SAVANNAH, GA. — Jaguar Land Rover Classic will open a new operations hub in Savannah, creating 75 new jobs, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced Wednesday. The industrial facility —the British automobile company’s first outside of Europe — will be located near Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport and the Port of Savannah. The new facility will house a range of authentic Jaguar and Land Rover Classic cars, as well as offer services, parts and guest experiences. In addition, the facility will include a 42-bay workshop for vehicle health checks, service and repairs for all Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles out of production for a decade or more. The investment in the new facility will be more than $10 million and is expected to generate more than $45 million in revenue, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Construction on the operations hub is scheduled to begin in fall 2019.
WINFIELD, ILL. — Conor Commercial Real Estate has broken ground on North Avenue Commerce Center, a 265,550-square-foot speculative industrial building in Winfield, about 30 miles west of Chicago. The Class A facility will be situated on 17 acres at the southwest corner of North Avenue and Morton Road. The building can be subdivided into separate spaces of 60,000 square feet. Property features include a clear height of 32 feet, an ESFR sprinkler system, 56 exterior docks, four drive-in doors, 12 trailer parking stalls, and 228 car parking spaces. McShane Construction Co. is the general contractor for the project and Ware Malcomb is the architect. Completion is slated for the fourth quarter of this year.
CHICAGO — SunTrust Banks Inc. has provided a $10.6 million bridge loan for the acquisition and deconversion of Cambridge Commons in Chicago. Built in 1970, the property was renovated in 2000. After the closing on July 23, all of the units became apartment rentals. Manny Brown and John Gordon of SunTrust originated the loan on behalf of the borrower, a private equity firm. Areas such as Chicago are seeing more condo deconversions because it is difficult to find land for new developments to meet the rising demand for multifamily properties, according to Gordon. Under the Condominium Property Act in Illinois, condo unit owners can elect to sell a condo property if 75 percent or more are in agreement.
DELAWARE COUNTY, OHIO — Blue Horseshoe Ventures has unveiled plans to build a $10 million stadium dedicated to e-sports at its Planet Oasis project in Delaware County. The 30,000-square-foot, multi-level arena will be designed to host every form of competitive gaming and will feature a competition stage; 50-foot LED video wall; VIP lounges; a broadcast center and production studio; gamer-inspired menu; e-sports exhibition show matches; and a vintage video game cocktail bar. The new facility will be one element of the $2 billion Planet Oasis project, which Blue Horseshoe first announced in July. At full build-out, Planet Oasis will span 350 acres and will feature attractions such as indoor skydiving, electric go-karts, virtual golf, bowling, laser tag, indoor waterpark, at least 15 hotels, more than 75 restaurants, a health and wellness resort and a conference center. Blue Horseshoe expects to break ground on the project in December, with a planned opening date of December 2019 for the first 45 percent of the development, according to David Glimcher, CEO and principal of Blue Horseshoe.
STICKNEY, ILL. — Wool Finance Partners has arranged a $4.5 million loan for the refinancing of Pershing Terminal in Stickney, about 10 miles southwest of Chicago. The fully leased property includes a 25,000-square-foot cross dock facility and a 13,000-square-foot maintenance facility on a 10-acre site. A West Coast-based life insurance company provided the loan. The undisclosed borrower obtained a lender environmental insurance policy, which insures the lender for any remediation costs in the event of a borrower default. The loan is fully amortized over 25 years and includes a fixed interest rate of 5.1 percent for the first seven years.
DEARBORN, MICH. — NAI Farbman has arranged the sale of a 35,800-square-foot office building in Dearborn for $1.5 million. The property, originally built in 1972 and formerly the United Airlines building, spans two stories on a 4.5-acre site at 17501 Michigan Ave. Ali Haidar of Farbman represented the buyer, 17501 Michigan Ave. Acquisitions LLC. UA Investment Group LLC was the seller. Farbman will handle management and leasing for the property, which will be rebranded as Dearborn Office Centre.
NEW YORK CITY — NKF Capital Markets has secured a $60 million loan for the recapitalization of an eight-story mixed-use project under development in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. Located at 325 Lafayette Ave., the property will include 116 apartment units, 40 parking spaces and 16,943 square feet of street-level retail space. Key Food and Starbucks have pre-leased space at the property. Amenities will include a rooftop terrace, fitness center and a media and gaming lounge. NKF secured the loan on behalf of Slate Property Group. The lender was undisclosed. The project is scheduled for completion sometime this fall.
PHOENIXVILLE, PA. — CBRE has brokered the $8.1 million sale of Phoenixville Medical Office Building I, a 62,175-square-foot medical office building in Phoenixville. Located at 824 N. Main St., the three-story property was built in 1991 and is currently 90 percent leased. The tenant roster includes Phoenixville Hospital, Clinical Care Associates and Tri-County Urologic. Phoenixville is approximately 27 miles northeast of Philadelphia. Peter Stevens of CBRE represented the seller, Phoenixville Medical Building Associates, in the transaction. The property was sold subject to a ground lease.
PITTSBURGH — Lionstone Investments and Walnut Capital have acquired the Pittsburgh Athletic Association clubhouse, a five-story vacant building in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. The property was built in 1911 and had served as the clubhouse for the Pittsburgh Athletic Association since then. The building features Renaissance Venetian palazzo architecture, a bowling alley, basketball and squash courts and a third-floor swimming pool. The structure was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1978. HFF brokered the sale of the building on behalf of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The buyers plan to refurbish the exterior of the building and convert the interior into 90,000 square feet of office space. Work on the property is expected to take 18 to 24 months.
HAMPTON, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of 15 Route 173, a 30,000-square-foot warehouse in Hampton. Daniel Badenhausen and Andrew Stypa represented the buyer, Kal Freight Inc., in the transaction. The seller was undisclosed. The 13-acre property features up to 20-foot clear heights, cross-docking and 50 loading doors. The price was undisclosed.