COLUMBUS, OHIO — Cronheim Hotel Capital (CHC) has arranged a $14.7 million loan for the refinancing of an Embassy Suites hotel property in Columbus. A national lender provided the loan, which features a locked rate of 4.44 percent, a 10-year term and a 30-year amortization schedule. Kana Hotel Group, the borrower, acquired the 224-room property in 2015 and extensively renovated it.
ZION, ILL. — JSM Venture Inc. has acquired a former Kmart store located at 3355 Sheridan Road in Zion for $2.3 million. JSM plans to convert the 90,426-square-foot building into a self-storage facility with 69,750 rentable square feet. Of the 619 total units, 96 percent are expected to be climate-controlled. Patrick Turner and Brendan Green of Colliers International represented JSM. Paine/Wetzel represented the seller, Amin & Shah Solutions LLC.
OMAHA, NEB. — Darland Construction Co. has completed the new headquarters for LGT Transport, a cryogenic transportation company. The 12,640-square-foot property includes 8,312 square feet of office space, which includes eight offices, a training center, conference room, driver’s lounge, workroom, exercise facility, break room and locker rooms. The remaining square footage houses the company’s two-bay service center. A 36,000-square-foot parking lot offers parking for up to 10 tractor-trailers. Schemmer Associates was the project architect.
While most of the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) area has seen a boom in industrial construction over the past decade, the Plano and McKinney submarkets have been relatively quiet until recently. Due to significant growth in residential development in the northeastern side of the metroplex, e-commerce and last-mile distribution users are increasingly demanding space in these areas. Consequently, these submarkets are no longer considered just a home for technology-based tenants. Several new projects, either under construction or proposed, are focusing on mid-size to large users. Total combined vacancy rates in these areas for flex and warehouse product are now below 5 percent. The average rental rate for flex product is around $12.25 per square foot and the average rate for warehouse space is $6.36 per square foot. Although the vacancy rate is as low as it has been in the past five years, there is a tremendous amount of activity and several market transactions that are likely to positively impact demand for speculative industrial space. While no transactions completed at this time, there have been several prospects working on proposals in the 60,000- to 100,000-square-foot size range in Plano and another prospect looking to lease between 200,000 to 600,000 square feet …
NEW YORK CITY — Jonathan Rose Cos., The NHP Foundation and Nuveen have acquired Shore Hill Housing, a two-building, 558-unit affordable seniors housing property in Brooklyn, for approximately $150 million. The seller was NYU Langone, a hospital system with many buildings located adjacent to the site. The property consists of two interconnected, 14-story towers in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn totaling 414,127 square feet. The property was built in 1977 and sits on 2.7 acres along Shore Road. The unit mix includes 325 studios and 233 one-bedrooms. The buyers financed the acquisition with a $102 million Freddie Mac loan arranged through PGIM Real Estate Finance. The Rose Affordable Housing Preservation Fund IV LP, along with joint-venture partner NHP and Nuveen, will invest $52 million of equity in the property. “We are making a long-term investment to preserve an important affordable housing property for seniors with a conventional debt and private equity execution,” says Joshua Plattner, who led the acquisition for Rose. The venture will invest in capital improvements to increase energy efficiency, reduce the carbon footprint and enhance the resident services at Shore Hill as part of Rose’s Communities of Opportunity programming. “We are excited about the opportunity to …
Tom Grape has a sobering message for a senior living industry facing a growing number of disruptive forces, including rapid technological change and shifting consumer preferences that pose a threat to the long-term health of the sector. “If we continue to think of ourselves as senior living operators in the way that we have, I personally think we’re vulnerable. If we think of ourselves in ways that will allow us to compete for this new era, we’ll be positioning ourselves successfully.” Grape is chairman and CEO of Waltham, Mass.-based Benchmark Senior Living, which operates 58 communities offering independent living, assisted living, memory care and continuing care across eight states in the Northeast. His concerns about disruption aren’t centered on overly aggressive capital providers or new entrants to the business. Instead, the veteran executive, who has been in this niche sector for 32 years, believes that there is “a whole host of people from a whole variety of different angles that are trying to put the senior living business out of business. I think that has huge implications.” The comments from Grape came Tuesday morning during a keynote address titled “Prospering in the Era of Disruption” at InterFace Seniors Housing Northeast, which …
ALEXANDRIA, VA. — StonebridgeCarras has been selected to build the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, a $1 billion, 1 million-square-foot, technology-focused campus in Alexandria, less than two miles from Amazon’s HQ2 future site. Virginia Tech and the State of Virginia will each put forth $250 million to the new campus. Further funds are expected to come via private philanthropy, industry partnerships and other revenue streams. The new campus will be situated in River Landing, a newly branded neighborhood encompassing parts of Pentagon City and Crystal City in Arlington and Potomac Yard in nearby Alexandria. The land is owned by investment firm Blackstone Group LP. The campus will include 300,000 square feet of academic space and research and development facilities, 250,000 square feet of partner space dedicated to startups and corporate facilities, 350,000 square feet of housing space for students and faculty and 100,000 square feet of retail and support spaces. An expected date of completion was not disclosed, but Virginia Tech officials say the first 100 master’s program students will enroll next year in a temporary space. The school also announced Bethesda, Md.-based StonebridgeCarras and the City of Alexandria have agreed to expedite construction.
ATLANTA — EDENS and Crescent Communities have broken ground on Phase II of Moores Mill, a mixed-use development in Atlanta’s Upper Westside neighborhood. Charlotte-based Crescent Communities, a multifamily developer, will build 345 units across three buildings over five acres called NOVEL Upper Westside. The complex will total 300,000 square feet and offer one- , two- and three-bedroom options. Amenities are set to include a fitness center, pool, courtyard, refined rooftop lounge and a dog park. EDENS, a national retail real estate owner, will develop 15,000 square feet of retail. The Columbia, S.C.-based developer built the 45,000-square-foot Publix in Phase I of Moores Mill and has invested in green space renovation at nearby Sara Gonzalez Park. Completion of Phase II is expected in 2020.
GAINESVILLE, FLA. — The Bainbridge Cos. has acquired an 11-acre site in Gainesville located near the University of Florida for the development of a 492-bed student housing community. The property — to be named Campus Circle Gainesville — will be developed in a joint venture with Diamond Realty Investments Inc. The four-story, garden-style community will offer shared amenities including an outdoor lounge and study area; resort-style courtyards; swimming pool with private cabanas; 24-hour fitness center with a cardio theater and yoga studio; clubhouse featuring lounge space and a game room; 24-hour private study space with group study areas and a large conference room; and dog-walking trails. The property is set to open prior to the 2020-2021 academic year.
SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — Nexton and RealtyLink Commercial have announced a list of 22 tenants that will occupy Nexton Square, a shopping center in Summerville that is set to open this summer. The vendors include Tropical Smoothie Café, The Bicycle Shoppe and Fuji Sushi, as well as other restaurants, apparel, beauty, fitness, entertainment and finance tenants. The first buildings are scheduled to be available to tenants for up-fit later this year. Nexton Square will be located in Summerville’s Nexton master-planned community, which is located about 25 miles northwest of downtown Charleston. The design team includes architect McMilan Padzen Smith Architects, civil engineer and landscape architect Seamon Whiteside, construction manager Landmark Construction and general contractor Ordner Construction.