CLEVELAND — Spark GHC and Cleveland Construction Inc. have formed a joint venture to redevelop a 400,000-square-foot office building in downtown Cleveland into mixed-use space. Dubbed Project Scarlet, the $100 million development involves the adaptive reuse of the Rose Building, which formerly served as the headquarters of insurance company Medical Mutual. The joint venture plans to transform the property into a boutique hotel with apartment units and ground-floor retail space. The project team says the development will not only breathe new life into a historic structure, but also address the evolving needs of the Cleveland community for contemporary living spaces and upscale hospitality offerings. Founded in 1934, Medical Mutual is the oldest and one of the largest health insurance companies based in Ohio. The Rose Building had served as the home of Medical Mutual since 1947, but the insurer announced in late 2022 that it would leave the downtown offices for its suburban headquarters in Brooklyn, Ohio, according to Cleveland.com. Since 2020, the Cleveland market has emptied nearly 2.4 million square feet of office space due to negative absorption, according to Newmark. The office vacancy rate increased to 23.4 percent in the first quarter of 2024, up 50 basis points …
Mixed-Use
By Taylor Williams If you build it, they will come — assuming “it” is equipped with the all the facilities, necessities and conveniences of 21st-century living. As residents and consumers, it is remarkably easy to overlook the critical pieces of infrastructure that enable these necessities and conveniences. From the perspective of end users, these facilities and systems are not instrumental to the success of commercial and residential developments because they are taken for granted as minimal requirements for occupancy. Further, in many cases, the infrastructure is not visible to the naked eye. Yet for developers, particularly those in high-growth regions like North Texas, infrastructure is anything but an afterthought. “In the eyes of developers, infrastructure is a primary aspect of any project,” says Jack Turnage, development manager at Wildcatter Realty Partners, the developer behind The Greenbelt, a 325-acre mixed-use project in Hunt County. “Without that, the only way to navigate our site is on horseback.” Located in Greenville on the northeastern outskirts of Dallas, The Greenbelt is one of numerous large-scale mixed-use projects sprouting up in the region. Plans call for close to 1,000 single-family and multifamily units; several hundred thousand square feet of commercial space; numerous restaurant pad sites; …
ARMONK, N.Y. — Basis Industrial has received $39.6 million in financing for 100 Business Park Drive, a mixed-use property in Armonk, located north of New York City in Westchester County. Proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt on a 60,000-square-foot warehouse building on the site and to fund construction of a 117,000-square-foot mixed-use building. The new building will house an 82,400-square-foot Extra Space Storage facility, a 26,550-square-foot Sportime pickleball complex and an additional 8,000 square foot of industrial space for Jan-Tile, the primary tenant at the existing warehouse. Basis originally purchased the site in spring 2023. Construction of the new building is slated to begin in July and to be complete in the third quarter of 2025. Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group arranged the debt through Beach Point Capital Management.
NEW YORK CITY — S3 Capital Partners, a locally based private lender, has provided a $32 million construction loan for the ground-up development of a mixed-use project that will be located in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood. The project at 2700 Church Ave. will consist of 69 residential rental units, 9,796 square feet of retail space and 13,446 square feet of community facility space. Pinchas Vogel and Leah Paskus of Landstone Capital Group arranged the debt through S3 Capital Partners on behalf of the sponsor, Triple C Builders.
PHOENIX — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the purchase of an office and industrial property in Phoenix. Matt Hamblin acquired the asset for $1.9 million. Doug Fielding Jr. of Marcus & Millichap procured the buyer in the deal. Located at 4535 E. Broadway Road within Cotton Business Center, the facility offers 6,039 square feet of fully air-conditioned space, 16-foot clear heights, a 14-foot drive-up roll-up door, a lobby, various office sizes, a bullpen area, a server room, a break area, two ADA restrooms and skylights for natural light. Smart Pest Solutions occupies the space in an 80 percent office and 20 percent warehouse layout.
BAYONNE, N.J. — An entity doing business as Togus Urban Renewal LLC will develop 1888 Studios, a 1.5 million-square-foot film and TV production campus in the Northern New Jersey community of Bayonne. The 58-acre project will ultimately feature 17 buildings, 23 sound stages ranging in size from 18,000 to 60,000 square feet and 350,000 square feet of production support space. The development will also include office, storage and amenity space, as well as a parking garage and a five-acre public green space. Construction is expected to be complete by late 2026. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority provided an unspecified amount of tax credit equity to help finance the project.
PROSPER, TEXAS — Locally based developer Capitalize Ventures has received zoning approval from the Town of Prosper, about 40 miles north of Dallas, for a mixed-use project that is valued at roughly $300 million and will be known as Prosper Arts District. The 35-acre site is located at the northwest corner of Dallas North Tollway and Prosper Trail. Preliminary plans call for 515 multifamily units, three hotels and a retail village centered around a water feature display, to be developed in four phases. Phase I, which will include the development of core infrastructure, a sports-themed hotel, retail space and a parking garage, is set to begin later this year and to be complete in 2026. Gensler is leading the design of Prosper Arts District, which is ultimately expected to create about 400 full-time jobs and generate more than $1 billion in economic impact for the region.
ST. LOUIS — Locally based Good Developments Group is redeveloping a former industrial manufacturing site in St. Louis into Crunden Martin, a 500,000-square-foot mixed-use project. The property will serve as the initial phase of the 100-acre, $1.2 billion Gateway South Advanced Building Collaboration District, which is scheduled to break ground in the third quarter. Tom Ray of CBRE will market the space for lease. Phase I redevelopment plans include revitalizing the site’s seven conjoined buildings into a mixed-use workspace featuring prototyping spaces, offices, food-and-beverage retail, production facilities and other amenities designed for construction-focused tenants. Gateway South will feature more than 1.5 million square feet of light manufacturing facilities across a mixed-use neighborhood south of the Gateway Arch. Crunden Martin is slated for completion in the second quarter of 2026.
Bank OZK Provides $84M Construction Loan for First Phase of Nora District in Downtown West Palm Beach
by John Nelson
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. — Bank OZK has provided an $84 million construction loan for Phase I of The Nora District, a 40-acre mixed-use redevelopment project in downtown West Palm Beach. Steven Klein, Brian Gaswirth and Mateo Bolivar of JLL arranged the financing on behalf of the borrowers, NDT Development, Place Projects and Wheelock Street Capital. Phase I of Nora District, which will include more than 150,000 square feet of adaptive reuse and new development, broke ground in June 2023 and is slated for completion in early 2025. As part of the project, the developers are converting turn-of-the-century railway warehouses into ground-floor shops and restaurants. Phase I will also include more than 55,000 square feet of second-floor showroom space and creative Class A offices. Confirmed retailers in Phase I include Loco Taqueria & Oyster Bar, H&H Bagels, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, The Garret Group, Juliana’s Pizza, Celis Juice Bar and Café, Del Mar Mediterranean Restaurant, Sana Skin Studio, Mint, The Spot Barbershop, Rumble and Solidcore. Future phases of Nora District will include The Nora Hotel, a 201-room boutique hotel developed in partnership with BD Hotels and Sean MacPherson.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based brokerage firm Ariel Property Advisors has arranged the $11.7 million sale of a mixed-use development site in The Bronx. The site at 1931 Lafayette Ave. totals 300,000 buildable square feet and is zoned for both affordable housing and up to 18,000 square feet of retail space. Victor Sozio, Shimon Shkury, Jason Gold and Daniel Mahfar of Ariel represented the undisclosed sellers in the transaction. The buyer was also not disclosed.