NEW YORK CITY — Los Angeles-based Parkview Financial has provided a $30 million construction loan for a 59-unit apartment project at 63 Pitts St. on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The 12-story building will house 11 studios, 39 one-bedroom units and nine two-bedroom residences, with 18 units to be designated as affordable housing. Amenities will include a rooftop deck, gym, package room and onsite laundry facilities. The borrower expects to complete the project in July 2022.
PITTSBURGH — Global real estate private equity firm Asia Capital Real Estate has funded a $28.8 million bridge loan for the refinancing of Heinz at 950 North Shore, a 151-unit multifamily building in downtown Pittsburgh. The property was originally built in 1930 as part of the Heinz manufacturing complex and was converted to residential use in 2017. Amenities include bike and kayak storage, a fitness center, game room, business center and outdoor grilling areas. Asia Capital provided the loan, which carried a loan-to-value ratio of 79.8 percent and a two-year initial term with three one-year extension options, to borrower MCM Co. Inc.
TEMPE, ARIZ. — Decron Properties has entered the Arizona market with the purchase of Broadstone Rio Salado, an apartment community in Tempe, for $96.1 million. The name of the seller was not released. Completed in 2020, Broadstone Rio Salado features 278 apartments in a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans with gourmet kitchens, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, wood-style flooring and in-unit washers/dryers. Community amenities include a resort-style pool and spa; poolside cabanas; clubhouse with demonstration kitchen and coffee bar; two-level fitness center with virtual training; outdoor entertainment lounge; on-site bike storage; package lockers for resident deliveries; and a dog park.
FORT COLLINS, COLO. — Brickstone Partners has acquired two student housing communities near the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins for $81 million. The 288-unit portfolio includes Landmark and Stone Creek apartment properties. The new ownership is set to begin comprehensive upgrades on the properties, which will include modernizing units with the addition of new flooring, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, upgraded doors, lighting and plumbing fixtures; updated exterior landscaping; common-area improvements; and new finishes within the clubhouse. Both properties offer shared amenities including saltwater swimming pools, fitness centers and dog parks. The seller in the transaction was undisclosed.
SALEM AND CORVALLIS, ORE. — Dwight Capital has closed $33 million in HUD financing for a portfolio of five market-rate apartment complexes in Oregon. Totaling 557 units across 26 acres, the portfolio includes Brighton Park Apartments, Salem Parkway Apartments and West Salem Apartments in Salem and Crystal Lake Apartments and The Riviera in Corvallis. The five loans qualified as green/energy-efficient housing and benefitted from a reduction in mortgage insurance premium, according to Dwight Capital. Josh Sasouness and Josh Hoffman of Dwight Capital originated the transaction.
LOS ANGELES — Hollywood Community Housing Corp. (HCHC) and KFA, a full-service architecture and design firm, have completed The Florence Mills Apartments, a mixed-use affordable housing development located at the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard in Los Angeles. Florence Mills features 74 apartments, 5,000 square feet of commercial space along Central Avenue, and an open, landscaped public plaza. The four-story building features 13 one-bedroom units, 37 two-bedroom apartments, 24 three-bedroom units, community and common areas, underground parking, four laundry rooms and secure access to the building. The units are restricted to households at low-, very low- and extremely low-income levels with rents set between $507 and $1,171 per month. The property is set to obtain LEED Platinum certification and features drought-tolerant landscaping, locally sourced materials, high-efficiency lighting, Energy Star appliances and low-flow fixtures. Young Musicians Foundation has leased the commercial space, which is located in the corner plaza with roll-up doors. Through a partnership between HCHC and Young Musicians Foundation, residents of Florence Mills and Paul R. Williams apartments are able to attend free music classes, music technology and recording lab, concerts, workshops and multi-disciplinary arts programming.
MESA, ARIZ. — Western Wealth Capital (WWC), along with its investment partners, has acquired Villetta Apartment Homes in Mesa for an undisclosed price. Originally constructed in 1983, Villetta features 352 apartments less than four miles from the Arizona State University campus. Villetta is WWC’s 96th acquisition since its founding in 2014. The company owns properties in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta, San Antonio and Las Vegas.
Shifting behaviors and expectations for consumers, manufacturers and distributors have made industrial space central to the commercial real estate landscape. “This is an asset class that for 25 years of my 39 years in the commercial real estate business was a boring, middle-of-the-road class. But this steady investment has just exploded,” says Jay Olshonsky, president and CEO of NAI Global. Much of the most recent change has been driven by the particulars of the COVID-19 pandemic. Delivery became a way of life for those socially distancing, creating an instant need for more distribution and warehousing centers. Olshonsky explains that the behavioral changes starting in March of 2020 accelerated trends (online shopping, delivery/pickup services and working from home) that might otherwise have taken five or more years to come to fruition. Olshonsky explains that there are still hurdles for this ascendant product type to overcome, but the changes we’ve seen over the last year will remain. Industrial Not a Bubble “Industrial is here to stay,” says Olshonsky. “COVID accelerated trends that already existed, but those trends were already in motion. We’re seeing some changes that are fundamental.” The need for delivery and warehouses is fed by new expectations: “Ecommerce is the …
WATERTOWN, MASS. — JLL Capital Markets has arranged the $130 million sale of Watertown Mall, a 260,867-square-foot power center in Watertown, a first-ring suburb just west of Boston. The property is 98 percent occupied by 10 tenants, including Target, Best Buy and the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Situated on 17.8 acres at 550 Arsenal St., Watertown Mall is adjacent to the 1 million-square-foot Arsenal Yards, the mixed-use redevelopment of a former armory. Watertown Mall Associates LP sold the property to Alexandria Real Estate Equities, according to local news outlet Wicked Local. The Watertown market has emerged as a popular life sciences and innovation district, according to JLL. It is located less than three miles from Cambridge and seven miles from downtown Boston. Watertown Mall welcomes more than 2.7 million annual customer visits and is home to the No. 1 most-visited Target store in Massachusetts, according to JLL. “With top-performing retail tenants in place, a premier location and demographics, and the potential to successfully support a variety of different uses, Watertown Mall represents an extraordinary opportunity to own one of the last large parcels in the red-hot Watertown submarket,” says JLL’s Chris Angelone. Angelone, along with colleagues Coleman Benedict, Nat Heald, …
By Adam Frank, president, River Oaks Properties As one of the sector’s largest owners and developers, we have been witness to a number of uplifting and heartbreaking outcomes wrought by COVID-19 in the El Paso retail market over the last year. We’ve spent countless hours working with the 800 or so tenants that comprise our portfolio, negotiating rent deferrals and restructured leases, helping them navigate the newly launched Paycheck Protection Program and devising creative real estate solutions to help keep their businesses afloat. In some cases, these efforts have helped tenants keep their doors open. In others, the economic impacts of COVID-19 ultimately hit the employee bases and operating budgets of tenants — especially those of the mom-and-pop variety — too harshly for them to survive. But through the good, bad and universally unprecedented challenges of 2020, we have seen one category of retail — food and beverage — position itself as the clear leader in the recovery and inevitable return to growth of the broader El Paso market. As is often the case during economic downturns, the grocery sector has performed well over the past year, with both large- and small-format players looking to expand in El Paso. River …
