DALLAS — Dallas-based Centennial Real Estate Co., along with Dallas-based Corinthian Apartment Investments and equity partner Praedium Fund, has acquired The Èlan at Bluffview, a mixed-use multifamily and retail development located at 3850 W. Northwest Hwy. in Dallas. The property features 181 luxury one- and two-bedroom apartments with lofts ranging from 900 to 2,000 square feet, which are 95 percent occupied. It also includes 70,000 square feet of retail space originally built in the 1980s that is 30 percent leased.
NEW YORK CITY — POKO Partners is in the construction contract phase for the adaptive re-use of the Loews Pitkin Theater in Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood. The project will include 70,000 square feet of retail space and 90,000 square feet on the building's upper levels that will be occupied by a charter school. Wilk Auslander assisted POKO with the contracts. The construction timetable for the project was not released.
NEW YORK CITY — Massey Knakal Realty Service has completed the sales of two properties located in Manhattan's Upper East Side for a total of $31 million. In the first deal, a 16,790-square-foot commercial building at 29 E. 61st St. traded for $21 million. The five-story building contains the restaurant Serafina on the ground floor along with six retail and office tenants. Massey Knakal's Guthrie Garvin and Jeffrey Shalom arranged the deal between the seller, Hidrock Realty, and the undisclosed buyer. In the second deal, a five-story, 9,765-square-foot building located at 34 E. 61st St. traded for $10 million. The property contains five residential units on the upper three floors and the restaurant Aureole on the bottom two floors. Guthrie partnered with Paul Massey, Jr., to complete the deal between the two undisclosed parties.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. — The high-profile, eight-acre property at 9900 Wilshire Blvd., situated at the thoroughfare’s prominent intersection with Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, has been acquired by investors from Hong Kong and Singapore for $148.3 million. Architect Richard Meier’s plan for the property, which was approved by the City of Beverly Hills in 2008, calls for 235 condominiums and 17,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space set amidst extensive gardens. After being acquired for $500 million in 2007, the property fell into foreclosure early this year and was acquired by Carlos Slim ’s Banco Inbursa, one of the lenders. Joint Treasure won a private bidding auction administered by Eastdil Secured and the law firm Skadden Arps. The law firm Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis advised Joint Treasure in the transaction. In the $148.3 million transaction, Joint Treasure was acting on behalf of three of its consortium partners: Chow Tai Fook Group of Hong Kong, the holding company for publicly held New World Group; Wee Cho Yaw Family Group of Singapore that invests in banks, commercial properties and hotels; and David Chiu of Far East Consortium International Limited, a commercial property and hotel developer. The investor …
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The grand opening has been held for Global Village, a 189,000-square-foot mixed-use project on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester. The main feature of the project, which is known as Global Village, is a 414-bed student housing component that contains a mix of apartments and suite-style housing. In addition, the project contains 12,000 square feet of academic space and 20,000 square feet of retail space that includes a restaurant. The project features an outdoor plaza containing outdoor seating for the restaurant as well as an outdoor lounge containing a fire pit and a small performance area. The lounge turns into a small skating rink in the winter. The outdoor area also features a south-facing lawn “beach” and a green roof above the restaurant. ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge was the project architect, and SWA Group was the landscape architect.
BERKELEY, CALIF. — Arroyo & Coates has represented a private partnership in the $7 million sale of Renaissance Villas, a mixed-use property consisting of 34 apartments and 2,200 square feet of retail space located along University Avenue near the intersection of California Street, less than one mile west of the main entrance to the University of California at Berkeley. Originally constructed in 1998, the property comprises one- and two-bedroom apartment units and two retail spaces. Arroyo & Coates’ Nathan Blair represented the seller in the transaction; Equity Residential, the Chicago-based buyer, acted on its own behalf.
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Atlanta-based Reynolds Capital Group (RCG) and Charlotte, N.C.-based Lincoln Harris has acquired 16 acres of commercial property in Charleston. Known as Gateway Village, the property is located at the intersection of Highway 17, Main Road and Bees Ferry Road in the West Ashley submarket of Charleston. The companies plan to create build-ready opportunities for retailers, medical office groups and restaurants at the site. Infrastructure construction is scheduled to begin this fall.
STORRS, CONN. — Tuxedo, N.Y.-based LeylandAlliance has entered into a definitive agreement with Education Realty Trust (NYSE: EDR) to develop the first two phases of the Storrs Center mixed-use project. Located adjacent to the University of Connecticut in Storrs, the first two phases will contain 290 luxury apartments over 70,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space. EDR will develop, own and manage the apartments, and LeylandAlliance will own and manage the retail component. At full build-out, Storrs Center will contain $220 million of residential, retail, restaurant and office space in a town center setting. Other features will include a network of pedestrian walkways, green spaces and consveration areas. The first two phases will be delivered in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
LAS COLINAS — Trademark Property Co. has begun a planning and feasibility analysis for FRAM Building Group and Hunt Real Estate Partners concerning a 27-acre tract of land in Las Colinas. FRAM and Hunt are hoping to develop a mixed-use property called North Shore on the land, which is located at the intersection of Las Colinas Boulevard and SH 348. In addition to commercial properties, the project will include a rail station.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — A joint venture between Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds, The HYM Investment Group and Atlas Capital Group have acquired the former Pan Am rail yard in Cambridge and plan to redevelop it into a transit-oriented, mixed-use project. The 44-acre site, which is being called Northpoint, is located across the Charles River from Massachusetts General Hospital. When complete, it will contain residential, commercial office, retail, hospitality and life sciences space surrounding a 10-acre park. The infrastructure is already in place, and a new Green Line MBTA station is set to open by 2015. Pan Am Railways is serving as an investment partner in the project.