BOSTON — Developer MG2 Group is nearing completion of 319 & Park, a 38-unit apartment project in East Boston. The luxury rental community will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom units with stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, slab cabinetry and hardwood flooring. Private outdoor spaces will also be available in select units. Elevated Cos. is leasing the property. Full completion is slated for early 2022.
NEW YORK CITY — Opentrons, a provider of lab automation technology, has signed a 47,790-square-foot life sciences lease at Innolabs, a facility located in the Long Island City area of Queens. Pandemic Response Lab, a subsidiary of Opentrons, moved in to a 13,000-square-foot space in late August. Neochromosome, another subsidiary, and Opentrons will occupy the balance of the space beginning in early 2022. Bill Harvey, Jared Horowitz, Jordan Gosin and Emma Kistler of Newmark represented the landlord, a partnership between King Street Properties, The Carlyle Group and GFP Real Estate, in the lease negotiations.
BILLERICA, MASS. — Avison Young has negotiated an 18,600-square-foot office headquarters lease for pharmaceutical and biotech research firm PureHoney Technologies at 3 Federal Street in Billerica, a northwestern suburb of Boston. Kirk Weller and Jason Levendusky of Avison Young represented the tenant, which will relocate from 44 Manning Road in the fourth quarter, in the lease negotiations. Brian Tisbert of JLL represented the landlord, Rhino Capital.
WALTHAM, MASS. — Design-build firm Dacon Corp. has completed a 19,000-square-foot office renovation project in the western Boston suburb of Waltham. The building will serve as the new headquarters of Mass Electric Construction, a locally based firm founded in 1928. As part of the project, Dacon replaced closed-off wall partitions with glass-walled offices and conference rooms and built collaborative areas along the reception area and amid employee offices.
By Glenn Brill, managing director, FTI Consulting Inc. Despite the growth of e-commerce as consumer expenditures and retailers adapt to omni-channel sales, digital marketing strategies and shifts in consumer behaviors resulting from COVID-19, most shoppers still go to stores. Eighty-six percent of consumer sales take place in a brick-and-mortar store environment, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s second-quarter e-commerce retail sales report. Still, upscale retailers are increasingly consolidating local market share into exclusively Class A retail properties. The death of the shopping mall is widely discussed and perhaps greatly exaggerated; high-end malls continue to find success as upscale consumers unleash pent-up demand and savings accumulated during the pandemic. However, due in large part to stagnant middle-class incomes and the struggles of stalwart anchors of middle-class consumption like J.C. Penney and Sears — as well as the general decline of department stores — many Class B and C malls have been left to compete with each other for declining shares of middle-market tenants in oversaturated markets. According to CoStar Group, U.S. mall properties had a vacancy rate of approximately 7.3 percent as of August 2021, representing the fourth consecutive annual increase. In an August report, Coresight Research estimated that 25 …
DENVER — KBS has completed the disposition of Granite Tower, a 31-story, Class A office tower located at 1099 18th St. in downtown Denver. A joint venture between CP Group and Related Fund Management acquired the building from KBS REIT II for an undisclosed price. Built in 1983 as part of a four-tower development and formerly known as Steller Plaza and Plaza Tower, the asset now consists of 592,527 square feet of office space and a 774-space, three-level parking structures with 615 spaces dedicated to its office tenants. Tim Richley, Jenny Knowlton, Chad Flynn, Charley Will and Alex Mulvihill of CBRE represented the seller in the transaction. Bruce Fischer, Howard Chu, Amanda Kennedy and Mark Baker of Greenberg Traurig LLP provided legal counsel to KBS in the disposition.
LA PUENTE, CALIF. — RAAM Construction has completed the construction of Arboleda Apartments, an affordable seniors housing development in La Puente, approximately 20 miles east of Los Angeles. Development costs for the 74-unit, 71,499-square-foot property are estimated at $29 million. Of the total apartments, 38 are fully ADA-accessible units. “The need for affordable housing has grown in recent years due to rising home prices and an overall housing shortage, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated that need immensely,” says Richard Lara, president and CEO of RAAM Construction. RAAM worked closely with Meta Housing Corporation, a developer of affordable housing communities for families and seniors, along with AMJ Construction Management Inc. and Y&M Architects to deliver the new residences for qualified low-income seniors. The apartments replace four detached family homes on the site.
BURBANK, CALIF. — Cruzan and Independencia have purchased a post-production property in located at 2130 N. Hollywood Way in Burbank. Strategic Office Partners sold the asset for $37.4 million. Situated on 4.4 acres, the 95,000-square-foot facility was completed in 1965 and last renovated in 2017. Deluxe Media, a post-production, distribution and asset management company for the entertainment industry, occupies the single-story building. Mike Longo, Todd Tydlaska and Sean Sullivan of CBRE represented the seller in the deal. Greg Grant and Clayton Matsuda, also of CBRE, facilitated the acquisition loan on behalf of the buyer.
HILLSBORO, ORE. — Senior Living Investment Brokerage has negotiated the sale of HOLI Senior Living, a 72-unit assisted living and memory care community in Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland. The community was built in 2019, totaling 39,460 square feet on 2.1 acres. The seller was a local developer and operator, with this being its only seniors housing asset. A private equity firm from Texas bought the property for $15.5 million and installed a Pacific Northwest-based operator. Jason Punzel, Brad Goodsell and Vince Viverito of Senior Living Investment Brokerage handled the transaction. “HOLI Senior Living is a well-built new community located in the western suburbs of Portland,” says Punzel. “The lease-up has been excellent throughout COVID and the new owners plan to continue to build on its reputation in the marketplace.”
SPOKANE VALLEY, WASH. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of Brooks Square, a multifamily property located in Spokane Valley. The asset traded for $4.5 million. The names of the seller and buyer were not released. Located at 10211 E. Main Ave., Brooks Square features 38 apartments in a mix of 26 one-bedroom units and 12 two-bedroom units. Community amenities include a clubhouse, laundry room, covered parking and pool. The property was built in 1972 and fully occupied at the time of sale. The transaction also included a parcel of land adjacent to the apartment complex that currently has a three-bedroom house. The buyer plans to develop the parcel into additional apartment units. Georgie Christensen-Riley and Joshua Reynolds of Marcus & Millichap’s Portland, Ore., office represented the seller and buyer in the deal. Joel Deis, also of Marcus & Millichap, assisted in the closing.
