NEW YORK CITY — M&T Bank has provided a $78.7 million acquisition and construction loan for the purchase of land in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn and development of a mixed-use project. The borrower, Two Trees Management, plans to build two mixed-use towers with 1,000 multifamily units, a 47,000-square-foot YMCA fitness facility, 57,000 square feet of office space and 30,000 square feet of retail space. Additional ground-level space will house amenities and a six-acre public park. The proposed project will be located along the East River on River Street, between Grand and North 3rd streets. Bjarke Ingels Group designed the project and James Corner Field Operations served as the landscape architect. Total cost of the project and the construction timeline were not disclosed, as Two Trees is seeking a rezoning.
CONCORD, MASS. — A joint venture of Celera Properties and AEW Capital Management has acquired Emerson Hospital Center for Specialty Care, a 46,350-square-foot medical office property in Concord, a northwestern suburb of Boston. Located at 54 Baker Ave. Extension, the building serves as a specialized outpatient facility for Emerson Hospital. Coleman Benedict, Ben Sayles and Mike Restivo led a JLL team that represented the seller, Concord Property Management, in the transaction. The team also procured the joint venture as the buyer.
PITTSBURGH — Fe Equus Development LLC, a Wisconsin-based developer, is underway on BLD 2563, a 20,000-square-foot Class A office building in Pittsburgh. Situated at 2563 Brandt School Road, the property will offer amenities including a full kitchen, billiards and game room and a fitness room with Peloton bikes. Software company SRS Computing is the building’s first signed tenant, with 6,400 square feet on the top floor. Construction is slated for completion by the third quarter of this year. Tim Goetz and Darin Shriver of Cushman & Wakefield are leading the leasing initiative.
NEW HAVEN, CONN. — Newmark Knight Frank has arranged the $12.2 million sale of 545 Long Wharf Drive, a 245,389-square-foot Class A office building in New Haven. The nine-story building previously served as AT&T’s corporate office and is now partially leased by a number of companies and start-ups. Steven Schultz, Cory Gubner, Tony Georgiev and Alex Haendler represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. Vision Real Estate Partners was the buyer.
HERSHEY, HUMMELSTOWN AND PALMYRA, PA. — The Kislak Co. Inc. has brokered the $10.6 million sale of a multifamily portfolio totaling 96 units in the metro Harrisburg area. The portfolio comprises the 18-unit White Birch Apartments and 32-unit Lincoln Apartments, both in Hershey; the 32-unit Li-Lo Apartments in Hummelstown; and the 14-unit Barrington Court Apartments in Palmyra. Robert Holland and Matt Wolf of Kislak Co. represented the buyer, Hershey Apartment Group LLC. The team also represented the sellers, private individuals Donald and Cathy Foreman.
CLEVELAND AND BRECKSVILLE, OHIO — The Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) plans to develop a new world headquarters building in downtown Cleveland, as well as a research and development (R&D) center in the Cleveland suburb of Brecksville. The company plans to invest $600 million to construct both facilities. The paint manufacturer and retailer’s headquarters building will span 1 million square feet just west of Public Square between Saint Clair and Superior avenues. The R&D center will span 500,000 square feet and will be located off Interstate 77 at Miller and Brecksville roads, 16 miles south of downtown Cleveland. The transition to the new facilities won’t occur until 2023 at the earliest, the company says. Sherwin-Williams previously launched a nationwide search for its new headquarters location before deciding to stay in Ohio, where it has been based since it was founded in 1866. “We currently operate out of a 90-year-old headquarters building that has served us well but is no longer conducive to meeting our future needs,” says John Morikis, the company’s chairman and CEO. “The major planned investment in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio we are announcing today reflects our confidence in the continued strength of the region and its people and …
Strong gains in population and travel spending highlight Colorado as an increasingly popular place to work and visit, boosting demand for hotel rooms in the state. Leisure travel spending has climbed by 28.9 percent over the past five years, surpassing $22 billion in 2018. More than half of those funds were spent on commercial lodging. Business travel is also bolstered by companies either entering or expanding in the state. These demand factors translate to hotel occupancy and revenue metrics that have consistently exceeded the national average since 2014. Colorado’s November annual average occupancy rate rose 90 basis points year over year to 68.1 percent, compared with the national metric that held flat at about 66.2 percent. Colorado’s annual average RevPAR grew 3.8 percent over that same span, more than triple the U.S. pace, to $98.48. Robust gains in both occupancy and RevPAR demonstrate how demand for Colorado hotel rooms has outpaced numerous supply additions. The state’s inventory of hotel rooms has expanded by about 13 percent over the past five years, with 4,226 hotel rooms under construction. More than half of the keys underway will be delivered in Denver and Colorado Springs. Notable new projects in the Denver metro include …
Retail landlords want to fill space, especially given that large gluts of it have been returned to market as store closures have accelerated, a move that has coincided with entertainment users that want to expand their footprints. But the logistics of bringing entertainment concepts into retail spaces — particularly vacated junior or big box spaces — are very complicated. This holds particularly true for entertainment concepts that involve movies and bowling. Ceiling heights and column spacing, for example, prevent many spaces from being repurposed cost-effectively for entertainment uses like bowling alleys and theaters. In addition, lease terms for these deals are often based on traditional retail metrics like sales per square foot. According to Howard Samuels, president of California-based advisory and brokerage firm Samuels & Co., there is a strong disconnect between entertainment uses and conventional retail real estate that has yet to fully integrate experiential uses or “location-based entertainment (LBE).” “Entertainment retail as a backfiller of boxes is a misnomer,” says Samuels, whose firm specializes in entertainment transactions. “Those users typically don’t want fixed walls and need higher ceiling heights. Most location-based entertainment concepts are very challenging to design, develop, open and operate. These concepts have very specific criteria …
CHICAGO AND DALLAS — Cushman & Wakefield has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC, a Dallas-based apartment management firm. With more than 169,000 units across 839 properties in its operational portfolio, Pinnacle is the third-largest multifamily property management firm in the United States. The firm’s client list includes institutional, private and foreign investors; financial institutions; pension funds; private partnerships; sole owners; and government housing groups. The acquisition will boost Chicago-based Cushman & Wakefield’s management division across 20 key U.S. markets, increasing its overall portfolio to 869 million square feet in North and South America. Rick Graf, president and CEO of Pinnacle, will lead the Americas Multifamily Property Management platform for Cushman & Wakefield. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including antitrust approvals.
PLANO, TEXAS — High Street Residential and Principal Real Estate Investors have sold The Kincaid at Legacy, a 25-story upscale apartment tower located at 7200 Dallas Parkway in Plano. Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. purchased the 300-unit high-rise for an undisclosed price. CBRE represented the sellers in the transaction. Built in 2018, Kincaid at Legacy offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units that range in size from 677 to 4,500 square feet. The property features 14,500 square feet of amenity space, including a resort-style pool, water features, fire pits, fitness center, resident lounge with media screening room, entertainment kitchen, conference rooms, business center, complimentary Wi-Fi, bike storage, concierge services and an amenity deck on the seventh floor with a second pool and two dog parks. In 2016, Intercontinental bought the adjoining Legacy Tower office building from Trammell Crow Co., parent company of High Street Residential.