FULLERTON, CALIF. — Mullen Automotive, an electronic vehicle manufacturer, has signed a lease to occupy a 121,615-square-foot industrial building at 1500 E. Walnut Ave. in Fullerton, from landlord Link Industrial. Situated on 5.4 acres, the industrial facility features 6,234 square feet of office space, 32-foot clear heights in the warehouse space, 17 dock-high doors and two grade-level doors, as well as a large, secured, fenced yard. Ben Seybold and Sean Ward of CBRE represented the landlord in the lease negotiations.
Property Type
INDIANA, KENTUCKY AND OHIO — Merchants Capital has provided $184 million in separate seven-year loans for the refinancing of seven workforce housing properties in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. Zidan Management Group, a Midwest-based multifamily owner and developer, was the borrower. The properties include: Barton Farms Apartment Homes in Greenwood, Ind.; Bexley Village in Greenwood, Ind.; Creekside at Meadowbrook in Lowell, Ind.; Tymberwood Trace Apartments in Louisville, Ky.; Crestview Apartments in Louisville, Ky.; Camelot East Apartments in Fairfield, Ohio; and Meadow View Apartments & Townhomes in Springboro, Ohio. There are more than 1,500 units across the portfolio. The communities offer naturally occurring affordable housing with rent pricing affordable to households earning at or below 80 percent of the area median income.
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. — Subtext has broken ground on its second property at Purdue University in West Lafayette. Brinkmann Constructors is the general contractor for the 449-bed, 245,700-square-foot student housing community. Completion is slated for August 2025. The development will offer a mix of studio, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units. All of the units will be fully furnished. Designed by ESG Architecture and Design, the project will feature more than 15,000 square feet of amenity spaces, including a coffee bar, clubroom, study rooms, fitness center, pet grooming area, pool, spa and dog run. This fall, total enrollment reached a record 52,211 students at Purdue.
OLATHE, KAN. — Hunt Midwest is building its sixth and largest StorTropolis self-storage facility in Olathe, a southwest suburb of Kansas City. The project is located at 601 N. Millridge St. next to Walmart and Aldi stores. The development will total 112,987 leasable square feet across 867 climate-controlled units with a variety of sizes. Completion is slated for September 2024. With this sixth location, StorTropolis will offer more than 4,000 self-storage units in Clay County, Platte County, Blue Springs, Shawnee, Lenexa and Olathe. Hunt Midwest partnered with Strickland Construction and Storage Asset Management to build and operate the facility in Olathe. Both partners also built and operate the existing StorTropolis locations across the metro area.
NILES, ILL. AND GARFIELD HEIGHTS, OHIO — Nassimi Realty has acquired two shopping centers in Illinois and Ohio for approximately $30 million. The two properties total about 500,000 square feet. Four Flaggs, a 326,084-square-foot center, is situated at the southeast corner of Golf Road and Milwaukee Avenue in Niles, a northern suburb of Chicago. The property is 75 percent leased to tenants such as Fresh Farms, Marshalls, PetSmart, Old Navy, JoAnn, Five Below and Ashley Furniture. Ben Wineman and Rick Drogosz of Mid-America Real Estate Corp. represented the seller, IRC Retail Centers/DRA Advisors. The property was managed by Pine Tree. Turney Town Plaza is located on Turney Road in Garfield Heights, a southern suburb of Cleveland. Tenants include Dave’s Market, Advance Auto Parts and Sherwin-Williams. Seller information was not provided.
CHICAGO — Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) has leased 34,295 square feet at Fulton Labs in Chicago. Trammell Crow Co. (TCC) is the owner and developer of the property. Illinois Tech will occupy the entire seventh floor of the wet lab facility at 400 N. Aberdeen St. The facility will serve as the university’s first off-campus move to a commercial research hub. Illinois Tech expects to take occupancy by late summer 2024. Illinois Tech researchers will focus on biomedical and biological engineering, including sensors, separation science and electrochemical energy materials along with more biology-focused research such as therapeutics development. Dan Lyne of CBRE represented TCC, while Max Zwolan and Scott Brandwein of JLL represented Illinois Tech. Perkins & Will designed the new space for Illinois Tech. Power Construction will serve as general contractor for the build-out. Fulton Labs totals 725,000 square feet across two buildings.
