SEATTLE — PSRS has provided a $57 million loan for a 285,186-square-foot office building in the South Lake Union area of downtown Seattle. The building was constructed in 1929 and renovated in 1965. The asset has a mix of tenants, including a local newspaper as the anchor. The space also includes a data storage business. The 10-year, interest-only, cash-out loan was financed through a leading CMBS lender. The borrower is a large data center and office investor. PSRS’ Michael Thorp and Ryan Frankman secured the financing. The planned use of the capital was not disclosed.
TORRANCE, CALIF. — A private, locally based commercial real estate entity has acquired the 109,841-square-foot Mariner Court office building in Torrance for $24 million. The Class B building is located at 3625 Del Amo Blvd. Mariner Court is situated near the 405, 91 and 110 freeways, and near to Los Angeles International Airport. Derek Caldwell of Institutional Property Advisors represented the buyer, while the firm’s Michael Lawrence and David Black represented the seller, an Orange County-based private commercial real estate company.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — CBRE Group Inc. has arranged the sale of Scottsdale Towne Square, a 162,259-square-foot shopping center located in Arizona. The property was 95.7 percent occupied at the time of sale by tenants including Natural Grocers, Ra Sushi and First Watch. Bob Young, Glenn Smigiel, Steve Brabant and Rick Abraham of CBRE represented the seller, Holualoa Scottsdale Retail LLC. Woodbury Corp. acquired the property. The sale price was not disclosed.
NEW YORK CITY — Kimco Realty (NYSE: KIM) has signed its first round of retail leases at The Boulevard, a $180 million lifestyle center in the Staten Island borough of New York City. The project is a redevelopment of Hylan Plaza, which has been shuttering its existing retailers over the past several months. Situated on Ebbitts Street and Hylan Boulevard, The Boulevard will feature 50 stores in a 460,000-square-foot, multi-level format. The first retailers to sign onto the project include ShopRite (68,000 square feet), Alamo Drafthouse (41,000 square feet), Party City (13,000 square feet), PetSmart (23,500 square feet) and Chase Bank (5,100 square feet). Modell’s sporting goods store and Mandee will be relocating within the center, absorbing 16,000 square feet and 11,000 square feet, respectively. Construction at the redevelopment is scheduled to commence in early summer or late fall, with a grand opening scheduled for summer 2019. Existing Hylan Plaza tenants that have shuttered in anticipation of this redevelopment include United Artist movie theater, Toys “R” Us/Babies “R” Us, the Salvation Army, Kids Place and Subway. Rainbow Shops and Telco are scheduled to close by the end of this month. S9 Architecture is designing the redevelopment to feature ground-floor retail …
HOUSTON — As e-commerce continues its siege of brick-and-mortar retail, shopping center developers in Houston are re-evaluating and repurposing the space currently allotted for parking. Virtually all centers are seeing reduced need for parking space, which creates opportunities to reclaim that space for more efficient uses, like adding another in-line store. At the InterFace Houston Retail conference on April 18, moderated by David Luther of Marcus & Millichap, industry experts spoke at length about how retail developers are cutting their parking allotments in strip centers and power centers alike, largely because of convenience-oriented technologies. Apps like Postmates and TaskRabbit have made it possible to outsource running errands to other people. Online grocery delivery services like Instacart and Shipt allow customers to do their shopping with a few quick clicks. Even Uber has gotten into the game with delivery features like UberRUSH for errands and UberEATS for meals. According to Tom Lile, president of retail development firm Gulf Coast Commercial Group and a conference panelist, such products and services have already begun to influence Houston developers’ thoughts on parking. “Fifteen years ago, if you were building a power center, you absolutely had to have five parking spaces per 1,000 square feet …
Business was brisk in 2016 for retail real estate brokers in Central and Northern New Jersey. As online shopping continued to impact which retailers fill brick and mortar spaces, several trends emerged at malls and along New Jersey’s highways. The shrinking list of retail categories in which customers prefer or need to visit a store in person includes quick-serve and sit-down restaurants. Chick-fil-A opened new stores in Woodbridge and Jersey City; Chipotle in Holmdel; and Habit Burger in Eatontown, West Windsor, River Edge and Parsippany. Also on the list are gas stations, coffee shops, and convenience stores, including Street Corner, WaWa, Tim Horton’s, Quick Check, and 7-Eleven, which have all recently opened new locations, are under construction or are planning to open new stores throughout the state. Creative and art businesses also draw customers to brick and mortar locations. One River School of Art & Design, currently open in Englewood, is opening a second location in Allendale, and plans a roll-out nationally including a strong look at the Bell Works project in Holmdel. This art school for kids and adults and other creative concepts, such as the paint and sip retailers, remain very strong. School of Rock is another creative …
DALLAS — Granite Properties has acquired a 163,861-square-foot, Class A office building located at 8235 Douglas Ave. in the University Park neighborhood of north Dallas. The 13-story building, which will be rebranded “The Douglas,” was built in 1980 and recently received $3 million in interior renovations and $1.5 million in system upgrades. Granite plans to develop a customer lounge and conference center that will feature a coffee bar, grab-and-go food service and a putting green. Transwestern Investment Group sold the property to Granite for an undisclosed price.
GARLAND, TEXAS — Dallas-based development partners Langford Property Co. and Flaherty Development have begun pre-construction demolition and remediation of asbestos for Jupiter Miller Business Park, a 40-acre industrial development in Garland situated within the former campus of defense contractor Raytheon. The first phase of construction, which will begin in June, will deliver a two-building, 800,000-square-foot distribution center.
BALCH SPRINGS, TEXAS — Hunt Mortgage Group has secured a $21 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of Glenshire Villas Apartments, a 484-unit multifamily complex in the eastern Dallas suburb of Balch Springs. Located at 12222 Quail Drive, the garden-style property spans 89 two-story buildings. The 10-year loan, which was placed on behalf of an undisclosed borrower, features a 30-year amortization schedule and five years of interest-only payments.
FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS — Dougherty Mortgage LLC has arranged an $8.7 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of Villa Creek, a 161-unit apartment property located at 2835 Villa Creek Drive in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro of Farmers Branch. Dougherty arranged the 10-year loan with a 30-year amortization schedule through a partnership with Old Capital Lending on behalf of the borrower, 2835 Villa Creek Drive LLC.