NORTH BERGEN, N.J. — New York-based Acadia Lodging Brokers & Advisors has arranged the $24 million sale of the 250-room Meadowlands View Hotel in the Northern New Jersey community of North Bergen. The 12-story building has been closed since the pandemic and has significant potential for renovation or repositioning, according to the brokerage team. Arbah Hotel Corp. sold the property to American Dream Hotel LLC in an all-cash transaction.
BOSTON — Law firm Goulston & Storrs has signed a 100,000-square-foot office lease at One Post Office Square in downtown Boston. According to Wikipedia, the recently renovated building rises 42 stories, totals roughly 832,000 square feet and includes a 368-space parking garage. Goulston & Storrs has engaged Elkus Manfredi Architects to design the build-out of the space, which will house about 350 employees across four floors that will be connected by an internal staircase. The move-in is scheduled for next spring.
ORANGE, N.J. — Locally based brokerage firm The Kislak Co. Inc. has negotiated the $1.4 million sale of a 12-unit apartment building located at 153 Pierson St. in the Northern New Jersey community of Orange. According to Apartments.com, the building was originally constructed in 1896 and offers one-bedroom units. Julie Gralla of Kislak represented the seller and procured the buyer, both of which were limited liability companies, in the deal.
SIMPSONVILLE, KY. — A joint venture partnership between Hunt Midwest and Marshall Planing Mill has announced plans to break ground on a 3.4 million-square-foot industrial park in Simpsonville, roughly 25 miles east of Louisville. The 300-acre development, dubbed Simpsonville 64 Logistics Park, will be located on Kentucky Route 1848 near the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant, Ford Kentucky Assembly Plant and GE Appliance Park. The project will be developed in phases, with construction of Phase I set to begin in the fourth quarter of this year. Phase I will include the development of a 207,400-square-foot, rear-load industrial building with 210 parking spaces and 80 semi-trailer truck parking space, as well as a 486,720-square-foot cross-dock industrial building with 206 parking spaces and 140 semi-trailer truck parking spaces. The development will also include retail space along Buck Creek Road. Build-to-suit opportunities are available at the site for industrial users up to 1.5 million square feet. A timeline for the project was not announced. The development team for Simpsonville 64 Logistics Park includes H2B Architects and Mindel Scott. Kevin Grove of CBRE will handle leasing for the industrial portion of the park. Jody Zimmerman and John Agan with Walter Wagner Jr. Co. will lead …
By Taylor Williams No matter your size, market and scope of operation, for retail owners and operators, there is no such thing as total immunity from the likes of e-commerce, COVID-19, inflation and interest rate hikes. But there is such a thing as absorbing those socioeconomic hits in stride, learning and evolving from them and re-emerging on significantly more solid ground. And that is largely the path that the Philadelphia retail market has traversed over the past few years. The timing of the pandemic dismantled the launch of Fashion District, the redevelopment of the former Gallery at Market East Mall that should have ushered in a new scene of experience-based, locally merchandised retail in Philadelphia. Retailers and restaurants along Center City District’s main shopping corridors quickly devised solutions to the global healthcare crisis and were returning to normalcy when bad timing once again intervened. This time, it took the form of the Delta variant, which delayed plans to reopen existing stores or launch new ones and erased some of the positive momentum that landlords and tenants had recouped. For their part, suburban retail properties, many of whose performances were bolstered in the short run by pandemic- driven population influxes, are …
No one in the multifamily sector needs a lecture on the difficulty of financing projects and deals these days. But, when there are challenges in the market, attention to detail and alternative financing can result in a better chance of finding solutions. Considering life insurance companies as viable investors is one example. Insurers often can provide needed liquidity as they search for yield, especially in the multifamily world. Multifamily fell to the same forces that have affected every other commercial real estate (CRE) class. After a buildup of easy money over more than a decade, the zero-interest rate policy in response to the pandemic collapse set asset investment on fire. Prices soared, opportunities were widespread and big leverage was in. “Starting in 2019/2020, you saw a lot of floating-rate bridge money,” says Susan Mello, executive vice president and group head of capital markets at Walker & Dunlop. But as loans came up for refinancing, quick and large Federal Reserve hikes of the benchmark federal funds rate kicked up loan costs everywhere and made penciling a deal difficult, if not impossible. “The rapid rise of interest rates put values in question across the board. That’s exacerbated by how much liquidity there …
GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS — Locally based investment firm S2 Capital has acquired Silverbrook, a 642-unit apartment complex located in the central metroplex city of Grand Prairie. According to Apartments.com, Silverbrook offers one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and amenities such as a pool, business center, fitness center, resident clubhouse, tennis court, volleyball court and outdoor grilling and dining stations. Danny Baker and William Hubbard of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. Harry Krieger, also with CBRE, arranged acquisition financing through an undisclosed lender on behalf of S2 Capital.
WESTLAKE, TEXAS — A joint venture between two Dallas-based companies, NewcrestImage and Dabu Group, has purchased the 294-room Marriott Dallas/Fort Worth Westlake hotel, located north of Fort Worth. The hotel offers amenities such as a concierge level with a private lounge, a fine dining restaurant, Starbucks coffee shop, outdoor pool, business center and approximately 15,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Miles Spencer and Parker Sherrill of Newmark represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The new ownership plans to implement a value-add program.
THOUSAND OAKS, CALIF. — JLL Capital Markets has arranged $43.2 million in financing for Varenita of Westlake, an 86-unit assisted living and memory care community in Thousand Oaks, approximately 40 miles west of Los Angeles. JLL represented the borrower, Westlake Senior Living Center LLC, to secure the five-year loan from a regional bank. The Class A community consists of 58 assisted living units and 28 memory care units across three stories with surface and underground parking. The community features a mix of predominantly one-bedroom units, with some studios and two-bedroom units. Varenita of Westlake is located within walking distance of some of the nation’s largest retailers and less than four miles from The Oaks, an open-air and enclosed shopping center. Alanna Ellis and Ace Sudah led the JLL team.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Community Preservation Partners (CPP) has purchased Mountain View II and III, two affordable multifamily properties in Albuquerque, for $22.8 million. CPP plans to renovate the properties, which share a contiguous block, and operate the assets as one development. The seller was not disclosed. Built in 1967 and 1968 respectively, Mountain View II and III are located at 1515 and 1333 Columbia Drive SE, approximately four miles from downtown Albuquerque. In total, Mountain View Apartments offers 241 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts spread across multiple two-story, garden-style buildings and townhouses. Community amenities include central laundry facilities, off-street parking, a picnic area, playground and on-site management. CPP’s total development investment is approximately $65.8 million, which includes the purchase price and estimated per-unit renovation cost of $95,078. Along with extensive work to repair a burnt building, the total site renovation will bring modernization, ADC compliancy, energy efficiency and improved security to the community. Renovations are scheduled for completion in December 2024. Project partners include New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority; KeyBank, which secured construction and debt financing through Freddie Mac; and R4, which will provide equity financing.