WASHINGTON, D.C. — CIM Group has acquired The Vale at The Parks, a newly constructed, mixed-use apartment development in Washington, D.C. The project features 301 apartment units, 18,269 square feet of ground floor commercial space and 316 parking stalls. The sales price and seller were not disclosed. Located at 6800 Georgia Ave. NW, The Vale offers a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Community amenities include a fitness center, indoor and outdoor yoga studio, club room, bike parking, courtyard with cabanas and a saltwater pool. Primrose Schools, an accredited early education and childcare center, has leased 16,576 square feet of commercial space at The Vale. The Vale is the first new construction multifamily rental building at The Parks at Walter Reed, a 66-acre mixed-use redevelopment of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center. At full buildout, the 3.1 million-square-foot development will feature 190,000 square feet of retail space; 325,000 square feet of office, medical and educational uses; 20,000 square feet of creative and cultural uses; and a hotel/conference center. Residential options will include more than 2,200 condominiums, townhomes and apartments. A joint venture of Hines, Urban Atlantic and Triden Development developed The Vale at The Parks and The …
RIDGEVILLE, S.C. — JLL Capital Markets has secured an undisclosed amount of equity and construction financing for the development of Preserve at Ridgeville Apartments, a 240-unit, garden-style multifamily community near Charleston. Located at 1050 Old Gilliard Road in Ridgeville, the Preserve at Ridgeville will be situated 35.2 miles north of Charleston and 28.1 miles from Charleston International Airport. Once completed, the three-story property will feature a pool, health club with virtual classes, a bark park with pet washing area and a putting green. John Gavigan of JLL represented the development team of Piedmont Private Equity and Ecstatic Properties in arranging equity with American South Real Estate Fund, Material Capital Partners and Altriarch Capital, as well as a loan through Churchill Stateside Group LLC. Piedmont Private Equity is an Atlanta-based, privately held real estate operating and investment company.
WEST NEW YORK, N.J. — On Aug. 2, locally based developer National Realty Investment Advisors (NRIA) will break ground on The Grand, the first of two 156-unit multifamily buildings that will be constructed at 508 51st St. in West New York, located across the Hudson River from Manhattan. NRIA will break ground on a later date on The Grand’s sister tower, The Metro, which will be located on 52nd Street. The Grand and The Metro will both rise 14 stories and feature fitness centers and rooftop entertainment areas. Residents will also have access to a business center and a grab-and-go convenience mart. Construction of both buildings is scheduled to be complete by summer 2023. The development will also include a 495-space parking garage in which 60 percent of the spaces will be available for public use.
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — Tricera Capital has acquired a ground-floor retail space at Related Group’s recently completed ICON Central, a mixed-use development in St. Petersburg. The transaction totaled $11.1 million and included the adjoining Union Trust Bank building. In total, the ground-floor retail space and historic bank building span nearly 35,000 square feet of rentable space. Related Group was the seller. Currently, about 7,000 square feet of the retail space is leased to BurgerFi and Watts Dental, which are open now. Related Group constructed the 368-unit ICON Central on an entire city block along Central Avenue. As part of its redevelopment, Related renovated the bank building, which was originally constructed in 1926, for commercial use. Scott Wadler and Alec Fox of Berkadia arranged $9.9 million in acquisition financing on behalf of Tricera. Money360 provided the financing.
