in the transaction. Jonathan Klear, also with NAI Mertz, represented the seller, locally based investment firm Faropoint.
HOUSTON — Fashion Wheels Inc. has signed a 33,376-square-foot industrial lease renewal in northwest Houston. The apparel wholesaler will remain a tenant at the building at 7108 Old Katy Road, which according to LoopNet Inc. was originally constructed in 1999 and totals 192,960 square feet. Chase McAteer of local brokerage firm Oxford Partners represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Faron Wiley of CBRE represented the landlord, PGIM Real Estate.
HIALEAH, FLA. — NAI Miami | Fort Lauderdale has brokered the $52.9 million sale of Countyline East Logistics Center, an industrial facility located at 16300 N.W. 97th Ave. in Hialeah, a suburb of Miami. An undisclosed buyer, which plans to fully occupy the 171,178-square-foot property, purchased the asset from the developer, a partnership between East Capital Partners and VLIETCO Enterprises. Countyline East was delivered earlier this year and features a fully secured truck court, approximately 6,000 square feet of office space and 36 clear heights. The design-build team for the facility included Miller Construction, Langan Engineering and Arcadis Architects. Gabriel Garcia-Menocal of NAI Miami | Fort Lauderdale represented the buyer in the transaction, and Devin White, David Albert and Mateo Coman of CBRE represented the seller.
HUDSON, OHIO — Industrial Realty Group (IRG) has begun the redevelopment of the 1.4 million-square-foot former headquarters campus of fabrics retailer Joann in Hudson, located roughly midway between Cleveland and Akron. The 130-acre campus currently features industrial and office space, as well as undeveloped land. IRG plans to redevelop the campus to support uses such as corporate headquarters, distribution, research and development, manufacturing and retail, through both ground-lease and build-to-suit opportunities. In addition, the company will rebrand the campus as Hudson District and has tapped CBRE as the leasing agent. Joann filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024 and earlier this year announced that it would begin closing all its retail stores.
AcquisitionsContent PartnerDevelopmentFeaturesIndustrialLeasing ActivityLee & AssociatesLoansMidwestMultifamilyNortheastOfficeRetailSoutheastTexasWestern
Lee & Associates’ Report: Q2 Net Absorption Declines Across All Property Sectors Except Multifamily
Lee & Associates’ 2025 Q2 North America Market Report looks back at shrinking (or negative) net absorption for industrial, office and retail sectors in the last quarter. Meanwhile, multifamily tenant demand beat previous expectations in the same three months, as a feared recession failed to materialize. The mix of factors for absorption varied by property type: industrial and office markets saw increases in vacancy, while competition for retail space remained high, even in the face of high-profile closures. Lee & Associates’ full market report is available to read here (plus detailed vacancy rates, cap rates by city, market rents, square footage information, information on Canadian markets and more). The recaps for industrial, office, retail and multifamily sectors below detail trends and outlooks for each property sector in the remainder of 2025. Industrial Overview: Vacancies Rise, Rent Growth Slows Concern over the impact of tariffs has added to slowing tenant growth in logistics and manufacturing across North America. But the continued easing demand has resulted in more choices and benefits for users that have been subjected to a prolonged stretch of steep rent growth. Vacancies in the United States have risen to 7.4 percent, a decade-long high, while deliveries continued to outpace tenant expansion. Net absorption fell …