CHICAGO — Habitat and P3 Markets have topped off construction of the second apartment building at 43 Green, a $100 million mixed-income development in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. The transit-oriented development is centered around the 43rd Street Green Line L station. The new building rises 10 stories with 80 units, 44 of which will be designated as affordable. Completion is slated for late summer 2024. The developers have fully leased the first apartment building, which also rises 10 stories. The 99-unit property consists of 50 affordable units for households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income. Located on a long-vacant, city-owned lot on the northeast corner of East 43rd Street and Calumet Avenue, the first building is the largest of three planned buildings at 43 Green. Amenities include a fitness center, business center, picnic area, community room with kitchen, two rooftop terraces, laundry facilities and bicycle storage. The second building will have similar amenities.
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CRYSTAL AND NORTH SAINT PAUL, MINN. — StorageMart has acquired two self-storage facilities in Crystal and North Saint Paul for an undisclosed price. Both properties will undergo comprehensive updates to align with StorageMart’s standards. Together, the facilities offer 1,564 units and 159,282 square feet of rentable climate-controlled space. Unit sizes range from five-by-five units to 15-by-40 units.
CHICAGO — Quantum Real Estate Advisors Inc. has brokered the sale of a 38-unit multifamily property in Chicago for $2.7 million. The courtyard building is located at 4126 W. 24th Place in Little Village. Clay Maxfield of Quantum represented the seller, which had owned the asset for 25 years. The property sold to a local owner with multiple assets in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.
NEW HAVEN, IND. — Red Bull has signed a seven-year, 33,909-square-foot industrial lease at 10821 Rose Ave. in New Haven, just east of Fort Wayne. The building is part of the larger Cedar Oak industrial development. Chad Voglewede and Bill Drinkall of Bradley Co. represented the landlord, Cedar Oak Venture.
CHICAGO — A. Lange & Söhne, a German luxury watch manufacturer, has signed a lease for 1,409 square feet of retail space at The Shops at Tribune Tower in Chicago. The retailer’s location will be positioned on Michigan Avenue on the corner overlooking Pioneer Court, which was redeveloped by CIM Group and Golub & Co. The area between Tribune Tower and the neighboring Apple store features space for locals and visitors to gather and shop. The A. Lange & Söhne boutique is slated to open in 2024 and will join the Musuem of Ice Cream, Foxtrot Market, Blue Bottle Coffee, Rowan and Krewe. The Shops at Tribune Tower consists of 50,000 square feet of retail space that anchors the ground floor of the 36-story, 740,000-square-foot Tribune Tower. CIM Group and Golub & Co. transformed the property into 162 luxury condos.
Related Cos., Sterling Equities Break Ground on 2,500-Unit Willets Point Affordable Housing Project in Queens
by Katie Sloan
NEW YORK CITY — Queens Development Group, a joint venture between Related Cos. and Sterling Equities, has broken ground on the first phase of a 2,500-unit affordable housing project in the New York City borough of Queens. The project, named Willets Point, will be the city’s largest affordable housing development in 40 years, according to the joint venture. Wells Fargo has arranged a total of $360 million in financing for Phase I of the development, with a $236.5 million construction loan and $123.5 million Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investment. Phase I of the development will feature two mid-rise buildings offering a combined 880 units of affordable housing. Forty percent of units will be reserved for residents earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income, and 15 percent of units will be set aside for tenants that formerly experienced homelessness. Amenities will include a landscaped inner courtyard, laundry facilities, lounge space with access to outdoor terraces, bicycle storage and ground-floor retail space. The development will also include infrastructure investments like new streets, signage, sidewalks, trees, lights, drainage, stormwater management, water hydrants, sewers and utilities. Future components of the development will include a 650-seat standalone public school, New York …
It would be impossible to write a development or design article without mentioning the elephant in the room — the state of the capital markets and the current hurdles in securing financing of any sort, but especially for new development projects. While demand for new communities exists in many markets, getting projects to pencil out is the tricky part. For those developments that can move forward, innovative architecture and design are being employed to make the projects as functional and efficient as possible. Out are some of the flashier amenities from the days of yore, and in is design that helps student residents be the happiest and healthiest versions of themselves, both mentally and physically. From the developer perspective, there is no question about the desire to build — especially in Power Five university markets. “Almost all of the Power Five universities have seen 7 percent to 10 percent rental rate increases over the past three years and are showing approximately 98 percent occupancy at most properties,” says Greg Faulkner, president of Humphreys & Partners Architects. “But math has to work with the rates, like equity requirements of 45 percent or higher. Hard costs have moderated, but some are still …
Multifamily Investors in Long Beach Navigate Opportunities Amidst Market Adjustments, New Developments
by Jeff Shaw
— By Juan Huizar, President, Sage Real Estate — Nationwide, multifamily sales are declining, while interest rates are rising. Buyers are adopting a patient approach, leading to properties lingering on the market for extended periods. This, of course, is accompanied by noticeable price reductions. Buyers are anticipating further price drops, while some sellers are slowly becoming more realistic in their pricing. Long Beach has perennially attracted multifamily investors with more than 7,500 individual apartment buildings. This is mainly composed of older housing stock, which creates a fertile ground for investors and syndicators. Often regarded as the last affordable beach city, Long Beach — despite being overshadowed by other Southern California communities or grouped with Los Angeles — stands as a significant population and employment hub, ranking as the sixth-largest city in California. Existing apartment sales for properties with five or more units have plummeted by more than 65 percent. Notably, 2021 was an exceptional year due to a confluence of factors, including rising real estate values and a low cost of capital. The current decline is more a reflection of increased capital costs than a trend over the past decade, with some properties selling for less than their 2019 prices. …
Luxury Watchmaker Audemars Piguet Selects Raleigh Iron Works for Regional Service Center
by John Nelson
RALEIGH, N.C. — Audemars Piguet, a luxury watchmaker based in Switzerland, plans to open a new regional headquarters office in Raleigh. The company plans to invest $22 million to build out its 63,000-square-foot office at Raleigh Iron Works, a $150 million mixed-use development in Raleigh by Jamestown and Grubb Ventures. The development will be the home of Audemars Piguet’s North American Service Center, which will create 105 new jobs. The watch manufacturer is joining other luxury tenants at Raleigh Iron Works that include Peter Millar, Johnnie O, Raleigh Denim Workshop and the Bal Harbour pop-up experience. The 19-acre development will also house 200 apartments and offices for Wasserman and FM Systems, as well as food-and-beverage options from Chef Scott Crawford, Robert Thompson, Ford Fry, Eastcut Sandwiches, Andia’s Ice Cream and Ponysaurus Brewing Co. Civic entities that were involved in bringing Audemars Piguet to the project include Wake County Economic Development, Raleigh Economic Development, the City of Raleigh, Wake County Board of Commissioners, Capital Area Workforce Development Board, North Carolina State University, Wake Technical Community College and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. AND LAGRANGE, GA. — BWE has secured two loans totaling $16 million for a pair of shopping centers in Florida and Georgia. The deals include a $6 million loan for the refinancing of Palm Beach Commons, a 70,000-square-foot, Family Dollar-anchored retail center in West Palm Beach, and a $10 million acquisition loan for Publix at Merganser Commons, a newly built, Publix-anchored shopping center spanning 46,791 square feet in LaGrange. Both loans are underwritten with full-term, interest-only payments. The borrowers and direct lenders for both loans were not disclosed.