SEATTLE — Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) has entered into an agreement to acquire Safeco Plaza, a 50-story, Class A office tower located at 1001 Fourth Ave. in Seattle’s Central Business District, for $465 million. The seller in the transaction was undisclosed. The REIT is acquiring the 800,000-square-foot property through a joint venture with one of the participants in its recently announced co-investment program with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and GIC. Boston Properties will own a 51 percent interest in the building. Safeco Plaza was developed in 1969 by the Howard S. Wright Construction Co. and features a two-story lobby, five-level subterranean parking garage, a large outdoor plaza and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The LEED Platinum-certified property offers views of the Seattle skyline, Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains and is located adjacent to stops for Seattle’s Link light rail and Metro bus lines. Safeco Plaza was 90 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Safeco Insurance, Bank of America, Corr Cronin LLP, Fox Rothschild, Helsell Fetterman and Interior Architects. Hines has managed the asset since 2016. Boston Properties is one of the largest publicly traded developers, owners and managers of Class A …
ROXBURY, N.J. — A joint venture between Advance Realty Investors and Invesco Real Estate has opened The Shops at Ledgewood Commons, a 450,000-square-foot open-air lifestyle center that is a redevelopment of the former Ledgewood Mall. The property is located in Roxbury, about 45 miles west of New York City. Anchored by a 164,087-square foot Walmart Supercenter that opened in October 2020, the property also houses retailers such as Marshalls, Ashley HomeStore, Men’s Wearhouse, Ulta Beauty, Five Below and Burlington. Restaurant users include Wendy’s, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Five Guys, Panda Express and Starbucks. Jeffery Realty is the leasing agent for the property.
FORT WASHINGTON, PA. — Trez Capital has provided a $22 million loan for the redevelopment of a 367,681-square-foot office building in Fort Washington, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. The property was originally built in 1999 on a 28.3-acre site. The borrower, an entity doing business as Alliance HP Virginia Drive LLC, plans to modernize the building with a new entrance, dock doors and amenities. Brett Forman and Scott Mehlman of Trez Capital originated the debt.
Hiring and retaining good employees was already one of seniors housing operators’ top challenges before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Despite the many new problems that the outbreak presented, many in the seniors housing industry saw a potential silver lining: With so many losing jobs in the hospitality sector, among others, would this be a chance for operators to snatch up those workers? Unfortunately, it appears that did not come to fruition. “When the pandemic started and there were so many layoffs in the hospitality industry, I thought ‘Here we go. We’re going to have this influx of people into senior living. This is really going to help our staffing challenges,’” said Lisa Lacy of Discovery Senior Living. “A year-and-a-half later we’re seeing the opposite of that. We’re competing with organizations that we didn’t compete with before. It’s not the community down the street. It’s fast food, Amazon, companies like that.” Lacy’s comments came during a webinar titled “Invigorating the Seniors Housing Workforce: Strategies to Inspire, Engage and Retain Talent” held July 22. Other panelists included moderator Gary Pederson of MatrixCare, Candace Matsuura of Westmont Living and Julie Podewitz of Vitality Living. Pederson echoed Lacy’s concerns about new competition. “There are …
By Chris Curran and Mark Mills, R&R Realty Advisors Would you rather earn more money or have a more flexible work/life balance? Before the pandemic, many employees gave the latter as their answer. But the amount of money employees claimed they would forego wasn’t exactly peanuts. According to a pre-pandemic study by career site Joblist, the average employee was willing to give up around $10,000 per year to have better work/life balance. Fast forward to the present day and employees continue to express this desire. The isolation felt by many when working from home has increased the blurriness of the line that separates work from life. In fact, a survey conducted by TELUS International found that isolated workers reported a nearly 80 percent increase in work-related stress and anxiety when working from home. Given these findings, perhaps it shouldn’t surprise anyone that three out of four office employees express a desire to return to in-person work. If there’s a silver lining to the unprecedented year we’ve been emerging from, it may be that employees and employers alike are coming to understand the value in providing a balance between work and personal time. And, when it comes to the office market …
Fantini & Gorga Arranges $17.2M Loan for Refinancing of Self-Storage Facility in Darien, Connecticut
DARIEN, CONN. — Fantini & Gorga, a Boston-based mortgage banking firm, has arranged a $17.2 million loan for the refinancing of Hollow Tree Self Storage, a 90-unit facility in the southern coastal city of Darien. The facility spans 83,595 net rentable square feet and includes outdoor vehicle storage space. Casimir Groblewski of Fantini & Gorga arranged the loan through an undisclosed, locally based bank on behalf of the borrower, Connecticut-based Affordable Self Storage Inc.