Property Type

STOCKHOLM AND CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. — EQT AB, a private equity firm based in Stockholm, has agreed to purchase Exeter Property Group, an industrial real estate owner and developer based in the Philadelphia suburb of Conshohocken. EQT plans to purchase Exeter using $800 million in EQT shares and nearly $1.1 billion in cash for a total acquisition price of nearly $1.9 billion, including the refinancing of Exeter’s existing $300 million in debt. Founded in 2006, Exeter has approximately $10 billion in assets under management. In addition to industrial properties, Exeter also owns life sciences and office space in the United States and Europe. Exeter has 37 offices in North America, Europe and Asia. EQT expects Exeter’s revenue in 2020 to total $135 million. Exeter’s recent acquisitions include Creekview Corporate Center in metro Dallas, a 193,000-square-foot industrial building in Illinois and a new distribution center in Pennsylvania totaling 1.2 million square feet. The company also recently developed a 673,920-square-foot speculative industrial building in the St. Louis suburb of Edwardsville, Ill. Upon completion of the transaction, Exeter will operate as EQT Exeter and will be part of the EQT Real Estate Assets division, which comprises EQT Infrastructure and EQT Real Estate. EQT Exeter …

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New York City

HAMILTON, N.J. —The value of commercial and multifamily construction starts in 2020 tumbled 20 percent to end the year at $193.4 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Within the top 20 metropolitan areas that the Hamilton-based research firm tracks, the fall was more severe as that group’s starts fell by 23 percent in value, or $111.1 billion. Overall, commercial real estate starts fell 26 percent in value to $104 billion, while multifamily building activity slid by 11 percent to $89.5 billion. Richard Branch, chief economist for Dodge Data, says that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant negative impact on commercial and multifamily construction across the country with only a few markets seeing year-over-year increases in construction starts compared to 2019. “The construction sector will show signs of recovery in 2021, but, the road back to full recovery will be long and difficult. The effects of the pandemic on the U.S. economy and building markets will be felt for several years,” says Branch. “While some areas stabilized over the summer, the current wave of the virus has further hindered activity.” Only one metro area in Dodge Data’s top 10, Phoenix, reported a year-over increase in construction starts. The No. 7 …

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By Mike Mixer, Colliers International – Las Vegas At the beginning of 2020, Las Vegas was anything but ugly. Nevada’s economy was one of the fastest growing in the country. Unemployment was the lowest ever at 3.6 percent, while casinos reported three straight months of $1 billion in winnings. Then COVID came along and things got real ugly, real quick. The entire Las Vegas Strip was shut down, closed…on less than a day’s notice. The Las Vegas unemployment rate hit a staggering 34.2 percent. One out of three people in Las Vegas became unemployed in April 2020. Meanwhile, the last time the Strip was shut down was after the JFK assassination in 1963. The bad doesn’t look so bad compared to the ugly. As the year comes to a close, the Las Vegas Strip has reopened, but with fewer visitors. Low visitor demand hits hard in a city with more than 150,000 rooms. Las Vegas hotel occupancy has dropped from 90 percent down to 44 percent. Room rates have seen a milder drop this year, down only 6.77 percent (from $133 a night to $124 a night). The Las Vegas Gaming Market was also unlucky, especially without a robust convention …

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EastVillage-Austin

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Buffalo-based Reger Holdings will develop EastVillage, a 425-acre mixed-use project that will be located along the Parmer Lane tech corridor in northeast Austin. Both the Austin American-Statesman and Community Impact Newspaper put the value of the project at approximately $1 billion. Current plans call for approximately 800,000 square feet of office space, 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, three hotels totaling 390 rooms, 2,000 multifamily units, an active adult community and a 150-acre nature preserve. The centerpiece of the development will be a 1.5-acre village green for outdoor events and gatherings, while a network of trails will also connect the various uses. Nearby employers include Samsung, Dell, Amazon and The Home Depot Technology Center. A construction timeline was not released.  

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SUNNYVALE, TEXAS — Developers Brian Flaherty and Eric Langford, the duo behind the redevelopment of the former Raytheon industrial campus in the northeastern Dallas suburb of Garland, have broken ground on a 643,760-square-foot industrial project in nearby Sunnyvale. The development will consist of two cross-dock buildings with divisibility to 100,000 square feet and 36-foot clear heights that will be built on a speculative basis. Paladin Partners is leasing the project, which is expected to be complete this fall.

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IRVING, TEXAS — A partnership between locally based investment firm Cawley Partners and private equity firm Balfour Pacific Capital has acquired Westpoint I, a 150,000-square-foot office building in Irving’s Las Colinas district. Located at 1255 Corporate Drive, the six-story building sits on 5.3 acres and was 91 percent leased at the time of sale. The new ownership plans to upgrade the building’s common areas and add a grab-and-go food service. Parker McCormack and Andrew Levy of JLL represented the seller, New York City-based Highbrook Investors, in the transaction.

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HOUSTON — Locally based firm Boyd Commercial has brokered the sale of an 84,200-square-foot industrial building located at 5708 N. Shepherd Drive in North Houston. David Munson and David Boyd of Boyd Commercial represented the seller, the Estate of Frank D. Adams, in the transaction. John Ferruzzo and Nick Peterson of Transwestern represented the buyer, Geirin North Shepherd LLC.

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NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS — The Multifamily Group (TMG), a Dallas-based brokerage firm, has arranged the sale of Woodland Trails, a 72-unit apartment complex located about 150 miles north of Houston in Nacogdoches. The property was built in 1985. Gold Star Capital purchased the asset from an entity doing business as Hermosa Land Investment III LLC for an undisclosed price. Evan Burke of TMG brokered the deal.

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Queens-Medical-Office

NEW YORK CITY — Knighthead Funding, a direct lender with offices in Connecticut and South Florida, has provided a $42 million construction loan for an 84,746-square-foot medical office building that will be located in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. The borrower was a local partnership doing business as Astoria Crescent Owner LLC. Mount Sinai Health System, which has a hospital across the street, has signed a 30-year lease as the building’s anchor tenant, which brings its preleased occupancy rate to 65 percent. An expected completion date was not disclosed.

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MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Cohen Asset Management has purchased an 18-building, 725,000-square-foot industrial portfolio in the Meadowlands and surrounding submarkets of Northern New Jersey. The portfolio, which was fully leased at the time of sale, is primarily comprised of shallow-bay warehouses ranging in size from 16,000 to 78,000 square feet. Jon Mikula and Michael Lachs of JLL arranged acquisition financing for the deal through Principal Real Estate Advisors.

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