ORLANDO, FLA. — Toll Brothers Campus Living and The Davis Cos. have unveiled plans to develop Aperture, a 680-bed student housing community situated adjacent to the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando. The project will encompass two buildings and rise five stories. Located at 12727 E. Colonial Drive, Aperture will feature a fitness center, e-sports gaming center, computer lounge, content creation studio, LuxerOne package locker system, courtyard and resort-style pool. Residents will have access to a private shuttle to campus, as well as a parking garage with electric vehicle charging stations. Completion is slated for fall 2025. TD Bank provided a $50 million construction loan for the project. Toll Brothers’ in-house finance department arranged the equity and debt. According to the developers, UCF has the second largest on-campus enrollment of any public university in the U.S. with almost 70,000 students enrolled in the 2022-2023 academic year. “Demand for elevated student housing continues to rise across the country as highly amenitized offerings gain prevalence in the market, especially in the Sun Belt region,” says Jerry Murphy, managing director of investments at Davis. Toll Brothers Campus Living will manage the property’s development, construction and asset management, as well as handle marketing …
By Scott Nurski and Kevin O’Reilly, NAI Wisinski Great Lakes The Grand Rapids multifamily investment sales market has experienced reduced volume year-to-date, but the fundamentals remain strong. West Michigan, especially Grand Rapids, is affordable, with abundant high-paying employment opportunities and a high quality of life. In the words of author Malcolm Gladwell, “I love Grand Rapids. Why doesn’t everyone live in Grand Rapids?” Unlike many major markets, the construction pipeline here is slow and steady, with little risk of oversupply. While multifamily sales volume is down across the board, Grand Rapids remains a desirable location for owners and operators alike. Multifamily fundamentals Annualized rent growth continues to normalize from the wild parabolic rise seen nationwide due to the pandemic and associated market disruptions. It currently stands at 5.1 percent, according to third-quarter data from CoStar for Kent County (30 units and above). This figure is a solid uptick from the second-quarter 2023 figure of 3.2 percent. The market generally is returning to the 3 to 5 percent range typically seen during pre-pandemic norms. Occupancy improved slightly from 95.2 percent in the second quarter of 2023 to 95.4 percent in the third quarter of 2023. However, it has been gradually declining …
NEW YORK CITY — Coworking and office-sharing pioneer WeWork Inc. (NYSE: WE) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. WeWork also plans to file similar protectionary measures in Canada. WeWork has entered into a restructuring support agreement with its creditors representing approximately 92 percent of its secured notes to “drastically reduce” the company’s existing funded debt and expedite the restructuring process. Reuters reports the debt-for-equity swap deal with its creditors totals $3 billion. The New York City-based company plans to continue operations and “further rationalize its commercial office lease portfolio” with its network of office landlords. WeWork’s locations and franchisees outside of the United States and Canada are not part of this process. According to the company website, WeWork operates more than 320 locations globally across various workplace solutions platforms. As part of the filing, WeWork is requesting the ability to reject the leases of certain locations that are “non-operational,” all of which have affected members that have received advanced notice. The company has retained Hilco Real Estate, an Illinois-based real estate restructuring and advisory firm, to assist with lease renegotiations. “WeWork has a strong foundation, a dynamic business and a bright future,” says David Tolley, CEO of WeWork. “Now …
Hilton Grand Vacations Agrees to Acquire Bluegreen Vacations for $1.5B, Including 48 Club Resorts
by John Nelson
ORLANDO AND BOCA RATON, FLA. — Orlando-based Hilton Grand Vacations has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bluegreen Vacations, a time-share resort company based in Boca Raton. The all-cash transaction is valued at $75 per share, or $1.5 billion, including debt. The merger agreement will add more than 200,000 members and 48 club resorts in 14 new geographies for Hilton Grand Vacations. Additionally, Hilton Grand Vacations has reached a 10-year marketing agreement with Bass Pro Shops, which formerly had an exclusive marketing agreement with Bluegreen Vacations that includes a joint venture for four outdoor-themed resorts. The Bluegreen Vacations acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2024.