WOBURN, MASS. — Locally based brokerage and advisory firm KeyPoint Partners has negotiated a 21,842-square-foot retail lease at Main Street Shopping Center in Woburn, a northern suburb of Boston. The tenant, Ski Haus, a retailer of outdoor patio furniture and winter sports equipment, will backfill a space previously occupied by AC Moore at the grocery-anchored center. Don Mace of KeyPoint Partners represented the undisclosed landlord in the lease negotiations.
BETHESDA, MD. — Experience Senior Living, a seniors housing developer, has unveiled plans for The Reserve at Strathmore Square. The project will be part of Strathmore Square, a planned arts-centric mixed-use community located in north Bethesda above the Grosvenor-Strathmore Red Line Metro station and adjacent to the Strathmore Music Center. The seniors housing community will rise 26 stories and span 300,000 square feet, featuring 240 units of independent living, assisted living and memory care. Experience plans to break ground on the project in the fourth quarter of 2023. Amenities at the community will include a swimming pool, pickleball court, wellness suite with a fitness room, salon, massage, sky lounge, outdoor spaces including a private memory care courtyard, multiple dining venues and a bar. The plan calls for The Reserve to be part of an intergenerational housing development with programs and activities for engagement between residents of the seniors housing community and the other residential properties in Strathmore Square. The larger Strathmore Square project comprises eight acres of developable space. The master-plan developer, Fivesquares Development, expects the full build-out to include 2,000 residential units, approximately 35,000 square feet of retail, walking paths to the Metro station and a 1.3-acre central park. …
By Kimberly A. Rollins, Senior Vice President, Rollins & Randall Multi-Family Group, Commercial Properties Inc. The big question on everyone’s mind is where Phoenix’s multifamily market is going. After several years of pandemic-caused uncertainty, the implications are still transforming the market. Whether it is workforce mobility, supply chain issues, or labor shortages, uncertainty and inflation have affected all areas of real estate — no place more so than here in the Phoenix Metro Area. The perfect storm of historically low interest rates, job opportunities, limited new development and a low cost of living have given rise to the housing shortage that has played out in the Valley over the past several years. We saw multifamily effective rent increase 22.7 percent year over year in the third quarter of 2021, and an average market sale price per unit of $297,697, with a 3.9 percent year-to-date cap rate, according to CoStar. Over the past 10 years, vacancy rates have dropped every year. They fell from 8.3 percent in 2012 to a low of 5.8 percent in 2021. Conversely, year to date we are seeing a vacancy increase for the first time during that timeframe, to 7.7 percent. Last year also saw the highest level of …
DALLAS — Dallas-based hospitality development and investment firm NewcrestImage has acquired a national portfolio of 45 hotels totaling approximately 3,300 rooms. The properties are located in 11 states and are primarily operated under various brands within the Marriott and Hilton family of concepts, though the portfolio also includes two Choice-branded hotels and one Radisson-branded hotels. The seller was an undisclosed private investment firm. The sales price was also not disclosed.
DALLAS — Locally based hospitality developer Sam Moon Group is underway on construction of a 267-room hotel in the Dallas Arts District that will operate under the JW Marriott brand. The 23-story hotel will be located at 800 N. Harwood St. and will house three food-and-beverage concepts, as well as a cocktail lounge, meeting and conference areas, a fitness center and a ballroom. Guests will also have access to a sky lobby on the 11th floor. HKS Inc. served as the project architect, with DPR Construction as the general contractor. Completion is slated for next spring. The hotel will be the first in Dallas to operate under the JW Marriott brand.
CHICAGO — Standard Communities led a public-private partnership that acquired Lake Park Crescent Apartments in Chicago’s Oakland neighborhood for roughly $54 million. Built in 2004 and located at 1061 E. 41st Place, the mixed-income apartment community is comprised of 148 units across 13 buildings. Of the 148 units, 112 are designated as affordable for renters who earn 40 to 80 percent of the area median income. As part of the transaction, 60 Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) public housing units were converted to project-based vouchers under the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. The federal RAD program enables public housing authorities to protect the long-term affordability of public housing units in need of rehabilitation and financial support. Affordability will be extended for at least 30 years. Standard completed the transaction in partnership with HUD, the Illinois Housing Development Authority, CHA and the City of Chicago Department of Housing. Financing came from Low-Income Housing Tax Credits arranged in partnership with Boston Financial Investment Management. Citibank provided additional financing. Standard will oversee a renovation of Lake Park Crescent at a cost of approximately $72,000 per unit. Common areas and exterior grounds will also be improved.
CONROE, TEXAS — Thompson Thrift Residential, a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based investment firm Thompson Thrift, has sold Watermark at Grand Central Park, a 288-unit apartment community in Conroe, about 40 miles north of Houston. Built in 2021, the garden-style property offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units with stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops and full-size washers and dryers. Amenities include a pool, fitness center, outdoor kitchen, clubhouse, lounge, coffee bar and walking trails. Jennifer Ray of Walker & Dunlop represented Thompson Thrift in the transaction. San Diego-based CEG Multifamily purchased the community for an undisclosed amount
HOUSTON — A joint venture between Dallas-based Urban Logistics Realty and a fund backed by Crow Holdings has broken ground on Urban District 290, a 238,200-square-foot industrial project in Houston. The site is located near the corner of State Highway 290 and Bingle Road on the city’s northwest side. The development will consist of a 64,800-square-foot building and a 173,400-square-foot building with clear heights of 32 feet, speculative office space, ample car parking and ESFR sprinkler systems. Completion is slated for the second quarter of 2023. CBRE has been tapped as the leasing agent.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Greysteel has brokered the sale of University Quarters, an 84-unit apartment complex located near the University of Texas at Austin. The property comprises four buildings that were constructed between 1973 and 1978 and house one-bedroom units with an average size of 450 square feet. J.R. Ellis and Jack Stone of Greysteel represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The buyer and sales price were also not disclosed.
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Atlantic Capital Partners, the capital markets division of Boston-based Atlantic Retail, has brokered the sale of Frenchtown Plaza, a 123,061-square-foot shopping center located south of Providence in North Kingstown. The sales price was $9.5 million. Justin Smith, Chris Peterson, Sam Koonce and Cole Van Gelder of Atlantic Capital Partners represented the undisclosed seller and the buyer, Ocean State Job Lot, which also anchors the center, in the transaction. Other tenants at Frenchtown Plaza include Walgreens and Ace Hardware.