NAPERVILLE, ILL. — Cawley Chicago has negotiated the sale of a 7,800-square-foot office building in Naperville for $1.7 million. The standalone property is located at 651 Amersale Drive. Ryan Freed of Cawley represented the seller, American Sale. Leibel Moscowitz of Vandon Forbes represented the buyer, Chabad of Naperville.
HAYDEN, IDAHO — Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors has arranged the sale of Honeysuckle Place, a 39-unit assisted living community in Hayden, approximately 30 miles east of Spokane, Washington. A national owner-operator sold the property to a regional operator looking to expand into Idaho. The price was not disclosed. Originally built in 1996, the community was positioned as a value-add opportunity, though the seller did increase occupancy by 20 percent during the transaction process, according to Blueprint. The sale is part of a larger portfolio of strategic dispositions for the seller.
NEW YORK CITY — Gaedeke Group, a Texas-based developer, has purchased 44 Wall Street, a, 354,000-square-foot office building in Lower Manhattan, for $200 million. The 24-story building was constructed in 1927. In 2016, the building’s previous owner invested approximately $24 million to renovate and modernize the building. George Comfort & Sons Inc. will operate the asset on behalf of the new owner. Michael O’Callaghan and Gentry Ashmore Hoit of Finback Real Estate represented Gaedeke in the transaction. Will Silverman of Eastdil Secured and Paul Gillen of Hodges Ward Elliott represented the seller, EQ Office, a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group.
BURLINGTON, N.J. — Johnson Development Associates will build a 266,966-square-foot warehouse facility in Burlington, a southern suburb of Trenton. The project, which will be branded Exit 5 Distribution Center, will be constructed on a 59.3-acre industrial site located at 107 Elbow Lane. Delivery is scheduled for the fourth quarter. Dan McGovern, Paul Touhey and Drew Green of CBRE represented Johnson Development in the 59.3-acre land acquisition, which closed as an off-market transaction. Seacalco LLC was the seller. The sales price was undisclosed.
PHILADELPHIA — NorthBridge Partners has acquired a 281,000-square-foot, four-building portfolio situated on 27.3 acres in Philadelphia for $25.5 million. The assets are located at 2722 Commerce Way, 2801-17 Southampton Road, 2825-45 Southampton Road and 2191 Hornig Road. The properties offer convenient access to the Interstate 95 corridor. At the time of sale, the portfolio was 94 percent leased to 12 tenants including United Natural Foods Inc., Goodman Distribution and the City of Philadelphia. Frank Roddy of Roddy Inc. represented NorthBridge in the transaction. The seller(s) was undisclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) has negotiated a 19,358-square-foot office lease for mental healthcare provider AbleTo Inc. in the Garment District of Manhattan. The space is located on two floors at 230 West 37th St. AbleTo’s previous headquarters was located on two non-contiguous floors in the same building. Fred Smith, Thomas Burrus and Elizabeth Ughetta of NKF represented AbleTo in the lease negotiations. The landlord, Sioni Group, was self-represented.
WILMINGTON, MASS. — JLL has arranged a $5.6 million loan for the refinancing of a light manufacturing industrial building in Wilmington, a northern suburb of Boston. Local bank Webster Five provided the 10-year, fixed-rate loan to the borrower, Boston-based Rhino Capital Advisors LLC. The property, located at 272 Ballardvale St., was constructed in 1976 and features 20-foot clear heights. Brett Paulsrud and Amy Lousararian of JLL arranged the loan.
NEW YORK CITY — Modell’s Sporting Goods has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The fourth-generation, family-owned retailer will close all of its 153 stores throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The New York City-based sporting goods, athletic footwear, active apparel and fan gear retailer was founded in 1889. The company will begin liquidation sales Friday, March 13 and plans to continue operating its online platform. Modell’s lenders, which include Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase, will provide the company with the financial flexibility to operate the business in the near term, including paying employee wages and benefits. According to the New York Post, Modell’s employs 3,623 workers. With the rising competition and plethora of online options to shop for athletic gear, CEO Mitchell Modell cites an “extremely challenging environment for retailers” as a reason for the bankruptcy. “Over the past year, we evaluated several options to restructure our business to allow us to maintain our current operations,” says Modell. “While we achieved some success, in partnership with our landlords and vendors, it was not enough to …
There is a widely held belief that investing in the Chicago office real estate market in 2020 is potentially a bad bet. While some investors are concerned by headlines decrying the fiscal health of Illinois, the supposed overvaluing of Cook County tax assessments and softening of the Chicago market, our experience tells us those fears will create opportunities for contrarian investors willing to dig deeper. Because these misperceptions are scaring away some institutional investors, the time is ripe for continued investment in Chicago office properties to take advantage of opportunities that more cautious investors are passing up. Municipal realities At the state level, much has been written about Illinois’ fiscal health. In a report released in September 2019, government watchdog Truth in Accounting labeled Illinois a “Sinkhole State” and ranked it 49th in the nation for its financial condition. After failing to raise enough revenue by hiking taxes to fund the state’s debt, leaders from Illinois have said that massive pension reform — not tax hikes — is the way out of our current debt crisis. Consequently, office real estate investors should not be overly concerned that the state of Illinois will potentially shift the state’s tax burden onto their …
FeaturesHeartland Feature ArchiveNortheast Feature ArchiveRestaurantRetailSoutheast Feature ArchiveTexas & Oklahoma Feature ArchiveWestern Feature Archive
JLL: Coronavirus Is Impacting Retail Supply Chains
With the stock market dropping to lows unprecedented since the Great Recession on Monday and the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic, concerns are now rising regarding coronavirus’ long-term impact on domestic investments. But will the disease have any impact on brick-and-mortar retail? According to a research report from JLL, while retail supply chains have already been affected, the health of retail as whole depends heavily on how long the pandemic lasts. Certain sectors have already been impacted, and those in the industry can model their current economic outlook on the course SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) took in 2003. However, whether that model will hold as the pandemic evolves remains to be seen. The JLL report explains that the type of short-lived and limited outbreak created by SARS mainly affects the “first and second quarters with many retailers feeling impacts of a disrupted supply chain, but with a subsequent rebound in the following quarters.” Sectors already affected include inventory and complex supply lines. Chinese-manufactured goods may not be able to reach retailers in the coming weeks to months, as the retailers’ existing supply diminishes. Fashion stocks, especially for luxury retailers dependent on Chinese consumers …